Since Covid-19, Americans have experienced their freedoms stripped by power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats in ways few could've imagined. But even before 2020, there were worrying cultural trends that caught the attention of our nation's immigrants.
Younger populations began embracing socialism, which had then GOP Rep.-elect Victoria Spartz, who was raised in Soviet-controlled Ukraine, concerned.
"[I'm] going full circle in my 42 years of life. It's unbelievable for me," she told Fox News. "Of all of the countries in the world, our country put so much against this utopic socialistic idea that it's crazy for me to see how quickly we made the turn to the left."
The U.S.'s increasingly woke culture and toxic philosophies picking up steam in higher education have had French President Emmanuel Macron speaking out for awhile.
And Young Americans Against Socialism is filled with video testimonials from people who escaped trying to warn Americans.
Now, Ai Weiwei, a Chinese dissident and artist, is arguing Americans are already living in an "authoritarian state"… we "just don't know it."
The comment came during an interview with PBS's Margaret Hoover, who asked about a quote in his book that referenced former President Trump's late-night tweets.
"In your book, you were describing the directives of Mao Zedong during the Cultural Revolution that would be distributed publicly every night. And then you write — this is your quote — 'They served a function similar to Donald Trump's midnight tweets in office. They were the direct communication of a leader's thoughts to his devoted followers, enhancing the sanctity of his authority,'" Hoover said quoting the book.
"So, do you see Donald Trump as an authoritarian?" she wondered.
"Well, I don't," he responded. "If you are authoritarian, you have to have a system supporting you. You cannot just be an authoritarian by yourself. But certainly, in the United States, with today's condition, you can easily have an authoritarian. In many ways, you're already in the authoritarian state. You just don't know it."
PBS asked Chinese dissident, anti-communist artist Ai Weiwei about authoritarianism, hoping he would condemn Trump.
— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) November 15, 2021
He says Trump isn’t authoritarian—and calls out wokeness as authoritarianism akin to Mao’s Cultural Revolution. The host is visibly upset. pic.twitter.com/UctRu0Fpeq
Weiwei also pointed to the pressure toward political correctness in the U.S., which he said is "very dangerous," and drew a comparison to China's cultural revolution.
"It's very philosophical. With today's technology, we know so much more than we really understand. The information [has] become jammed. But we don't really — and really have the knowledge, because you don't work. You don't — You don't have to act on anything. You just think you're purified by certain ideas that you agree with it. That is posing dangers to society, to an extreme divided society," Weiwei said.