'Surviving Autocracy' author Masha Gessen on Trump's casual racism, how his incompetence prevents accountability, and the institutions that failed us

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• Masha Gessen, staff writer for New Yorker and the author of the new book, "Surviving Autocracy" spoke with Business Insider this week.
• Gessen talked about the distinctions between Trump and Putin's styles of autocratic leadership, how Trump's incompetence helps him avoid accountability, and why institutions can't save us.
• "The Trump project is taking American identity to an imaginary past. In that imaginary past ... we're not confronted and irritated by people who demanded to be recognized in their differences," Gessen said. 
• This is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Masha Gessen is a staff writer for New Yorker and the author of 11 books, including the National Book Award-winner "The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia," and the newly-published tome about the Trump presidency, "Surviving Autocracy."

Born in the Soviet Union, Gessen's family emigrated to the US in 1981. As an adult, Gessen returned to Russia in the early 1990s, where they made their name as a science journalist and a groundbreaking activist for LGBTQ rights. 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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