With every passing week, there are new phenomena that would only be predicted by the fascist paradigm. This week: the announcement by the head of the Heritage Foundation and its 2025 plan that we are in the midst of a "second revolution," and that is can be "bloodless" unless there is resistance from left.
Which will of course be blamed on the left or libs for having the temerity to resist, since only lefties and libs are fully considered responsible for the consequences of their own actions. I am not joking.
You are right about Trump and his ideological supporters. He rallies the crowd and they provide the bureaucratic battle plan. What is sorely lacking is our battle plan.
His values, what he thinks best in life, are fascist: Brute strength and the rule by and pleasure of the most fit, who are distinguishable ab initio by their genes, as the sole end of the Nation, as it was in the mythic past—the absolute freedom of The Leader, and the fundamental evil of anyone who would impede such. Lions and oxen.
Some people get too caught up in their lack of strict adherence to some ideology as if that was even marginally important to fascists back then, when it wasn't and still isn't.
Your description about Trump is accurate people also described Hitler and the Nazis as disorganized and lazy and noted that a lot of them sounded like raving lunatics. They still did a lot of damage and lot of smart or "smart" people are seemingly aiding and helping him along the way.
I did not watch the debate. I thought that the responses from Obama, Clinton, Fetterman, Shapiro, Newsom, and others were great at rallying the base and pushing back against the media. I have seen the media concede that Biden performed will on Saturday. But the "official acts" immunity decision was extremely depressing. The veiled threat from the nerdy looking guy at the head of the Heritage Foundation is disturbing wife-beater argumentation.
And it is also depressing that the media has been on a non-stop feeding frenzy like sharks in the water since Thursday and it has not abated. The Times clearly has it in for Biden but I am shocked and dismayed about how many people I thought were smart and good liberals are in a full on panic and joining in with Biden has got to go.
I will vote for a rotting carcass that has been in the sun for two months before I vote for Donald Trump or any Republican. But there is all over the map polling and some of it is very depressing. I think Democrats can rally even with Biden. I live in a blue state and don't see many ads but apparently the Trump immunity decision is already being attacked. Trump is not popular. I liked Biden's comments after the immunity decision.* But I could use a lot more sunshine and decisive statement from Biden that stops all the endless speculation. I am not sure waiting for Friday/Sunday with two-hour Stephanhoulous interview will assuage.
*Our press is so bad that it could not ask Biden anything substantive, only if he will be the candidate or resign.
"It's almost like there's a presumptive belief Biden is a responsible adult in control of his own actions and therefore with an obligation to act wisely, and Trump is not." Murc's Law is reaching escape velocity.
P.S. Murc is a commenter on the blog Lawyers, Guns, & Money who has an internet "law" named after him.
Yesterday I was watching Tim Miller on the Bulwark main podcast on YouTube with guest Tom Nichols from the Atlantic, and there it was in the frame right next to Tom: “When the Clock Broke” in glorious hardcover! It was so awesome!
Happy Birthday! I was going to comment a few days ago when you mentioned Balzac. Because, in addition to our shared interest in various theorists and historians (to say nothing about our agreement on the "fascism question"), we have both apparently embarked on extended projects of reading Balzac. I started a year or so ago and have made my way through 5 or 6 novels and probably 20 or so stories. And, like you, I started with "Le Peau de chagrin," which I loved. For the most part, it seems that Balzac saved his weirder mystical and metaphysical turns for the stories, and I had a hard time finishing, say, "Seraphita," which may be the most bonkers of the bunch. My plan is to finish with "A Harlot High and Low" and "Lost Illusions."
John, Your characterizations of Trump's supporters do not seem to cover persons such as Seth Lipsky of the New York Sun, or Victor Davis Hanson. And you say ...
What is is what he’s been since birth: profoundly, temperamentally unfit for office, now with ~900,000 gratuitous Covid deaths to his credit because properly acknowledging and responding to a global pandemic would make feel bad about himself.
Great to see the elite news media making shitting on an elderly guy a much more pressing issue than his adversary’s psychoses but there you go and here we are.
In that context, whether Trump can be described as a fascist is pretty trivial — specially when the entire GOP has been working towards being a fascist, anti-democratic, authoritarian party since at least the 1980s.
Facts proving me wrong as well as realistic solutions for our current state of affairs welcome.
Happy July 4th. Although were I alive in the 1770s, I'm pretty sure I would have been a Loyalist. As my birthday gift to you, John, I recommend you read (or re-read) The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson by Bernard Bailyn (1976), together with Bailyn's more recent re-consideration of the topic, "Thomas Hutchinson in Context: The Ordeal Revisited," in Bailyn, Sometimes An Art: Nine Essays on History (2015).
We're going to get "asymmetric fascism," a concept similar to the asymmetric federalism of Canada and Spain, in which different regions are delegated different powers.
Since the federal government has limited personnel and 90%+ of criminal law is enforced by local police and courts, asymmetric fascism will depend on the enthusiasm of state and local authorities to enforce Trump's decrees. I don't see Trump finding and hiring tens of thousands of goons for the FBI, ICE and HSI. The Texas Rangers and Florida State Police will be ordered to go along by Abbott and DeSantis and will willingly comply. California, Massachusetts and others won't go along.
When Stuart Rhodes's Oath Keepers started more than ten years ago, one of their pledges was that they would not enforce internment orders against Muslims. Rhodes and some of the Oath Keepers went insane, but there will be "oath keepers" in federal law enforcement when Trump crosses constitutional lines. It will be interesting to see how many and what happens to them.
It will probably suck crossing the border during the regime though.
Trump, like Mussolini, will first demand that the official government do as he says. If they refuse, he will just go off the books and appeal to his goons either at the state level or Oath Keepers and other irregular forces.
While this is all very concerning, will any of this ultimately be considered the responsibility (and primary fault) of Donald or any of his voters? That will be the most pressing question, not whether they will or won't be doing these things if his people get their power back.
These intentions and plans are already rolled into "that's just how Republicans are nowadays, but since Biden says he's trying to stop that, but can't seem to, isn't that kinda sorta worse?". So they can plan this in the open because they aren't seen as hypocritical, which in this era is treated as more shameful than the possibility of them actually doing the evil actions they said they intended to do.
There was a political cartoon a while back of a wolf on a billboard with the slogan "I AM GOING TO EAT YOU", and a couple sheep saying "He tells it like it is". At least Donald isn't a hypocrite about that, or something.
Stregoni, to answer your first question: Yes, unequivocally.
You, me and anyone who are enemies of fascism/fashoids should embark on a DIY, open source Nuremberg tribunal. For right now, gather fact-finding, evidence and media accounts of Trump, Republicans, government workers, as well as donors and voters. This is so humanity and history will have a record of all actions and ideas of what is shaping up to be the next big crime against humanity.
The next step, should events accelerate, is to escalate to DIY reconnaissance, espionage, forensics and infiltration of official and unofficial organizations and their interactions. If this sounds farfetched, consider that during the skirmishes in Portland in 2020 between antifas and far-right hooligans, a journalist and a few social media activists had discovered that a PPD officer was giving the heads-up about police actions to a Proud Boy so far-right belligerents can evade arrest while the cops go after antifas.
Again, all of this is to accumulate evidence for the historic and legal record. The New Nuremberg would also broaden scope of crimes against humanity to apply all the way down to voters themselves. Donald Trump does not have supporters, he only has accessories. Anyone who voted for Trump can be charged as an accessory.
With apologies to writer AR Moxon, I will change the details of his 2017 quote to reflect modern times [within brackets]. Perhaps this quote will live on in 70 years so future generations can understand the present.
"Historians have a word for [Americans] who joined the [Republican] party, not because they hated [racial, religious or sexual out-groups, and/or women], but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.
That word is [maga]. Nobody cares about their motives any more.
They joined what they joined. They lent their support and their moral approval. And, in so doing, they bound themselves to everything that came after. Who cares any more what particular knot they used in the binding?"
With every passing week, there are new phenomena that would only be predicted by the fascist paradigm. This week: the announcement by the head of the Heritage Foundation and its 2025 plan that we are in the midst of a "second revolution," and that is can be "bloodless" unless there is resistance from left.
Which will of course be blamed on the left or libs for having the temerity to resist, since only lefties and libs are fully considered responsible for the consequences of their own actions. I am not joking.
Withdrew the Murc's Law comment since you made it below and I didn't get to it before I made mine.
Happy birthday!
You are right about Trump and his ideological supporters. He rallies the crowd and they provide the bureaucratic battle plan. What is sorely lacking is our battle plan.
Thanks for the summation and the warning.
Also best birthday wishes 🎉🎆🎂🎁
His values, what he thinks best in life, are fascist: Brute strength and the rule by and pleasure of the most fit, who are distinguishable ab initio by their genes, as the sole end of the Nation, as it was in the mythic past—the absolute freedom of The Leader, and the fundamental evil of anyone who would impede such. Lions and oxen.
Some people get too caught up in their lack of strict adherence to some ideology as if that was even marginally important to fascists back then, when it wasn't and still isn't.
Your description about Trump is accurate people also described Hitler and the Nazis as disorganized and lazy and noted that a lot of them sounded like raving lunatics. They still did a lot of damage and lot of smart or "smart" people are seemingly aiding and helping him along the way.
I did not watch the debate. I thought that the responses from Obama, Clinton, Fetterman, Shapiro, Newsom, and others were great at rallying the base and pushing back against the media. I have seen the media concede that Biden performed will on Saturday. But the "official acts" immunity decision was extremely depressing. The veiled threat from the nerdy looking guy at the head of the Heritage Foundation is disturbing wife-beater argumentation.
And it is also depressing that the media has been on a non-stop feeding frenzy like sharks in the water since Thursday and it has not abated. The Times clearly has it in for Biden but I am shocked and dismayed about how many people I thought were smart and good liberals are in a full on panic and joining in with Biden has got to go.
I will vote for a rotting carcass that has been in the sun for two months before I vote for Donald Trump or any Republican. But there is all over the map polling and some of it is very depressing. I think Democrats can rally even with Biden. I live in a blue state and don't see many ads but apparently the Trump immunity decision is already being attacked. Trump is not popular. I liked Biden's comments after the immunity decision.* But I could use a lot more sunshine and decisive statement from Biden that stops all the endless speculation. I am not sure waiting for Friday/Sunday with two-hour Stephanhoulous interview will assuage.
*Our press is so bad that it could not ask Biden anything substantive, only if he will be the candidate or resign.
"It's almost like there's a presumptive belief Biden is a responsible adult in control of his own actions and therefore with an obligation to act wisely, and Trump is not." Murc's Law is reaching escape velocity.
P.S. Murc is a commenter on the blog Lawyers, Guns, & Money who has an internet "law" named after him.
Yesterday I was watching Tim Miller on the Bulwark main podcast on YouTube with guest Tom Nichols from the Atlantic, and there it was in the frame right next to Tom: “When the Clock Broke” in glorious hardcover! It was so awesome!
Happy Birthday! I was going to comment a few days ago when you mentioned Balzac. Because, in addition to our shared interest in various theorists and historians (to say nothing about our agreement on the "fascism question"), we have both apparently embarked on extended projects of reading Balzac. I started a year or so ago and have made my way through 5 or 6 novels and probably 20 or so stories. And, like you, I started with "Le Peau de chagrin," which I loved. For the most part, it seems that Balzac saved his weirder mystical and metaphysical turns for the stories, and I had a hard time finishing, say, "Seraphita," which may be the most bonkers of the bunch. My plan is to finish with "A Harlot High and Low" and "Lost Illusions."
John, Your characterizations of Trump's supporters do not seem to cover persons such as Seth Lipsky of the New York Sun, or Victor Davis Hanson. And you say ...
What is is what he’s been since birth: profoundly, temperamentally unfit for office, now with ~900,000 gratuitous Covid deaths to his credit because properly acknowledging and responding to a global pandemic would make feel bad about himself.
Great to see the elite news media making shitting on an elderly guy a much more pressing issue than his adversary’s psychoses but there you go and here we are.
In that context, whether Trump can be described as a fascist is pretty trivial — specially when the entire GOP has been working towards being a fascist, anti-democratic, authoritarian party since at least the 1980s.
Facts proving me wrong as well as realistic solutions for our current state of affairs welcome.
Happy July 4th. Although were I alive in the 1770s, I'm pretty sure I would have been a Loyalist. As my birthday gift to you, John, I recommend you read (or re-read) The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson by Bernard Bailyn (1976), together with Bailyn's more recent re-consideration of the topic, "Thomas Hutchinson in Context: The Ordeal Revisited," in Bailyn, Sometimes An Art: Nine Essays on History (2015).
Happy birthday, and happy 4th of July!
We're going to get "asymmetric fascism," a concept similar to the asymmetric federalism of Canada and Spain, in which different regions are delegated different powers.
Since the federal government has limited personnel and 90%+ of criminal law is enforced by local police and courts, asymmetric fascism will depend on the enthusiasm of state and local authorities to enforce Trump's decrees. I don't see Trump finding and hiring tens of thousands of goons for the FBI, ICE and HSI. The Texas Rangers and Florida State Police will be ordered to go along by Abbott and DeSantis and will willingly comply. California, Massachusetts and others won't go along.
When Stuart Rhodes's Oath Keepers started more than ten years ago, one of their pledges was that they would not enforce internment orders against Muslims. Rhodes and some of the Oath Keepers went insane, but there will be "oath keepers" in federal law enforcement when Trump crosses constitutional lines. It will be interesting to see how many and what happens to them.
It will probably suck crossing the border during the regime though.
Trump, like Mussolini, will first demand that the official government do as he says. If they refuse, he will just go off the books and appeal to his goons either at the state level or Oath Keepers and other irregular forces.
Happy Birthday! It’s my oldest daughter’s birthday today too and therefore I have always thought of it as dependents day.
While this is all very concerning, will any of this ultimately be considered the responsibility (and primary fault) of Donald or any of his voters? That will be the most pressing question, not whether they will or won't be doing these things if his people get their power back.
These intentions and plans are already rolled into "that's just how Republicans are nowadays, but since Biden says he's trying to stop that, but can't seem to, isn't that kinda sorta worse?". So they can plan this in the open because they aren't seen as hypocritical, which in this era is treated as more shameful than the possibility of them actually doing the evil actions they said they intended to do.
There was a political cartoon a while back of a wolf on a billboard with the slogan "I AM GOING TO EAT YOU", and a couple sheep saying "He tells it like it is". At least Donald isn't a hypocrite about that, or something.
Stregoni, to answer your first question: Yes, unequivocally.
You, me and anyone who are enemies of fascism/fashoids should embark on a DIY, open source Nuremberg tribunal. For right now, gather fact-finding, evidence and media accounts of Trump, Republicans, government workers, as well as donors and voters. This is so humanity and history will have a record of all actions and ideas of what is shaping up to be the next big crime against humanity.
The next step, should events accelerate, is to escalate to DIY reconnaissance, espionage, forensics and infiltration of official and unofficial organizations and their interactions. If this sounds farfetched, consider that during the skirmishes in Portland in 2020 between antifas and far-right hooligans, a journalist and a few social media activists had discovered that a PPD officer was giving the heads-up about police actions to a Proud Boy so far-right belligerents can evade arrest while the cops go after antifas.
Again, all of this is to accumulate evidence for the historic and legal record. The New Nuremberg would also broaden scope of crimes against humanity to apply all the way down to voters themselves. Donald Trump does not have supporters, he only has accessories. Anyone who voted for Trump can be charged as an accessory.
With apologies to writer AR Moxon, I will change the details of his 2017 quote to reflect modern times [within brackets]. Perhaps this quote will live on in 70 years so future generations can understand the present.
"Historians have a word for [Americans] who joined the [Republican] party, not because they hated [racial, religious or sexual out-groups, and/or women], but out of a hope for restored patriotism, or a sense of economic anxiety, or a hope to preserve their religious values, or dislike of their opponents, or raw political opportunism, or convenience, or ignorance, or greed.
That word is [maga]. Nobody cares about their motives any more.
They joined what they joined. They lent their support and their moral approval. And, in so doing, they bound themselves to everything that came after. Who cares any more what particular knot they used in the binding?"
Have a good one!