Enter, stage right: New American Fascism
Exit, stage left: whatever's left of "traditional" Republicans
“Greater Germany” - Yes! (in other words, Make Germany Great Again)
It looks like the long-completed transition of the old Republican party to fascism has finally been noticed and acknowledged in public.
About fucking time.
All the recent punditry about how Liz Cheney’s primary loss was the final nail in the coffin served as a gentle lead into that, because if the Republican party is dead, what do we have in its stead? The President recently called MAGA Republicans semi-fascist - a semi-accurate characterization, driven most likely by a misguided desire to soften the message, rather than by any relevant differences between former GOP and a fascist party.
Perhaps now that we’re getting used to how it feels to use “fascist” as a descriptive word in a non-historic context, we will collectively start to see its manifestations in “Republican” actions across the nation. Recognizing a concept allows us to detect its presence.
A few days ago, I had an exchange about fascism with someone in my close circle who is receptive to fascist messaging. They asked whether I would call any current Republican, elected or not, a fascist.
In my response I avoided addressing the “not” part of the question - that’s a topic for another time - and my answer to the “elected” part was an unequivocal “yes.” 1
I think you’ll find that the synchronicity between events and approaches as they relate to the German Nazi party of the 1920s and the former Republican party of the 2020s is stunning.
So, with this introduction, here’s a copy of what I wrote:
***
As for fascists, the F word - no, I don't think any elected Republican can avoid being called a fascist at this point, with the exception of Liz Cheney, for whom I have no love but at least she seems to know what's at stake - and I guess she's got enough money not to lick the new Master's soles. I know Fascism a scary word. I'm not using it lightly or flippantly. I'm not name-calling. I'm using it in the accurate sense of what fascism means. I'm using it because I've recognized it. Unfortunately, many of my fellow Americans are looking at the situation in the country with eyes wide shut; it's staring us in the face, and collectively, we're not seeing it.
The Republican party has been dead for years. Their propaganda outlets - the OANN, Fox News, the Blaze, Breitbart, etc - have done a FANTASTIC job of creating an alternate reality for its millions of viewers. Whoever is the modern Goebbels equivalent (I suspect it's Bannon) has done a marvelous job of learning the lessons from Germany in 1920s and 1930s and applying them today, but using a much more sophisticated, insidious, and wider-reaching technology available today. The entire thing parallels neatly what happened in Germany in the late 1920s, when Hitler aligned with Hugenberg (media empire mogul) in (democratic) Germany and used his empire to launch himself into the spotlight. Incidentally, industrialist funding started flowing to the Nazis at that time as well ("dark money").
In the 1920s, the Nazis focused on deligitimizing the Weimar government (which many didn't see as legitimate because of its surrender after the 1st World War).
In the 2020s the New American Fascists focused on deligitimizing the American government with lies about election fraud.
Nazis exploited post-WWI trauma to rally population to their cause, with slogans like Germany is for Germans, and the expulsion of non-German populations.2
New American Fascists have similar slogans, like "America First" or "Make America Great Again", and certainly have been manufacturing trauma for decades, "Critical Race Theory" being the latest offence to the white sensibilities, or "Trans youth in sports", a shocker for the pseudo-Christians.
Nazis attributed existence of complex problems to simple causes - like the existing political parties, the Marxists, the Jews. New American Fascists are doing the same thing - it's the "Liberal Elits"; it's the immigrants, it's the Muslims, let's "Build the Wall", or, worst bogeyman of all, SoCiaLisM.
Hitler was portrayed as the one man who could save Germany and lead Germans to freedom.
Trump's literal quote: "I am the only one who can make America truly great again" (2015)
Nazis were excellent at taking a crisis and using it for their own means.
New American Fascists grandstand on the floor and vilify anything Democrats propose. Then they go back to their states and claim credit for passing the thing they were just against. I can offer examples, but you have the Internet too, look up the stimulus bill when McConnell sat on it for months, then added provisions he knew would never pass, then blamed Pelosi when (duh) she didn't accept it.
Hitler was the first political leader to commercialize politics, that is treat politics as marketing - shock tactics to grab media attention and to use endless repetition of simple slogans to win the masses. Remember - oversimplify and repeat repeat repeat ("term limits").
^ That is literally the Republican playbook.
Nazi party was consistently calling their opponents corrupt.3
New American Fascists: "Drain the swamp"
After gaining power, Nazis immediately withrew from political treaties (rewrite post-1918 political settlement, Versaille Treaty, withdrawal from the League of Nations).
After gaining power, New American Fascists immediately withdrew from political treaties (Paris Climate Accord, World Health Organization, International mail treaty, Open Skies treaty, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations - there's more)
In Nazi Germany, media was part of government policy
in New Fascist America, Fox News personalities such as Hannity, Carson, and others, got direct feed from Trump (when he was President) - and *advised* him
Nazi Germany used massive rallies as a form of seeking legitimacy in the public eye. Goebbels argued that participation in rallies was a "superior form of voting."
New American Fascist use(d) massive rallies the same way. Trump continued to pump up attendance at his events as though that was evidence of, well, something. Trump kept saying that Biden's rallies were smaller than Trump's, and therefore Biden couldn't have won the election, further continuing to spread the lie about election fraud.
Nazi Germany's participation in that dark chapter of history was willing. Germans, as a nation, bought into Hitler's message. How?!
Well, we have QAnon. We have people who believe that shit. Not a far jump from that to anything else. Maybe it's even a walk back.
Hitler was seen as some sort of a benevolent "voice of the people" who cared deeply for the suffering of his people.
Trump has been depicted as "well at least he's not a politician, he's like one of us." He hugs the American Flag!
Nazis capitalized on Germany being wronged by the international community, perpetrating the idea of victimhood.
New American Fascists keep doing the same. I already brought up CRT, but the latest one is student loan forgiveness, as though all the long-suffering white folk who paid their dues are now somehow victims of this travesty. Puh-lease (and that's my personal opinion).
In Nazi Germany, people believed propaganda.
In New American Fascist party, people *really* believe *anything*. Bamboo fibers in voting ballots? Sure! Must be true! 2000 mules? You betcha! Mail-in fraud!! Yessirreeebob!
In Nazi Germany, there was the Kristallnacht; the sin of one Jew was the sin of all Jews. There were concentration camps set up for Jews, Communists, socialists, Liberals, Nazi political opponents.
New American Fascists had the Muslim Ban in 2017. The sin of one Mexican is the sin of all Mexicans. They had the Build The Wall campaign. They opened and operated the concentration camps for immigrants crossing the border. We had separation of children from parents at the border (cruelty is the point). Didn't quite get to liberals yet, though.
Nazis were experts at astroturfing - at manipulating public willing to believe them.
New American Fasists are even better at it. Have you noticed how Lindsay Graham will say something about "this falls short" of "explaining this raid on former President Trump's home" - and now it sounds like the "raid" needs to be "explained!" Neat trick. I guess the fact that it's been explained, explained again, explained some more - even though it's really super simple - isnt' enough.
Nazis wanted to replace the values in which their follows were to believe. They were successful.
New American Fascists are using their propaganda outlets to do the same. Do you remember when suddenly Republicans became super-supportive of Russia (before the invasion of Ukraine)? How foreign interference in elections became OK? How asking a foreign president to fabricate dirt on your political opponent was defensible? How appointing family members to high political posts was just fine?
Nazis glorified violence.
New American Fascists call for violence. Don't have to go far for an example: DeSantis, on Fauci - "Grab him and chuck him across the Potomac", and that's just within a day. Oh, and there's that January 6th thing.
Goebbel's rule was: never defend, always attack.
New American Fascists: remind you of anyone?
Nazi's propaganda changed according to political demands.
New American Fascists: democrats are idiots! democrats are evil genius masterminds controlling shadow government puppets from behind the scenes! Fauci has no clue! Fauci is in league with a globalist (meaning Jewish, of course) kabal intent on microchipping the world with their superminituarized microchip technology that doesn't exist!
Nazis built up a blind faith in their infallible, messianic leader, Hitler.
New American Fascists still support Trump, despite everything they know about him. Eyes wide shut.
Oh, forgot a couple of important things. I had brought this up in another post, but the origins of the word "fascism" are instructive, too. Mussolini used the ancient Roman symbol for punishment - the axe with sticks wrapped as a bundle around its handle - as the inspiration for the name. In addition to being a tool of corporal and capital punishment, the axe was symbolic. The bundled sticks represented unity, the unbreakable nature of the fascist party. This means "no dissent within ranks."
In a way, Reagan is the father of modern fascism in the Republican party, as he was the one to popularize the "Eleventh Commandment" - "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." Democrats have debates and dissent among ranks. New American Fascists demonize and expel the members that don't toe the party line (I'm sure you know recent examples).
The other important thing is attack on voting rights. Nazis subverted parliamentary elections in 1933. The Reichstag fire was presented as an alleged communist coup attempt, and Nazis capitalized on that, attacking the communist party such that members had to flee the country. SA "brown shirts" beat up Germans suspected of opposing the Nazi party. Opposing political candidates were prevented from campaigning effectively and were threatened. SA raided political events and attacked attendees while police did nothing. The elections gave Nazis sufficient majority in parliament to make it the last free election in Germany pre WW2.
In our day, the New American Fascist rallying cry is "voter fraud". It is, of course, a blatant lie, but it's serving the same purpose as the Reichstag fire to have an excuse for increasing voter intimidation ("poll watchers"), to disenfranchise voters, to introduce laws such that if vote results aren't to the liking of the "Republican" party they can just be thrown away. The "alternative elector" fraud that New American Fascists tried to perpetrate when Biden won was just a preview of what can very well be in our future.
I did except Liz Cheney, and I should have excluded Adam Kindinger but forgot. I dislike both of them, but that’s only because they enabled the current generation of fascists without, apparently, turning into fascists themselves. Good for them, and I hope they live out the rest of their days in shame and voting for Democrats to compensate for their moral and political failures.
This was literally part of the Nazi party platform
Nazi propaganda poster with a slogan that could be in a 2016, 2020, or 2024 Trump campaign, with the smallest of changes. The text translates to “Open the door to freedom! Put a strong man at the helm! Out of the swamp! Forward with the powers of renewal! Vote National Socialist List 2” Nazi Posters: 1933-1936 (calvin.edu)