The GOP and the Markers of Fascism

[Pogo]

No, the GOP is not a fascist party. But it is demonstrating nascent fascist markers.

Robert O. Paxton, in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, provides these hallmarks: “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”; involving “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”; which “abandons democratic liberties”; and “pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing. . . .”​

​

These phrases more readily evoke brownshirts on Kristallnacht than fervent Republicans; writing in Vox, Dylan Matthews draws some useful distinctions.​

​

But consider the predicates of nascent fascism.​

​

Trump relentlessly exploited a sense of decline, humiliation, and victimization among marginalized whites, even as he evoked America’s loss of strength and purity. His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.​

​

Though nothing in America equals the predictive virulence of German anti-Semitism, anger at the racial, societal, and religious other animates a goodly portion of the Republican base. Its loathing of supposedly degenerate liberalism provides another link—as does the desire for authoritarian leadership to restore their chosen hierarchy.​

​

Perhaps most salient is the attack on reality itself. “Post-truth,” writes Timothy Snyder, “is pre-fascism.” Hitler castigated the media as “enemies of the people”; so does Trump and, often, his party. Like the avatars of fascism, Republicans increasingly trumpet mendacious propaganda—including about voter fraud.​

​

Classical fascism conditions its followers to accept “the big lie” which unifies their discontents and justifies their leaders’ actions. So, in 2020, did the GOP.​

​

Granted that the big Republican lie did not equal Hitler’s poisonous assertion that perfidious Jews stabbed Germany in the back. But the GOP’s lie to its base was, nonetheless, breathtakingly ambitious: that an unfathomable conspiracy involving thousands of state and local officials and judges, many Republicans, had stolen the presidency from Donald Trump—from them.​

​

To believe this, one must not only distrust an electoral system dispersed across 50 states and countless localities—and everyone in it—but reject an overwhelming amount of easily available evidence and the dictates of common sense. Yet most Republicans did just that. In their collective mind, the GOP was cheated by perfidious forces, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. The dangerous myth of political dispossession is now embedded in the Republican narrative. ...​

The GOP’s ‘Pre-Fascist’ DNA

The term “fascist” is too often thrown around carelessly—but it can be helpful in explaining the direction of the Republican party.

thebulwark.com

Burningly salient points particularly about outright denial of Reality, from which all else flows.

I submit however that these analyses refer to Trumpism rather than the Republican Party. Maybe I'm optimistic but I still distinguish markedly between the two. A political party and a personality cult are two different things, even if they overlap to some degree. Now if the entire party had taken on these self-delusional stances the term could apply but I don't see that that's the case.

Outright denial of Reality (I've taken to capitalizing it to denote how vitally important it is though it shouldn't be necessary) is where it ALL starts. "Alternate facts". The little mythologies of "how many people were at my inauguration where it wasn't raining" and "thousands of people on rooftops" are the appetizers to see how far the mythologist can take the crazy train.

To this day I ask Rumpbots the question "Where is the Bronx" because they can't answer it. To anyone in the real world the answer is readily obvious but if they say it's a very wonderful place in Germany they're self-identifying with the same self-delusion, and if they say "New York" they're calling their cult leader a liar (which he obviously is).

So I see this as corruptive mass psychology rather than a political movement. Although the term "movement" certainly fits for another reason....

Interesting that my response to the OP was post 15, yet it was also the first one that in any way addressed the topic.

RW Noise Patrol inna house.

 

[Meathead]

No, the GOP is not a fascist party. But it is demonstrating nascent fascist markers.

Robert O. Paxton, in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, provides these hallmarks: “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”; involving “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”; which “abandons democratic liberties”; and “pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing. . . .”​

​

These phrases more readily evoke brownshirts on Kristallnacht than fervent Republicans; writing in Vox, Dylan Matthews draws some useful distinctions.​

​

But consider the predicates of nascent fascism.​

​

Trump relentlessly exploited a sense of decline, humiliation, and victimization among marginalized whites, even as he evoked America’s loss of strength and purity. His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.​

​

Though nothing in America equals the predictive virulence of German anti-Semitism, anger at the racial, societal, and religious other animates a goodly portion of the Republican base. Its loathing of supposedly degenerate liberalism provides another link—as does the desire for authoritarian leadership to restore their chosen hierarchy.​

​

Perhaps most salient is the attack on reality itself. “Post-truth,” writes Timothy Snyder, “is pre-fascism.” Hitler castigated the media as “enemies of the people”; so does Trump and, often, his party. Like the avatars of fascism, Republicans increasingly trumpet mendacious propaganda—including about voter fraud.​

​

Classical fascism conditions its followers to accept “the big lie” which unifies their discontents and justifies their leaders’ actions. So, in 2020, did the GOP.​

​

Granted that the big Republican lie did not equal Hitler’s poisonous assertion that perfidious Jews stabbed Germany in the back. But the GOP’s lie to its base was, nonetheless, breathtakingly ambitious: that an unfathomable conspiracy involving thousands of state and local officials and judges, many Republicans, had stolen the presidency from Donald Trump—from them.​

​

To believe this, one must not only distrust an electoral system dispersed across 50 states and countless localities—and everyone in it—but reject an overwhelming amount of easily available evidence and the dictates of common sense. Yet most Republicans did just that. In their collective mind, the GOP was cheated by perfidious forces, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. The dangerous myth of political dispossession is now embedded in the Republican narrative. ...​

The GOP’s ‘Pre-Fascist’ DNA

The term “fascist” is too often thrown around carelessly—but it can be helpful in explaining the direction of the Republican party.

thebulwark.com

There is precious little difference between America's left and fascism. They both agree on the supremacy of the state over the common man.

 

[MisterBeale]

was preceded in Michigan

I keep hearing this propaganda echoed Ad nauseam in the corporate press. IT DID NOT HAPPEN.

Protests WITH ARMS, have been allowed in Michigan since the founding of the territory. They go way back.

Why does the corporate media and pundits keep regurgitating this false propaganda? That push back against lock-downs had nothing to do with Trump or the GOP, and in fact, they are still going on in Europe and sporadically across the nation, but go largely unreported in the national news.

It has to do with the false COVID paradigm, and the Great Reset. It has to do with opposing the "New Normal." It has nothing to do with partisan politics.

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off-guardian.org

Rising Up – Anti-Lockdown Protests Spread Across Europe

Rising Up - Anti-Lockdown Protests Spread Across Europe Tyler Durden Fri, 11/20/2020 - 02:00 Via Off-Guardian.org, As the alleged “sec

www.nationandstate.com

50,000 Italian Restaurant Owners Plan to Ignore Lockdown in “I Am Open” Protest

Huge act of civil disobedience plans to conduct business as usual in spite of “anti-Covid” measures. Similar protests spreading across Europe. ITALY Yesterday, Friday, January 15, more than 50,000 …

iowaclimate.org

 

[MisterBeale]

No, the GOP is not a fascist party. But it is demonstrating nascent fascist markers.

Robert O. Paxton, in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, provides these hallmarks: “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”; involving “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”; which “abandons democratic liberties”; and “pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing. . . .”​

​

These phrases more readily evoke brownshirts on Kristallnacht than fervent Republicans; writing in Vox, Dylan Matthews draws some useful distinctions.​

​

But consider the predicates of nascent fascism.​

​

Trump relentlessly exploited a sense of decline, humiliation, and victimization among marginalized whites, even as he evoked America’s loss of strength and purity. His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.​

​

Though nothing in America equals the predictive virulence of German anti-Semitism, anger at the racial, societal, and religious other animates a goodly portion of the Republican base. Its loathing of supposedly degenerate liberalism provides another link—as does the desire for authoritarian leadership to restore their chosen hierarchy.​

​

Perhaps most salient is the attack on reality itself. “Post-truth,” writes Timothy Snyder, “is pre-fascism.” Hitler castigated the media as “enemies of the people”; so does Trump and, often, his party. Like the avatars of fascism, Republicans increasingly trumpet mendacious propaganda—including about voter fraud.​

​

Classical fascism conditions its followers to accept “the big lie” which unifies their discontents and justifies their leaders’ actions. So, in 2020, did the GOP.​

​

Granted that the big Republican lie did not equal Hitler’s poisonous assertion that perfidious Jews stabbed Germany in the back. But the GOP’s lie to its base was, nonetheless, breathtakingly ambitious: that an unfathomable conspiracy involving thousands of state and local officials and judges, many Republicans, had stolen the presidency from Donald Trump—from them.​

​

To believe this, one must not only distrust an electoral system dispersed across 50 states and countless localities—and everyone in it—but reject an overwhelming amount of easily available evidence and the dictates of common sense. Yet most Republicans did just that. In their collective mind, the GOP was cheated by perfidious forces, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. The dangerous myth of political dispossession is now embedded in the Republican narrative. ...​

The GOP’s ‘Pre-Fascist’ DNA

The term “fascist” is too often thrown around carelessly—but it can be helpful in explaining the direction of the Republican party.

thebulwark.com

Burningly salient points particularly about outright denial of Reality, from which all else flows.

I submit however that these analyses refer to Trumpism rather than the Republican Party. Maybe I'm optimistic but I still distinguish markedly between the two. A political party and a personality cult are two different things, even if they overlap to some degree. Now if the entire party had taken on these self-delusional stances the term could apply but I don't see that that's the case.

Outright denial of Reality (I've taken to capitalizing it to denote how vitally important it is though it shouldn't be necessary) is where it ALL starts. "Alternate facts". The little mythologies of "how many people were at my inauguration where it wasn't raining" and "thousands of people on rooftops" are the appetizers to see how far the mythologist can take the crazy train.

To this day I ask Rumpbots the question "Where is the Bronx" because they can't answer it. To anyone in the real world the answer is readily obvious but if they say it's a very wonderful place in Germany they're self-identifying with the same self-delusion, and if they say "New York" they're calling their cult leader a liar (which he obviously is).

So I see this as corruptive mass psychology rather than a political movement. Although the term "movement" certainly fits for another reason....

Interesting that my response to the OP was post 15, yet it was also the first one that in any way addressed the topic.

RW Noise Patrol inna house.

That is because it is batshit insane.

 

[Pogo]

OP, if a party has fascist tendencies and supports fascist policies and likes politicians w/fascist leanings, doesn't that mean they're fascist?

It does. I just take issue with settling it on "party" rather than its actual instigator, who is named again and again right there in the story. My only issue is that it paints with too broad a brush and thus diffuses its own excellent points. I'd prefer to just call it what it is rather than hide it behind "parties".

 

[CrusaderFrank]

OP, if a party has fascist tendencies and supports fascist policies and likes politicians w/fascist leanings, doesn't that mean they're fascist?

You mean like silencing their politician opponents and calling for their "reeducation"? I believe you're right!

 

[Pogo]

No, the GOP is not a fascist party. But it is demonstrating nascent fascist markers.

Robert O. Paxton, in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, provides these hallmarks: “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”; involving “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”; which “abandons democratic liberties”; and “pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing. . . .”​

​

These phrases more readily evoke brownshirts on Kristallnacht than fervent Republicans; writing in Vox, Dylan Matthews draws some useful distinctions.​

​

But consider the predicates of nascent fascism.​

​

Trump relentlessly exploited a sense of decline, humiliation, and victimization among marginalized whites, even as he evoked America’s loss of strength and purity. His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.​

​

Though nothing in America equals the predictive virulence of German anti-Semitism, anger at the racial, societal, and religious other animates a goodly portion of the Republican base. Its loathing of supposedly degenerate liberalism provides another link—as does the desire for authoritarian leadership to restore their chosen hierarchy.​

​

Perhaps most salient is the attack on reality itself. “Post-truth,” writes Timothy Snyder, “is pre-fascism.” Hitler castigated the media as “enemies of the people”; so does Trump and, often, his party. Like the avatars of fascism, Republicans increasingly trumpet mendacious propaganda—including about voter fraud.​

​

Classical fascism conditions its followers to accept “the big lie” which unifies their discontents and justifies their leaders’ actions. So, in 2020, did the GOP.​

​

Granted that the big Republican lie did not equal Hitler’s poisonous assertion that perfidious Jews stabbed Germany in the back. But the GOP’s lie to its base was, nonetheless, breathtakingly ambitious: that an unfathomable conspiracy involving thousands of state and local officials and judges, many Republicans, had stolen the presidency from Donald Trump—from them.​

​

To believe this, one must not only distrust an electoral system dispersed across 50 states and countless localities—and everyone in it—but reject an overwhelming amount of easily available evidence and the dictates of common sense. Yet most Republicans did just that. In their collective mind, the GOP was cheated by perfidious forces, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. The dangerous myth of political dispossession is now embedded in the Republican narrative. ...​

The GOP’s ‘Pre-Fascist’ DNA

The term “fascist” is too often thrown around carelessly—but it can be helpful in explaining the direction of the Republican party.

thebulwark.com

Burningly salient points particularly about outright denial of Reality, from which all else flows.

I submit however that these analyses refer to Trumpism rather than the Republican Party. Maybe I'm optimistic but I still distinguish markedly between the two. A political party and a personality cult are two different things, even if they overlap to some degree. Now if the entire party had taken on these self-delusional stances the term could apply but I don't see that that's the case.

Outright denial of Reality (I've taken to capitalizing it to denote how vitally important it is though it shouldn't be necessary) is where it ALL starts. "Alternate facts". The little mythologies of "how many people were at my inauguration where it wasn't raining" and "thousands of people on rooftops" are the appetizers to see how far the mythologist can take the crazy train.

To this day I ask Rumpbots the question "Where is the Bronx" because they can't answer it. To anyone in the real world the answer is readily obvious but if they say it's a very wonderful place in Germany they're self-identifying with the same self-delusion, and if they say "New York" they're calling their cult leader a liar (which he obviously is).

So I see this as corruptive mass psychology rather than a political movement. Although the term "movement" certainly fits for another reason....

Interesting that my response to the OP was post 15, yet it was also the first one that in any way addressed the topic.

RW Noise Patrol inna house.

That is because it is batshit insane.

That's never a reason for trolling off the topic. If something really is batshit insane, you explain why it's batshit insane. What we have here is diversion, diversion, diversion and a foul ball of Poisoning the Well, nothing on the points made.

Seems to me when a dick army comes in to try to redirect the topic, it's because they're afraid of it.

 

[Jim H - VA USA]

No, the GOP is not a fascist party. But it is demonstrating nascent fascist markers.

Robert O. Paxton, in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, provides these hallmarks: “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”; involving “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”; which “abandons democratic liberties”; and “pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing. . . .”​

​

These phrases more readily evoke brownshirts on Kristallnacht than fervent Republicans; writing in Vox, Dylan Matthews draws some useful distinctions.​

​

But consider the predicates of nascent fascism.​

​

Trump relentlessly exploited a sense of decline, humiliation, and victimization among marginalized whites, even as he evoked America’s loss of strength and purity. His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.​

​

Though nothing in America equals the predictive virulence of German anti-Semitism, anger at the racial, societal, and religious other animates a goodly portion of the Republican base. Its loathing of supposedly degenerate liberalism provides another link—as does the desire for authoritarian leadership to restore their chosen hierarchy.​

​

Perhaps most salient is the attack on reality itself. “Post-truth,” writes Timothy Snyder, “is pre-fascism.” Hitler castigated the media as “enemies of the people”; so does Trump and, often, his party. Like the avatars of fascism, Republicans increasingly trumpet mendacious propaganda—including about voter fraud.​

​

Classical fascism conditions its followers to accept “the big lie” which unifies their discontents and justifies their leaders’ actions. So, in 2020, did the GOP.​

​

Granted that the big Republican lie did not equal Hitler’s poisonous assertion that perfidious Jews stabbed Germany in the back. But the GOP’s lie to its base was, nonetheless, breathtakingly ambitious: that an unfathomable conspiracy involving thousands of state and local officials and judges, many Republicans, had stolen the presidency from Donald Trump—from them.​

​

To believe this, one must not only distrust an electoral system dispersed across 50 states and countless localities—and everyone in it—but reject an overwhelming amount of easily available evidence and the dictates of common sense. Yet most Republicans did just that. In their collective mind, the GOP was cheated by perfidious forces, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. The dangerous myth of political dispossession is now embedded in the Republican narrative. ...​

The GOP’s ‘Pre-Fascist’ DNA

The term “fascist” is too often thrown around carelessly—but it can be helpful in explaining the direction of the Republican party.

thebulwark.com

Goodness grief, what a bunch of tripe.

I am Conservative. I am all about Freedom, the Constitution, Capitalism, rule of Law, and Equal Opportunity for all.

Ironically, although your post attempts to convey what Conservatives believe, it is far from it, and it actually exposes the twisted thoughts that go through your own mind.

 

[MarcATL]

It does. I just take issue with settling it on "party" rather than its actual instigator, who is named again and again right there in the story. My only issue is that it paints with too broad a brush and thus diffuses its own excellent points. I'd prefer to just call it what it is rather than hide it behind "parties".

As true as that may be, the party in question has had these fascistic tendencies, leanings and policies for a long time before he-that-shall-not-be-named ever came on the political scene.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

No, the GOP is not a fascist party. But it is demonstrating nascent fascist markers.

Robert O. Paxton, in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, provides these hallmarks: “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”; involving “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”; which “abandons democratic liberties”; and “pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing. . . .”​

​

These phrases more readily evoke brownshirts on Kristallnacht than fervent Republicans; writing in Vox, Dylan Matthews draws some useful distinctions.​

​

But consider the predicates of nascent fascism.​

​

Trump relentlessly exploited a sense of decline, humiliation, and victimization among marginalized whites, even as he evoked America’s loss of strength and purity. His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.​

​

Though nothing in America equals the predictive virulence of German anti-Semitism, anger at the racial, societal, and religious other animates a goodly portion of the Republican base. Its loathing of supposedly degenerate liberalism provides another link—as does the desire for authoritarian leadership to restore their chosen hierarchy.​

​

Perhaps most salient is the attack on reality itself. “Post-truth,” writes Timothy Snyder, “is pre-fascism.” Hitler castigated the media as “enemies of the people”; so does Trump and, often, his party. Like the avatars of fascism, Republicans increasingly trumpet mendacious propaganda—including about voter fraud.​

​

Classical fascism conditions its followers to accept “the big lie” which unifies their discontents and justifies their leaders’ actions. So, in 2020, did the GOP.​

​

Granted that the big Republican lie did not equal Hitler’s poisonous assertion that perfidious Jews stabbed Germany in the back. But the GOP’s lie to its base was, nonetheless, breathtakingly ambitious: that an unfathomable conspiracy involving thousands of state and local officials and judges, many Republicans, had stolen the presidency from Donald Trump—from them.​

​

To believe this, one must not only distrust an electoral system dispersed across 50 states and countless localities—and everyone in it—but reject an overwhelming amount of easily available evidence and the dictates of common sense. Yet most Republicans did just that. In their collective mind, the GOP was cheated by perfidious forces, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. The dangerous myth of political dispossession is now embedded in the Republican narrative. ...​

The GOP’s ‘Pre-Fascist’ DNA

The term “fascist” is too often thrown around carelessly—but it can be helpful in explaining the direction of the Republican party.

thebulwark.com

Fascists are leftists there Heinreich.

This is a lie, as ignorant as it is wrong.

Fascism is on the right side of the political spectrum .

 

[Pogo]

His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.

This is an excellent point for impeachment managers -- that Rump's actions of 1/6 were not the first such occurrence. He publicly exhorted mobs in Michigan and I believe Minnesota which, while they didn't escalate to the level of 1/6, were prior attempts at the same thing. And I believe there was also a similar plot against the governor of Virginia. Matter of fact after the Michigan plot was spoiled Rump infamously offered little support except to the terrorists.

These are the waste products of that sort of fascism.

 

[Pogo]

It does. I just take issue with settling it on "party" rather than its actual instigator, who is named again and again right there in the story. My only issue is that it paints with too broad a brush and thus diffuses its own excellent points. I'd prefer to just call it what it is rather than hide it behind "parties".

As true as that may be, the party in question has had these fascistic tendencies, leanings and policies for a long time before he-that-shall-not-be-named ever came on the political scene.

And to the extent they allow it, condone it, vote along with it, give it tours of the Capitol, perpetuate its mythology, make its sideswiping of cars on the freeway into a joke, allow its figurehead to run amok, they deserve every criticism for letting it in there. That was a CHOICE.

I'm just saying, spreading it out to "the Republican Party" rather than laying it at the feet of its progenitor, clouds the issue of what it is and whence it comes. And no entity needs to know that more, than the party itself.

 

[jbrownson0831]

No, the GOP is not a fascist party. But it is demonstrating nascent fascist markers.

Robert O. Paxton, in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, provides these hallmarks: “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”; involving “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”; which “abandons democratic liberties”; and “pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing. . . .”​

​

These phrases more readily evoke brownshirts on Kristallnacht than fervent Republicans; writing in Vox, Dylan Matthews draws some useful distinctions.​

​

But consider the predicates of nascent fascism.​

​

Trump relentlessly exploited a sense of decline, humiliation, and victimization among marginalized whites, even as he evoked America’s loss of strength and purity. His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.​

​

Though nothing in America equals the predictive virulence of German anti-Semitism, anger at the racial, societal, and religious other animates a goodly portion of the Republican base. Its loathing of supposedly degenerate liberalism provides another link—as does the desire for authoritarian leadership to restore their chosen hierarchy.​

​

Perhaps most salient is the attack on reality itself. “Post-truth,” writes Timothy Snyder, “is pre-fascism.” Hitler castigated the media as “enemies of the people”; so does Trump and, often, his party. Like the avatars of fascism, Republicans increasingly trumpet mendacious propaganda—including about voter fraud.​

​

Classical fascism conditions its followers to accept “the big lie” which unifies their discontents and justifies their leaders’ actions. So, in 2020, did the GOP.​

​

Granted that the big Republican lie did not equal Hitler’s poisonous assertion that perfidious Jews stabbed Germany in the back. But the GOP’s lie to its base was, nonetheless, breathtakingly ambitious: that an unfathomable conspiracy involving thousands of state and local officials and judges, many Republicans, had stolen the presidency from Donald Trump—from them.​

​

To believe this, one must not only distrust an electoral system dispersed across 50 states and countless localities—and everyone in it—but reject an overwhelming amount of easily available evidence and the dictates of common sense. Yet most Republicans did just that. In their collective mind, the GOP was cheated by perfidious forces, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. The dangerous myth of political dispossession is now embedded in the Republican narrative. ...​

The GOP’s ‘Pre-Fascist’ DNA

The term “fascist” is too often thrown around carelessly—but it can be helpful in explaining the direction of the Republican party.

thebulwark.com

Fascists are leftists there Heinreich.

This is a lie, as ignorant as it is wrong.

Fascism is on the right side of the political spectrum .

Baloney there Himmler....no wonder you libbers are so confused.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

ROFL

The democrats are a full blown Nazi Reich, and you post this moronic shit?

The left is in full blown totalitarian mode and tyrannical. Its comical how they always project their own nefarious corrupt activities.

This fails as a red herring fallacy.

The thread is about fascism and the GOP.

 

[jbrownson0831]

ROFL

The democrats are a full blown Nazi Reich, and you post this moronic shit?

The left is in full blown totalitarian mode and tyrannical. Its comical how they always project their own nefarious corrupt activities.

This fails as a red herring fallacy.

The thread is about fascism and the GOP.

And the leftist goosesteppers.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

ROFL

The democrats are a full blown Nazi Reich, and you post this moronic shit?

The left is in full blown totalitarian mode and tyrannical. Its comical how they always project their own nefarious corrupt activities.

This fails as a red herring fallacy.

The thread is about fascism and the GOP.

There is no fascism and the GOP. Your post fails again. You can't even follow logical critical thought where a variant refers back to the main topic. Unreal.

 

[MarcATL]

And to the extent they allow it, condone it, vote along with it, give it tours of the Capitol, perpetuate its mythology, make its sideswiping of cars on the freeway into a joke, allow its figurehead to run amok, they deserve every criticism for letting it in there. That was a CHOICE.

I'm just saying, spreading it out to "the Republican Party" rather than laying it at the feet of its progenitor, clouds the issue of what it is and whence it comes.

Amen! Preach!

 

[bodecea]

ROFL

The democrats are a full blown Nazi Reich, and you post this moronic shit?

Nazi....now mention Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao....as you always do.

 

[bodecea]

ROFL

The democrats are a full blown Nazi Reich, and you post this moronic shit?

The left is in full blown totalitarian mode and tyrannical. Its comical how they always project their own nefarious corrupt activities.

This fails as a red herring fallacy.

The thread is about fascism and the GOP.

There is no fascism and the GOP. Your post fails again. You can't even follow logical critical thought where a variant refers back to the main topic. Unreal.

Some good people:

 

[bodecea]

No, the GOP is not a fascist party. But it is demonstrating nascent fascist markers.

Robert O. Paxton, in his 2004 book The Anatomy of Fascism, provides these hallmarks: “obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”; involving “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”; which “abandons democratic liberties”; and “pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing. . . .”​

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These phrases more readily evoke brownshirts on Kristallnacht than fervent Republicans; writing in Vox, Dylan Matthews draws some useful distinctions.​

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But consider the predicates of nascent fascism.​

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Trump relentlessly exploited a sense of decline, humiliation, and victimization among marginalized whites, even as he evoked America’s loss of strength and purity. His supporters’ “redemptive violence” at our capital was preceded in Michigan, as one example, by armed incursion the state legislature and an abortive effort to kidnap and execute the governor. While claiming to protect democracy, the GOP persistently undermines the right of disfavored groups to vote.​

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Though nothing in America equals the predictive virulence of German anti-Semitism, anger at the racial, societal, and religious other animates a goodly portion of the Republican base. Its loathing of supposedly degenerate liberalism provides another link—as does the desire for authoritarian leadership to restore their chosen hierarchy.​

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Perhaps most salient is the attack on reality itself. “Post-truth,” writes Timothy Snyder, “is pre-fascism.” Hitler castigated the media as “enemies of the people”; so does Trump and, often, his party. Like the avatars of fascism, Republicans increasingly trumpet mendacious propaganda—including about voter fraud.​

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Classical fascism conditions its followers to accept “the big lie” which unifies their discontents and justifies their leaders’ actions. So, in 2020, did the GOP.​

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Granted that the big Republican lie did not equal Hitler’s poisonous assertion that perfidious Jews stabbed Germany in the back. But the GOP’s lie to its base was, nonetheless, breathtakingly ambitious: that an unfathomable conspiracy involving thousands of state and local officials and judges, many Republicans, had stolen the presidency from Donald Trump—from them.​

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To believe this, one must not only distrust an electoral system dispersed across 50 states and countless localities—and everyone in it—but reject an overwhelming amount of easily available evidence and the dictates of common sense. Yet most Republicans did just that. In their collective mind, the GOP was cheated by perfidious forces, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president. The dangerous myth of political dispossession is now embedded in the Republican narrative. ...​

The GOP’s ‘Pre-Fascist’ DNA

The term “fascist” is too often thrown around carelessly—but it can be helpful in explaining the direction of the Republican party.

thebulwark.com

Fascists are leftists there Heinreich.

This is a lie, as ignorant as it is wrong.

Fascism is on the right side of the political spectrum .

Baloney there Himmler....no wonder you libbers are so confused.

Why aren't rightwing white males reining in the terrorists among them?