somehow every doctrinaire ancap worshipper of Mises and company fail to mention that quote in between their exhortations about the NAP, soliloquys on gun ownership, and screeds about the uniquely horrible evil that is the income tax, funny that
Oct 31, 2022·edited Oct 31, 2022Liked by John Ganz
Great post. Some questions surfaced for me that I would be interested to see you tackle at some point.
You said: "there are paramilitary groups that have put themselves at the service of Trump." My sense is that right-wing extremist (incl paramilitary) movements are growing, while Trump's place in those movements is declining. However, there is no obvious political successor to Trump in terms of what he represented to those movements. I wonder if this will persist as a patchwork of extremist groups for a while, and whether there are precedents suggesting how it might play out.
The US is so vast and diverse, and actual far right political views are widely unpopular, so I wonder if the consequences of a successful 'semi-fascist' takeover of the federal government (and probably some states) would be a failed state, almost immediately – as in, the US would effectively dissolve. This in contrast to the kinds of unifying nationalistic movements you focus on. CA, for example, is powerful in its own right, and distant from D.C.
"Those who saw from the very beginning in fascism the utter disaster and crime that it actually represented were often either faithful devotees of older traditions or people of unusually perspicacious judgment." Some of like to imagine that we are both. :-)
Having read the Tooze post, which I greatly appreciated, having this complementary take is very helpful. Getting our hands around what this is we confront is crucial.
John, I am new here, but very interested in understanding (and sharing my concerns about) the resurgence (especially in America) of what I am calling "Neo-Fascism" - the old poison in a new red-white-and-blue bottle.
I think your paragraph beginning "To return to the present, let me, once again, summarize what I believe are the pertinent facts of the Trump years ..." is a spot-on description of neo-fascism in America today.
Where I disagree with you is your later comment: "Are they likely, in the present form, to successfully overthrow established liberal democracies in the West? Again, not sure, but probably not."
Despite the dissipation of the dreaded Red Wave in the mid-terms, I think the danger of this "movement" persists, and the great sigh of relief may lead to complacency while the discontent and anger on the right will continue to fester and grow, still fuelled by lies and conspiracies. But with the upcoming Republican battle for Who's-the-Boss, I fear each candidate will appeal more and more to the far right, where Republican primaries are won.
And for the next 2 years we'll be witnessing Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan and Lauren Boebert grabbing headlines with ever more outrageous claims.
Recently on TV a Republican strategist said it was important for her party to hold onto the election-deniers and conspiracy nuts, that the Republicans couldn't win without them.
So this week we can breathe a sigh of relief, yes, but Madeleine Albright wrote (in Fascism: A Warning) that "fascism has always been a latent force in American politics" and I fear that the Republican primaries will stoke that force into even greater fury. The very things you described in the paragraph are still present, and, being frustrated, more dangerous.
Well, for a first post, that's kind of long and rambling and not very academic, but there seem to be few places to discuss the very real danger of fascism (by whatever name) in America today.
I hear jackboots in the Proud Boys; I hear Goebbels in Steve Bannon; I hear the Yeats's "rough beast" in Trump.
People grade on a local curve and (as a Christian preacher was excerpted saying in an old SubGenius tape) 'Believing is seeing!'. Though people in the U. S. very rarely starve, not being able to support your family the way your father could and buy all the stuff that's supposed to make you all happy, and being anxious that it might get worse, will serve. In the absence of noticeable real Communists, milk-and-water social democrats can 'be' the radical Leftists you need them to be.
And of course, proof that the System is hopelessly corrupt and democracy already gone and freedom of speech a dead letter can be as simple as the assertions of people who need you to believe that….
somehow every doctrinaire ancap worshipper of Mises and company fail to mention that quote in between their exhortations about the NAP, soliloquys on gun ownership, and screeds about the uniquely horrible evil that is the income tax, funny that
Great post. Some questions surfaced for me that I would be interested to see you tackle at some point.
You said: "there are paramilitary groups that have put themselves at the service of Trump." My sense is that right-wing extremist (incl paramilitary) movements are growing, while Trump's place in those movements is declining. However, there is no obvious political successor to Trump in terms of what he represented to those movements. I wonder if this will persist as a patchwork of extremist groups for a while, and whether there are precedents suggesting how it might play out.
The US is so vast and diverse, and actual far right political views are widely unpopular, so I wonder if the consequences of a successful 'semi-fascist' takeover of the federal government (and probably some states) would be a failed state, almost immediately – as in, the US would effectively dissolve. This in contrast to the kinds of unifying nationalistic movements you focus on. CA, for example, is powerful in its own right, and distant from D.C.
Good post.
"Those who saw from the very beginning in fascism the utter disaster and crime that it actually represented were often either faithful devotees of older traditions or people of unusually perspicacious judgment." Some of like to imagine that we are both. :-)
Having read the Tooze post, which I greatly appreciated, having this complementary take is very helpful. Getting our hands around what this is we confront is crucial.
John, I am new here, but very interested in understanding (and sharing my concerns about) the resurgence (especially in America) of what I am calling "Neo-Fascism" - the old poison in a new red-white-and-blue bottle.
I think your paragraph beginning "To return to the present, let me, once again, summarize what I believe are the pertinent facts of the Trump years ..." is a spot-on description of neo-fascism in America today.
Where I disagree with you is your later comment: "Are they likely, in the present form, to successfully overthrow established liberal democracies in the West? Again, not sure, but probably not."
Despite the dissipation of the dreaded Red Wave in the mid-terms, I think the danger of this "movement" persists, and the great sigh of relief may lead to complacency while the discontent and anger on the right will continue to fester and grow, still fuelled by lies and conspiracies. But with the upcoming Republican battle for Who's-the-Boss, I fear each candidate will appeal more and more to the far right, where Republican primaries are won.
And for the next 2 years we'll be witnessing Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan and Lauren Boebert grabbing headlines with ever more outrageous claims.
Recently on TV a Republican strategist said it was important for her party to hold onto the election-deniers and conspiracy nuts, that the Republicans couldn't win without them.
So this week we can breathe a sigh of relief, yes, but Madeleine Albright wrote (in Fascism: A Warning) that "fascism has always been a latent force in American politics" and I fear that the Republican primaries will stoke that force into even greater fury. The very things you described in the paragraph are still present, and, being frustrated, more dangerous.
Well, for a first post, that's kind of long and rambling and not very academic, but there seem to be few places to discuss the very real danger of fascism (by whatever name) in America today.
I hear jackboots in the Proud Boys; I hear Goebbels in Steve Bannon; I hear the Yeats's "rough beast" in Trump.
People grade on a local curve and (as a Christian preacher was excerpted saying in an old SubGenius tape) 'Believing is seeing!'. Though people in the U. S. very rarely starve, not being able to support your family the way your father could and buy all the stuff that's supposed to make you all happy, and being anxious that it might get worse, will serve. In the absence of noticeable real Communists, milk-and-water social democrats can 'be' the radical Leftists you need them to be.
And of course, proof that the System is hopelessly corrupt and democracy already gone and freedom of speech a dead letter can be as simple as the assertions of people who need you to believe that….
Your tradition: https://youtu.be/lHGHm8iPeUY