Damn. Now I have to read that Ellmers piece. In addition to Arendt, Agamben wrote about what we might call "democracy by acclamation," which is clearly the territory we're in here. Formal categories of citizenship no longer matter, what matters is clamorous and enthusiastic collective assent to the will of a sovereign, especially one who clearly decides on friends and enemies. Definitely fascist.
Another example is Bill Barr's insistance that secularists (like me) are not capable of participating in a democracy:
"in the framers' view, free government was only suitable and sustainable for a religious people."
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-law-school-and-de-nicola-center-ethics
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/19/william-barr-attorney-general-catholic-conservative-speech
Damn. Now I have to read that Ellmers piece. In addition to Arendt, Agamben wrote about what we might call "democracy by acclamation," which is clearly the territory we're in here. Formal categories of citizenship no longer matter, what matters is clamorous and enthusiastic collective assent to the will of a sovereign, especially one who clearly decides on friends and enemies. Definitely fascist.