Fascism, real and fake
“Fascism” and “fascist” are popular epithets that have come to mean anything people want them to mean, but they always mean “bad.” Lately Biden and his minions have taken to calling the half of America that doesn’t agree with them – and that supports Trump – fascists. A very dangerous move, and a very purposeful one.
Among other things, “fascist” is not the same as “Nazi,” although most people are more familiar with the latter group than the former, and most people probably equate the two. If you want to know more, here’s an excellent article from 2020 by Angelo Codevilla on the subject of fascism. Fascinating and instructive.
How many people know a thing about this history? Few. How many care? These days, probably very few.
Here are some timely quotes (and remember, this was written back in 2020) [emphasis mine]:
But the fascist state’s legacy proved durable. Fascism had fathered the modern administrative state’s omnicompetent bureaucracy… fascism had habituated Italian politicians to think of power in fascist terms—in terms of control of all that bureaucratic power and patronage…
…[A] little attention is enough to separate Italy’s fascism up to 1935 from Hitler’s National Socialism. Whereas the former understood itself as bound by Italy’s characteristics going back to Roman times, as well as by the Church, and aiming at concrete improvements in the lives of Italians, Nazism was always a purely revolutionary movement, hostile to Germany’s history, reality, and welfare. The race that it purported to represent was a myth that abstracted from real Germans. Nazism’s gods were its own invention. Hitler’s last statement may have been his most telling: “The German people were not worthy of me.” That is not nationalism. The Nazis never called themselves fascist. The fascists wanted a place in the sun for Italy. The Nazis acted as if they were the sun…
In short, fascism was a reality limited to Italy. But fascist Italy was first to enact the disempowerment of legislatures and the empowerment of the administrative state that is now the Western world’s standard of government.
That’s something to mull over.
As is this, in terms of the Biden administration’s offensive against the right:
Stalin elaborated the doctrine of “social fascism” which, verbiage aside, meant that Communists should consider all to the right of them—essentially all who were not under Communist discipline—as “fascists.”…
For that claim to have force outside of the Stalinist canaille, for it to migrate into modern Western society’s bloodstream, it had to be translated into pseudo-academic form. The book The Authoritarian Personality (1950), by the Communist Theodor Adorno and researchers working at the University of California, Berkeley, began doing that by popularizing a test that purports to correlate personality traits with fascism—that is, Adorno’s F-scale (F for fascist)… The test’s fraudulence is based on the presumption that its author—not the historical record—may rightly define a historical phenomenon. The moment you have assumed the power to say what fascism, or anything, is—the moment you have taken it upon yourself to redefine reality—you may then correlate the work of your hands to anything else. And it helps if you also define that something else. The scam’s circularity is obvious—unless you’re part of it.
And this from Codevilla’s 2020 essay is a reminder – if anyone needs reminding – that the use of “fascist” by Democrats to describe and define and label the right for both silencing and retribution is nothing new (“Bushitler,” anyone?):
…[E]stablishmentarians, confident that nobody wants to be governed by fascists, now justify their claim to power and privilege just as orthodox Stalinists do: “it’s us or the fascists!” Wanting to de-legitimize their conservative opponents, they call them fascists, then define what conservatives think and do as fascism. Or they run the scam in reverse: define fascism in terms of the things their least favorite people do, and then define those things as fascism. Conservatives are fascists. Get it?
Got it.
We really ought to retire both terms. Since 1945, the one place in the world where you have had political movements which map well to features of inter-war fascism has been the Near East. You could make the case for a few Latin American political parties, but only one that came into office (in which its conduct has not been fascist at all). It’s been fashionable to use ‘Marxist’ and ;communist’ on boards like these, but that’s a misnomer as well. The closest thing to what the Democratic Party aspires to day would be Mexico’s PRI between 1929 and 1983.
Great article by Codevilla, everyone should read it. A lot of important 20th century history that most are unaware of, including me prior to reading it.
Actually, the Hitler Party didn’t call themselves Nazis. The Left did. The German historian of Hitler and his times Rainer Zitelmann eschews the term. Author of “Hitler: Policies of Seduction”. (See interview here https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/ranier-zeitelmann )
“The closest thing to what the Democratic Party aspires to day would be Mexico’s PRI between 1929 and 1983.”
And the idea they could establish something like that in 2020s United States is maybe the dumbest thing ever in politics.
Mike
When it comes to the derogatory language that is currently being deployed by the current administration to describe Americans who disagree with them, my question is does this work? Does applying the lable of “fascist” to Trump supporters actually scare moderate/low information voters away from voting for conservative candidates in large numbers?
Obviously Biden and his minions believe tarring conservatives with the “fascist” brush will be effective otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. But of course they’re not exactly the brightest lot. I guess I’d have to understand what moderate/low information voters think they know about the term “fascist” to gage that.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/09/01/white-house-trump-supporters-are-an-extreme-threat-to-our-democracy-n1626036
I assume Neo or Ann Althouse or Jonathan Turley will take one for the team and watch Biden’s speech today, which is shaping up to be perfectly grisly.
I noticed she didn’t use the “F” word there. So does that mean its use by the regime has already been depreciated? I guess we’ll see if Biden uses it in his blathering later today,
Biden’s speech tonight isn’t about persuasion, it’s intent is almost certainly provocative. He’s looking for an excuse to harass and intimidate people who didn’t vote for him, and if his speech provokes the foaming-at-the-mouth crazies to go out and riot violently he and Garland are more than OK with that.
“if his speech provokes the foaming-at-the-mouth crazies to go out and riot violently he and Garland are more than OK with that.”
The risk is that the election is just two months away. If the crazies don’t take the bait, Biden is going to basically antagonize the majority of people who already don’t like him.
But that’s where we are in America. We’re in the “failed state” stage of things where the people in charge are just scrambling to get past the current crisis of the moment.
Mike
Nonapod:
I can only speak for myself, but I think it definitely works for some people, who have been saying for a long time that Trump is a fascist and his supporters are therefore fascist-supporters and therefore fascists – or “semi-fascists” (unlike Biden, they don’t say “semi,” but that’s what I believe his speechwriters were playing to). January 6th was the opportunity they took to drive that narrative home, and most everyone I know believes it was a fascist insurrection driven by white supremacists.
Even at the beginning of Trump’s term there was the demonization of MAGA and especially MAGA hats as almost like swastikas as symbols of racism, hate, and therefore fascism.
I think that Antifa thuggery in Portland and elsewhere in 2020 and 2021 also contributed to the use of “fascist” as a code word for “deplorables,” as the name “Antifa” is an abbreviation of Antifaschistische Aktion, a militant group that was started by the German Communist Party in the last years of the Weimar Republic. According to an article in Jacobin, “Antifascism has surged to the fore of debates on the American left under Trump’s presidency, and many of the tactics and visual styles of the German Antifa can be seen emerging in cities like Berkeley and elsewhere. Some argue that with the arrival of European-style neo-fascist movements on American shores, it is also time to import European Antifa tactics in response.”
The full article on “The Lost History of Antifa” is long but can be read here:
https://jacobin.com/2017/05/antifascist-movements-hitler-nazis-kpd-spd-germany-cold-war
Never take what the left says at face value; they use words, not to clarify or enhance communication, but to muddle and confuse it. They really don’t care what a fascist or racist or sexist is, it’s just a blunt instrument to them.
Oh, how I miss Codevilla!
Nonapod: I don’t think the goal is so much to scare moderate voters to not vote for conservative candidates. I think the goal is to eliminate any public arguments in favor of conservative positions. That goes for politicians as well as voters. The aim is to make a direct connection between Trump and the worst monsters in history. Then do the same with Trump’s policies and anyone who supports them, even if they don’t support Trump the man. That leaves us with only set of political positions that are considered acceptable in “polite” society, and game over. A bonus is they get to gaslight us by saying that we are the ones who threaten “democracy”.
Othering is evil. Always.
I think the goal is to eliminate any public arguments in favor of conservative positions. That goes for politicians as well as voters.
They’re trying to do that by having social media companies throttle public discussion, prosecuting Trump aides &c. A dose of demagogy from a dementia patient isn’t going to assist in that endeavour. If you need to send talking points to the media, there are subtler ways to do it.
I have a suspicion that this may be just where the billiard balls have rolled to in an administration run by a pick up team. May be no real plan to it, just the office politics to the moment.
“Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.” Benito Mussolini
The above definition of fascism is Mussolini’s (a former communist), the father of fascism. His definition would conform nicely with the theology of communism and indeed, the economic policies of FDR (which were praised by Mussolini and also in the official Nazi Party newspaper).
FDR’s advisor, Rex Tugwell said of Italian fascism: “It’s the cleanest, neatest, most efficiently operating piece of social machinery I’ve ever seen. It makes me envious,” adding that, “I find Italy doing many of the things which seem to me necessary … Mussolini certainly has the same people opposed to him as FDR has.”
And today’s demokrat party would be besides themselves with joy if they could impose FDR-like economic policies once again.
I do not know who decided to define the Nazi’s as fascists, because they defined themselves as the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, which came out of the German Workers Socialist Party. The Nazis were socialists and they made no bones about it.
The Nazi’s, Mussolini, the Russians and FDR all hated capitalism, perhaps for different reasons, and believed that all economic activity should be in support of and controlled by the state, if not outright owned (i.e., communism) by the state.
Regardless of how one defines the policies of the above, they all have in common contempt for “individualism” in matters economic and the belief
that experts within a centralized govt should impose the ground rules and govern all economic activity.
Of course the danger in this – in addition to the permanent economic malaise it will produce – is the centralization of all economic and political power within the government; an open door for the imposition of a totalitarian govt.
This latter point conforms with the political theology of the demokrat party; a party that despises the US Constitution (beginning with Woodrow Wilson) and the limitations it imposes upon federal powers.
Barry HUSSEIN Ocommie said it best; “the constitution is a charter of negative liberties.”
Obama, still the shining light atop the mountain for all demonkrats, let the cat out of the bag with this comment.
Art Deco : I was debating whether to watch the speech in real time VS catching highlights later. Amazingly it looks like the networks are not carrying it. The recommended way to view is on the White House You Tube channel! Someone must have figured out this speech is not helping their cause.
looking for a more selective audience, of course the fact that even 40% if that number is legit, can spring for this dumpsterfire is discouraging,
“The Law of Corporations of April 3, 1926, codified this political-economic order. No longer would corporations be responsible to owners. Thenceforth, they would answer to higher duties as defined in the law.” Angelo M. Codevilla
“the U.S. federal government is implementing ESG — essentially a “social credit score” for corporations pressuring them to adopt uber-woke policies. ESG-pushing companies like BlackRock have successfully pushed many corporations far to the Left.”
“the power to define anything any way you like, and to pin any label on anyone you dislike, absolves you from having to explain your words’ relationship to reality. All you have to explain is how urgent it is to exclude from polite society whoever disagrees with you. Angelo M. Codevilla
Upon this, lies the left’s dominance in determining the narrative.
“Wanting to de-legitimize their conservative opponents, they call them fascists, then define what conservatives think and do as fascism.” … “an alliance of hardline and moderate conservatives…a campaign to convert the working classes to nationalism, to make them angry and violent, to convince them that they’ve been betrayed by their global-elite leaders.” Angelo M. Codevilla
Ronald Reagan put the lie to that leftist characterization in a Dec. 14, 1975 interview with Mike Wallace on CBS’s 60 Minutes by succinctly and accurately defining fascism;
“You know someone very profoundly once said, many years ago, that if fascism ever comes to America it will come in name of liberalism.
And what is fascism? Fascism is private ownership, private enterprise but total government control and regulation. Well, isn’t this the liberal philosophy?
The conservative so-called, is the one that says less government, get off my back, get out of my pocket, and let me have more control of my own destiny.” [my emphasis]
“But what is the point of repeating from society’s commanding heights that the ruling class’s opponents are fascists, fascistizing, near-fascists, Nazis, white supremacists, racists, and so forth?
Today, those words mean simply that those so indicted have no right to challenge the ruling class. Whatever they do in that regard is illegitimate. Whatever may be done to quash them is legitimate, because it involves saving all things decent.” Angelo M. Codevilla
“So indicted” are the key words because they are a euphemism for already convicted by their opposition and, right there is the justification and legitimization for the gulag and ultimately the killing fields…
Everyone here, by expressing their points of view, which are in opposition to those of the left are already convicted of opposing “all things decent”.
“our liberal, or formerly liberal, ruling class’s claim exclusively to embody enlightenment and righteousness, its taste for humbling those outside itself, is our time’s predominant reality. That claim, that taste, are impervious to reason.” Angelo M. Codevilla
[my emphasis]
Codevilla points out the central factor in Federal Gov. Agency’s corruption and politicization; “German sociologist Robert Michels… argued that any and all human organizations, regardless of their ostensible purpose or structure, end up serving the interests of their leaders.”
Then points to the primary factor in the Western global elite’s motivation; “Lord Acton’s dictum that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, as well as the Book of Genesis’s illustration of pride as the origin of sin.
“If we succeed, and there’s a very good chance we will, then very soon, we will be beyond the God of the Bible.” Yuval Noah Harari
Nature’s God of course has the power of life and death and the authority to wield it as he chooses.
“Whatever shall we do with all these useless people?” Yuval Noah Harari, lead WEF advisor to Klaus Schwab
Biden’s fascist thesis goes something like this. The MAGA people don’t respect the “will of the people” because they protested the 2020 election. They also believe in political violence because they stormed the Capitol on Jan.6th. He and Patty Murray claim that the MAGA believers are anti-democracy and that “democracy is on the ballot” in the November election. For people who get their news from the MSM this adds up. Fascists don’t believe in democracy, and they claim the MAGA crowd doesn’t either. Ergo, they are fascists.
But, of course, Mussolini’s definition of fascism, as noted by John Tyler, (“Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.”) is much closer to the philosophy of the Democrat party. They love big government, they love centralized command, they hate free enterprise, they do resort to political violence (Antifa, BLM, bombing anti-abortion clinics, threatening Supreme Court justices, etc.), and they have totalitarian impulses. (Lockdowns, vaccine mandates, unilaterally declaring what kind of car you can buy, etc.) No fascist has ever been for limited government, lower government spending, lower taxes, free speech, a free press, and freedom of association. All democratic ideas which are espoused by the Republican party. I hope the Republicans can craft messages to the voters to make that clear.
It’s worth pointing out that, “the disempowerment of legislatures and the empowerment of the administrative state” can be reversed. An act of Congress and Presidential approval can instantly disembowel and intern the administrative state. They’re bureaucrats and only the imprimatur of law gives them any power.
Failing that, politics by ‘other’ means is the final corrective to any form of tyranny.
Geoffery B: “Whatever shall we do with all these useless people?” Yuval Noah Harari, lead WEF advisor to Klaus Schwab.
Ha, if they get their way and implement all green energy, many bodies will be needed to pump stationary bicycles that turn the generators when the intermittent energy goes down. Think about it – useful work and physical fitness all rolled up into a mass industry. 🙂 Harrai would love this idea. It would be useful in keeping the lights on in the elite’s abodes.
Didn’t FDR admire Il Duce and use his policies as a model for his his New Deal policies?
The lefts use of terms like fascist and Nazi goes back at least to Reagan
@Nonapod: Obviously Biden and his minions believe tarring conservatives with the “fascist” brush will be effective otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it.
Repulsive and inherently dangerous though this kind of thing is, I think Biden’s recent Hate Speeches are mostly a quite stupid GOTV effort. This administration is already so toxic to so many Americans that it’s hard to imagine Biden’s Hate Speeches will appeal to more than the True Believers and maybe a few other LIVs and hangers-on. If Trump voters were “shy” before, just wait.
Question for Neo and commenters: Is anyone listening to Biden’s speech? Will there be a thread for analysis and discussion later?
Biden: “I will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost.”
Sounds like he’ll be gunning* for Stacey Abrams come November.
*Trigger warning
I have Biden on now. He looks strangely green on the internet feed. Green Man Bad. The speech is a mix of clichés and demagoguery. Red meat for Democrat activists, but not likely to convince anyone who isn’t convinced already.
“They embrace anger, they thrive on chaos, they live not in the light of truth, but in the shadow of lies.”
Says the shouting liar who’s created chaos.
I will say that they must have drugged him really well. He doesn’t seem to be making the blunders and gaffes that make him so entertaining.
JJ,
“Ha, if they get their way and implement all green energy, many bodies will be needed to pump stationary bicycles that turn the generators when the intermittent energy goes down.”
Setting aside the perhaps not unlikely scenario of The Matrix’s human beings used as batteries by the future WEF Elite, I’m dead certain that they have no intention whatsoever of giving up the means of energy production necessary to their deserved luxuries. Evidenced by not just their continued use of travel by private jet but that nuclear power is the only practicable means of powering their fantastical “Line City”.
It is we who must eat bugs to ‘save’ the planet… not they.
@ Sgt Friday > “if his speech provokes the foaming-at-the-mouth crazies to go out and riot violently he and Garland are more than OK with that.”
And if there aren’t any legitimate MAGA groups handy, they’ll bring their own team.
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2022/08/30/leaked-patriot-front-video-shows-the-members-training-for-war/
Feel free to fisk at will.
Mine is here.
https://www.thenewneo.com/2022/08/30/biden-will-be-speaking-on-thursday-about-the-soul-of-the-nation/#comment-2640358
One thing I didn’t point out in that comment is that no one LEAKS a video where the observers of the guys doing the fighting exercises (1) outnumber them; (2) stand in parade formation in full “uniform” (such as it is); (3) holding large American flags, which would NOT be brought out for a training event unless they were expecting to be seen.
False flag preparations to the max, IMO.
Speaking of false flag events leads me to hoaxes leads me to this excerpt of an interview of Victor Davis Hanson.
Comedy gold.
https://notthebee.com/article/victor-davis-hansons-description-of-the-jussie-smollett-case-is-hilarious-accurate-and-belongs-in-the-history-books
Commentary by Doc Zero channeling his inner Hayek:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1564963780341161984.html
“Whatever shall we do with all these useless people?” Yuval Noah Harari…
I googled that one and found it wasn’t some old-school fascist going on about “useless eaters.”
Harari’s point is that AI and automation will eventually put most people out of work. Then what?
Frankly it looks that way to me too, though I would never apply the word “useless” to human beings.
Great post. Codevilla’s article is also great.
“The Fascism of tomorrow will never say ‘I am Fascism.’ It will say: ‘I am anti-Fascism.'” —Ignazio Silone, ex-Communist