Let's talk about Trump and the fascist aesthetic. Read this article from 2016: https://inthesetimes.com/article/18807/donald-trump-and-the-aesthetics-of-fascism

"His media strategists are masters at detaching meaning from fact, making words accountable only to themselves and how loudly they’re shrieked."

Read @jasonintrator's How Fascism Works
The fascist aesthetic is based on:

-us/them polarization
-romanticizing a distant past
-anti-intellectualism
-unreality
-hierarchy
-victimhood
-law & order
-violence

Look again at this image.

It's presented in black and white. Things are stark, but clear. There is no complexity.

Trump looks at you, the viewer in the eye. He's a straight talker. His eyebrows signal intensity. His gaze is strong, confident.

Trump's hand points to you. He's addressing you with his gaze and his hands. His hand forms a gun. He's a straight shooter. He's fighting for you.

The text reads, "In reality they're not after me, they're after you. I'm just in the way."

The apparent is not the actual. Trump sees clearly. He can explain the complicated with simplicity. Note the "they" versus "you." They--the elite swamp in Washington, media, academics, etc. Anyone who is against Trump is automatically part of the corrupt establishment.

There can be no other understanding. There are no legitimate criticisms of Trump. Trump is pure, they are corrupt. Which side are you on? Trump is on your side so you should be on his.

It's a conspiracist frame based on polarization that positions Trump as hero.

You know that Trump is your hero because he stares at you. He points to you. He tells you that he is the only thing that's standing in the way between them and you. Trump is your only protection, your only hope. He's your hero.

But he's also a victim. He is sacrificing for you.

Because he sacrifices for you, you owe him. You owe him your support, your vote, your devotion. In return you will deify Trump, you will treat him like a god. Martyr him for his sacrifice for you. He's the only thing that stands between you and them.

You and him are victims of this conspiracy, but together you're strong. Together you will maintain law and order.

By supporting Trump against the false conspiracy that is really against you, not him, you enable Trump to keep fighting for you.

Trump is a fighter. He isn't irrationally aggressive, but only a "counter-puncher" who attacks those who attack him and his people first. His violence is justified. His violence is pure. His violence is for you, to protect himself so that he can defend you.

This is Trump's fascist aesthetic.

As the article above explains, the way to break up the fascist aesthetic is to complexify it, to show the spectacle for what it is. Maybe as you've read this you've thought that I was reading too much here, making too much of what is simple.

"The left has a rich and vibrant history of using art, music, literature and performance to gain critical distance, to question why life is the way it is, to make it weird, unfamiliar, anarchic and atonal so that we might see just how little our present condition makes sense."

To fight the fascist aesthetic you have to make what is presented as simple, weird. Weirdify.

The fascist aesthetic presents the world as black and white, simple. But that simplicity is a lie. Show how the lie works and is constructed. Show how the lie benefits the fascist.

The new fascist aesthetic works to make us all propagandists: you are scared, but the message tells you not to waiver. It promises you safety if you show your devotion to Trump. You can show your devotion by sharing his message.
You do, spreading his propaganda for him, for you.

Trump's fascist aesthetic is perfectly matched for the moment, perfectly matched for the social media mandates of attention and engagement. Don't discount its power.

Disrupt. Explain. Weirdify.

It isn't enough just to call what Trump does "fascist." Part of the fascist aesthetic is to reverse the meanings of words, so that what was bad (i.e. "deplorable") is now a positive unifier.

Don't just say "that's fascist." Disrupt, explain, weirdify.

And, I should note that the fascist aesthetic is what I've been calling "infowarrior" politics. It's asymmetrical in every way with "normie" politics. When you wonder why reporters aren't able to hold Trump accountable, it's because he's a fascist, not a politician.

Here is an example for folks who are asking: https://twitter.com/jenmercieca/status/1208061370866053122?s=21