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The debates about generic fascism and whether or not Trump or Trumpism is/are definitionally fascist are tedious and useless 1/
I’ve never been of the school of thought that fascism is limited to Italy and frankly think it’s ridiculous to refrain from calling a movement that is militaristic, racist, based in cult of personality, populism, nationalism, anxiety, and violence--so much violence--fascist 2/
But fine: white nationalism, far right extremist nationalism, nativism, populism, [insert term here ______]: IT EXISTS. It's today. It’s here. It's in Pennsylvania. It's in Michigan. It's in Georgia. It’s in the capitol 3/
This was defining for me today 4/ https://twitter.com/AdamSerwer/status/1346917168236130311?s=20
Many smarter and more qualified people than me OUGHT to be coming up with ways to address this politically and legislatively 5/
From an academic standpoint: there is no reason people shouldn’t be studying fascism/far right extremism/nativism/etc. as an integral piece of modern Europe, the US, the Caribbean, India, Japan, on and on 6/
These movements and these people aren’t just randomly surging forth violently into public spaces every 30 some odd years or so 7/
They come out of a deeply rooted ideological and discursive heritage that--shocker--even if you’re not a fascist you can know, learn, study, and recognize 8/
. @kathleen_belew does this perhaps the best 9/ https://twitter.com/kathleen_belew/status/1346915896602800128?s=20
tldr: there’s POWER in the knowing, in being able to recognize the long heritage of white supremacy, nationalism, fascism, identify it, point to it, shine a light on the people mobilizing it and maybe doing something about it 10/10
ps: I wrote for @africasacountry about knowing what Stephen Miller was the moment I heard the text of Trump’s American Carnage speech here. It's a "fun" trick, you can learn it too: https://africasacountry.com/2019/03/camp-of-the-saints
