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In a recent essay, @TimothyDSnyder relies on his background as a scholar of Eastern European history to craft a narrative that affixes blame for America’s present dystopia upon only a portion of the culpable and wholly absolves others of wrongdoing https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/magazine/trump-coup.html 1/
Snyder relies on his academic credentials to insure that his readers accept his assertions at face value. This amounts to argumentum ad verecundiam (appeal to authority) — a logical fallacy. 2/
When Snyder discusses fascism, we’re meant to picture Hitler and Mussolini’s jackbooted thugs. He conveniently neglects the fact that the jackboots merely enforced the fascist paradigm. The crux of fascism is not carceral, it’s economic. 3/
As summarized by Mussolini’s ghost writer Giovanni Gentile, “Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.” https://truthout.org/articles/no-actually-this-is-what-a-fascist-looks-like/ As a tenured professor of history, Snyder is well aware of this distinction. 4/
Snyder seems to have tapped into a niche market: “If you’re a liberal freaked out by Trump, Snyder is the dark prophet you’ve been waiting for. If you tend to believe that the worst might happen, Snyder is here to confirm your fears.” https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-bleak-prophecy-of-timothy-snyder/ 5/
Wholly absent from Snyder’s analysis: The US descent into fascism (corporatism) began 40+ years ago with the embrace of neoliberal economics. Going back even further in our history, FDR’s Vice President Henry A. Wallace issued a prescient warning
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