Trump’s foreign policy has one purpose: profit. His trade war is celebrated as “Liberation Day”—and as an investment opportunity for his billionaire buddies. #FascistPlaybook
Trump is setting up a new social order, including hotlines where government employees, schools, and the public can report anyone who threatens that order, be it “woke culture warriors” or “illegal aliens.”
Every fascist turns the state into a weapon to destroy his opponents. While he places himself above the law and rewards loyalists with impunity, the fascist claims the power to punish people he deems criminal. In this way, he destroys the rule of law without ever formally abolishing it.
Mussolini did this by capturing the legal profession. Hitler had an uncanny capacity for sensing the potential weakness in every formal form of law and then exploiting that weakness. #FascistPlaybook
Every fascist pits rural against urban. Country life symbolizes the traditional, honest, hardworking man, while cities must be cleared of lazy, leftist radicals with their depraved ideas on gender, diversity, and inclusion. The Nazis saw farmers, for instance, as the “bearers of a healthy folkish heredity, the fountain of youth of the people, and the backbone of military power.” #FascistPlaybook
Every fascist separates people into hardworking citizens and freeloaders. That division fuels the idea that opponents are inferior and lazy by nature, and therefore don’t deserve a proper place in society. Hardworking citizens are sorely needed, while the others—the intellectual elite, lazy state employees, people on welfare or disability—are not. “Arbeit macht frei” read the signs posted by the Nazis at the gates of hell. #FascistPlaybook
Every fascist defends rigid gender roles as a pillar of his power. Just as the leader is the “father of the nation,” the man is the head of the family—and things have to stay that way. Gender diversity is portrayed as a threat to the natural order. Where traditional male roles are few, the fascist leader tells us who’s to blame: “gender ideologues” or “foreigners stealing jobs.” #FascistPlaybook
Every fascist claims their own group is the victim of a conspiracy or plot. An example of this type of conspiracy theory is replacement theory, the idea that one’s “own people” are being pushed out by those deemed alien and hostile. Whether it’s a “conspiracy of deep-state politicians to kidnap babies,” a “flood of immigrants,” or “Jews who corrupt women”—the theory works with “almost any combination of enemies,” says historian Timothy Snyder. #FascistPlaybook
Every fascist deliberately undermines the independent thinkers who can counter his propaganda. As soon as he can, he’ll tether the free press and purge educational and cultural institutions. #FascistPlaybook
Make America Great Again (MAGA) = Every fascist invokes a mythic past to justify his tales of a glorious future. #FascistPlaybook
It's going to be really interesting watching the MAGAs tie themselves in knots trying to pivot to "The government taking away our guns is good, actually" once this lawless administration reaches that step in the Fascist Playbook. [1]
Will the NRA finally rise up against the authoritarian government, as they've long claimed as the justification for their gun fetish? They haven't done it in the last five months.
[1] Probable schedule: sometime between next week (due to "violent unrest in California and other places targeting ICE just doing their job") and just before the 2026 midterm elections are cancelled (or more likely "postponed").
#MAGA #fascism #fascist #FascistPlaybook #Trump #Miller #StephenMiller #traitor #guns #NRA #pivot #authoritarianism #elections #midterms #dictator #EnablingAct #USA #GoodActually
@dab Es war bewusst inszeniert. Die wissen was die tun. #fascistplaybook
#cdu
#merz
#faschismus
Can we go back to calling "the left" society please? If nothing more, it'll upset Steve Bannon.
#BothSides #FalseEquivalence #Marginalisation #OvertonWindow #AltRight #FarRight #FascistPlaybook
Trump Escalates His Dehumanization of Migrants: Some Are 'Not People … These Are Animals'
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-migrants-not-people-animals-1234989117/
Donald Trump escalated his dehumanizing rhetoric against immigrants at an Ohio rally for Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.
#Trump #Migrants #FascistPlaybook #Dehumanization #GenocideSteps
I was (apropos among other things the #dutchelections) meditating on how #fascist and fascist-adjacent politicians exploit the complexity of the political landscape (the number of ‘live’ issues) when they are seeking election.
When the human brain has to process multiple inputs and reduce them to a single action (a vote), it is easily overwhelmed (okay, tbh, talking about my brain here).
The rational part of the brain leaves the field, and we can become more easily influenced by the irrational: our fears, but also dog-whistle emotional messaging.
This is similar to another tool in the #fascistplaybook: using misinformation to overwhelm truth. The aim is befuddlement, because we are all more receptive to influence when we are confused.
@GreenFire @slightlysarcasticteacher @TonyStark
Southside is part of one of Virginia's heavily gerrymandered congressional districts - VA5 - a seat occupied by Freedom Caucus fascist, seditionist and opiate killer Bob Good. The district was formed to annihilate the Blue vote community of Charlottesville. The danger of a battery factory in Southside? Jobs and a better educated constituency. #FascistPlaybook
Radio 4. Schapps “The ideal situation would be that I had this power, but never needed to use it.” #FFS #FascistPlaybook
@Wild@sfba.social @dangillmor
He didn't buy it to fix it.
He bought it to wield it.
#BigTech
#TechnoFascism
#PlutocratTheater
#FascistPlaybook
#Democracy
#NatSec
#USPoli
#Elmo
Watched #BackwellSchool's performance of #LordOfTheFlies tonight.
The young people were great, and really nice use of space in the round.
I haven't read it since I was at school 35 years ago, but I could see people in the audience getting uncomfortable in their seats as it approached the two intense death scenes. Very affecting.
The progression of the story is so logical and inevitable in a way, there are leaders, cheering, division, us and them, dehumanisation of the other. #FascistPlaybook.
