The meaning of Fascism -- Two Twitter thread links

 I'm keeping these two Twitter thread links for future reference.

THE UNDERTOW  by Jeff Sharlet.

TOM NICHOLS THREAD about a Sharlet's thread.

Here is Sharlet speaking about the Nichols thread...

Tom Nichols has an interesting thread on what he sees as the misuses of “fascism.” As someone who once argued that actual full-fledged fascism wasn’t possible in U.S.—and now sadly admits I was wrong—I think it’s worth reading even as I disagree. Here’s why…1/  (Unroll available on Thread Reader)

Most common error I see in smart “this isn’t fascism” arguments (vs. more numerous know-nothing cases) is conflation of fascism and *fascist regime.” Nichols is right: we don’t have a fascist regime, & Trump didn’t get that far. But Trumpism is a fascist *movement.* 2/ 

Related error is to contrast buffoonery of Trump, DeSantis, MTG, etc. with hindsight perception of fascist leaders as smart & strong. But of course nearly all of them began aa vain buffoons, & were vain & buffoonish. All were dismissed. 3/ 

This isn’t to say Trump or MTG are Hitler. But as Robert O. Paxton writes in Anatomy of Fascism, most fascist movements don’t succeed & thus never look strong & organized in hindsight. W/ work, ours won’t either. 4/ 

Third error is to overemphasize “ideology” of fascist regimes and underemphasize coherence of fascist movements. Social movement theory helps see beyond the finalized programs of fascist regimes… 5/ 

Social movements often look to outsiders like unified waves. In fact, they are unsteady, usually temporary convergences of streams that may not have even run parallel before mutual hopes—or mutual hates—brought them together. 6/ 

So too this fascist moment which aligns the once neoliberal Christian Right with a less-organized Christian nationalism with deliberately profane Proud Boys & rightwing libertarians & confused populists & Catholic right intellectuals… 7/ 

Fascism wants us to see it as a monolith. (And for some to miss its approach because they rightly recognize the movement before them isn’t monolithic.) Bad news is it marks a powerful convergence. Good news is coalitions can crumble. Let’s help this fascist one do so. 8/ 

But doing so requires that we recognize that fascism thrives not so much as a clear ideology in a sense recognizable by traditional politics but as an anti-politics. It is a purity myth. Most authoritarianisms gesture that way but only fascists make it central. 9/ 

& yet, our fascist movement does have an “ideology,” too. What else does Frank Luntz mean when he asks in the NYT how to advance Trump’s “agenda” without Trump? The “agenda” is fascism. “Just” a style? Yes, in a sense, but no “just” about it. Fascism is an aesthetic. 10/ 

Among elements of the fascist aesthetic is a perpetuation and expansion of a kind of corporate capitalism via state entanglement for loyal captains and punishment & demonization for enemies of “the people”—Soros, Disney, now Budweiser. 11/ 

Nichols insists that fascists are well-disciplined. I think this may be a conflation of the pre-existing militaries of some fascist regimes with fascism itself. In fact, fascist regimes are always a mess of hysterical infighting & intrigue. 12/ 

Which is good news. Fascist movements are melodramatic messes. Actual organization—real democracy—can beat them. But not if we tell ourselves fascism isn’t here because just look at those goofballs. The “goofballs” are running more & more states. 13/ 

Nichols seems to suggest that this movement can’t be fascist because it’s anti-govt & true fascists revere the state. But you know what? Mussolini didn’t actually make the trains run on time. A) this movement hates gov’t it doesn’t control B) by “the state” it means power. 14/ 

Mistake I think Nichols makes on fascist hallmark of “cult of personality” is believing fascist lie that the “personality” matters. That’s “Great Man” school of history. Right now the personality is Trump; what makes this fascism is the “cult,” which can shift its affections. 15/ 

I think of Pastor Hank Kunneman, rising star of the pro-civil war prophetic right, who says “Trump” will return, whether it’s the man himself or the spirit of Trumpism in the flesh of another. Cult? Check. “Personality”? Check. Trump himself? Maybe. 16/ 

But maybe the most important point of disagreement I have w/ Nichols is what seems to be his believe that fascism can only be what it was in mid-century Europe—as if it didn’t keep evolving, in, say, Suharto’s Indonesia, Saddam’s Iraq, Mobutu’s Zaire, Putin’s Russia. 17/ 

Nichols asks where are the fascist masses, thinking of 20th century European pageantry. Well, there is some of that—consider Waco, consider the Jan 6 Choir, definitely consider all the flags—but it’s changed. The masses are also online. That’s different, yes. Fascism evolves. 18/ 

For instance, I argue in The Undertow that the latest US contribution to fascism (as historian James O. Whitman write in Hitler’s American Model, it’s not the first) is to ditch its emphasis on racial or ethnic purity. 19/ 

American fascism is white supremacist, to be sure, but as historian @AntheaButler writes in White Evangelical Racism, the “promise of whiteness” seduces some people of color into its ranks—which then “inoculates” its white majority from acknowledging its racism. 20/ 

But these are also fault lines we can exploit. I don’t agree w/ Nichols that if this is fascism we might as well give up on politics & law. I *do* agree that we must & can defeat fascism in those arenas. I’m all-hands-on-deck, fight fascism however you can wherever you can. 21/ 

I’m also, when it comes to fascism, a “Which Side Are You On” guy. In that sense, @RadioFreeTom (whom I don’t know personally) and I are on the same side. We see the hope of democracy genuinely at risk. We see that the struggle is now. So, onwards, right? (End) 

And this is the original Nichols thread... 

A longish and quixotic thread on the misuse of "fascism."

Why does it matter what we call things? Because labels tend to guide choices and allocation of attention and political resources. So I'm going to give this a try. /1 

Fascist regimes, as we knew them in the 20th century, have some things in common with the current American right: cult of personality, vicious nostalgia, and anti-intellectualism. But that describes *many* authoritarian regimes. Why is "fascism" different and more dangerous? /2 

Because fascist regimes had articulated ideologies, highly disciplined cadres, well-developed party structures, and bureaucratized chains of command. This made them more resilient and highly dangerous because they were focused and effective. /3 

Their leaders, even strutting roosters like Mussolini, were not stupid; indeed, they were tough and smart and even personally brave. They were hyperfocused, on running movements on the principle of one Leader, one Party, one State.

Perhaps you see where I'm about to go. /4 

Many of you are seeing a weak, scared man hiding in Florida, and seeing "fascism." This is inane. There is no party, no program, no ideology. It's just a rich guy using donations from rubes to abuse the legal process and save himself. The GOP has zero ideology or discipline. /5 

Many of you see DeSantis as a fascist. DeSantis is a smarmy and authoritarian opportunist, to be sure. But again, fascism is not donor-service, poll-tested hot buttons, look-at-me stunts. (Look how fast he backtracked on Ukraine.) He's too timid even to criticize Trump. /6 

Now, I will grant that the rightists who want to institute crackpot "common good" legal theories are a lot scarier, but they're also very comfortable in the universities and right-wing punditry. Ironically, they're part of a soft intelligentsia that real fascists would hate. /7 

None of these legal theorists or oped guys are going to give up tenure or resign their editorial positions to salute Trump or DeSantis and then lead the masses in the streets. That's way too much work.

And in truth, most of them hate those masses more than anyone. /8 

Speaking of the masses, where are they? There is no party organization, no overriding ideology, no mass meetings, nothing. Jerks yelling at teachers and posting racist memes from mom's basement are not gonna put the cheetohs down for Kim and Don Jr. or, now, even for Trump. /9 

Also, there's a disconnect here about government itself.

Fascists love The State. They don't do "don't tread on me" anti-statism. They want to capture and run the State in all its glory. /10 

That kind of hyperstatism requires smarts and organizational skill. The GOP isn't nearly that organized. I suppose with the right leader, they could be, but so far, they can't organize a piss-up in a brewery. Look at the House right now: Not exactly a Reichstag in waiting. /11 

I also will grant that the federal and state courts have some crank judges who will do whatever they think Dear Leader wants, but again, without any real ideological guidance. That ideological issue matters, more than you realize.

And here's where federalism saves us: /12 

There is no single judiciary, and even the *federal* judiciary is a mix of political views and will be for years. State and local government is strong. (A solid fascist would have targeted that on Day 1 in 2017, as the Nazis did. But Trump just fired a lot of appointees.) /13 

Yes, Trump has put some doozies on the bench. SCOTUS is going to roll back more rights by 6-3 margins. But fascism's natural milieu is among *weak* institutions, not deep ones. We can still fight repressive ideas in the US with a free press, voting, and legislation. /14 

Also, fascists don't "run" for office. They don't do polling. They don't try to win court cases. They don't try for "earned media." They use discipline, ideology, and violence to build a mass movement that terrorizes those weak institutions into paralysis and collapse. /15 

That's not happening in the US now. The GOP is so up its own ass that the leader of its party was shuttling around in the same hotel between Mike Pence's speech and meeting Trump. If you think that's fascism, there's 100 years of fascists who are insulted at the comparison :) /16 

The bottom line is: if you we are fighting fascism, then the logic is to give up on politics, to give up on voting, on laws, on court cases. Don't!

(Btw: Three cheers for lawyers, who have been doing the heavy lifting of defending democracy in court.)

/17 

Yes, I know, some ppl love the idea of duking it out in the streets with "fascists." Resorting to violence, imo, is how you *create* fascism; defending the rule of law is how you avert it. "Fascists" didn't win on J6; they're going to jail and staying home when Trump calls now. 

Are there fascists in the GOP? Absolutely.

But are you facing a disciplined, organized, ideological party led by a charismatic and tough leader? Not by a longshot.

So don't pysch yourselves out with fear. VOTE. Donate. Organize. Speak. /18 

Don't keep devaluing "fascist." Don't wear out the ability of your fellow citizens to hear that word and be alarmed. (That's already happening. It's like "woke," it's becoming meaningless.) The day may come - and soon - when we'll *need* that word. Conserve it. /19x