The following resources examine organized white fascism and other organized white supremacist groups in U.S. politics, and historical ties between Nazi Germany and the U.S. This page does not examine the relationship between “white Christianity” and racial fascism. If you are looking for resources on that topics, see White Supremacy from American Christians.

These are the images used in artistic physical displays. They are survey questions and conversation starters that are topically and thematically organized. They demonstrate how Jesus is relevant to each topic or theme. You can also just view the images on your device. If you would like, see all our Conversation Stations; below are the ones that relate to the topic of Race.

Whose Justice? (and instructions and Christian Restorative Justice Study Guide)

Whose Justice? for Harvard Law School

Is a Good Friend Hard to Find? (and instructions and conversation tree)

What Can We Do About Evil? (and instructions and conversation tree) and smaller version and brochure version

Que Podemos Hacer Sobre La Maldad? for the Asociacion Dominicana de Estudiantes Evangelico, 2014

Does the Good Outweigh the Bad? (and instructions)

Race What's the Problem? (and instructions) and brochure version

Is God a Liberator or an Oppressor? (and instructions) 

Politics, the Church, and Jesus’ Restorative Justice

Slides of a presentation given to the 2022 Reconstruction class. The introduction features John Winthrop vs. Roger Williams to highlight the debate over freedom of religious Conscience vs. Christendom. The presentation highlights Christian accomplishments in health and hospitals, education and schools, land ownership and economic justice, and criminal justice reform.

A Long Repentance: Exploring Christian Mistakes about Race, Politics, and Justice in the United States

A series of blog posts where we explore how Christian (mostly Protestant) heresies started and continue to influence our modern political and racial challenges. This includes the very notion of race itself, and how our modern economics, housing, schooling, and policing systems have been shaped. Christians must take responsibility for these heresies in the framework of repentance.  We have designed a study guide to accompany the blog posts.  Please consider using it for personal reflection or discussion in your family, church, organization, etc.

Atonement, Justice, and Scapegoating

This blog post series relates to both the topic of atonement and the topic of desire because, like fallen Adam in the garden, we desire to deflect blame, and therefore we scapegoat others. On the political level, this builds group cohesion and creates a social outsider, who is blamed for the group’s woes, who the group must exile or kill or marginalize in order to maintain a hopeful lie. This series explores what political scapegoating has looked like in the U.S.

White American Evangelical Political Attitudes and Behavior: Explanation and Correctives

White American evangelical political attitudes can be characterized by the debate between John Winthrop and Roger Williams, and their respective attitudes towards Native Americans, slavery, fairness, and faith in civic space.  This is a presentation also explores Scripture and church history to argue that Roger Williams was correct.  Given to the staff of Emmanuel Gospel Center, Apr 18, 2018, as a follow-up to how Christian restorative justice impacts ministry; audio file here  

The Role of Jesus in Revolution and the Pursuit of Justice

This is an evangelistic message that highlights the Christian-led and Christian-influenced non-violent resistance movements throughout the world in the 20th century.  They show the connections and spiritual vitality of Christian faith under empire or empire-like oppression.

William D. Montalbano, The Jews in Hitler’s Military. Los Angeles Times, Dec 24, 1996.  Although in Germany and not the U.S., this is an important study of why ethnic minorities join white supremacist organizations. “One of his discoveries was a 1944 German army personnel document listing 77 high-ranking officers “of mixed Jewish race or married to a Jew.” Two generals, eight lieutenant generals, five major generals and 23 colonels are on the list. “I don’t think it ever occurred to anybody to go to a general’s personnel file to see if he was Jewish,” said Steinberg at Cambridge. Hitler personally signed declarations for all 77 on the 1944 list asserting that they were of German blood, thereby exercising his right of exception under 1935 Nazi legislation that barred anyone with a Jewish grandparent from becoming an officer. Deciding exactly who was to be classified a Jew stirred great internal debate among Nazi leaders. Hitler loathed Jews, but he also needed experienced commanders and fighters.” “Thousands of men of Jewish ancestry fought in the Nazi military because they were drafted. But many were career soldiers, and that forced them to apply for the German blood declaration.” “About 100,000 Jews served in the German army in World War I, and about 12,000 of them were killed. Veterans thought their service would protect them against the Nazi crackdown early in World War II, Rigg said.”

Edwin Black, IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation. Crown | Amazon page, 2001.  “Aided by the company's custom-designed and constantly updated Hollerith systems, Hitler was able to automate his persecution of the Jews. Historians have always been amazed at the speed and accuracy with which the Nazis were able to identify and locate European Jewry… Just as compelling is the human drama of one of our century's greatest minds, IBM founder Thomas Watson, who cooperated with the Nazis for the sake of profit.”  

Eleanor Stein, Construction of an Enemy. Monthly Review, Jul 1, 2003.  On the Nazi technique of pitting race vs. race, religion vs. religion, using nativism and foreign policy.

Paul Spike, How America Inspired the Third Reich. The Week, Oct 25, 2008.

CBS News, Hutaree Militia Raided by the FBI.  CBS, Mar 2010.  The Hutaree Militia was a “Christian militia” group in Michigan who were “preparing for the end-times.” The FBI arrested the members and broke up the group.

Edwin Black, War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race. Dialog Press | Amazon page, Apr 30, 2012: “The idea was created in the United States, and cultivated in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing.”  Edwin Black, The Horrifying American Roots of Nazi Eugenics. History News Network.  Quotes an excerpt from the book.

Lia Mandelbaum, Hitler's Inspiration and Guide: The Native American Holocaust. Jewish Journal, Jun 18, 2013.

Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, with John Raines, Bonnie Raines, Keith Forsyth, David Kairys, and Betty Medsger, “It Was Time to Do More Than Protest”: Activists Admit to 1971 FBI Burglary That Exposed COINTELPRO.  Democracy Now, Jan 8, 2014.  See also From COINTELPRO to Snowden, the FBI Burglars Speak Out After 43 Years of Silence (Part 2).  Democracy Now, Jan 8, 2014.  Based on Betty L. Medsger, The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover's Secret FBI. Vintage | Amazon page, Oct 2014.  On the FBI spying on the Black Panther Party, and resistance to the FBI. See also Amy Goodman, Bonnie Raines and Paul Coates, The Burglary That Exposed COINTELPRO: Activists Mark 50th Anniversary of Daring FBI Break-in.  Democracy Now, Mar 9, 2021.

Lisa Ko, Unwanted Sterilization and Eugenics Programs in the United States. PBS, Jan 29, 2016.  “Coerced sterilization is a shameful part of America’s history, and one doesn’t have to go too far back to find examples of it. Used as a means of controlling “undesirable” populations – immigrants, people of color, poor people, unmarried mothers, the disabled, the mentally ill – federally-funded sterilization programs took place in 32 states throughout the 20th century. Driven by prejudiced notions of science and social control, these programs informed policies on immigration and segregation.”

Andrea DenHoed, The Forgotten Lessons of the American Eugenics Movement. The New Yorker, Apr 27, 2016.  “The forward thinkers of America were preoccupied by the imagined genetic threat of feeblemindedness, a capaciously defined condition that was diagnosed using often flawed intelligence tests and by identifying symptoms such as moral degeneracy, an overactive sex drive, and other traits liberally ascribed to poor people (especially poor women) who were seen as having stepped out of line.”

Andrew Kaczynski, American Nazi Chair: Trump Win Would Be “A Real Opportunity” For White Nationalists. Buzzfeed, Aug 6, 2016.

James Q. Whitman, Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law. Princeton University Press | Amazon page, Feb 2017.  See reviews by Rafael Medoff, Book Review Was Hitler Inspired by Racist American Laws?  Haaretz, Nov 2017.  See also Ira Katznelson, What America Taught the Nazis. The Atlantic, Nov 2017.  On the devastating truth that Nazi lawyers thought that American race law was too racist for Nazi Germany. 

Heather Gilligan, After Fleeing the Nazis, Many Jewish Refugee Professors Found Homes at Historically Black Colleges. Timeline, Feb 9, 2017.  and were shocked at race relations in the South, features North Carolina

Andrew Higgins, Trump Embraces ‘Enemy of the People,’ a Phrase With a Fraught History. New York Times, Feb 26, 2017.

James Q. Whitman, Why the Nazis Loved America. Time, Mar 21, 2017.   

Drew Downs, Nazis Prove the Problem with Bothsidesism.  Drew Downs, Aug 16, 2017.  Picks apart the fallacy of both-sidesing.

A.C. Thompson, Racist, Violent, Unpunished: A White Hate Group’s Campaign of Menace.  ProPublica, Oct 19, 2017.  “They train to fight. They post their beatings online. And so far, they have little reason to fear the authorities.” Re: League of the South; Charlottesville, VA white supremacist rally

Jonathan Greenblatt, The Resurgent Threat of White-Supremacist Violence. The Atlantic, Jan 17, 2018.

Alice Minium, The Untold Story of American Eugenics. Medium, Apr 15, 2018.  “We are quick to condemn Hitler, but we forget it was our own country that inspired him.”

Ishaan Tharoor, The Threat of Radical White Extremism in the Age of Trump. (Washington Post, Apr 20, 2018.

Alex Ross, How American Racism Influenced Hitler. The New Yorker, Apr 30, 2018.

Alan Rice, Black Troops Were Welcome in Britain, But Jim Crow Wasn’t: The Race Riot of One Night in June 1943.  The Conversation, Jun 22, 2018.  tells a tragic story of white American hypocrisy and black honor. While fighting racial fascism in Europe, white American military police fought black American Army soldiers. The Battle of Bamber Bridge, “more a mutiNew York Than a battle,” was “typical of the clashes on and around bases in Britain between black and white American troops –44 between November 1943 and February 1944 alone – where the intrinsic racism in a segregated army led to confrontations.”

Kathleen B. Jones, What the Nazis Taught Philosopher Hannah Arendt About the Rights of Refugees. Sojourners, Jul 17, 2018.  explores the context of European ethno-national states as the challenge of post-Imperial Europe.

Pankaj Mishra, The Religion of Whiteness Becomes a Suicide Cult. New York Times, Aug 30, 2018.  a history of white supremacist ideas from the early 20th century, both in the U.S. and abroad

Arun Gupta, Why Young Men of Color Are Joining White-Supremacist Groups. The Daily Beast, Sep 6, 2018.  “Patriot Prayer’s leader is half-Japanese. Black and brown faces march with the Proud Boys. Is the future of hate multicultural?”

Rachel Maddow, Trump Era Unique For Violent Extremists Inspired by US President. MSNBC, Oct 26, 2018.

Janet Reitman, U.S. Law Enforcement Failed to See the Threat of White Nationalism. Now They Don’t Know How to Stop It. New York Times Magazine, Nov 3, 2018.  "For two decades, domestic counterterrorism strategy has ignored the rising danger of far-right extremism. In the atmosphere of willful indifference, a virulent movement has grown and metastasized."

Kirsten West Savali, LA Sheriff’s Office, Compton Station, is a White Supremacist Gang Incubator.  Essence, Nov 5, 2018.  notes, “There is also Baltimore’s  Gun Trace Task Force; Philadelphia’s Lying Bitches Unit; and the Chicago Police Department has such an entrenched legacy of violence that the University of Chicago created a Torture Archive to document its intragenerational savagery. As far back as 1999, the LA Times reported on the proliferation of white supremacists with gangs within the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, so this song and dance about “investigations” to determination the veracity of claims against them is almost insulting.”

Trevor Noah, Is Rep. Steve King Racist? Enter Trevor Noah: Racism Detective. The Daily Show, Jan 15, 2019.  An entertaining take on a serious issue:  the monopolistic appropriation of Christianity (and other things) by whites in the name of "Western European culture."  See also David Perry and Matthew Gabriele, Steve King Says He Was Just Defending ‘Western Civilization.’ That’s Racist, Too. Washington Post, Jan 15, 2019.   See also Sam Rosenfeld and Daniel Schlozman, Why Steve King's Punishment Took So Long. New York Times, Jan 15, 2019.

History.com Editors, The Americans Hold a Nazi Rally in Madison Square Garden. History.com, Feb 22, 2019.  In 1939 on this day in history

Alan Sisto and Shawn Marchese, Episode 114: Race, Tolkien, and Middle-earth. The Prancing Pony Podcast, Feb 24, 2019. White nationalists claim Tolkien for his interest in “Northernness” and the rootedness of his stories in Anglo-Saxon and German tradition. However, Tolkien sharply distinguished between literary and linguistic interests and ethnic politics. See also Alan Sisto and Shawn Marchese, Episode 192: Race, Tolkien, and Middle-earth, Revisited. The Prancing Pony Podcast, Jan 10, 2021. Three guests — a classicist of South Asian descent, a Jewish rabbi, and a Hispanic educator — give very helpful further reflections on Tolkien’s language, frame of reference, and literary development.

Sean Illing, This Filmmaker Spent Months Interviewing Neo-Nazis and Jihadists. Here’s What She Learned. Vox, Mar 17, 2019.  “The impulse to dismiss extremists as unreachable fanatics is strong and at times justifiable. But perhaps it’s not always the most effective means of combating them. Deeyah Khan, a journalist and filmmaker, has decided to engage them directly as human beings.”

America and the Holocaust: Deceit or Indifference. Shoah - The Memory of a Holocaust, Mar 24, 2019.  A documentary movie, 85 minutes

Adam Serwer, White Nationalism's Deep American Roots. The Atlantic, Apr 2019.  Serwer explores the significance of the eugenics movement and Madison Grant's pseudo-science, which was supported by Hitler along with many Americans; points out that anti-racism only became popular in the U.S. because of America's fight against Hitler 

Damian Zane, Being Black in Nazi Germany. BBC, May 22, 2019.

Mary B. McCord, Armed Militias Are Taking Trump’s Civil War Tweets Seriously.  Lawfare, Oct 2, 2019.

Shaun Assael and Peter Keating, The Massacre That Spawned the Alt-Right. Politico, Nov 3, 2019.  “Forty years ago, a gang of Klansmen and Nazis murdered five communists in broad daylight. America has never been the same.”

David Parkman, White Nationalist Richard Spencer Exposed by Leaked Audio.  David Pakman Show, Nov 5, 2019.  video leaked by Milo Yiannopoulis

Neil MacFarquhar and Adam Goldman, A New Face of White Supremacy: Plots Expose Danger of the ‘Base’.  Washington Post, Jan 22, 2020.  “A secret domestic terrorism investigation revealed that the violent neo-Nazi group was recruiting cells across the United States.”

Tess Owen, The Racist ICE Detention Center Captain Was Just Fired. We Found 132 More Posts by Him on a Neo-Nazi Site. Vice, Jan 24, 2020.  “Anyone complicit in the destruction of my culture, religion, way of life, and nation is counted amongst my enemies,” Travis Frey wrote on Iron March in 2013. See also Daniel De Simone, Andrei Soshnikov & Ali Winston, Neo-Nazi Rinaldo Nazzaro Running US Militant Group The Base from Russia. BBC, Jan 24, 2020.

Elizabeth Grimm Arsenault and Joseph Stabile, Confronting Russia’s Role in Transnational White Supremacist Extremism.  Just Security, Feb 6, 2020.

Bob Brigham, Extremism Expert Explains Why Fascists and Neo-Nazis Are Infiltrating Protests Against Police Violence. Raw Story, May 28, 2020.  and Mia Bloom, Far-Right Infiltrators and Agitators in George Floyd Protests: Indicators of White Supremacists. Just Security, May 30, 2020.

Tommy Beer, Accused Killer Of California Cops Was Associated With Right-Wing 'Boogaloo Movement'.  Forbes, Jun 16, 2020. 

Nicholas Wu, Facebook Removes Trump Campaign Ads with Symbol Once Used by Nazis. USA Today, Jun 18, 2020.  See also Claire Goforth, Trump Campaign Accused of Using a Nazi Symbol in Facebook Ad. Daily Dot, Jun 18, 2020.  For historical background in the concentration camps

Andrew Solender, U.S. Army Soldier Charged With Helping Neo-Nazis Plan Deadly Massacre On Squadmates. Forbes, Jun 22, 2020.

John Iadarola, Neo-Nazi Plot Inside US Military Stopped. The Damage Report, Jun 28, 2020.  and John Iadarola, White Supremacist Group Rises in U.S. Military. The Damage Report, Jul 4, 2020.

Rita Katz, Neo-Nazis Are Running Out of Places to Hide Online.  Wired, Jul 9, 2020.  “Telegram booting far-right groups from their hub proves that platforms can, in fact, help curb terrorist recruitment in the internet age.”

Loveday Morris and Fiona Weber-Steinhaus, Prominent Germans Received Neo-Nazi Death Threats. Police Are Under Suspicion. Washington Post, Jul 24, 2020.  something to track; even though this is about Germany, the fact that police computers were used is sobering. Is there something about the police as an organization that allows or promotes supremacist ideologies?

Eric Martin, The Catholic Church Has a Visible White Power Faction. Sojourners, Aug 2020.  “Once persecuted by the Ku Klux Klan, some Catholics now embrace the most extreme forms of racial hatred.” Facilitated by U.S. Catholic bishops refusal to condemn symbols of hate: swastikas, nooses, Confederate flags. Thus, Steve King, a Catholic, brandishes the Confederate flag.

Hatewatch Staff, What We Know About Patriot Prayer. SPLC, Aug 31, 2020.  “Patriot Prayer is a far-right group active in the Pacific Northwest. Over the past three years, the group has hosted and promoted rallies in progressive cities like Portland, frequently engaging in violence against their political opponents. Patriot Prayer rallies regularly include the Proud Boys, a hate group, and various antigovernment extremist groups.”

Kelly McLaughlin, The Trump Campaign Has Knowingly Taken Thousands of Dollars from a Neo-Nazi Leader and Other Racists. Yahoo! News, Aug 31, 2020.

Tal Axelrod, DHS to Label White Supremacists as the 'Most Persistent and Lethal Threat' to the US: Report. The Hill, Sep 4, 2020.  “Lone offenders and small cells of individuals motivated by a diverse array of social, ideological, and personal factors will pose the primary terrorist threat to the United States,” the earliest draft reads. “Among these groups, we assess that white supremacist extremists – who increasingly are networking with likeminded persons abroad – will pose the most persistent and lethal threat.” “Russia “probably will be the primary covert foreign influence actor and purveyor of disinformation and misinformation in the Homeland,” the documents add.” See also Betsy Woodruff Swan, DHS Draft Document: White Supremacists Are Greatest Terror Threat. Politico, Sep 4, 2020. 

Pilar Menendez, Two ‘Boogaloo Bois’ Charged With Conspiring to Provide Support to Hamas.  The Daily Beast, Sep 4, 2020.  The pair allegedly sought to supply weaponry to Hamas and use violence against cops and government officials “to overthrow the U.S. government.”

Sam Jackson, The Long, Dangerous History of Right-Wing Calls for Violence and Civil War.  Washington Post, Sep 11, 2020.  “In the 1960s and again today, Americans who describe themselves as patriots accuse other Americans of treason.” Such as the Oath Keepers; see Sam Jackson, Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group.  Columbia University Press, Sep 2020.  See also John Iadarola, Right Wing Terrorists Join Alex Jones To Threaten Massacres.  The Damage Report, Oct 28, 2020.

Christopher Mathias, Portland Proud Boys Rally Promoted On Facebook Pages Despite Extremist Ban.  Huffington Post, Sep 17, 2020.  “The pages were removed only after an inquiry from HuffPost, as concerns grow over Facebook’s ties to escalating political violence in the U.S.”

Jason Wilson and Robert Evans, Revealed: Pro-Trump Activists Plotted Violence Ahead of Portland Rallies. The Guardian UK, Sep 23, 2020.  “Patriots Coalition members suggested political assassinations and said ‘laws will be broken, people will get hurt’, leaked chats show” “Leaked chat logs show Portland-area pro-Trump activists planning and training for violence, sourcing arms and ammunition and even suggesting political assassinations ahead of a series of contentious rallies in the Oregon city, including one scheduled for this weekend. The chats on the GroupMe app, shared with the Guardian by the antifascist group Eugene Antifa, show conversations between Oregon members of the Patriots Coalition growing more extreme as they discuss armed confrontations with leftwing Portland activists, and consume a steady diet of online disinformation about protests and wildfires.”

Glenn Kirschner, Trump & Barr Cry: "Antifa/Antifa/Antifa, China/China/China". FBI Dir Wray Smacks them Down w/Truth. Glenn Kirschner, Sep 18, 2020.  Kirschner coordinates Trump’s tweets and Barr’s activity to stir up white supremacist violence and distract from Russian interference

Jane Coaston, The Proud Boys, Explained. Vox, Oct 1, 2020.  

Kevin Krause and Charles Scudder, Far-Right Extremists Pose Rising Threat in North Texas Around Election, FBI’s Dallas Office Says. The Dallas Morning News, Oct 1, 2020.  re: Boogaloo movement.

Robert Snell, Feds Say They Thwarted Militia Plot to Kidnap Witmer.  The Detroit Free Press, Oct 8, 2020.  An FBI informant helped to identify 13 men angry about COVID restrictions, calling themselves the Wolverine Watchmen. See also David Doel, FBI Foils Plot Against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The Rational National, Oct 8, 2020.  provides a helpful graph on left-wing violence and terrorism compared to right-wing violence and terrorism, from Seth G. Jones, The Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States. Center for Strategic and International Studies, Jun 17, 2020.  See important commentary by Glenn Kirschner, FBI Arrests Militia Members for Conspiring to Kidnap Michigan Governor Whitmer, Seeking Civil War.  Glenn Kirschner, Oct 8, 2020.  See comments by former CIA Director John Brennan by Brian Williams, John Brennan Reacts To Trump's Call To Have Biden Jailed. The 11th Hour | MSNBC, Oct 8, 2020.  See also Stephen Colbert, John Brennan: Trump's Failure To Denounce White Supremacist Groups Has Fueled Their Rise. The Late Show, Oct 9, 2020. 

Alex Witt, Michael Moore on The Michigan Militia And The Plot To Kidnap Governor Whitmer.  Alex Witt | MSNBC, Oct 12, 2020.  Witt mentions white supremacy in Michigan going back to Father Coughlin’s popular radio show in the 1930s which was sympathetic to Nazi Germany, the auto factory closings in the late 1970s, and how far-right militia groups recruited. See also Robert McNamara, Father Coughlin, the Great Depression's Radio Priest.  ThoughtCo, Aug 14, 2019.  “Originally a devoted supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, his radio sermons took a dark turn when he became a bitter critic of Roosevelt and unleashed fierce attacks tinged with anti-Semitism and flirtations with fascism.” Moore’s observations affirm the contention that the best response to the far-right is a strong economically progressive left.

Emily Cataneo, A Brief History of the Women’s KKK. JStor Daily, Oct 14, 2020.  “The Women’s KKK, an affiliated-but-separate racist organization for white Protestant women, courted members through an insincere “empowerment feminism.””

Chance Swaim, Dion Lefler, and Michael Stavola, Mask Opponent Held in Kidnap, Death Threat to Wichita Mayor. The Wichita Eagle, Oct 16, 2020.  “A Wichita man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to kidnap and kill Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple over frustrations with the city’s mask ordinance, the mayor and police said Friday afternoon. Meredith Dowty, 59, was booked into Sedgwick County Jail at 6:05 p.m., Friday, booking reports show. Police confirmed he is the suspect and said he could face a charge of criminal threat.”

Jane Lytvynenko, The White Extremist Group Patriot Front Is Preparing For A World After Donald Trump. Buzz Feed News, Oct 27, 2020.  “In its secret chat, the group that sprang from Charlottesville is creating a new generation of white supremacists.”

Mike Giglio, A Pro-Trump Militant Group Has Recruited Thousands of Police, Soldiers, and Veterans. The Atlantic, Nov 2020.  re: Oath Keepers.

Trevor Noah, So You Think You Know What Militias Are? The Daily Show, Nov 27, 2020.  notes that militias jumped by 800% during Obama’s presidency, along with conspiracy theory mongering.

Christopher Mathias and Ryan J. Reilly, The Marines And The Racist Porn Actor Who Tried To Start A ‘Modern Day SS’. Huffington Post, Dec 7, 2020.

Hannah Allam, Right-Wing Embrace Of Conspiracy Is 'Mass Radicalization,' Experts Warn.  NPR, Dec 15, 2020.

Ewan Palmer, Neo-Nazi Shirts Worn by Proud Boys Supporters Sold on Amazon.  Newsweek, Dec 16, 2020.  “The online retailer sold black-and-yellow T-shirts, hooded tops and cups with the phrase "6MWE"—a Neo-Nazi term that stands for "6 million wasn't enough." The items also had the Italian fascist symbol of an eagle spreading its wings that was used during World War II.”

Ben Collins, As Trump Meets with QAnon Influencers, the Conspiracy's Adherents Beg for Dictatorship.  NBC News, Dec 22, 2020.  “With Trump's days in office dwindling, QAnon influencers have become increasingly restless and militant, urging the president to "#crosstherubicon.””

Amy Forliti, FBI: White Supremacists Plotted Attack on US Power Grid.  Associated Press, Dec 22, 2020.  “The FBI alleges in an affidavit that white supremacists schemed to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S. and one Ohio teenager wanted the group to be “operational” on a faster timeline if President Donald Trump lost his re-election bid.” “White supremacists plotted to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S., and an Ohio teenager who allegedly shared the plan said he wanted the group to be “operational” on a fast-tracked timeline if President Donald Trump were to lose his re-election bid, the FBI alleges in an affidavit that was mistakenly unsealed… The affidavit details an investigation into group members, who allegedly share white supremacist ideology. The document outlines how they communicated over encrypted messaging applications before three of them eventually met up in person. They also allegedly shared recommended reading on white supremacist literature, required a “uniform” to symbolize their commitment and talked about making weapons. The affidavit says the Ohio teen put Nazi flags in his room, but his mother told him to take them down.”

Alex Woodward, Trump and GOP Sued for Breaching KKK Act with ‘Coordinated Conspiracy to Disenfranchise Black Voters’.  UK Independent, Dec 23, 2020.  “NAACP accuses president and his campaign of relying on ‘baseless, racist claims’ to overturn 2020 results”

Robert Evans, How the Insurgent and MAGA Right are Being Welded Together on the Streets of Washington D.C. Bellingcat, Jan 5, 2021.  A very prescient observer.

Kelly Weill, A Running Field Guide to the Far-Right Goons in D.C..  The Daily Beast, Jan 6, 2021.

The Q Origins Project, The Making of QAnon: A Crowdsourced Conspiracy. Bellingcat, Jan 7, 2021.

Michael Lind, The Five Crises of the American Regime. Tablet, Jan 7, 2021.  First, a political crisis involving the centralization of power. Second, an identity crisis with fictive nationalisms competing with each other. Third, a social crisis involving estrangement and loneliness. Fourth, a demographic crisis of more single and childless adults. Fifth, an economic crisis with the pandemic.

Chris Hayes, Must-See New Video Shows Capitol Riot Was Way Worse Than We Thought.  All In | MSNBC, Jan 8, 2021.  shows important video footage of plastic handcuffs intended for Pence, Schumer, and other leaders.

Olivia Nuzzi, Senior Trump Official: We Were Wrong, He’s a ‘Fascist’.  New York Magazine, Jan 8, 2021.  

Hannah Gais and Freddy Cruz, Far-Right Insurrectionists Organized Capitol Siege on Parler.  Southern Poverty Law Center, Jan 8, 2021.

Jason Whitlock, Ignoring the Concerns of Trump Supporters Will Destroy America.  The Blaze, Jan 8, 2021.  the economic reasons can be solved; the cultural and racial ones not so much.

Amanda Arnold, A Black Woman Was Assaulted by a Mob of Trump Supporters.  New York Magazine, Jan 8, 2021.  “The assault occurred on the afternoon of January 6, when Berlinda Nibo, 25, came upon dozens of the president’s supporters, who were brandishing Trump flags and chanting “Stop the steal” around [Los Angeles] City Hall — a local version of the Washington, D.C., riot that descended into chaos. Stunned by the scene, Nibo began to livestream the event, prompting the demonstrators, most of whom were maskless, to ask her if she voted for Trump. Then they began “calling me the N-word, calling me the B-word,” she told KCAL, to which she responded with the middle finger and started to walk away to return home. But they followed her.”

Timothy Snyder, The American Abyss.  New York Times, Jan 9, 2021.  a historian of fascism explores the fascist’s claim to be the single source of truth: “Like historical fascist leaders, Trump has presented himself as the single source of truth. His use of the term “fake news” echoed the Nazi smear Lügenpresse (“lying press”); like the Nazis, he referred to reporters as “enemies of the people.” Like Adolf Hitler, he came to power at a moment when the conventional press had taken a beating; the financial crisis of 2008 did to American newspapers what the Great Depression did to German ones. The Nazis thought that they could use radio to replace the old pluralism of the newspaper; Trump tried to do the same with Twitter.”

Emmanuel Felton, Black Police Officers Describe The Racist Attacks They Faced As They Protected The Capitol.  BuzzFeed News, Jan 9, 2021.  “Two Black officers told BuzzFeed News that their chief and other upper management left them totally unprepared and were nowhere to be found on the day.”

Matt Egan, CEO Arrested for Breaching the US Capitol During Trump-Fueled Insurrection. CNN, Jan 10, 2021.  “The CEO of a Chicago company said he was arrested after breaching the US Capitol… Brad Rukstales, CEO of the marketing technology firm Cogensia, apologized for what he called a "moment of extremely poor judgment." Shows that Trumpism was not isolated to lower-income white people, but included middle and upper class whites, too.

Peter Jamison, Hannah Natanson, John Woodrow Cox, and Alex Horton, ‘The Storm is Here’: Ashli Babbitt’s Journey from Capital ‘Guardian’ to Invader.  Washington Post, Jan 10, 2021.  “The politician she revered above all others had lost an election. She’d struggled with crippling amounts of debt. Her home state of California was locking down again because of a virus she believed was fiction” because of QAnon.

Parwinder Sandhu, Did Lauren Boebert Help Rioters? GOP Rep Accused of Live-Tweeting Nancy Pelosi's Location.  International Business Times, Jan 11, 2021.  and Stephen D. Foster, Jr., Trump-Loving GOP Lawmaker Live-Tweeted Nancy Pelosi’s Whereabouts During Capitol Coup. Lancaster Courier, Jan 11, 2021.  concludes by saying, “She’s not a patriot. She’s a terrorist.”

Tom Winter and Andrew Blankstein, FBI Memo Warns Law Enforcement Across U.S. of Possible Armed Protests at 50 State Capitols.  NBC News, Jan 11, 2021.

Firmin DeBrabander, The Gun-Rights Movement Fed America’s Insurrectionist Fever Dreams.  The Atlantic, Jan 11, 2021.  “The NRA and its allies have argued for years that citizens need to arm themselves for a fight against tyranny.”

Alayna Treen, McCarthy: “Undisputedly” No Evidence Antifa Participated in Deadly Capitol Seige.  Axios, Jan 12, 2021.

The Daily Show, Jordan Klepper Sees It All at The Capitol Insurrection.  The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Jan 12, 2021.

Ryan Grim (Twitter, Jan 12, 2021)  “Here's video of a key January 6 organizer claiming to have organized the event with Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, and Mo Brooks.” re: Ali Alexander

Jonathan Ben Menachem, The Cops at the Capitol.  The Appeal, Jan 13, 2021.  “Law enforcement officers from around the country attended and supported last week’s rally in support of President Trump that sparked a riot.”

Drew Harwell. Twitter, Jan 13, 2021. Very telling video of rioters outside the Capitol shouting at police: "We were invited here. We were invited by the president of the United States"

Dan Simon, Who Voted for Hitler?.  The Nation, Jan 15, 2021.  “The rural groundswell for Hitler included people of all classes and income levels. And the more it was a question of Protestant communities, the better Hitler did.” “…the Nazis were a party that organized people, especially in rural communities; that it was largely a Protestant phenomenon; and that it coincided with an inability and disinterest on the part of the major parties of the left to organize…” “…the establishment parties felt they could control Hitler, make sure he worked for them, and use him as their attack dog who, despite his violent ways (or possibly because of them), was still essentially supportive of the same German Protestant conservative values that they themselves espoused…” “There were pockets of rabid support for the Nazis in rural areas. But what we see repeated in chapter after chapter of Who Voted for Hitler? is the disproportionate support for Hitler from the well-heeled districts, motivated by their sense that Hitler would be their weapon against Communism; and because the Nazis had also successfully nurtured a covert anti-Semitism among the upper classes. Working class-neighborhoods were split more evenly, drawn to the Communists or Social Democrats, not strongly anti-Semitic, though susceptible certainly to the Nazi’s organizing exertions.” “And then, one after another, the traditional conservative parties—including the Center Party, which had kept itself aloof from any sign of support for Hitler and his National Socialists for over a decade—began in the late 1920s and early ’30s, as the worldwide economic depression took its toll, to form alliances with the Nazis.” “And so it was that the Center Party finally capitulated to an alliance with the Nazis in March of 1933, an alliance of Catholics with Protestants, giving Hitler his first majority, which in turn allowed him to assume dictatorial powers.” “Yes, the party largely dominated the Protestant countryside. But it prevailed not because of upper-middle-class voters there, or because of lower-middle-class voters anywhere, but rather because of support from all types of voters (other than Catholics and Jews).” “A pithy and breathtaking comparison might be drawn here with the decommissioning of the rebel army at the end of the only other protracted war of the prior century, which was America’s Civil War, and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and other vigilante groups that followed it. As I read Hamilton, I found myself wondering how committed Americans really are to our democratic institutions and traditions.”

Michael J. Mooney, The Boogaloo Bois Prepare for Civil War.  The Atlantic, Jan 15, 2021.  “As the FBI warns of violence, anti-government extremists are ready to get in on the chaos.” “The riot at the Capitol last Wednesday featured partisans of the long-gone country of South Vietnam, Falun Gong adherents, end-times Christians, neo-Nazis, QAnon believers, a handful of Orthodox Jews, and Daniel Boone impersonators.”

Jesselyn Cook, Feeling Betrayed, Far-Right Extremists Have A New Message For Trump: ‘Get Out Of Our Way’.  Huffington Post, Jan 15, 2021.  “As Trump backs down from his “Stop the Steal” hoax, the supporters he radicalized are vowing to carry on the fight without him.”

Lena V. Groeger, Jeff Kao, Al Shaw, Moiz Syed, and Maya Eliahou, What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol. ProPublica, Jan 17, 2021.  Video footage

Jack Brewster, Donald Trump Jr. Once Promoted Logo Of Extremist Militia Group That Stormed The Capitol Now Being Probed By FBI. Forbes, Jan 18, 2021.  “In a photo posted to his Instagram account on May 27, 2019, Trump wore a green shirt bearing the president’s slogan “MAGA”—short for “Make America great again”—and a skull emblazoned with the logo of the Three Percenters. In the comments, many users noticed Trump’s shirt and its connotation: “YOUR SHIRT THOUGH!!!!” one user commented, followed by the emojis for a target and an explosion. “Nice shirt!! #QAnon” another user said, connecting the militia group to the far-right conspiracy theory. The Three Percenters are a pro-Trump, pro-gun militia group whose name comes from the incorrect idea that only 3% of Americans fought the British during the Revolution—according to the Anti-Defamation League it’s dedicated to “protecting Americans from government tyranny” and its adherents have a “track record of criminal activity ranging from weapons violations to terrorist plots and attacks.””

Spencer C. Hsu, Tom Jackman, and Devlin Barrett, Self-Styled Militia Members Planned on Storming the U.S. Capitol Days in Advance of Jan. 6 Attack, Court Documents Say. Washington Post, Jan 19, 2021.

Sheera Frankel and Alan Feuer, ‘A Total Failure’: The Proud Boys Now Mock Trump.  New York Times, Jan 20, 2021.

Tom Dreisbach and Meg Anderson, Nearly 1 In 5 Defendants In Capitol Riot Cases Served In The Military.  NPR, Jan 21, 2021.

Saagar Enjeti, QAnon Supporters MELT DOWN As Biden Takes Office. TRUMP Is To Blame.  Rising | The Hill, Jan 21, 2021.  points to a lack of meaning and community; the most sensitive and sympathetic reflection on QAnon Trumpists that I know of. Coordinates these facts on the ground with Trump’s pardon of Steve Bannon, a grifter who had cheated Trumpists of their money to build the border wall.

Bill Allison, Organizers of Trump Rally Had Been on Campaign’s Payroll.  Bloomberg, Jan 22, 2021.

Hank Stephenson and Jennifer Medina, Arizona G.O.P. Censures Three Top Members Criticized by Trump Loyalists. New York Times, Jan 23, 2021.  “The party rebuked Gov. Doug Ducey, former Senator Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain, all of whom have been criticized by some Trump supporters as insufficiently loyal to the former president.” Censuring private citizen Cindy McCain?

Katrin Bennhold and Michael Schwirtz, Capitol Riot Puts Spotlight on ‘Apocalyptically Minded’ Global Far Right. New York Times, Jan 24, 2021.  “Adherents of racist far-right movements around the world share more than a common cause. German extremists have traveled to the United States for sniper competitions. American neo-Nazis have visited counterparts in Europe. Militants from different countries bond in training camps from Russia and Ukraine to South Africa… Extremists are animated by the same conspiracy theories and narratives of “white genocide” and “the great replacement” of European populations by immigrants, the report concluded. They roam the same online spaces and also meet in person at far-right music festivals, mixed martial arts events and far-right rallies. “The neo-Nazi scenes are well connected,” said Mr. Kramer, the German intelligence official. “We’re not just talking about likes on Facebook. We’re talking about neo-Nazis traveling, meeting each other, celebrating together.” The training camps have caused anxiety among intelligence and law enforcement officials, who worry that such activity could lay the groundwork for more organized and deliberate violence.” One photo is captioned, “A member of the Russian Imperial Movement at a training base in St. Petersburg in 2015. In the background, the flag reads: “God. Tsar. Nation. We are Russians, God with us.””

Laura Smith, Lone Wolves Connected Online: A History of Modern White Supremacy.  New York Times, Jan 26, 2021.  “Forty years ago, Louis Beam had the idea of using the internet to drive a movement. Today, his vision is disturbingly prevalent.” “In 1982, Louis Beam drove 500 miles from a rugged patch of Texas land near the Gulf of Mexico to another rugged patch of land in the Arkansas Ozarks. He was headed to “the Farm,” a remote 250-acre commune of white supremacists calling themselves the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord. The C.S.A. was stockpiling weapons and training in guerrilla tactics to prepare for an imminent race war….“Imagine, if you will, all the great minds of the patriotic Christian movement linked together and joined into one computer,” Mr. Beam wrote in one of his early online essays. “Imagine any patriot in the country being able to call up and access these minds.””

Holly Otterbein, Pennsylvania GOP Pledges Full Allegiance to Trump. Politico, Jan 26, 2021.

Chris Hayes, AOC: There Are ‘Legitimate White Supremacist Sympathizers’ At Core Of House GOP.  All In | MSNBC, Jan 27, 2021.

Sean Illing, American Fascism Isn’t Going Away.  Vox, Jan 29, 2021.  “Jason Stanley is a professor of philosophy at Yale and the author of How Fascism Works (2018). It’s one of the most influential books on the topic in recent memory. And strange as it is, we don’t really have scholarly consensus on the meaning of fascism. It’s a slippery term, and trying to apply it in different contexts is tricky. Stanley has a somewhat controversial view. Fascism is often regarded as an ideology or a regime type. Stanley says it’s a way of doing politics, a way of seizing power that feeds on a very particular style of propaganda. That may sound like an academic distinction, but it’s not. For Stanley, if we only think of fascism as a type of government or a coherent set of beliefs, then we’re likely to recognize it after it has already transformed our political system. The goal, he says, is to catch fascism “before it becomes a regime.”” See also Randall Lane, A Truth Reckoning: Why We’re Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable.  Forbes, Jan 7, 2021.  From White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer lying about crowd size at the inauguration. “This standard needs to apply to liars from either party. It’s just a realization that, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, in a thriving democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.”

Julie Posner, He Wants to Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive? New York Times, Feb 2, 2021.  “Dan-el Padilla Peralta thinks classicists should knock ancient Greece and Rome off their pedestal — even if that means destroying their discipline.” Posner includes historical insights about how ancient Greece and Rome were claimed by Western Europeans as their intellectual and cultural inheritance, all the way through the far-right white supremacists of today’s U.S. This article gestures towards how important it is to see the classical inheritance as challenged by the Judeo-Christian inheritance. Even though Posner does not explore the Christian challenge and contribution to Greece and Rome, the comparison begs to be made on: slavery, women, children, worship, violence, debt, civic punishment, etc.

Umair Haque, How the GOP Became the Party of Hate, Lies, and Insanity. Eudaimonia, Feb 5, 2021.  “This is How the GOP Was Always Going to End. But Will America End With It?”

Jaclyn Diaz, Michigan's Top Republican Falsely Calls U.S. Capitol Attack A 'Hoax'. NPR, Feb 10, 2021.  “Michigan's highest ranking Republican leader was caught on video calling the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol a “hoax” and espousing other conspiracy theories related to the siege. Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, in a video posted on YouTube of a meeting with Hillsdale County Republican Party officials, said of the Capitol insurrection in which five people died: “It was all staged.”“

Todd C. Frankel, A Majority of the People Arrested for Capitol Riot Had a History of Financial Trouble. Washington Post, Feb 10, 2021.  “Trail of bankruptcies, tax problems and bad debts raises questions for researchers trying to understand motivations for attack.” Explores the story of Jenna Ryan, 50, from Texas, a real estate agent. And, “Nearly 60 percent of the people facing charges related to the Capitol riot showed signs of prior money troubles, including bankruptcies, notices of eviction or foreclosure, bad debts, or unpaid taxes over the past two decades, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records for 125 defendants with sufficient information to detail their financial histories. The group’s bankruptcy rate — 18 percent — was nearly twice as high as that of the American public, The Post found. A quarter of them had been sued for money owed to a creditor. And 1 in 5 of them faced losing their home at one point, according to court filings.” See also Christiane Amanpour, Ronan Farrow: Who Were the Rioters on Jan. 6th? Amanpour and Company, Feb 10, 2021.  An 18 min video which summarizes Ronan Farrow, A Pennsylvania Mother’s Path to Insurrection. The New Yorker, Feb 2, 2021.  About Rachel Powell, 40, mother of eight, who watched Alex Jones and other right-wing media. Also Ronan Farrow, A Former Marine Stormed the Capitol as Part of a Far-Right Militia. The New Yorker, Jan 14, 2021.  about Donovan Crowell, 50, former Marine and member of the Oath Keepers, one of the largest and most dangerous extremist groups in the country. Also Ronan Farrow, An Air Force Combat Veteran Breached the Senate. The New Yorker, Jan 9, 2021.  about “retired Lieutenant Colonel Larry Rendall Brock, Jr., a Texas-based Air Force Academy graduate and combat veteran,” 53, father of three, who was radicalized by right-wing news to believe that Dems and Leftists are a threat to the country.

Daniel A. Cox, After the Ballots Are Counted: Conspiracies, Political Violence, and American Exceptionalism.  Survey Center on American Life, Feb 11, 2021.  very disturbing stats on GOP voters’ views on the legitimacy of Biden’s win and their willingness to use violence: “Roughly four in 10 (39 percent) Republicans support Americans taking violent actions if elected leaders fail to act. Sixty percent of Republicans oppose this idea. Thirty-one percent of independents and 17 percent of Democrats also support taking violent actions if elected leaders do not defend the country.”

Zack Stanton, The Problem Isn’t Just One Insurrection. It’s Mass Radicalization..  Politico, Feb 11, 2021.  “Extremism is faster, more collaborative and happening at a far wider scale than it used to, says Michael Jensen. Does that mean more January 6th-type incidents in the future?” “Jensen’s research has found that over the past roughly 15 years, the average time span of radicalization in the U.S. has shrunk from 18 months to 7 months, largely because of how much of our lives have shifted online. In the 1980s or ’90s, a would-be far-right extremist had to “know somebody in your real-world life who was involved in it,” says Jensen. “They had to recruit you in or introduce you to the ideas. That tended to be a pretty slow process.””

Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen and Their Exits: Legacies of Authoritarian Rule. Kellogg Foundation, Feb 12, 2021. Ruth Ben-Ghiat gave an important lecture on how political power collapses underneath strongmen and what they do to try to hold on. At the 51.30 minute mark, during the Q&A session, Ben-Ghiat comments on how German historical memory was de-Nazified, but Italian historical memory retained a nostalgic view of Mussolini. Her comments highlight the importance of hagiography in making future generations ripe for fascist, anti-democratic leaders. The political nostalgia and politics of memory are important.

Hari Sreenivasan, Jason Stanley: Did This 2 Min. Video Help Incite the Jan. 6 Rioters? Amanpour and Company, Feb 12, 2021.  an analysis of the video Trump played on Jan 6 before the attack on the Capitol, how it gave a justification for mass violence, to defend Trump as a leader who promises protection from “globalists” and a Jewish cabal, restores military and economic might in America.

Rachel Maddow, Panicking Georgia GOP Looks To Change State Constitution To Protect Trump. Rachel Maddow | MSNBC, Feb 17, 2021.  would make grand juries composed of more rural white Trump supporters

Weston Blasi, ‘We Did Not Send Him There to Do the Right Thing’: Pennsylvania Republicans May Censure Sen. Pat Toomey Over Impeachment Vote.  MSN, MarketWatch, Feb 17, 2021.

Lois Beckett, “The Past is So Present”: How White Mobs Once Killed American Democracy.  The Guardian, Feb 22, 2021.  “Mobs of white Americans unwilling to accept multi-racial democracy have successfully overturned or stolen elections before: in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898, in Colfax, Louisiana, in 1873 and New Orleans in 1874, and, in Hamburg, South Carolina, in 1876.”

Dan De Luce, Pentagon Warns of Threat From White Supremacy Inside the Military.  NBC News, Feb 25, 2021.  “A Defense Department report highlights disturbing examples of white supremacy inside the military, calling for changes in how the department screens recruits for possible ties to domestic extremism.” See Jeff McCausland, Inside the Military’s Battle with White Supremacy and Far-Right Extremism.  NBC News, May 25, 2019.  McCausland is retired Army colonel and former member of the National Security Council. “Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Hasson spent five years in the Marine Corps and two years in the Army National Guard before entering the Coast Guard. During that time, at his enlistment ceremonies, promotions, and when commissioned as an officer he undoubtedly swore an oath to “…support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” But Hasson violated that oath. On Feb. 15, 2019, he was arrested on drug and firearm charges while serving at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. Soon it was discovered that unauthorized weapons were just the tip of the iceberg. Hasson was also a self-described white nationalist. He was an admirer of far-right terrorist Anders Breivik — just like Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist who has been charged with 50 counts of murder for his attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. Both had carefully studied Breivik’s 1,500-page manifesto, which he had used to justify two attacks that resulted in the death of over 70 Norwegian civilians in 2011.”

Adam Rawnsley, Kelly Weill, and Jackie Kucinich, Three Percenter Truck at Capitol on Jan. 6 Belongs to Hitler-Quoting Rep’s Husband.  Daily Beast, Feb 26, 2021.

Will Steakin, GOP Congressman Headlines Conference Where Organizers Push White Nationalist Rhetoric.  ABC News, Feb 27, 2021.  GOP Rep Paul Gosar (R-AZ) tried to distance himself from white supremacy. However, “on Friday night, Gosar's keynote was followed by a speech by Fuentes that was filled with white grievance and far-right anti-immigration rhetoric. "If [America] loses its white demographic core … then this is not America anymore," the AFPAC founder told the crowd.”

Priscilla Alvarez, Texas Gov. Abbott Stalled Federal Offer to Test Migrants Then Blamed Them for Spreading COVID.  CNN, Mar 5, 2021.  “After relaxing state Covid restrictions this week, Abbott alleged, without evidence, that migrants coming into Texas are exposing the state's residents to the coronavirus. The Biden administration has been releasing immigrants in south Texas that have been exposing Texans to Covid," Abbott, a Republican, said in a CNBC interview Thursday. But behind the scenes, the Department of Homeland Security has relayed plans to the governor's office to try and get assistance to cities and counties to mitigate Covid-19 spread, according to the official.” See also Jack Herrera (Twitter, Mar 3, 2021) commenting on Newt Gingrich’s Tweet to the same effect. See also Teri Kanefield (Twitter, Mar 4, 2021) “Timothy Snyder (@TimothyDSnyder) calls it sadopopulism and explains the formula: Identify an "enemy" (homeless migrants, Democrats, etc.) Enact policies that create pain Blame the pain on the "enemies" Present yourself as the strongmen who can fight the "enemies."

CNN, Jim Clyburn Slams Lindsay Graham’s Reparations Comment.  CNN, Mar 10, 2021.  stoking white racial animus

NBC News, 'You Can't Spot The White Nationalist Anymore': Inside The Rise Of Right-Wing Extremists.  NBC News, Apr 9, 2021.  re: Identity Europa; anti-immigration, racial segregation as an ideal, Holocaust denial. Describes one person’s process of radicalization: social media presence; polite and seemingly innocuous language like “white pride.” Predictions of MAGA candidates running in the 2022 election. The black militia called NFAC.

John Iadarola, Billionaires Secretly Funding Racism Exposed.  The Damage Report, Apr 25, 2021.  interviews Jim Freeman, Rich Due to Racism. ILR Press | Amazon page, Apr 2021.  Discusses billionaires like the Koch brothers funding projects like ALEC, the dismantling of public schools, etc.

Lawrence O’Donnell, Trump Supporter Found Guilty Of Threatening To Kill Members Of Congress After Jan. 6 Insurrection.  The Last Word | MSNBC, May 3, 2021.

Michel Martin, A New Study Shows Us the Single Biggest Motivation for the Jan. 6 Rioters. Amanpour and Company, May 6, 2021. The single biggest motivation is “great replacement” — not in a demographic sense alone, but in terms of legal rights gains. They believed that non-whites were gaining more legal rights than whites.

Allen G. Guelzo, Why We Must Forget the Lost Cause.  The Gospel Coalition, May 12, 2021.  Although I do not think biblical “forgetting” is quite what Guelzo seems to suggest, I appreciate his attention to detail as to how the Lost Cause -- the big lie of its time -- began.  

“Lee was not the real author of General Orders No. 9; he usually delegated the drafting of his circulars to one of his principal staffers, Colonel Charles Marshall. But Marshall used the opportunity of General Orders No. 9 to begin shaping the fundamentals of the Lost Cause.

“After four years of arduous service,” Marshall began, “marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude,” Lee’s army had been forced to surrender to “overwhelming numbers and resources.” Not to Grant’s relentless and impeccably timed pursuit of Lee. Instead, Lee’s army was portrayed by Marshall as a dauntless band of heroes whose resistance had simply been ground down by Yankee numbers, Yankee bullets, Yankee capitalism, and Yankee rations. (Or, as Marshall would elaborate in later years, by “a powerful flotilla. . . . a profusion of military supplies of all kinds,” and “ten men to take the place of every soldier lost,” while the Confederates were “very often . . . nearly naked, and nearly always poorly fed.”) In Marshall’s framing of the surrender, the war had been an unfair fight from the start, and nothing had been proven by Confederate defeat except that unfairness.

As was his habit, Lee merely read over Marshall’s draft, and even “struck out a paragraph, which he said would tend to keep alive the feeling existing between the North and the South.” Lee was actually preparing to write a report that contradicted much of what Marshall had written. “The troops,” Lee complained, “were not marked by the boldness and decision which formerly characterized them,” and all along the march to Appomattox they appeared to Lee “feeble; and a want of confidence seemed to possess officers and men.” But it was copies of Marshall’s order that troops took home with them, and from Marshall’s order sprang a full elaboration of the Lost Cause.

It did not take long to manifest itself, either. A year later, Richmond journalist Edward Pollard baptized Marshall’s idea in a full-length book, The Lost Cause: A New Southern History of the War of the Confederates. Pollard enthusiastically endorsed Marshall’s insistence that the South had not been fairly defeated. The war had been lost only through “accident or inadvertence,” and that allowed Southerners to believe, with a “proud, secret, deathless, dangerous consciousness [that] they are the better men, and that there was nothing wanting but a change in a set of circumstances and a former resolve to make them the victors.”

John Iadarola, Marjorie Taylor Greene Shocks Congress As New Financial Juggernaut.  The Damage Report, May 15, 2021.  MTG raised $3.2 million in Q1 2021, second only to Nancy Pelosi

Andreas Malm and the Zetkin Collective, White Skin, Black Fuel: On the Danger of Fossil Fascism.  Verso Books | Amazon page, May 18, 2021.  

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, White House Unveils Strategy to Combat Domestic Extremism.  New York Times, Jun 15, 2021.  “The plan highlights a shift in the U.S. approach to counterterrorism, which for decades focused on fighting foreign terrorists.”

Chris Hayes, If Race Isn’t Central To U.S. History, Why Is CRT Fueling The GOP?.  All In | MSNBC, Jun 25, 2021.  “If you decide that indeed, white backlash and moral panic over Critical Race Theory — if you think that backlash is so powerful that it provides such a nuclear furnace of rage that it will be the key to taking over Congress in the midterms, well then, you are conceding the central point of Critical Race Theory itself. Which is that, indeed, racial resentment — the preservation of racial hierarchy, particularly for white people — is in fact the central ordering conflict in American society.”

Christine Amanpour, The White Power Movement: A Direct Line Between Vietnam and Jan. 6. Amanpour and Company, Jun 25, 2021.  “Award-winning historian and author Kathleen Belew, a professor at the University of Chicago, speaks with Michel Martin about violence and militarization in American society and how to combat it.” “The best predictor is not poverty or immigration or reactionary mindset or advances of communities of color. The best predictor is the aftermath of warfare. We see surges of the Klan after the Civil War, after WW1, after WW2, after Korea, after Vietnam, and we’re seeing one now with the global war on terror. The Gulf War fueled the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 which was carried out by a white power activist with other movement connections. This is really not veterans. All measures of violence are higher in the aftermath of warfare.”

Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Republicans Urged To 'Lean Into' Critical Race Theory Culture War.  Reason, Jun 25, 2021.  In a memo sent to the Republican Study Committee on Thursday, Banks told his colleagues that "we are in a culture war. On one side, Republicans are working to renew American patriotism and rebuild our country. On the other, Democrats have embraced and given [sic] platform to a radical element who want to tear America down."

Reid J. Epstein, Noem’s Use of Private Money to Deploy Guard Troops Raises Questions. New York Times, Jun 30, 2021.  “South Dakota officials from both parties, as well as military historians, cited legal and ethical worries about the governor’s use of a donation from a Tennessee billionaire to send troops to the border.” Sending 50 National Guard troops to help with border security is a token gesture, but it is precisely the political stunt-making that is the point. If the political optics are what matters to GOP leaders, what happens if they are put in charge of more military power?

Catie Edmondson, Far-Right Extremist Finds an Ally in an Arizona Congressman.  New York Times, Jul 5, 2021.  “Representative Paul Gosar’s association with the white nationalist Nick Fuentes is the most vivid example of the Republican Party’s growing acceptance of extremism.” See also Mehdi Hasan, The Most Dangerous Republican in Congress.  MSNBC, Jul 10, 2021.  Hasan interviews Jennifer Gosar, younger sister of Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Kurt Braddock, a scholar of white supremacy, professor of public communication at American University. Allan Smith, Gosar's Siblings Want Their Brother Kicked Out of Congress. They Think Democrats Are Moving Too Slow..  NBC News, Jun 28, 2021.  “I consider him a traitor to this country. I consider him a traitor to his family," Dave Gosar said. "He doesn't see it. He's disgraced and dishonored himself.” Aaron Rupar on Twitter (Twitter, Jul 24, 2021) “Rep. Paul Gosar turns reality on its head by portraying January 6 as a mostly peaceful affair, then pushes an absurd conspiracy theory that the real criminals on that day were "insiders from the FBI and DOJ"“

Joy Reid, Malcolm Nance: We Are In A Neo-Fascist Era In American Politics.  MSNBC, Jul 5, 2021.  Neo-Nazi march in Philadelphia

Seema Mehta, Scuffle Breaks Out at Rep. Katie Porter’s Town Hall (Los Angeles Times, Jul 12, 2021.  “On his campaign website, [GOP candidate Nick] Taurus has called for a 25-year moratorium on immigration, a prohibition on vaccine passports, a ban on teaching critical race theory and LGBT issues in schools, the pardoning of everyone involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection in the nation’s capital, and other controversial views. Taurus’ social media profiles show that he associates with people such as Nicholas J. Fuentes, a far-right activist who espouses white supremacist rhetoric, including lamenting that America is losing its “white demographic core” and likening the Holocaust to baking cookies — a metaphor to cast doubt on millions of deaths.” See also interview with Katie Porter by Lawrence O’Donnell, Katie Porter Responds After Trump Loyalists Disrupt Town Hall For Families.  MSNBC, Jul 13, 2021.

Dana Milbank, Opinion: This Historian Predicted Jan. 6. Now He Warns of Greater Violence (Washington Post, Jul 15, 2021.  re: Yale historian Timothy Snyder

Lawrence O’Donnell, ‘White Privilege Card’ Found In Raid Of Men Charged With Plot To Bomb Democrats.  MSNBC, Jul 16, 2021.  FBI interrupted an attempted attack on Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento, CA.

Bob Christie and Christina A. Cassidy, Few AZ Voter Fraud Cases, Discrediting Trump’s Claims.  Associated Press, Jul 17, 2021.  

J.L. Cook, Texas Senate Passes Bill to Remove Required Lessons on Civil Rights Movements From Public School Curriculums.  The Root, Jul 17, 2021.  includes “Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, the history of Native Americans, the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other figures and documents in their curriculums.”

Vianney Gomez and Carroll Doherty, Wide Partisan Divide on Whether Voting Is a Fundamental Right or a Privilege with Responsibilities. Pew Research Center, Jul 22, 2021.  shows that “when conservatives cannot succeed through democracy, they will not abandon conservatism, they will abandon democracy.” See also Jill Colvin and Hannah Fingerhut, Poll Exposes Unease Among Republicans.  Associated Press | York Dispatch, Jul 27, 2021.  “A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research [of 1,308 adults was conducted July 15-19 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points] captures widespread unease among Republicans over everything from the direction of the country to the state of American democracy and, in particular, President Joe Biden. Just 15% approve of the way Biden is handling his job, and 66% continue to say the Democrat was illegitimately elected, a lie perpetuated by Trump that underscores his persistent grip on GOP voters… While 60% of the public overall has an unfavorable view of Trump, 76% of Republicans view him favorably. And most would like to see him maintain at least some degree of influence over the GOP going forward. Nearly half of Republicans, 47%, say that Trump should exert “a lot” of influence over the future of the party, and another 34% say he should have “a little” influence. Just 18% say Trump should have none at all.” Justin King, Let's Talk About Republicans Rejecting Democracy.... Beau of the Fifth Column, Aug 2, 2021. “The Republican base is primed for dictatorship.”

MSNBC, Jan. 6 Committee Shows New Video Of Capitol Riot.  MSNBC, Jul 27, 2021.

Jane Mayer, The Big Money Behind the Big Lie.  The New Yorker, Aug 2, 2021.  “Donald Trump’s attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs.”

Zane Sparling, Proud Boys, Antifa Violently Clash on 122nd in East Portland.  Portland Tribune, Aug 22, 2021.  describes a riot that devolved from opposing protests. See also interview by Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uyghur, Proud Boys Openly Brawl In Streets of Portland.  The Young Turks, Aug 23, 2021.  to discuss police activity and reports. See also Oregon Pro Chapter, SPJ Oregon Statement On The Assault of Freelance Journalist Maranie Staab.  Society of Professional Journalists, Aug 23, 2021.  

Mehdi Hasan, GOP Continues To Exhibit Fascist Tendencies.  The Mehdi Hasan Show | MSNBC, Aug 31, 2021.  Covers Madison Cawthorne, who warned of “bloodshed” over future election fraud, and lied about the 2020 election.

Kelsey Vlamis, GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Said Tucker Carlson is Correct About White Nationalist 'Replacement' Conspiracy Theory and Called ADL Racist.  Business Insider, Sep 26, 2021.  

George Joseph and Micah Loewinger, Hack Of Oath Keepers Militia Group Includes Names Of Active NYPD Officers, De Blasio Launches Investigation.  Gothamist, Sep 30, 2021.  “One NYPD sergeant, who is listed online as being active in the department’s Firearms and Tactics Session, was named in the data dump. The sergeant answered a phone number posted in the membership data and acknowledged he was an NYPD officer when asked whether he was the person in question. He declined to comment on whether or not he is a member of the militia organization, and referred WNYC/Gothamist to the NYPD’s press office. The log associated with the sergeant suggests he joined the Oath Keepers in 2014. The email address listed with the membership contains the term “nypdcop,” and the entry lists expertise in “field force operations,” “incident management,” and “riot control agents.” Another name revealed in the hack matches that of a Staten Island officer currently assigned to the department’s Strategic Response Group, a unit that’s been frequently deployed to quell protests.”

Jason Wilson, Far-Right Militia Group Membership Surged After Capitol Attack, Hack Shows.  The Guardian, Oct 1, 2021.  “788 altogether – joined or donated after Oath Keepers members participated in the incursion into the Capitol building on 6 January, with the records showing that the surge built momentum in January before slowing in February, March and April, where the records end.”

Southern Poverty Law Center, Exposing Hate Online: New SPLC Resource Tracks Role of Tech Companies in Spreading Far-Right Extremism Through Podcasts.  SPLC, Oct 1, 2021.  “The Southern Poverty Law Center released a groundbreaking, four-part report this week that exposes the origins and growth of the far-right podcast ecosystem over the past decade. The series is the first investigative report on the SPLC’s new TechWatch, a resource that tracks the role technology plays in perpetuating hate.”

Mike Hixenbaugh and Antonia Hylton, Southlake School Leader Tells Teachers to Balance Holocaust Books with 'Opposing' Views. NBC News, Oct 14, 2021.  in Texas: “Teachers in the Carroll school district say they fear being punished for stocking classrooms with books dealing with racism, slavery and now the Holocaust.”

Lyz Lens, A 19th-Century Law Dismantled The KKK. Now It Could Bring Down A New Generation Of Extremists.  Huffington Post, Oct 24, 2021.

CNN, Charlottesville Organizers Left Behind an 'Enormous' Paper Trail. CNN, Oct 26, 2021.  examines the documented violent intentions as the Charlottesville marchers’ civil trials begin

Steve Clemons, Why Is White Supremacy Growing in the U.S.?  Aljazeera, Oct 28, 2021.  Clemons asks Kathleen Belew, author of A Field Guide to White Supremacy, and Wes Bellamy, author of When White Supremacy Knocks, about the future of race in American society.

Mass Central, Teacher Forced To Quit After Being At Jan. 6 Protest Elected To Seat On District’s School Board.  Mass Central, Nov 4, 2021.  “Matthew Lynch, who was forced to resign from his job as a teacher in Braintree, Massachusetts after photos showed him at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 has gained his revenge, winning a seat on the district’s school board.” See also Phillip Martin, Apparent Jan. 6 Rioter Elected To Braintree School Board, Underscores Deep Town Divisions.  WGBH, Nov 8, 2021.  On background of Braintree: 87% white in 2010, compared to 99% in 1980… the diversity is not welcomed by everyone. “Reporter James Bentley of the Patch News Service, the first to report on Lynch, says he had to file a public records request with the public school system to document complaints against Lynch when he was a teacher because parents were afraid to publicly discuss their concerns. “I’ve been talking to some concerned citizens parents, but I really didn’t have anyone that wanted to come forward on the threats out of fear, retaliation,” he told GBH News.”

Zerlina Maxwell, Republicans Silent After Violent Gosar Tweet.  Zerlina | MSNBC, Nov 9, 2021.  re: the tweet of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) portraying violence against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)

Ellie Silverman, White Supremacists Find a New Platform to Spread Hate: A Federal Courtroom in Charlottesville.  Washington Post, Nov 10, 2021.  Outrageous behavior

Mehdi Hasan, U.S. Authoritarianism Reaches Book-Burning Stage.  The Mehdi Hasan Show | MSNBC, Nov 11, 2021.  lists very important recent examples that are troubling; Republican book bans in the name of anti-CRT

Jake Epstein, A Black Principal Who Resigned After Parents Accused Him of Teaching Critical Race Theory Says 'We're Dealing With People That Are Delusional'.  Insider, Nov 15, 2021.  On the “anti-CRT” craze sweeping white conservative communities and parents, consider how maNew York Times the n-word is said in Mark Twain’s books, which are very often required readings, therefore encouraging white students to say it. Adding stress to black students is itself a mark of school inequality.

David Doel, Ilhan Omar Fires Back Hard At Lauren Boebert's Unhinged Rant.  The Rational National, Nov 17, 2021.  highlights how outrageous it is that Boebert (R-CO) said “jihad squad” and lied about her “brother-husband”

Trevor Noah, Fringe-Watching: Rep. Paul Gosar.  The Daily Show, Nov 17, 2021.  an entertaining compilation of Gosar’s own quotes and affiliations, along with critiques of him

Jake Lahut, We Watched Tucker Carlson’s Jan.6 Documentary So You Don’t Have To. Here’s Why Its Whitewash of the Capitol Insurrection Makes No Sense.  Business Insider, Nov 22, 2021.  summarized in three points: “Tucker Carlson's documentary on the Jan. 6 insurrection is riddled with errors and fallacies. A pair of longtime Fox News contributors recently resigned over the three-part streaming series. The film jumps to shaky conclusions and relies heavily on innuendo, not demonstrated evidence.”

Chris Lehmann, We All Live in the John Birch Society’s World Now.  The New Republic, Nov 23, 2021.  “In his lifetime, Robert Welch toiled in the mocked and marginal fringe. Today his ideas are the mainstream of the American right.” An early review of Edward H. Miller, A Conspiratorial Life: Robert Welch, the John Birch Society, and the Revolution of American Conservatism. University of Chicago Press | Amazon page, Jan 2022.

Matthew Korfhage, The Abolitionist History of Thanksgiving and Pumpkin Pie — And Why the South Resisted Both.  USA Today, Nov 24, 2021.  “When Abraham Lincoln declared a day of Thanksgiving on the fourth day of November in 1863, it was the culmination of a long pro-Thanksgiving campaign by abolitionist, pumpkin lover and home economics icon Sarah Josepha Hale. Lincoln framed it as a call to "heal the wounds of the nation and restore it," and the declaration became an annual tradition for American presidents. But some in the Confederacy decried the Thanksgiving declaration as a rank political ploy. Worse, Thanksgiving was yet another example of self-regarding New Englanders telling them how to live.” See also Ariel Knoebel, For Decades, Southern States Considered Thanksgiving an Act of Northern Aggression.  Atlas Obscura, Nov 22, 2018.  “Southern leaders attacked Thanksgiving as the North’s attempt to impart Yankee values on the South. Virginians, especially, retaliated against Hale’s campaign. In 1856, the Richmond Whig published a scathing editorial on the District of Columbia’s “repugnant” declaration of thanksgiving, arguing that the holiday did nothing but rob men of a day’s wages and encourage drunkenness. As for the Northerners who started the celebration: “They have crazy society within New England’s limits, where they have been productive of little but mischief—of unadulterated and unmistakable injuries to sound religion, morals, and patriotism.””

Kyle Vass, West Virginia Textbook Battle Shows How GOP Turned Its Image from Blueblood to Blue Collar.  The Guardian, Nov 25, 2021.  “Rallying parents around concepts that aren’t taught in textbooks isn’t a new political strategy for the American right – it’s a fundamental part of how Republicans have rebranded themselves over the past 50 years, according to Carol Mason, a professor at the University of Kentucky and the author of Reading Appalachia from Left to Right: Conservatives and the 1974 Kanawha County Textbook Controversy. Mason’s book takes readers to small-town West Virginia where a school board meeting on textbook selection quickly escalated into violent protests that saw the Ku Klux Klan marching in the streets, school buses shot up and a kindergarten classroom dynamited. While many of the protesters had no idea what was actually in the books they were protesting against, they had been successfully incited by thinktanks such as the Heritage Foundation, a key source for misinformation on critical race theory today, into violence that captured national media attention.”

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, Can You Bankrupt White Supremacy? Jury Holds Charlottesville Organizers Liable for $26M in Damages.  Democracy Now, Nov 24, 2021.  interview Nicole Lewis, jurisprudence writer at Slate. Lewis does not believe this will bankrupt white supremacy.

Joe Scarborough, David Brooks Looks At 'Terrifying Future' Of U.S. Right At Conservative Conference. MSNBC, Nov 30, 2021.  compares the Trumpist (culture war, no policy) and Bush (free market) wings of the GOP

Chauncey DeVega, Investigative Reporter David Neiwert: Rittenhouse Verdict a “Green Light for Right-Wing Extremists”. Salon, Nov 30, 2021.  “Kyle Rittenhouse was deeply radicalized by far-right propaganda about militias and their support of vigilantism. The militia that he joined up with in Kenosha was a boogaloo outfit, and these guys believe they are getting ready for a civil war. Rittenhouse clearly had a predisposition in that direction, in terms of his thinking and reasoning for going to Kenosha. The judge excluded all that. The judge would not allow discussion about the nature of this militia — it was just called "a militia" during the trial. Moreover, that normalized the idea that militias in America are an ordinary thing. The reality is that militias, which are more accurately described as private armies, are illegal in all 50 states. We just don't have any state governments with enough courage to stand up and force the existing laws to stop this kind of vigilante organizing.”

Timothy L. O’Brien, Who Just Gave Trump $1 Billion? Let’s Find Out..  Bloomberg, Dec 6, 2021.  “Investments in a blank-check company backing the former president could turn out to be IOUs if he wins back the White House.

Barton Gellman, Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun. The Atlantic, Dec 6, 2021.  “January 6 was practice. Donald Trump’s GOP is much better positioned to subvert the next election.” Gellmann has researched deeply and gives example after example or partisans replacing election officials, redistricting, etc. See summary by Nicole Wallace, Report: Trump Has Better Positioned Himself To Subvert The Next Election.  Deadline | MSNBC, Dec 6, 2021.  One bright spot is The Hill, Justice Dept. Sues Texas Over 'Undermining Minority Groups' Right To Vote'.  The Hill, Dec 6, 2021.

Peter Wade, Trump Ordered Staff to ‘Bust Some Heads’ of Black Lives Matter Protesters Outside White House: Book.  Rolling Stone, Dec 10, 2021.  Re: Mark Meadows’ book.

Chris Hayes, A Step-By-Step Breakdown Of The Trump Coup Attempt (Yes, It Was A Coup). All In | MSNBC, Dec 10, 2021.  focuses on Georgia

Phoebe Cohen, I Joined A Far-Right Group Of Moms. What I Witnessed Was Frightening. Huffington Post, Dec 21, 2021.  "Despite my uneasiness, I couldn’t help but find myself liking the women in the room. They were charismatic. They were energetic. They had no problem letting my low-functioning autistic son play with their children, which is unfortunately rare among a lot of the other mothers I’ve encountered. But this made me even more uneasy. I realized these women were dangerous precisely because they were so friendly. Their condemnation of history lessons about Ruby Bridges and Jim Crow laws and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was repulsive. They were trying to suppress the truth by labeling the unassailable facts of racism in the U.S. as “divisive.” “Equality,” “diversity” and “inclusion” were not virtues to be celebrated but “trigger words” with a poisonous intent. This nefariously clever bit of relabeling disgusted me. There was a very clear far-right agenda at work here."

Chris Hayes, Right’s ‘Celebration Of Violence’ On Full Display At Turning Point USA Convention.  All In | MSNBC, Dec 21, 2021.  The convention celebrated Kyle Rittenhouse.  GOP leaders like Congresswomen Lauren Boehbert and Marjory Taylor Greene, etc. picture themselves with guns and use violent rhetoric as metaphor.  Meanwhile, 30% of Republicans believe “true patriots may have to use violence to save our country,” and gun ownership is at record high levels.  61% of Republicans live in a household with a gun, vs. 31% of Democrats.  

Chris Hayes, 'We Took The Capitol’: Proud Boy Pleads Guilty To Jan. 6 Conspiracy Charges.  All In | MSNBC, Dec 23, 2021.  In a conspiracy, everyone is guilty of the crimes of all the other members of the conspiracy.  

Cherranda Smith, FBI Informant Exposes Active KKK Members Working In Law Enforcement.  Black Information Network, Dec 23, 2021. “For ten years, Joe Moore worked as a confidential informant in the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, as a key component of the agency's investigation into the KKK. The married father of three gathered information on the KKK in Jacksonville, Florida from 2007 to 2017, where he helped foil at least two murder plots and exposed active members working inside law enforcement at the county and state levels… "In secret, they constantly discuss violent acts in support of their ideology," Moore said, adding that members frequently use the N-word. "From day one, I decided I would never use that term, even if it created a more dangerous situation for myself," he said… Across his time working undercover, Moore said he came into contact with people who were former and active military service members, law enforcement officers at the state, local, and county levels. Moore's work also added that the KKK was recruiting new members at Florida prisons –– something the state Department of Corrections denies… "If you want to know why people don't trust the police, it's because they have a relative or a friend that they witnessed being targeted by extremist who happened to have a badge and a gun," Moore continued.”

Nicole Wallace, Another Day, Another Coup Plot Revealed.. This Time By Peter Navarro.  Deadline | MSNBC, Dec 29, 2021.  Reveals that they already had 100 GOP Congresspeople committed to delaying the certification of Biden’s victory and obstructing it.  “Writer-at-large for the Bulwark Tim Miller and Politico White House reporter Eugene Daniels on new reporting in the Daily Beast where Trump advisor Peter Navarro outlines how he and Steve Bannon planned to overturn the election.”  

Chris Hayes, Jan. 6 Committee Releases ‘Explosive’ Texts From Sean Hannity.  All In | MSNBC, Jan 4, 2022.  

Thom Hartmann, Will America Be Torn Apart Again By Wealthy White Men?  Thom Hartmann Program, Jan 4, 2022.  Hartmann compares the pre-Civil War South to today.  From 1810 onwards, a few big-plantation families dominated the South because they could afford Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, which could do the work of 50 enslaved human beings.  Thus, the character of American fascism:  the domination of politics by business interests.  Today, a few fossil fuel families like the Koch network are trying to protect their wealth from oil, gas, etc.  They dominate U.S. politics.  Hartmann draws on David Williams, Rich Man's War: Class, Caste, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley (University of Georgia Press | Amazon page, Jan 1999) “In Rich Man's War historian David Williams focuses on the Civil War experience of people in the Chattahoochee River Valley of Georgia and Alabama to illustrate how the exploitation of enslaved blacks and poor whites by a planter oligarchy generated overwhelming class conflict across the South, eventually leading to Confederate defeat. This conflict was so clearly highlighted by the perception that the Civil War was "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight" that growing numbers of oppressed whites and blacks openly rebelled against Confederate authority, undermining the fight for independence. After the war, however, the upper classes encouraged enmity between freedpeople and poor whites to prevent a class revolution. Trapped by racism and poverty, the poor remained in virtual economic slavery, still dominated by an almost unchanged planter elite.”

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, “American Insurrection” How Far-Right Extremists Moved from Fringe to Mainstream After Jan. 6 Attack.  Democracy Now, Jan 5, 2022.  The Jan.6 Select Committee is interviewed, along with Capitol Police officers.  Far-Right movements use on-line forums, special media, school board elections, etc.  Documentary filmmaker Rick Rowley points out, “More people today believe the 2020 election was stolen than on the morning of January 6.  More people today believe that violence might be necessary to defend America than on the morning of January 6.”  Former KKK and white power organizations rebranded as “patriots” and “nationalists” and saw an increase in membership and influence.  This raises the important question of whether the election recounts matter as fact and truth at all.  Perhaps these white supremacists want to be angry, and are looking for an excuse.  So any conspiracy theory suffices.

Amy Goodman, Columnist Will Bunch: Trump Came Much Closer to Pulling Off a January 6 Coup Than People Realize.  Democracy Now, Jan 5, 2022.

60 Minutes, 11,780 Votes (January 10, 2021).  60 Minutes, Jan 5, 2022.  Only 2 people voted in the name of deceased people, despite Trump claiming that 5,000 did.  Rudy Giuliani lied about videos of ballot counting:  The ballots were boxed and placed under tables, and then brought up again because the ballot counters were told they would be continuing work through the night.  

Vice News, What Really Happened to Capitol Police During the Insurrection | Source Material. Vice News, Jan 5, 2022. “The attack left 5 dead, at least 138 police officers injured and resulted in more than $30 million in damage and security upgrades. On July 27, four of the police officers who helped defend the Capitol that day provided testimony to Congress. In this special episode of Source Material we hear their testimonies and see the violence they were subjected to.” First hand video and audio accounts.

CBS News, Preview: "Indivisible - Healing Hate".  CBS News, Jan 6, 2022.  Hosted by Mandy Patinkin and released on Paramount+, this six-part documentary “traces the origins of anti-government extremism and how it built on a deadly series of historical events over decades to culminate in the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

Donald K. Sherman, Another Big Lie: Corporations Broke Their Promise to Stop Political Donations to the Sedition Caucus.  The Grio, Jan 6, 2022. “After the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, companies announced they would pause, end or re-evaluate giving money to politicians who voted against certifying the 2020 election. But an analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found that many of them are still funding the insurrectionists in Congress.” Refers to Angeli Li and Areeba Shah, The Corporate Insurrection: How Companies Have Broken Promises and Funded Seditionists.  CREW, Jan 3, 2022.  “Since the insurrection, 717 corporations and industry groups have funneled over $18 million to the re-election of members of Congress who objected to the 2020 presidential election results. As calls for insurrection accountability reach the one year mark, one thing is for certain: our democracy cannot recover from the insurrection while Corporate America continues to spend millions of dollars bankrolling seditionist members of Congress.”

Michelle Martin, Jason Stanley Warns: "America is Now in Fascism’s Legal Phase" | Amanpour and Company, Jan 6, 2022.  Stanley focuses on the pressures on the electoral system by conservatives who use increasingly disparaging and violent rhetoric against the left.

Second Thought, Why American Fascism Is On The Rise.  Second Thought, Jan 7, 2022.  Highlights belief in the racial replacement theory, or “Great Replacement Theory.”  They also believe the pandemic is a hoax.  Health crises and pandemics seem connected to political fears and opportunism.  

Chris Hayes, Ted Cruz Begs For Forgiveness After Accurate Observation Of Jan. 6 Reality.  All In | MSNBC, Jan 7, 2022.  Cruz accurately called the insurrectionist mob “terrorists” at least included among the protesters.  But on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox, Carlson called that a lie, and Cruz gave in.  Hayes argues that Cruz believes that the willingness to use political violence is now a staple or precondition for membership in the Republican Party.

Ali Velshi, Trump Victim Act Follows Authoritarian Playbook Drawing In Fanatical Supporters.  The Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC, Jan 8, 2022.  Authoritarians manipulate elections, thus preserving democracy on the surface.  “Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor of history at NYU and author of "Strongmen," talks about right-wing assault on democracy in the United States and familiar patterns between the Trump movement and other authoritarian movements around the world and in history.”  

Jonathan J. Cooper, Cyber Ninjas Faces Fine Over Arizona Election Review Records.  Associated Press, Jan 7, 2022.  ““The court is not going to accept the assertion that Cyber Ninjas is an empty shell and that no one is responsible for seeing that it complies,” Hannah said.

He said there’s been no evidence submitted showing that Cyber Ninjas is actually insolvent and noted that millions of dollars were donated to the election review. He also said the company could comply for very little cost by turning its records over to the Senate and allowing legislative lawyers to determine which must be publicly released.”

Tiffany Cross, Looking Ahead To The Future of American Democracy.  The Hill, Jan 8, 2022.  Summary of GOP candidates who believe the “big lie” who are running for offices.  Summary of companies who donated to GOP congresspeople who supported the “big lie.”

Lawrence O’Donnell, Racists Attack Iowa Democrats Meeting.  The Last Word | MSNBC, Jan 11, 2022.  “Iowa Democratic Party Black Caucus Chair Al Womble and Iowa State Rep. Phyllis Thede tell Lawrence O’Donnell what happened when racists crashed a virtual meeting to help voters get involved in their state government.”

Hannah Rabinowitz, Katelyn Polantz, Tierney Sneed and Holmes Lybrand, Oath Keepers Leader and 10 Others Charged with 'Seditious Conspiracy' Related to US Capitol Attack.  CNN, Jan 13, 2022.

Maria Cramer and Amanda Holpuch, A Bill Proposed a New Way to Teach History. It Got the History Wrong. New York Times, Jan 14, 2022.  “A Republican legislator in Virginia who campaigned against critical race theory introduced a bill that incorrectly said the Lincoln-Douglas debates were between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.”

Mehdi Hasan, Trump Shares Stage With Self-Proclaimed Oath Keeper At Arizona Rally.  MSNBC, Jan 17, 2022.  “You might think this Oath Keeper who was at the insurrection would be keeping his head down since then, trying to lay low and avoid attention. But you would be wrong," says Mehdi Hasan on Trump-endorsed candidate Mark Finchem speaking at the former president’s rally.”  Mark Finchem, an Oath Keeper who was present at the Capitol at 1/6, is running for AZ Secretary of State.

Mehdi Hasan, Many Americans Don’t Hear The ‘Democracy In Danger’ Alarm.  MSNBC, Jan 17, 2022.  Tracks Fox News messaging downplaying ⅙ earlier in 2021, against DOJ prosecution now against Oath Keepers for seditious conspiracy.

Cody Johnston, The Whitewashing Of Martin Luther King.  Some More News, Jan 17, 2022.  Johnston’s presentation contains important references to King about reparations and redistribution of economic power, criticism of Vietnam, and belief that capitalism has failed.

Rachel Maddow, Mike Pence Script Change Seems To Address Fake Trump Elector Scheme.  The Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC, Jan 18, 2022.  Mike Pence’s script shows evidence that he consulted the Senate Parliamentarian to grasp for precise language.

Mehdi Hasan, State Of The GOP: McConnell And Trump At Odds, Marjorie Taylor Greene Endorses J.D. Vance.  The 11th Hour | MSNBC, Jan 26, 2022. 

Jonathan M. Katz, Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire.  St. Martin’s Press | Amazon page, Jan 2022.  Marine General Smedley Butler said he had been approached by a network of major bankers and corporate leaders who opposed FDR’s New Deal.  This “American Liberty League” drew on fascist movements in Europe for inspiration, and included Alfred P. Sloan, J.P. Morgan, Jr., and Irenee du Pont.  See interview by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, "Gangsters of Capitalism": Jonathan Katz on the Parallels Between Jan. 6 and 1934 Anti-FDR Coup Plot.  Democracy Now, Jan 26, 2022.  Katz points out that conservative capitalists rally behind the idea of an authoritarian who will defend against a socialist redistribution of wealth and power.  Katz incidentally affirms the accusation against Prescott Bush, father of GHW Bush, being involved in Nazi circles.  Katz tells more of the story of Gen. Butler, how he changed from being a soldier of U.S. imperialism to an anti-imperialist.  Butler was born in a Quaker family and in a sense returned to his roots.  He saw that imperialism was driven by Wall Street banks and American politicians.  He sees the way imperialism abroad was reimported as authoritarianism and fascism at home.  Thus, he spent the last 10 years of his life, saying war is a racket.  He tried though failed to prevent WW2.  

Insurrection Index (website)

Mehdi Hasan, The ‘Big Lie’ Candidates.  The Mehdi Hasan Show, Feb 15, 2022.  Hasan points out how much donations have been given to Secretary of State races at the state level.  Joe Walsh, a former Republican, says that the GOP base is radicalized.

Chris Hedges, What Fuels Right-Wing Extremism?  Chris Hedges Fan Club, Feb 21, 2022.  Hedges argues that in Yugoslavia and earlier in Weimar Germany, the moderate and center left are unable or unwilling to deal with the economic polarization, disenfranchising the poor.  Similarly, the U.S. working class was betrayed by the moderate and center left Bill Clinton, who supported NAFTA and “free trade.”

Ryan Chapman, Fascism: An Introduction. Ryan Chapman, Mar 8, 2022. Highlights theorists of crowd-based politics like Gustave Lebon and Georges Sorel which made nationalism the simplest idea to motivate crowds. The nation then takes on religious meaning and significance of the first priority.

Ari Melber, 'Mask Slips': Legal Expert On GOP Senator’s 'Outlandish' Interracial Marriage Comments.  The Beat | MSNBC, Mar 23, 2022.  Mike Braun (R-IL) said that he believes “states rights” should effectively dismantle the 14th Amendment.

Ilan Stevens, The Dark History of Colonia Dignidad.  The Nation, Mar 24, 2022.  “The Netflix series A Sinister Sect examines not only the history of a German community led by a Nazi in Chile but also the relationship between Latin American governments and the far right.”

Justin King, Let's Talk About Hypersonic Tech and Masculine Militaries.  Beau of the Fifth Column, Mar 24, 2022.  Given the right-wing critique of “diversity training” in the military as symptomatic as “liberals,” and praise of the Russian military, the Ukraine War shows how ridiculous this is.  

Dana Milbank, Koch Industries’ Valentine to Vladimir Putin.  Washington Post, Mar 30, 2022.  What it means that Koch Industries is only one of eight corporations that continue to fully do business in Russia.  A history of Koch brothers’ opposition to democracy, expanded voting rights, etc.  How to boycott Koch.

Christine Amanpour, Jason Stanley: Putin Thinks U.S. Democracy Is Weak and Hypocritical.  Amanpour and Company, Apr 7, 2022.  Putin’s Russian fascism:  rhetorical messaging; goals; international policies and views.

Christine Amanpour and Hari Sreenivasan, How Right Wing Parties Are Exploiting a New Definition of Antisemitism. Amanpour and Company, May 9, 2022. Putin and other far right wing types are using an “ideological” or “cultural” definition of Jewishness. This enables them to drive a wedge between Jewish liberals and Orthodox Jews.

Dave Davies, Has Tucker Carlson Created the Most Racist Show in the History of Cable News? NPR, May 12, 2022.

David Doel, Buffalo Extremist Echoes Tucker Carlson Talking Points In Released Document.  The Rational National, May 15, 2022.  Doel reads the manifesto published by the shooter, citing connections to previous white supremacist violence.  Compares Tucker Carlson’s “replacement theory” that Democrats intend to replace Republicans through immigration of obedient people from Third World countries who will be more socialist.

Seth Myers, The Right's Embrace of Racist Replacement Theory Is Both Dangerous and Dumb: A Closer Look.  Late Night with Seth Myers, May 16, 2022.  When 18 year-old Payton Gendron carried out a white supremacist shooting in Buffalo, NY on May 14, 2022, he cited the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory promoted by Tucker Carlson.  

CBS News, Mayor of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Discusses Arrest of Group of Extremists.  CBS News, Jun 13, 2022.

Gabriel Schoefeld, Defending Liberalism From the Right and Left.  Lawfare Blog, Jun 28, 2022.  Book review of Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents.  Fukuyama argues the right leans towards political authoritarianism and is quicker, and the left leans towards cultural authoritarianism and is slower, and Schoefeld, with the Niskanen Center, apparently agrees.

Kimmy Yan, Wisconsin School Board Members Dismissed Book About Japanese American Incarceration As Being ‘Unbalanced,’ Parents Say.  NBC News, Jun 30, 2022. “School board President Christopher Buckmaster also brought up concerns about balance in a separate call with Zielke, she said. Asked to clarify what kind of balance Buckmaster sought, he recommended that the students read about the Rape of Nanjing, Zielke said. In the tragedy during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese military raped at least 20,000 women and girls and killed 150,000 male “war prisoners” and 50,000 male civilians in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Buckmaster did not respond to a request for comment.”

Roberta Kaplan and Yotam Barkai, The Patriot Front March in Boston is a Wake-Up Call to America. Boston Globe, Jul 7, 2022.  “In light of Patriot Front’s actions — in Charlottesville in 2017, in Idaho in June, and in Boston this past weekend — anyone who doesn’t think that the freedom and independence we celebrate every year is under severe threat is sorely mistaken.” Kaplan and Barkai highlight an important and troubling pattern. They link to specific statements and findings, including the Charlottesville leader calling for participants using “a meme of someone hitting a person with a spiked baseball bat and talked about wanting to see “jackboots on Commie skulls, blood on the pavement.””  This anti-communist rhetoric is shared by conservative Christians and Republicans.  See also Grace Zokovitch, Leaders Join Man Hurt by Patriot Front Mob in Speaking Out Against Hate. Boston Herald, Jul 4, 2022. “Charles Murrell, a local artist, was injured Saturday as a white supremacist group marched through downtown Boston.”

PBS News Hour, Oath Keepers Are a ‘Violent Militia,’ Former Spokesperson of Extremist Group Says.  PBS News Hour, Jul 12, 2022.  “Jason Van Tatenhove, former spokesperson of the Oath Keepers, testified on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection. Van Tatenhove said he covered the Oath Keepers as an independent journalist before he accepted a job with the organization. “I spent a few years with the Oath Keepers. They may not like to call themselves a militia, but they are — they're a violent militia,” Van Tatenhove said. He went on to say that he recognized how members of the organization continued to radicalize over time. That radicalization continued as the Oath Keepers members and those who were “courted” by founder Stewart Rhodes “drifted further and further right into the alt-right world, into white nationalists, and then straight-up racists.””

Alicia Menendez and Walter Isaacson, “Why We Did It:” Fmr. RNC Spokesman on GOP’s Descent Into Trumpism.  Amanpour and Company, Jul 12, 2022.  “As more is revealed about the inner workings of Trump’s White House, our next guest lifts the lid on the moral divisions within the Republican Party. In his new book, "Why We Did It," Tim Miller details his involvement with the GOP and how political staffers were able to justify the new brand of politics, as he explains to Walter Isaacson.”

Walter Isaacson, Jan. 6 Hearing Tied Trump to “America’s Biggest Threat:” the White Power Movement.  Amanpour and Company, Jul 13, 2022.  Professor Kathleen Belew talks about how various white power movements came and come together.  How they do outreach to former military service men and women. 

Robert Reich, Boeing, GM, FedEx: These Are As Complicit As the Far Right in Threatening US Democracy.  The Guardian UK, Jul 14, 2022.  “Corporations are underwriting the thuggery of Trump and his allies – all because they want to pay as little tax as possible.”

Ali Velshi, Loose-Lipped Steve Bannon Suggests Another Facet Of Trump's Central Role In Capitol Attack.  MSNBC, Jul 14, 2022. 

PBS News Hour, How Some Members of the Republican Party Have Normalized the Use of Violent Rhetoric.  PBS News Hour, Jul 18, 2022.  Starting from Trump’s campaign where he normalized the use of violent rhetoric and imagery.

Devon James, All the Possible January 6th Crimes.  LegalEagle, Jul 20, 2022.  A 28 minute video; excellent commentary following the Jan 6 Select Committee Hearings.

John Ganz, The Enigma of Peter Thiel. Unpopular Front, Jul 23, 2022.

“Peter Thiel is a fascist. There’s really no better word for what he is. But, for some reason, people have trouble grasping this or just coming out and saying it…. Thiel’s libertarianism is about freedom—freedom for him and people like him, the entrepreneurial elite of the capitalist class. He’s openly antidemocratic. In an essay for the Cato Institute, Thiel once wrote, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible…” Why? Because if you empower the demos, they will eventually vote for restrictions on the power of capitalists. and therefore, restrictions on their “freedom.””

Amy Goodman, Hungary PM Viktor Orbán Addresses CPAC as American Right Embraces His Authoritarian Rule. Democracy Now, Aug 4, 2022. Donald Trump welcomed Hungarian dictator-President Viktor Orbán ahead of the CPAC conference happening presently. A few days ago, Orbán criticized "race-mixing" in other European countries. Orbán's comments sparked outcry even from his own party -- a "pure Nazi-text worthy of Goebbels." So far, none of the U.S. conservatives at CPAC have condemned Orbán's remarks. Orbán came to power in 2010, using anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ dog-whistles before and regularly afterwards. He changed the Hungarian Constitution in 2011 to protect fetal life from the moment of conception. Notice how authoritarians get public support from conservatives and especially Christians by taking a hardline position on the fetus that the Bible itself does not support.

"What the American Right sees in him is the use of culture wars as a kind of cover for creeping autocracy. You see it because the Republicans are engaged in a campaign -- a very Orbán-like campaign -- to rig the rules of the election by changing laws in the U.S. states so that the Republicans are going to win no matter who wins the popular vote. That's the kind of thing that Orbán did in Hungary."

"Some of those specific tactics the Republicans are using here exactly mirror what Orbán did in Hungary. Come for the racism. Stay for the autocracy. I think that's what's in it for CPAC." Orbán refers to himself as a Christian Democrat. "It's a cover." "Orbán has the support of evangelicals and other Christians without ever setting foot in church." "It's exactly on immigration that you see the sharpest parallels between Orbán and Trump. If you know what Trump did to stop immigration -- he first built a wall. Orbán first built a fence. Then Trump pushed the people who were seeking asylum back across the border to wait in this kind of limbo before they could get into the country. Orbán set up "transit zones" -- a kind of limbo as people awaited entry. The similarities between Trump and Orbán are so extreme that there was even a point six months before the U.S. started doing it, that Orbán started separating parents and children. Now, they didn't lose track of which parents were connected to which kids, as happened here. But they decided that they had no human rights obligation to feed the parents in these "transit camps." But they did have an international obligation to feed the children. They took the children, fed them, and then brought them back to their parents so the kids couldn't share food. All of that was stuff Trump copied."

Amy Goodman, Viktor Orbán Has Eroded Democracy in Hungary. Now He’s Being Embraced by CPAC & American Right. Democracy Now, Aug 8, 2022. Is Part 2 of an interview with Princeton sociologist Kim Lane Sheppele. Examines the international reach of CPAC, including in places where Christianity is nominal or no longer meaningful, like Hungary.

Baláys Gulyás, Orbán’s CPAC Fibs and Flubs. The Dispatch, Aug 8, 2022. “The Hungarian prime minister desperately wants to be perceived as respected by American conservatives.” A telling critique by a fellow Hungarian.

Nicholas Fandos, Paladino Draws Backlash for Calling Hitler ‘the Kind of Leader We Need’.  New York Times, Jun 9, 2022.  “Carl Paladino, a Republican House candidate from New York, has been endorsed by Representative Elise Stefanik, a member of party leadership.”

Katy Tur, Doug Mastriano Did Not Answer Questions During Jan. 6 Interview.  MSNBC, Aug 9, 2022.  Mastriano is an overt “Christian nationalist” and promoted Trump’s big lie.

Susan B. Glasser and Peter Baker, Inside the War Between Trump and His Generals.  The New Yorker, Aug 8, 2022.  “How Mark Milley and others in the Pentagon handled the national-security threat posed by their own Commander-in-Chief.”  Including Gen. Milley’s scathing resignation letter which he did not actually hand in to Trump.

Lawrence O’Donnell, ‘Merrick Garland Has Outsmarted Donald Trump At Every Turn’.  The Last Word | MSNBC, Aug 11, 2022.  After the FBI search of, and apprehension of documents, from Mar-a-Lago, Trump was defensive and Republican leaders and Fox News hosts denounced the FBI.  However, after that, AG Merrick Garland disclosed that he personally ordered the search, and the list of items taken along with the security level of those documents.  See also Shermichael Singleton, Republicans Rally Behind Trump Amid Escalating Investigations.  Katie Phang | MSNBC, Aug 12, 2022.  Singleton spotlights Trump and other GOP officials during campaigns.  See also Morning Joe, Neal Katyal: 'A Brilliant Chess Maneuver' For AG Garland.  Morning Joe | MSNBC, Aug 12, 2022.  

Thom Hartmann, GOP Nominates Fascist Racist Election Deniers.  Thom Hartmann Program, Aug 19, 2022.  After the 2022 primaries, the results on the GOP side are alarming.

Katie Phang, Florida State Attorney Slaps Ron DeSantis With A Lawsuit.  Katie Phang | MSNBC, Aug 19, 2022.  “Florida state attorney Andrew Warren is now suing Governor Ron DeSantis, after DeSantis removed him from office for comments he made about abortion and gender-affirming medical care.”  Warren called for his First Amendment right to free speech.  He was not asked to do anything to enforce a law, merely for speaking about the issues.

Ed Pilkington, Ousted Republican Reflects on Trump, Democracy and America: ‘The Place Has Lost Its Mind’.  The Guardian UK, Aug 20, 2022.  AZ State Speaker Rusty Bowers, who testified before the January 6 committee against Trump, said that the AZ Republican Party is fascist.  “In February, a mega “election integrity” bill was introduced into the Arizona legislature that was the culmination of the anti-democratic drift of the party. House bill 2596 would have given the Republican-controlled legislature the power to reject any election result that the majority group didn’t like.  Bowers resoundingly killed off that bill by sending it to languish not in just one house committee, but in all 12 of them. “I was trying to send a definitive message: this is hogwash. Taking away the fundamental right to vote, the idea that the legislature could nullify your election, that’s not conservative. That’s fascist. And I’m not a fascist.””  Bowers was also baselessly called a pedophile by Trump supporters, revealing again an unthinking strategy typical of Trump supporters, evoking disgust and not thought.  “But for now, he accepts that things are likely to get much worse before they get better. I ask him, at this moment, is the Republican party in Arizona lost?  “Yeah,” he said. “They’ve invented a new way. It’s a party that doesn’t have any thought. It’s all emotional, it’s all revenge. It’s all anger. That’s all it is.””  See also Robert Draper, The Arizona Republican Party’s Anti-Democracy Experiment.  New York Times, Aug 15 and 23, 2022.  “First, it turned against the establishment. Now it has set its sights on democracy — the principles, the process and even the word itself.”  See also interview of Rusty Bowers by Mehdi Hasan, Ousted AZ House Speaker Speaks Out About GOP's Future.  The Mehdi Hasan Show, Aug 30, 2022.  Bowers says, “That reminds me of Mussolini.”

Elle Hardy, The Right-Wing Christian Sect Plotting a Political Takeover.  The New Republic, Aug 23, 2022.  “The New Apostolic Reformation doesn’t always admit its own existence, but it’s growing in influence in the Republican Party.”  Note:  “They have introduced the concept of “territorial spirits,” demons who occupy places and institutions “strategically”—think abortion clinics…”

Lawrence O’Donnell, Sen. Graham Lied Because He’s ‘Afraid’ Of His Own Words.  The Last Word | MSNBC, Aug 30, 2022.  SC Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, “If Trump is indicted, there will be rioting in the streets.”  Then he backed off and spun what he meant.  Interestingly, Lawrence O’Donnell compared Graham to previous SC Senator Strom Thurmond, who also kept a secret -- that he had a biracial daughter from a 16 year old black girl despite building his career on segregation and racism, never apologizing for anything.  Does Trump hold a secret about Graham?

Jonathan Capehart and Michael Steele, GOP Christian Nationalists On The Rise.  MSNBC, Aug 28, 2022.  Interview with David French, who points out the evangelical Christians who were on Trump’s staff.  

Isaac Arnsdorf, Pa. Governor Hopeful Bets He Can Win by Not Moderating Trumpian Stances.  Washington Post, Aug 28, 2022.  “Doug Mastriano is testing whether the base of support that prevailed for him in a fractured primary can win in November.”  Note also the Christian pastor’s support.

Morning Joe, Trump Works To Reactivate Dangerous QAnon Conspiracy.  Morning Joe | MSNBC, Aug 31, 2022.  Comments on Nikki McCann Ramirez, Trump Woke Up and Went on a 60-Post, QAnon-Fueled Social Media Spree.  Rolling Stone, Aug 30, 2022.  Also remarks on Trump reposting and amplifying Senator Lindsay Graham’s “riot in the streets” prediction / signal to Trump’s base, while Trump maintains plausible deniability that he is not promoting political violence.  See also Nikki McCann Ramirez, MAGA Talking Points Grow Even More Absurd After Release of Classified Docs Pic.  Rolling Stone, Aug 31, 2022.  “South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, argued on Fox News that the documents may have been planted in Mar-a-Lago by the FBI, and that the continents of the highly classified documents should be made public… Trump’s daughter-in law and Fox News contributor Lara Trump appeared on her father-in-laws go-to network in what could only be described as an attempt to reassure the Trump patriarch that he was the real victim here… Fox News host Dan Bongino argued that the FBI’s lacked credibility to the point that viewers should doubt if the items depicted in the filing were even really classified… Others, despite having degrees from Harvard Law School [like Ben Shapiro], are happy to call a public court filing a “leak” in the interest of making things seem more sinister.

Alanna Durkin Richer, Oath Keepers’ Lawyer Arrested in Connection with Jan. 6.  Associated Press | Boston Globe, Sep 1, 2022.  “SoRelle told The Associated Press last year — when FBI agents seized her phone as part of the Jan 6. investigation — that she had no knowledge of or involvement in the Capitol breach. She called the seizure of her phone “unethical” and the investigation “a witch hunt.””  But “SoRelle was photographed with [Oath Keepers leader Stewart] Rhodes outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 and was present at an underground garage meeting the night before the riot that's been a focus for investigators.  The meeting included Rhodes and and Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys, who is charged separately with seditious conspiracy alongside other members of the extremist group that describes themselves as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.””

Scott Bauer, Ginni Thomas Emails Urged New 2020 Electors in Wisconsin.  Associated Press | Boston Globe, Sep 1, 2022.

Meidas Touch (Twitter, Sep 2, 2022) “Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a manipulated video of President Biden’s speech with digitally imposed swastikas added behind him and a Hitler mustache added to his face. She’s telling her followers it is real. This is exactly the sick extremism President Biden was railing against.”

Margaret Stafford, Missouri Attorney General Seeks Journalism School Records.  Associated Press | St. Louis Press Today, Sep 2, 2022.  This is an alarming aspect of fascism.

Yolande Knell, Israeli Rules Say West Bank Visitors Must Declare Love Interest.  BBC News, Sep 3, 2022.  “Foreigners must tell the Israeli defence ministry if they fall in love with a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, according to new rules.  If they marry, they will be required to leave after 27 months for a cooling-off period of at least half a year.  It is part of a tightening of rules on foreigners living in, or wanting to visit, the West Bank.  Palestinians and Israeli NGOs have accused Israel of "taking restrictions to a new level".”

Kim Phillips-Fein, The Long Unraveling of the Republican Party.  The Atlantic, Sep 6, 2022.  An excellent summary of three books which explore “a history of fractious extremism that predates Donald Trump.”  Nicole Hemmer, Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s.  Dana Milbank, The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five-Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party.  Matthew Continetti, The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism.  

Frontline PBS, Lies, Politics and Democracy: Robert Costa (interview).  Frontline PBS, Sep 6, 2022.  Costa says that Paul Ryan and Donald Trump discussed the Charlottesville, VA white supremacist rally.  Ryan urged Trump to disavow the white supremacy.  Trump responded, “You don’t understand.  These are my people.”  Trump was rewarding their political loyalty.  During the Lafayette Square incident in Washington DC, Trump wanted to be seen as a military strongman, and even wanted to bring in the 101st Airborne from Maryland to DC, against the Esper’s and Millie’s urging.  During the Biden victory in 2020, Trump trusted Rudy Giuliani with the political, legal, and public fight to stay in power. See also Frontline PBS, Lies, Politics, and Democracy: Mora Charen (interview).  Frontline PBS, Sep 6, 2022.  Charen is a conservative columnist and policy editor at The Bulwark.  Charen’s acquaintance with, and observation of, specific GOP leaders and the GOP base, generally, are valuable:  her remarks about Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, etc. are insightful.

Amy Goodman, “Attack Philanthropy”: Right-Wing Billionaire Fueled Climate Denial & Conservative Judges, Schools.  Democracy Now, Sep 8, 2022.  “New revelations about the secretive right-wing billionaire Barre Seid, who donated $1.6 billion to a conservative nonprofit run by Leonard Leo, known as Donald Trump’s “Supreme Court whisperer,” show he has also used his massive fortune to undermine climate science, fight Medicaid expansion and remake the higher education system in a conservative mold. We speak with The Lever’s Andrew Perez, who reported on what Seid calls “attack philanthropy,” after obtaining emails through an open records request.”

Mehdi Hasan, Fascism is on the Rise in Europe, Not Just in the U.S.  Mehdi Hasan Show | MSNBC, Sep 14, 2022.  Italy where Steve Bannon has been helping Georgia Maloney, France where Marine LePen has garnered support, Sweden where the anti-Muslim Sweden Democrats won 20% of the vote.  Interviews political scientist Jason Stanley from Yale and Italian journalist Rula Jebreal from the University of Florida.  Fascist policy moves include anti-immigrant sentiment based on “replacement theory”, cultural conservatism including criticism of the LGBTQ community and progressives, verbal attacks on journalists, etc.  

Frontline PBS, Lies, Politics and Democracy: Tim Alberta (interview).  Frontline PBS, Sep 6, 2022.  Tim Alberta is a journalist and writer for The Atlantic.  He puts Ted Cruz, especially, under a microscope.  Then he discusses Republican Party leaders and what they got from Trump.

Frontline PBS, Lies, Politics and Democracy: Alyssa Farah Griffin (interview).  Frontline PBS, Sep 6, 2022.  Griffin worked for Mike Pence on his communications team.  She is a social conservative who was skeptical of Trump from the beginning, and opposed him later.  She discusses poignantly and insightfully why character still does matter in politics and policymaking.

Frontline PBS, Lies, Politics and Democracy: Mark Sanford (interview).  Frontline PBS, Sep 6, 2022.  Mark Sanford discusses how his 2009 lie about his affair taught him lessons about truth-telling.  Sanford was one of the four Republicans who opposed Trump early in 2017, along with Justin Amash, Jeff Flake, and Bob Corker -- all four paid a steep political price.  Sanford points out how Trump threatened other GOP leaders.  

Nicole Wallace, Frank Figliuzzi Calls Trump’s QAnon Embrace ‘The Last Act Of A Desperate Man’.  Deadline | MSNBC, Sep 19, 2022.  Trump’s playbook is to keep rallying MAGA supporters, embrace QAnon for the most extreme fringe, allow for the heretical notion originating from evangelical circles that the “Son of Man” prophecy refers to him, and most importantly, encourage Big Lie believers to run for state election offices.  See also Chris Hayes, Trump Panders To QAnon Movement At Rally In Most Explicit Embrace Yet.  All In | MSNBC, Sep 19, 2022.  Trump allows people to believe that the Democrat leaders are Satanic pedophiles.  Also, Ginni Thomas promoted the idea that Biden and others would be put on a military trial.  Mehdi Hasan, The Proud Boys' National Security Threat Began Long Before 1/6. The Mehdi Hasan Show | MSNBC, Sep 19, 2022.  Mehdi tells the history of the group, their positions, and their activities, and interviews Andy Campbell, We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism.  Hachette Books | Amazon page, Sep 2022.  Proud Boys members are running for school boards and local offices.  They see themselves as the enforcement arm of the GOP; there are financial ties.  See also Alicia Menendez, Violence, Misogyny And Hatred Are Baked Into The Proud Boys’ Very Being.  American Voices | MSNBC, Sep 26, 2022.  Amy Goodman, "We Are Proud Boys": Far-Right Gang Normalized Political Violence, Embraced by GOP.  Democracy Now, Sep 26, 2022.  Andy Campbell reports that Proud Boys members have won local offices.

Andrew Meier, ‘The God-Damnedest Thing’: The Antisemitic Plot to Thwart U.S. Aid to Europe’s Jews and the Man Who Exposed It.  Politico, Sep 23, 2022.  “Henry Morgenthau used his close ties with Roosevelt to expose rampant antisemitism in the State Department that thwarted America’s efforts to provide refuge for Jews imperiled by Hitler.”

Mark Finchem (Wikipedia article)  Finchem is the 2022 GOP candidate for Arizona Secretary of State.  He is an Oath Keeper.

David Corn, American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy. Twelve | Amazon page, Sep 13, 2022. See introduction and interview by Rachel Maddow, Endgame Of GOP Undermining Elections Is To Evade Accountability To Voters. The Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC, Sep 27, 2022 and Republican Party's Failure To Manage Its Extremists Threatens U.S. Democracy. The Rachel Maddow Show | MSNBC, Sep 27, 2022.

Ben Meiselas, Report: Trump Despicably Encourages Dangerous Conspiracy At Rally To Harm Country.  The Meidas Touch, Sep 27, 2022.  Trump invokes QAnon.  Kash Patel plays along.

Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, "There's Going to Be a Fight": Oath Keepers Trial Reveals Violent Plans to Keep Trump in Office.  Democracy Now, Oct 4, 2022.  

Mika Brzezinski, Are We Supposed To Ignore That Threats Against The House Speaker Have Been Specific?  Morning Joe | MSNBC, Oct 31, 2022.  Refers to Olivia Olander, Top Republicans Reject Any Link Between GOP Rhetoric and Paul Pelosi Assault.  Politico, Oct 30, 2022.  “RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel lamented the “unfair” Democratic argument that the yearslong villainization of Nancy Pelosi contributed to the attack on her husband as the investigation continues.”  See also Jeremy B. White, Pelosi Attacker Was Immersed in 2020 Election Conspiracies.  Politico, Oct 28, 2022.  

Joshua Zeitz, Where Will This Political Violence Lead? Look to the 1850s.  Politico, Oct 29, 2022.  

Madhawa Palihapitiya and Darren Kew, Massachusetts Must Act Now on the Threat of White Supremacy.  Boston Globe, Oct 31, 2022.  “Just one white supremacist group — the Patriot Front — accounts for more than 290 incidents in Massachusetts this year, with the most occurring in Boston, Worcester, and Brockton. In September, reports emerged that two Massachusetts state legislators appeared on the membership lists of the extremist group the Oath Keepers, signaling the growing political influence of these groups as well. Evidence is also emerging of infiltration of our military and local police by white supremacists. Massachusetts was fourth on the 2021 list of states with hate group propaganda, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League.”

Joseph Bernstein and Katherine Rosman, From Yale to Newsmax, Usha Vance Has Helped J.D. Vance Chart His Path. New York Times, Nov 1, 2022. “The Ohio Senate candidate’s wife, an accomplished lawyer, remains ensconced in the milieu he now rails against.”

Chris Hayes, Three Reasons Democrats Avoided A Red Wave In The Midterms.  All In | MSNBC, Nov 10, 2022.  Hayes argues the three factors are abortion policy and the Supreme Court; Biden’s domestic infrastructure and economic agenda; and pro-democracy and anti-MAGA (that is, anti-fascism).

Morning Joe and Vaughn Hillyard, When Lake Wonders How She Lost This Race, Look At It.  Morning Joe | MSNBC, Nov 15, 2022.  Kari Lake, who lost the race for Governor of Arizona, was a media personality, and allied herself with Trumpian fascism, white supremacy, and Christian nationalism.  Had she not alienated the McCain Republicans, she might have won.  Lake’s mistake was tactical, rooted in arrogance and perhaps the assumption that further winnowing the Republican Party down to its Trumpian wing would have further energized that base. 

Ali Velshi, Is There Room In The GOP For White Supremacy And Antisemitism?  The Last Word | MSNBC, Nov 29, 2022.  “Republican leaders are disavowing Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes who met with Donald Trump. Sen. Mitch McConnell told reporters, “There is no room in the Republican Party for white supremacy and antisemitism.” But there was room for Donald Trump’s brand of bigotry when he became the GOP’s presidential candidate and there is possibly still room for that brand of bigotry as Trump remains the GOP’s de facto leader.”  Velshi examines the comments of Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Kevin McCarthy (House Minority Leader).

BBC, Stewart Rhodes' Son: ‘How I Escaped My Father’s Militia’.  BBC News, Nov 29, 2022.  

Meidas Touch, Republican Leaders Snubbed in Public Humiliation During Ceremony.  Meidas Touch, Dec 7, 2022.  Family members of fallen Capitol police members did not shake the hands of Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, who supported Donald Trump to varying degrees despite the January 6 insurrection.

Morning Joe, 'This Is The Tip Of The Iceberg': New Texts Show GOP Efforts To Overturn 2020 Results.  MSNBC, Dec 13, 2022. 

Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti, Read: Insane Republican Congressman Jan 6 Coup Texts.   Breaking Points, Dec 15, 2022.  “Krystal and Saagar discuss recently revealed text messages leading up to January 6th involving tons of GOP operatives and politicians plotting to keep Trump in power with Mark Meadows.”

Michael Moore, The 14th Amendment, Section 3, Plainly States What to Do with an Attempted Coup.  Michael Moore, Dec 16, 2022.  Contains a helpful graphic of portraits of all GOP officials who assisted and gave comfort to insurrectionists.

Ben Meiselas, Mike Pence Begs DOJ Not to Prosecute Trump in Most Cowardly Interview.  The Meidas Touch, Dec 20, 2022.  Pence went on Fox News.

Lawrence O’Donnell, Cassidy Hutchinson Did Not Want A Lawyer From Trump World.  The Last Word | MSNBC, Dec 23, 2022.  

Alex Wagner, Trump Team's Inability To Remember Anything From Jan. 6 Strains Credulity.  Alex Wagner Tonight | MSNBC, Dec 23, 2022.  Evangelical Christian Mike Pompeo, Trump’s Secretary of State, said, “I don’t recall,” to significant questions such as whether he called counterparts in other countries to help them interpret the January 6 insurrection.  Others said, “I don’t recall,” as well.

Mother Jones, The Other Big Lie. Mother Jones, Jan 4, 2023. “By the 1870s, Congress had unshackled a powerful new voting bloc. But with the 1875 elections in Mississippi came a brutal backlash: White extremist groups mobilized to steal the election and blame Black people and Republican officials for their actions. “This fear of ‘Negro rule’ animated Southern Democrats and their white supremacist militias,” Hayes explains. “They intimidated would-be Black voters who showed up at the polls, spread lies about widespread voter fraud, murdered hundreds of Black citizens who tried to vote, and kidnapped and executed both Black and white political leaders in the weeks and months leading up to the election, all to ensure a particular outcome.” The stolen election was allowed to stand, and two years later, a back-room pact allowed Republicans to keep the presidency after the disputed 1876 elections in exchange for removing federal troops from the South—ushering in Jim Crow. Conwright concludes by drawing a comparison to the Capitol riots, arguing the attack wasn't just about Trump. It was driven by an even darker element of American myth-making and the need to protect white power: “There is a belief that America is a white country that they own, what democracy is, and what it looks like, and how it can be implemented.”

Jessica Piper and Zach Montellaro, Corporations Gave $10M to Election Objectors After Pledging to Cut Them Off. Politico, Jan 6, 2023. “In the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 riots — fueled by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen — dozens of companies including Walmart, Comcast and Lockheed Martin said they would either suspend political donations entirely or specifically cut off Republicans who echoed Trump’s stolen election claims or voted against certifying the election results. But over the next two years, amid a contentious midterm battle, less than half of those companies kept those promises for a full election cycle, the analysis of campaign donations found. The contributions made by corporate political action committees to the 147 members of Congress who sought to challenge the election results represent only a small fraction of the more than $350 million that those members raised over the past two years. But the totals still add up to significant support.”

Ben Meiselas, MAGA Republicans Vote to Create House Committee to Attack Jack Smith.  Meidas Touch, Jan 11, 2023.  On Jan 10, 2023, Republicans, after electing Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker, created a special select committee called The Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which is open to Representatives who wanted a pardon from former President Trump, or are being criminally investigated currently by the Department of Justice for the insurrection.  How can people exercise oversight over an investigation that is investigating them??  Democrats and non-MAGA Republicans spoke on the floor of Congress on how this subcommittee is unacceptable.  See also Lawrence O’Donnell, Republicans Have Created a ‘Committee to Obstruct Justice’.  The Last Word | MSNBC, Jan 11, 2023.  The House GOP first passed a resolution to defund the tax police:  the capacity of the IRS to investigate the richest citizens.  Then the House GOP created the Select Subcommittee.  

Ben Meiselas, DOJ Uses Trump Clips to Expose Proud Boys Plot.  Meidas Touch, Jan 12, 2023.  Trump’s “stand back and stand by” comment triggered important Tweets from Enrique Tarrio and others.  

Lawrence O’Donnell, Insurrectionists Are in Charge of the House of Representatives.  The Last Word | MSNBC, Jan 20, 2023.  Trump named as unindicted cause of Capitol rioter Denean MacAndrew’s actions.  O’Donnell also lists the litany of GOP lies that it tolerates and promotes.

Tara Zahra, Against the World: Anti-Globalism and Mass Politics Between the World Wars.  W.W. Norton & Company | Amazon page, Jan 2023.  See review by Jan-Werner Müller, The Great Turn Inward.  Foreign Policy, Oct 1, 2023. 

Amanpour and Company, Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure.  Amanpour and Company, Feb 2, 2023.  An interview with Yascha Mounk, about how ethnically diverse democracies are facing the biggest test of its time.  Yascha Mounk, The Great Experiment:  Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure.  Penguin Press | Amazon page, April 2022.

Oliver Laughland, Sam Levine and Andrew Witherspoon, Revealed: Mississippi Bill Would Carve Out Separate Judicial District for 80% of White Residents in Majority-Black City.  The Guardian UK, Feb 15, 2023.  “Republican-proposed jurisdiction fuels allegations of ‘apartheid in Jackson’.”  “The measure would increase the geographic size of an improvement district in the downtown area of the city of Jackson from 7.8 sq miles to 25 sq miles. It would create a new unelected judicial district within the city, with two judges, two prosecutors and two public defenders.  The judges would be appointed by Mississippi’s chief supreme court justice, Michael K Randolph, a conservative who is white. The prosecutors would be appointed by the state attorney general, Lynn Fitch, a white Republican. The district would be policed with an expansion of the Mississippi capitol police whose chief, Bo Luckey, is white, in a role appointed by the Mississippi commissioner of public safety, Sean Tindell, who is also white.  “No serious person can look at this map and this data and claim the proposed CCID boundaries weren’t drawn to make sure as many white Jacksonians as possible get the ‘benefit’ of a special police force and court filled with hand-picked judges and prosecutors,” said Cliff Johnson, director of the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center.”

Ben Meiselas, Laura Ingraham’s Brother Reveals Horrifying Secrets About Sister.  Meidas Touch, Mar 6, 2023.  Curtis Ingraham says their father was a Nazi sympathizer who had Mein Kampf on the table and found it easier to be angry.

Danny McDonald and Steven Porter, White Supremacist Propaganda Activity Surged in New England in 2022. Boston Globe, Mar 9, 2023. “New Hampshire saw the largest increase in hateful messages, according to an assessment by the Anti-Defamation League.”

Jeff Sharlet, The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War. W.W. Norton & Company | Amazon page, Mar 2023. From the book description:

“Across the country, men “of God” glorify materialism, a gluttony of the soul, while citing Scripture and preparing for civil war―a firestorm they long for as an absolution and exaltation. Lies, greed, and glorification of war boom through microphones at hipster megachurches that once upon a time might have preached peace and understanding. Political rallies are as aflame with need and giddy expectation as religious revivals. At a conference for incels, lonely single men come together to rage against women. On the Far Right, everything is heightened―love into adulation, fear into vengeance, anger into white-hot rage. Here, in the undertow, our forty-fifth president, a vessel of conspiratorial fears and fantasies, continues to rise to sainthood, and the insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt, killed on January 6 at the Capitol, is beatified as a martyr of white womanhood.”

See interview by Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland, Fascism vs Christian Nationalism: Is There A Difference? The Majority Report, Jul 16, 2023.

Meg Anderson and Nick McMillan, 1,000 People Have Been Charged for the Capitol Riot. Here's Where Their Cases Stand.  NPR, Mar 25, 2023.  “Most of them appear to be white men, though not entirely.  About 15% of the defendants have a background in the military or law enforcement. For context, about 7% of the U.S. population are military veterans. Police and sheriff patrol officers make up less than 1% of the population.”

Lawrence O’Donnell, Historic Ousting of Black TN Dems Demands Nation's Full Attention.  The Last Word | MSNBC, Apr 7, 2023.  A concise, important history of Tennessee racist legislation and activity.

Joy Reid, ‘They Break Rules Every Day’: Tenn. Black Caucus Chair Calls Out GOP Hypocrisy on Expulsions.  The Reid Out | MSNBC, Apr 8, 2023.  A comparison to other TN GOP acceptance of legislators’ behavior:  urinating on a chair, etc. 

Amy Goodman, GOP Texas Gov. Moves to Pardon Man Convicted of Murdering Black Lives Matter Protester.  Democracy Now, Apr 11, 2023.  Gov. Greg Abbott appears to counteract Texas law, for probably racial signaling.

Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland, DeSantis’s Surgeon General Altered Covid Study To Fit Anti-Vaccine Agenda.  The Majority Report, Apr 26, 2023.  “Florida's Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, has been caught altering Covid studies to fit Governor Ron DeSantis's agenda. A report by Politico found that Ladapo made changes to a state-funded study that downplayed the risks of Covid-19 for young people. The study originally found that there was no significant risk associated with the Covid-19 vaccines for young men. However, Ladapo added language to the study that said that mRNA vaccines may be driving an increased risk of cardiac-related death in males, especially those ages 18-39.”

Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland, Ted Nugent's Vile Attack On Obama Stuns Kyle Rittenhouse.  The Majority Report, May 1, 2023.  “In a recent appearance on Real America’s Voice, Ted Nugent launched a vile and unhinged attack on former President Barack Obama, calling him a “punk,” a “horrible, anti-American, communist, Islamic terrorist,” and claiming that he “literally reignited racism in America.” Nugent also spread the baseless conspiracy theory that Michelle Obama is a man, and that their daughters are “fake.” [...] Nugent is not just some fringe figure. He is a well-known and respected figure in the conservative movement.”

David O. Atkins, Twitter, Apr 26, 2023. “Almost every major error and meltdown in Dem/left politics, from post-left fash apologism to popularist left-punching cringe, comes from fatally flawed attempts to solve what I call the Upper Left Quadrant problem.”

Amy Goodman, Rep. Paul Gosar's Ties to Neo-Nazi Movement Under Scrutiny. Democracy Now, May 16, 2023.

Amy Goodman, "Deplorable": Former Sen. Doug Jones Slams Tuberville for Defending White Nationalists in Military. Democracy Now, May 16, 2023.

Johnny Harris, How the U.S. Stole ̶O̶k̶l̶a̶h̶o̶m̶a̶ Sequoya.  Johnny Harris, Jun 21, 2023.  On treaty-breaking with the five major tribes that constituted eastern Oklahoma.

Jesse O’Neill, Neo-Nazi Wave Swastika Flags Outside Multiple Georgia Synagogues.  MSN | New York Post, Jun 25, 2023.  

Ben Meiselas, Trump Caught On New Recordings Threatening Prosecutors.  Meidas Report, Jul 21, 2023.  Threatening Jack Smith and DOJ prosecutors.

Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland, Fox News Busted For Rewriting History Of Slavery.  The Majority Report with Sam Seder, Jul 26, 2023.  “Jesse Watters spoke with William Allen, one of the authors of Florida's revised Black History curriculum [and Reagan appointee as chair on the commission on civil rights], about Vice President Harris's representation that one of the standards outlined implies teaching that slavery in some ways benefitted Black Americans.  Later, Twitter user @Etotheipie responded to the clip of William Allen, specifically the part where he references Frederick Douglass's autobiography to support the claim that slaves imparted some benefits from their time in bondage. Quoting directly from his autobiography, they outline specifically how Allen Is lying about what he is referencing on Fox News.”

Ben Meiselas, Trump Podcaster Realizes He’s in a Cult During Live Show.  The Meidas Touch, Jul 30, 2023.  

Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland, Racism Denying Republican Was Not Expecting This.  The Majority Report with Sam Seder, Aug 1, 2023.  “CNN's Elle Reeve coverage of the Turning Points USA conference earlier this month premiered on the network yesterday, and included an excerpt where she interviewed Vivek Ramaswamy about his views on "wokeness" and the presence of racism in the United States. That footage was interspersed with Reeve walking around the conference and finding notes with anti-Semitic drawings and phrases pasted on a picture of Ramaswamy's face.”

Kyle Kulinsky, Vivek Ramaswamy Humiliates Himself For Trump.  The Kyle Kulinski Show, Aug 3, 2023.  VR misreads and/or misrepresents the DOJ’s indictment of Trump, claiming it’s about “free speech” rather than election fraud.

Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland, Trump’s Lawyer Wants Trial Moved To 'Diverse' West Virginia With 92% White Population. The Majority Report with Sam Seder, Aug 7, 2023.

Joy Reid, 'Outrageous Lie': Lawyer Debunks Trump Campaign Ad Saying Fani Willis Had Affair with Gang Member.  The Reid Out | MSNBC, Aug 10, 2023. Trump’s racist comments motivate random violence against DA Fani Willis and other officials bringing Trump to justice, especially Black officials.  

Roland Martin, DeSantis Attacks! Suspends Florida's Only Black Female State Attorney.  Roland Martin, Aug 10, 2023.  Monique Worrell ran on diversionary opportunities for defendants to reduce taxpayer burden for the prison system.  She ran and won with 67% of the vote and was using prosecutorial discretion.

Alan Feuer, Texas Woman Charged With Threatening to Kill Judge in Trump Election Case.  New York Times, Aug 16, 2023.

Chris Hayes, Trump is ‘Obviously’ Fomenting Violence Against Judges, Prosecutors.  All In | MSNBC, Aug 17, 2023.  

Tennessee Brando, Trump Dinner Guest Makes Despicable Attack on Federal Judge.  Meidas Touch, Aug 21, 2023.  Neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes calls Judge Tanya Chutkan an immigrant, as if being a naturalized citizen makes her less American.

Summer Concepcion, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Dismisses GOP Calls for Special Session to Impeach DA Fani Willis.  NBC News, Aug 31, 2023. 

Laura Barrón-López, Far-Right Violence a Growing Threat and Law Enforcement's Top Domestic Terrorism Concern. PBS News Hour, Sep 5, 2023.

More Perfect Union, We Found The Real Leader of the Conservative Movement.  More Perfect Union, Aug 14, 2023.  A woman named Kleta Mitchell.  

Julie Mueller, Huckabee: 2024 Will Be Last Election ‘Decided by Ballots Rather Than Bullets’ if Trump Loses Over Legal Cases.  The Hill, Sep 6, 2023.  Former pastor and AK Governor Mike Huckabee speaks to mobilize the MAGA base while maintaining plausible deniability personally.  His daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders similarly defended and/or downplayed Trump’s many calls for violence in the past.

Jesse Dollemore, Q-MAGA Stooge: Trump Can Now Hang Out w/ "These People" (Black People) in the “Inner City Ghetto!”  Jesse Dollemore, Sep 7, 2023.  “Jesse talks about two separate instances of profound racism from guests on conservative shows who are explaining how criminally inclined the Black community is in America and how Trump is now connecting with them because of his legal troubles.”

Chris Hayes, “Think of Your Children”: Top GOP Senator Voted to Acquit Trump Over Safety Fears, Book Says.  All In | MSNBC, Sep 15, 2023.  When Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) decided to resign, he gave an interview to The Atlantic and discussed his forthcoming book, and revealed that a top GOP Senator told him to vote to acquit Trump after January 6 out of personal and family safety fears.

Mehdi Hasan, Donald Trump’s Extremely Fascist Week.  Mehdi Hasan | MSNBC, Sep 28, 2023. 

Heather Cox Richardson, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America.  Viking | Amazon page, Sep 2023.  How we got here from 1937 to the present.  Anti-New Dealers use authoritarian tactics and vision to undermine the liberal consensus of Democrat FDR and the civil rights activism on the state level by Republican Dwight Eisenhower.  See interview by Michel Martin, Historian Heather Cox Richardson: GOP “Has Become an Extremist Faction”. Amanpour and Company, Oct 6, 2023.  On image and identity.  A political image of a bygone time when some people felt more important leads to a political identity that is impervious to evidence.  One major reason why the US did not fall to fascism in the 20th century is the claim by racial minorities who kept insisting on democracy, especially led by the NAACP.  But now, the power of white grievance has to be seen in light of the rise of extreme wealth by the topmost elite white people.  

Amy Goodman, Gunman Wearing MAGA Hat Shoots Indigenous Activist at New Mexico Protest over Conquistador Statue.  Democracy Now, Oct 3, 2023.  “In New Mexico, a 23-year-old gunman wearing a red MAGA hat opened fire last week on Jacob Johns and other Indigenous activists opposing plans to reinstall a statue honoring the 16th century conquistador Juan de Oñate, New Mexico's first colonial governor. Johns, the prominent climate activist, was airlifted from Española to an Albuquerque hospital and required emergency surgery. We speak with Malaya Peixinho, who participated in Thursday's gathering, about how the statue of the colonial leader has divided the local community. "It is a really controversial thing to talk about Oñate," says Peixinho, who believes funds for the statue could go to social programs instead. "That feels more important than funding a statue being resurrected." The shooter, Ryan Martinez, was arrested and charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for shooting Johns and aiming the gun at Peixinho, who calls the charges "fair" and blames police for not intervening. "They didn't show up for us," says Peixinho.”  See also KOB4, Defense Attorney Shares Analysis of Juan de Oñate Protest Shooting.  KOB4, Oct 2, 2023.  On the cynical use of the self-defense claim.

Nicolle Wallace, “Uncharted Territory”: Under Legal Duress, Trump Turns to Violent Rhetoric, Racist Attacks. Deadline: White House | MSNBC, Oct 5, 2023. Trump accused migrants of “poisoning the blood of our country,” language intended to manipulate the emotion of disgust, which Nazis used in their time.

Ali Velshi, White Supremacists Show Up 'to Protect' Tennessee Mayoral Candidate. MSNBC, Oct 6, 2023.

Alex Wagner, Far-Right Christian Dominionists Infiltrate Schools, Civic Offices in Texas.  Alex Wagner Tonight | MSNBC, Oct 5, 2023.  Alex Wagner, Students Fight to Defend School Against Takeover by Fringe Religious Ideology.  Alex Wagner Tonight | MSNBC, Oct 5, 2023.  Antonia Hylton and Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News reporters and co-hosts of the "Grapevine" podcast, talk with Alex Wagner about the fringe evangelical movement trying to seize power and impose religious values on civic institutions from town government to school boards, and the pushback by students who feel let down by the adults they had hoped would protect their school and their education.  Cell phone company Patriot Mobile works with Christian nationalist school board candidates.

Greg Palast, Scorcese’s Killers of the Flower Moon Describes the Struggles of the Osage People.  Here’s Why They Are Still Fighting.  The Guardian, Oct 20, 2023. 

Emma Vigeland, GOP Picks Election Denying Far-Right Christian Nationalist To Be Speaker.  The Majority Report, Oct 25, 2023.  “After winning the speaker vote, Republican Rep. Mike Johnson was asked about his role in the legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election. North Carolina Rep. Virginia Foxx yells at her to shut up.  Back in 2018, Johnson gave his thoughts on what he saw as an existential threat to american government in the form of congress's inability to rein in So-called "entitlement spending."”

Chris Hedges, The Trump Movement Is Turning America Fascist w/ Jeff Sharlet.  The Real News Network, Oct 27, 2023.  Sharlet observes the emotional dynamics behind Trump rallies and Trumpism.  Hedges and Sharlet use gnosticism as an analogy.  He argues that imaginary, redemptive violence is critical, as is revenge for Ashli Babbitt who is understood as a martyr.  White grievance is central, which can incorporate non-white people.  

Ben Meiselas, Sicko Trump Reaches New Low with Latest Move.  Meidas Touch, Nov 13, 2023.  Trump gave a Hitler-esque speech on Veterans Day.  

Thom Hartmann, Now We Know How Hitler Did It.  Thom Hartmann Program, Nov 17, 2023.  An item-by-item comparison between Hitler’s rise and Trump’s efforts.

Alex Wagner, Corporation’s Dark History With Nazi Germany Prompts Quick Rejection of Musk’s X Over Antisemitism.  Alex Wagner Tonight | MSNBC, Nov 18, 2023.

Edgier Than Thou, PragerU’s Audience Is Filled with Anti-Semites.  Edgier Than Thou, January 6, 2023.  He looks at the comments to a video where Dennis Prager said the Holocaust is a real historical fact; Holocaust-deniers commented.  See also Edgier Than Thou, Dennis Prager Said Something Very Interesting to Sam Seder.  Edgier Than Thou, Nov 29, 2023.  

Nikki Wentling, Troops Do Not Have an Extremism Problem, But Veterans Do, Study Finds.  Military Times, Jan 5, 2024.

PBS, Nazi Town, USA. PBS | American Experience, Jan 23, 2024. Nazi Town, USA tells the story of the German American Bund, a pro-Nazi group which in the 1930s had scores of chapters across the country, representing what many believe was a real threat of fascist subversion in the United States. They held joint rallies with the KKK and ran summer camps for children centered around Nazi ideology and imagery, melding patriotic values with virulent anti-Semitism.

Leeja Miller, Political Violence is Ruining Democracy. Leeja Miller, Feb 1, 2024. “Election workers are quitting in droves because of ongoing threats to their safety. More and more people are willing to embrace violence to get their way. And this all has dire consequences for democracy.” Trump supporters threaten judges and political opponents of Trump.

Joy Reid, Bombing Mexico? Banning Muslims? Inside Radical Right's Plan for Second Trump Presidency. The Reid Out | MSNBC, Feb 20, 2024.

Kristen Kobes du Mez, When Nazism Enters the Chat. Du Mez Connections | Substack, Feb 21, 2024.

Paul Waldman and Tom Schaller, White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy. Random House | Amazon page, Feb 2024. See interview by Mika Brzezinski, ‘White Rural Rage’ Looks at the Most Likely Group to Abandon Democratic Norms. Morning Joe | MSNBC, Feb 26, 2024.

Brian Tyler Cohen, Longtime Trump Ally Turns on Trump on National TV. Brian Tyler Cohen, Mar 15, 2024. Former VP Mike Pence says he will not vote for Trump, and explains why. Cohen also lists over two dozen former Trump appointees who say they will not vote for Trump, either. Very helpful.

Walter Isaacson, Cass Sunstein: Mass Shootings, Racism, and the Rise of Nazism: The Dangers of Habituation. Amanpour and Company, Mar 15, 2024. In his new book, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, Cass R. Sunstein explores the concept of habituation, and how disrupting our well-worn routines can renew our days and reset our brains. The author, a Harvard Law professor and presidential adviser, joins Walter Isaacson to discuss the key to a happier and more fulfilled life. The reality that we habituate ourselves illustrates the importance of gratitude and other Christian spiritual formation practices to habituate ourselves in the virtues of Christ rather than the fallenness of the world or the lies of a demagogue.

Erin Burnett, Stormy Daniels Describes How Trump Compared Her to Ivanka. CNN, Mar 18, 2024. The salacious details aside, Trump’s followers threatened her and harassed her, as is characteristic of fascist political violence.

Tim Miller, A Second Trump Presidency Would Legalize All His Crimes (w/ Ruth Ben-Ghiat). Bulwark Podcast, Apr 4, 2024. One of the best psychological and sociological profiles of multiple authoritarians.

BBC, American History’s Biggest Fibs: The American Revolution. BBC, Apr 8, 2024. The U.S. told itself the story of an underdog David fighting the Goliath of the British Empire, but downplayed the decisive role of the French navy. We were dependent on a European power for our independence.

Ari Melber, Shocker: Trump May Lose 2024 Over Criminal Sedition Embrace. The Beat | MSNBC, May 22, 2024. Charles Hand, a 37 year old January 6th ex-convict from Georgia, is running for US House in Georgia. Trump and GOP leaders, who opposed felons voting, advocates for these lawbreakers to vote and hold office. They want them to re-enter the Capitol they once illegally stormed. Is this a 14th Amendment issue?

Morning Joe, Trump Talked About Executing People in Multiple Meetings. Morning Joe | MSNBC, Jun 17, 2024. Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin said in a Friday interview with Mediaite that former President Trump talked about executing people multiple times at White House meetings.

Brian Tyler Cohen, Republicans Issue Bombshell Reaction(s) to Trump Shooting. Brian Tyler Cohen, Jul 14, 2024. Many GOP leaders blamed Democrats for engineering, conspiring, or contributing to the assassination attempt, all based on lies. Cohen compares these statements to previous Republican calls for violence or suggesting violence.

Noah Smith, Understanding the New Tech Right. Noahpinion | Substack, Jul 17, 2024.

Matt Stoller, Billionaire Orders Kamala Harris to Fire Lina Khan. Big | Substack, Jul 25, 2024. LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman gave $10 million to Harris' campaign and demanded an end to Biden's tariff and antitrust policies. Bernie Sanders reacted angrily.

Vice News, Traveling the Bible Belt After the 2020 Election. Vice News, Jul 26, 2024. Abortion policy continues to be a leading rhetorical motivation for evangelicals supporting Trump’s fascism.

Brian Tyler Cohen, Trump Snaps, Makes Bombshell Threat Live on Stage. Brian Tyler Cohen, Jul 27, 2024. Trump said at Turning Points Action, “You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians… Four more years. It’ll be fixed.” He is referring to “fixing elections.” Trump is running on Project 2025’s playbook, which among other things recommends that Trump replace DOJ attorneys with Trump loyalists. In any election in which conservatives lose, those loyalists will simply declare to be corrupt. VP candidate J.D. Vance is in a clip saying to the Federalist that “we need to be really ruthless when it comes to the exercise of power… they’re talking about expanding the Supreme Court, adding two Senators from heavily Democratic places [like Washington DC]… the challenge confronting American conservatives is that we have lost every major institution in the country… business, finance, culture, the academy. If we’re going to actually effect real change in the country, it will require us completely replacing one ruling class with another ruling class.”

Justin Glawe, These Swing State Election Officials Are Pro-Trump Election Deniers. Rolling Stone, Jul 29, 2024. “Nearly 70 pro-Trump conspiracists are election officials in key battleground counties — and they are poised to make a giant mess on Election Day.” See interview by Brian Tyler Cohen, Major Update on Corrupt Georgia Election Board. Brian Tyler Cohen, Aug 26, 2024. About 70 Trump-supporting election deniers are staffing state and county election boards. Cohen focuses on GA with reporter Justin Glawe from Rolling Stone.

Ezra Klein, What Democrats Can Learn From Gretchen Whitmer. The Ezra Klein Show, Jul 30, 2024. Whitmer talks about the health care dimensions of abortion and the politics of abortion.

Walter Isaacson, Silicon Valley Trump Supporters "Deluding Themselves," Says Michael Moritz. Amanpour and Company, Aug 20, 2024. Michael Moritz, a senior adviser at Sequoia Heritage, argues that the tech titans who support Trump are a vocal minority.

Steve Keen, How Hitler Actually Rose To Power (Top Economist Proves). Prof Steve Keen, Aug 23, 2024. Starts with the tension/conflict between using money as a means of exchange and money as a store of value. From there, Keen discusses deflation and high unemployment. Keen spotlights the town of Wörgl in Austria which introduced a new currency, which depreciated rapidly and brought local full employment. But the Austrian Central Bank sued them and stopped the new currency. This was called the Miracle of Wörgl.

Ali Velshi, ‘Elected By No One’: ‘Reaganland’ Author on How the Heritage Foundation Wields Power. Velshi | MSNBC, Aug 25, 2024.

Ayman Mohyeldin, The GOP's Plan to Challenge a Harris Victory. Ayman | MSNBC, Aug 26, 2024. Trump supporters are now Georgia state election officials.

Ben Meiselas, Trump Has Most Psychotic Morning Yet as Life Collapses. Meidas Touch, Aug 28, 2024. DJT reposted misogynistic and racist accusations about Kamala Harris, Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and others.

Roland Martin, Trump's Extreme Anti-Blackness And Hate Exposed In New Ad: A Racist With Racist Policies. Roland Martin, Sep 8, 2024. Brave New Films has released one of the most hard hitting and truth telling campaign ads about Donald Trump.

Ayman Mohyeldin, Meet the County Official Debunking and Dismantling Elon Musk’s Election Lies. Ayman | MSNBC, Sep 9, 2024. Republicans, with the help of Elon Musk, are using Arizona as the latest target for their election fraud conspiracy theories ahead of November. But Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, has stood up to the election conspiracy theories and the threats that have come with it.

Heather Cox Richardson, September 2, 2024. Letters from an American | Substack, Sep 3, 2024. “Former president Trump is approaching the election of 2024 the way southern white supremacists approached elections from 1876 to 1964. He has made it very clear he is not trying to win the votes of a majority of Americans. He and his loyalists are trying to intimidate his opponents to keep them from voting while egging on his supporters to commit violence. They are bringing the tactics of the reactionary southern Democrats after the Civil War forward to the present day in an attempt to impose the same sort of minority rule on the nation as a whole.”

Jonas Ceika, Why Did the Middle Classes Support Fascism? Jonas Ceika - CCK Philosophy, Sep 9, 2024. Has a helpful bibliography, focuses mostly on political rhetoric. Connects the rise of fascism in Germany and the U.S. under Trump.

Ari Melber, MAGA Propaganda Decoded: Obama’s Fave Historian Shreds Trump Tricks with Groundbreaking Scholarship. The Beat | MSNBC, Sep 12, 2024. Basic observation: Truth is rare, historically. Information is common, but mostly untrue. Algorithms are “editors” experimenting on millions of human guinea pigs, deciding what is on the front page of big print newspapers. One observation comes from Trump’s rally when the lights went out, and Trump masterfully turned it into a positive thing. What happens when the “dictator” dictates that up is down and right is wrong and true is false?

Sam Seder and Emma Vigeland, Actual Nazi Who Started Racist Haitian Rumors. The Majority Report, Sep 12, 2024.

Kyle Kulinski, Trump Goes Full Fascist in Jaw Dropping Moment. The Kyle Kulinski Show, Sep 16, 2024. Trump refuses to acknowledge or take responsibility for the bomb threats and violence threats in Springfield, OH because of his and J.D. Vance’s scapegoating of Haitians. Recall: Stef W. Kight, Report: Trump Said Haitian Immigrants "All Have AIDS". Axios, Dec 23, 2017. Michael D. Shear and Julie Hirschfield Davis, Stoking Fears, Trump Defied Bureaucracy to Advance Immigration Agenda. New York Times, Dec 23, 2017. Julie Hirschfield Davis, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, and Thomas Kaplan, Trump Alarms Lawmakers With Disparaging Words for Haiti and Africa. New York Times, Jan 11, 2018. Stuti Mishra, Anger as Trump Says Haiti Immigrants Are Likely Spreading Aids to the US: ‘One-Trick Sociopath’. UK Independent, Oct 8, 2021. Trump claimed Haitians “probably have AIDS” and said their arrival was a “death wish for our country.”

Heather Cox Richardson, September 20, 2024. Letters from an American, Sep 21, 2024. On the winner take-all accounting of the Electoral College.

“In the first two presidential elections—in 1788–1789 and 1792—none of this mattered very much, since the electors cast their ballots unanimously for George Washington. But when Washington stepped down, leaders of the newly formed political parties contended for the presidency. In the election of 1796, Federalist John Adams won, but Thomas Jefferson, who led the Democratic-Republicans (which were not the same as today’s Democrats or Republicans) was keenly aware that had Virginia given him all its electoral votes, rather than splitting them between him and Adams, he would have been president. 

On January 12, 1800, Jefferson wrote to the governor of Virginia, James Monroe, urging him to back a winner-take-all system that awarded all Virginia’s electoral votes to the person who won the majority of the vote in the state. He admitted that dividing electoral votes by district “would be more likely to be an exact representation of [voters’] diversified sentiments” but, defending his belief that he was the true popular choice in the country in 1796, said voting by districts “would give a result very different from what would be the sentiment of the whole people of the US. were they assembled together.” 

Virginia made the switch. Alarmed, the Federalists in Massachusetts followed suit to make sure Adams got all their votes, and by 1836, every state but South Carolina, where the legislature continued to choose electors until 1860, had switched to winner-take-all.”

Tim Miller, Reaction: Disgusting Racist Chant At Trump's PA Rally. Bulwark Takes | The Bulwark, Sep 23, 2024. Trump now says of the legal Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, “You got to get them out.” The crowd chants, “Get them out.”

Jonathan Alter, Trump Once Exploited Undocumented Workers; Now He Demonizes Them. New York Times, Sep 24, 2024. “As The Times reported in 2017, Trump “employed a crew of 200 undocumented Polish workers who worked in 12-hour shifts, without gloves, hard hats or masks.” It added: “The workers were paid as little as $4 an hour for their dangerous labor, less than half the union wage, if they got paid at all.” … According to an exhaustive 2019 Washington Post report, Trump illegally employed undocumented immigrant housekeepers, cooks, landscapers, greenskeepers, waiters, bellhops, farm hands and caddies at 11 Trump Organization properties in Florida, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.”

Rich Logis, Former MAGA Insider Spills the Beans on Trump’s Plan. Meidas Touch, Sep 28, 2024. Rich Logis, founder of Leaving MAGA, interviews Guinevere Nell, an ex-Heritage Foundation analyst now speaking out about the inner workings of the organization responsible for Donald Trump’s Project 2025 plan. Nell says the free market side of Heritage was subsumed by the Christian nationalist side, which is authoritarian and anti-democratic, white supremacist and patriarchal.

Shawn Musgrave, The Law School Dean Who Quietly Worked to Overturn the Election. The Intercept, Oct 2, 2024. “Lawyers who worked to keep Trump in power in 2020 have risked being disbarred. But not Mark Martin.” “A retired North Carolina Supreme Court justice, Martin was a key adviser to Trump’s multi-pronged fight to overturn his loss in November 2020. In discussions with aides and administration officials, Trump considered Martin’s counsel as important as that of attorney John Eastman, who’s currently under indictment in two states and may be disbarred in a third. Trump so trusted Martin that another legal adviser name-dropped him to bolster his own pitches.”

Laura Strickler, Peter Alexander, and Kyla Guilfoil, False Claims About FEMA Disaster Funds and Migrants Pushed by Trump. NBC News, Oct 4, 2024. There is no evidence that disaster relief funds were used on immigrants in the U.S. illegally. FEMA disaster money comes from dedicated funds that cannot be used for other purposes.

Leeja Miller, Helene Was Just the Beginning If Trump Wins in November. Leeja Miller, Oct 7, 2024. The destruction from Hurricane Helene is just beginning to be calculated, with over 230 lives lost and billions of dollars in recovery ahead. Republicans and Trump are using this storm to politicize FEMA, the administrative state, and, yes, even immigration. But it's all a distraction from the fact that their own policies led to this level of disaster. And a second Trump presidency would only seal the deal. Miller argues that $1 of preparation for hurricanes is equivalent to $4 of repair afterwards.

Ruby Cramer, Trump is ‘Fascist to the Core,’ Milley Says in Woodward Book. Washington Post, Oct 12, 2024. “The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says Trump is “the most dangerous person to this country,” echoing dire warnings of others in national security circles.”

Rachel “the Doc” Bitecofer, What (Really) Happens If Trump Wins? The Cycle | Substack, Oct 21, 2024. “Like Hitler, Trump Has Made Clear His Plan is Dictatorship, Not Democracy”. A very good recounting of Hitler’s first year in office, in 1933. The change to fascism was gradual.

Will Saletan, 15 Times Trump Told Us How He'll Be a Dictator if President Again. Will's Take | The Dispatch, Oct 22, 2024.

Jeffrey Goldberg, Trump: “I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had”. The Atlantic, Oct 22, 2024. “The Republican nominee’s preoccupation with dictators, and his disdain for the American military, is deepening.” See also discussion by Nicolle Wallace, Donald Trump: “I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had”. MSNBC, Oct 22, 2024. For the audio recording between Goldberg and Kelly, see Tim Miller, Kelly Breaks Silence: “Trump Praised Hitler”, Has Fascist Leanings. The Bulwark, Oct 23, 2024. See also Meridith McGraw, Ex-Trump Aides Emerge to Back Kelly’s Harsh Warnings. Politico, Oct 25, 2024.

James K.A. Smith, Fascism Lives in the House Capitalism Built. Quid Amo | Substack, Oct 24, 2024. Notes on Alberto Toscano's LATE FASCISM

Brett Meiselas, Trump Ally Elon Musk Warns of 'Necessary' Economic Collapse if Trump Elected. Meidas Touch, Oct 29, 2024.

Heather Cox Richardson, October 29, 2024. Letters from an American, Oct 30, 2024. “Republican presidential nominee former president Donald Trump offered Americans his closing argument in the 2024 presidential race on Sunday, October 27, at Madison Square Garden. At a rally that evoked a Nazi rally at the old Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939, Trump’s warm-up acts set the terms of Trump’s final pitch to voters by calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” and railing against “f*cking illegals.” They called Vice President Kamala Harris “the Antichrist” and “the devil,” and called former secretary of state Hillary Clinton “a sick son of a b*tch.” When Trump took the stage about two hours late, he echoed the warm-up acts, and then reiterated that he believes fellow Americans are “the enemy within.”” 

Sam Harris, Sam Harris & Ben Shapiro Debate: Trump, Election Interference, & Foreign Policy. Sam Harris, Oct 31, 2024. Harris diminishes Trump’s danger to U.S. democracy, but demolishes Ben Shapiro’s defense of Trump and claim that there was after all a peaceful transition of power in 2021.

Adam Serwer, Trump’s Followers Are Living in a Dark Fantasy. The Atlantic, Nov 4, 2024.

The innermost circle comprises the most loyal Trump allies, who wish to combine a traditional conservative agenda of gutting the welfare state and redistributing income upward while executing by force a radical social reengineering of America to resemble right-wing nostalgia of the 1950s. Trump’s advisers and other conservative-movement figures understand Trump’s populism as a smoke screen designed to conceal their agenda of cutting taxes for the wealthy, banning abortion, eviscerating the social safety net, and slashing funding for education, health care, and other support for low-income people. All of this is consistent with how Trump governed when he was in the White House, although many people seem to have forgotten what he was actually like. This faction wants a government that works to preserve traditional hierarchies of race, gender, and religion, or at least one that does not seek to interfere with what it sees as the natural order of things.

There is a second, slightly larger circle around this first one, comprising devoted Trump fans. These fans are the primary target for a sanitized version of the “Great Replacement” theory, which holds that American elites have conspired to dispossess them of what they have in order to give it to unauthorized immigrants who do not belong. They are not ideologically hostile to the welfare state—indeed, many of them value it—but they believe it is being wasted on those who have no claim to it.

Then there is the outer circle: Americans with conservative beliefs who may be uneasy about Trump but whose identification with conservative principles and the Republican Party mean they wish to persuade themselves to vote for the Republican candidate. They may be ardently anti-abortion, or small-business owners, or deeply religious. They do not believe everything Trump says; in fact, their approach to the man is dismissiveness.

Amanda Moore, A Trump Field Director Was Fired for Being a White Nationalist. Politico, Nov 4, 2024. “Luke Meyer was Trump’s regional field director for western Pennsylvania. Online, he was the white nationalist Alberto Barbarossa and a co-host of Richard Spencer’s podcast.” He said, “Like the hydra, you can cut off my head and hold it up for the world to see, but two more will quietly appear and be working in the shadows.” “Why can’t we make New York, for example, white again? Why can’t we clear out and reclaim Miami?” Barbarossa asked while guest hosting a different white nationalist podcast in June. “I’m not saying we need to be 100 percent homogeneous. I’m not saying we need to be North Korea or Japan or anything like that. A return to 80 percent, 90 percent white would probably be, probably the best we could hope for, to some degree.”

Ines Pohl, Fascist Tendencies in Trump: A Comparison to Hitler's Rise. Deutsche Welle News, Nov 4, 2024. Pohl sat down with Timothy Ryback, historian and author of Take Over: Hitler's Final Rise to Power. Ryback is cautious, but anti-democratic is a minimum connection. Ryback also examines the institutional guardrails and expresses concern about the U.S.

Adam Edelman, Ballot Measures Targeting Noncitizen Voting Approved in 8 States. NBC News, Nov 6, 2024. Eight states—Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin—approved constitutional amendments enshrining explicit bans on noncitizen voting in state constitutions. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and they were already prohibited from voting in state elections in the eight states that approved the amendments.  This is evidence of low information voters becoming fascist because of the right-wing discourse against immigration.

Roland Martin, Bernie Sanders Needs to Go Talk to Just White Working Class People About Their Trump Love. Roland S. Martin, Nov 8, 2024. Martin and panelists reflect on how White working class people do note vote with Black working class people. Rev. William Barber with the Poor People’s Campaign talks about poor White and poor Black people, and includes gender in his rhetoric.

David Brooks, Maybe Bernie Sanders Is Right. New York Times Opinion, Nov 13, 2024. Argues that the diploma divide is the most relevant, and that concerns about the economy and the political system are divided up that way.

Mitzi J. Smith, White Supremacy and Meritocracy. Womanist Scholar | Tiktok, Nov 14, 2024. Based on GOP support for Donald Trump and his cabinet picks, the political right’s leadership believes in meritocracy for everyone besides White men.

Gabor Scheiring, I Watched Orbán Destroy Hungary’s Democracy. Here’s My Advice for the Trump Era. Politico, Nov 23, 2024. “To dismantle the machinery of autocracy, you first need to understand how it works.”

Great House, Interview with Errol Musk. X/Twitter. Nov 24, 2024. In this interview, Elon Musk's father Errol describes how commitment to support the founding principles of the Nazi Party led Musk's grandparents to emigrate to South Africa, where they could embrace the apartheid regime. Elon disguised these convictions from Americans when he first came to the U.S. But he is finally free to be more candid about his political convictions. “I think for the first time Elon was accepting who he is,” says Errol. “Until recently, he's been a sort of character on a stage. When you come from South Africa, Lefties think you're a Nazi. To succeed, you need to be accepted by them so my sons, Elon and younger brother Kimbal, started to become these flaming liberals—turning away from South Africa and their roots, which included me. Finally, Elon was embracing his heritage and his destiny.”

Ayman Mohyeldin, Trump Pushes GOP to ‘Kill’ PRESS Act That Would Protect Journalists. Ayman | MSNBC, Nov 25, 2024.

Heather Cox Richardson, December 13, 2024. Letters from an American | Substack, Dec 14, 2024. Corruption via appointments at the DOJ and FBI, particularly.

Emma Vigeland, Kyle Kulinski Remains Undefeated As Devastating Nancy Mace Tweet Goes Viral. The Majority Report with Sam Seder, Dec 15, 2024. Argues the left does not need to concede ground or seek compromise with the MAGA right. The reason is that Trump’s rhetoric on immigration and the economy was completely false.

Jared Yates Sexton, A Thoroughly Confused Country: An Introduction to Class Politics and a Way Forward. Dispatches from a Collapsing State | Substack, Dec 17, 2024. Sexton argues for a reinvigoration of income and wealth as primary political categories.

Thom Hartmann, How CEOs Are Funding America’s Dangerous Shift to Fascism. The Thom Hartmann Program, Dec 17, 2024. Hartmann starts with the 1986 American Heritage Dictionary definition of fascism: “A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.” ABC News capitulated to Trump by settling out of court with a $15 million payout for covering the E. Jean Carroll case in which Trump was adjudicated for raping her.