Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Nationalism


Trump has admitted that he is a "nationalist." This is chilling if you understand what this means. All fascists are nationalists. The seminal book of our times regarding fascism (as far as I can see) is "How Fascism Works" by Yale philosopher Jason Stanley. It's all here.  
One of his fascinating points is that for fascists the state is the enemy in favor of the nation. Hence, Trump can attack his own government in favor of a mythical nation that represents the interests of his people.
"In fascism, the state is the enemy; it is to be replaced by the nation, which consists of self-sufficient individuals who collectively choose to sacrifice for a common goal of ethnic or religious glorification. . . . fascist ideology involves something at least superficially akin to the libertarian ideal of self-sufficiency and freedom from "the state." P. 152

No comments: