- First (@5:12), Joan Braune is an activist and philosopher at Gonzaga University who studies the far-right. She says the threat of home-grown fascism is real—but we shouldn’t respond the way we did after 9/11. It’s not about the national security state; it’s about social movements. We need to out-organize.
- Then (@20:17), Patrik Hermansson, a director and researcher of far-right extremism, takes us behind the scenes to meet the so-called “intellectuals” of the emerging far right. He spent an entire year undercover with them—he hung out with them, went to their conferences, even spoke at one. The whole time with a hidden camera. Patrik tells us the story of infiltrating the far right—behind their façade of intellectual respectability, what do they actually believe? It’s not pretty.
- Also, (@43:48) Daniel Bessner is an historian at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. He isn’t buying all this fascism talk. At least, not when it comes to Trump. He has been one of the most vocal voices online saying Trump isn’t a fascist. Not because he likes Trump: of course not. But because he’s warning of a new ‘liberal authoritarianism.’ He worries about how the Biden administration might capitalize on this threat to consolidate their powers and squash dissent—especially left-wing dissent.
- Finally, (@56:50) Vincent Bevins gives us the international view. Vincent is journalist and author of the extraordinary book The Jakarta Method, about the US cold war policy of backing brutally repressive military regimes. To Vincent, fascism is imperialism turned inwards. And what we saw in the capital—whatever you want to call it— it’s the kind of thing the US has been doing abroad for a long long time.
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