Here It Is In 3 Minutes: The Inflection Election April 30, 2024April 27, 2024 Are we going to remain a multi-cultural democracy “built on an idea” — a beacon of hope to the world? Or will we become a white Christian fascist nation as envisioned by many in the 1920s (see: A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them) . . . . . . and then again in the 1930s (see: Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism) . . . . . . and now again today (see: Blowback: A Warning to Save Democracy from the Next Trump by Trump’s Department of Homeland Security Chief of Staff)? If you don’t have time for those page-turners, here it is in three minutes from Thom Hartmann. He writes, in part: Trump kicked off the formal part of his campaign back in 2016 by tweeting a famous quote from Benito Mussolini: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” When Chuck Todd asked him about it on Meet The Press, he said: “It’s a very good quote, it’s a very interesting quote, and I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it’s Mussolini or somebody else?” Through most of the 1920s, America had a positive fascination with Italian fascism. Hitler and Franco wouldn’t come to power until 1933, and Tojo didn’t rule Japan until 1941: back in the ’20s we had little idea where the fascist movements would end up. One of Mussolini’s most famous speeches was 97 years ago next month, his “Ascension Day” declaration of May 26, 1927, in which he outlined fascism’s true goals. One of his first points was the need for Italian racial purity: “It is social hygiene; it is prophylaxis on a national level. These individuals are being removed from circulation just as a doctor quarantines an infected person. . . . ” Speaking to a nearly all-white audience in Minnesota, Trump echoed Mussolini’s admiration for the racial purity of the crowd: “You have good genes, you know that, right? You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota. … Every family in Minnesota needs to know about sleepy Joe Biden’s extreme plan to flood your state with an influx of [Black] refugees from Somalia, from other places all over the planet.” Mussolini tolerated no opposition either within his Fascist Party or within the government itself. He ultimately outlawed all political opposition, bragging about it in his Ascension Day speech: ”Opposition is not necessary for the functioning of a healthy political regime. Opposition is foolish, superfluous in a totalitarian regime like the Fascist Regime. … Therefore let no one hope that after this discourse anti-Fascist newspapers will be seen. No! Nor that the resurrection of anti-Fascist groups will be allowed. Never!’” Trump has a similar view of political opposition, and has pledged to “go after” Democrats and the media if he gets back into the White House. Saying that Democrats want “to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream,” five months ago, using “vermin,” one of Mussolini’s favorite words, he added: “[W]e pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” . . . And here in America, being “rooted out” may be the least of the worries of elected Democrats and members of the media if Trump gets reelected. He has long history of embracing violent rhetoric and encouraging violence among his supporters. On January 6th he came right out and told his followers they’d “lose” if they didn’t “fight like hell” against Congress and Mike Pence to keep him in the White House. . . . Mussolini wanted a single-party state, purged of opposition, supported by the largest corporations in Italy. . . . Trump is pitching a similar vision, supported by the neofascist ideologues behind Project 2025 and Agenda 47, claiming the Democratic Party is so extreme it’s a threat to America that should be avoided or done away with. “The Democrats have become too extreme,” Trump told an Iowa rally. “And they’ve become, frankly, too dangerous to govern. They’ve gone wacko.” He added that Democrats are pushing the “politics of anger, division and destruction.” A week later, he explicitly warned about the “radical Democrat mob.”* It’s really worth three minutes to read in full. BONUS Just out today: The Inflection Election: Democracy or Fascism in 2024? “Written with searing clarity and biting humor.” — Lawrence Tribe Filled with quotes and lists and tidbits to keep us focused on how real this all is. E.g., Trump on his 2020 defeat: “A Massive Fraud of this magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” Bertrand Russell on how fascism happens: “First they fascinate the fools and then muzzle the intelligent . . . by emotional excitement on the one hand and then terrorism on the other.” Carl Sagan: “One of the saddest lessons of history is this — we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” If you have money, click here. To become a social ambassador, click here (and share with your list!). *Trump famously “projects.” What he says here is true of him, not us. What, after all, is “wacko,” “dangerous,” or “extreme” about a strong bipartisan bill (he scuttled) that would have solved the border crisis? About rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure? About siding with Ukraine instead of Putin as we once sided with the Allies against Hitler? About favoring a half century of settled law called Roe v. Wade? Or lowering the cost of prescription drugs? Or taxing billionaires and corporations? Or even — heaven forfend — teaching kids American history, warts and all? (Yes, “woke” and bail reform, while well-intentioned, did go too far; but that pendulum has already begun swinging back toward common sense.)