To go along with my ridiculously long definition post, I will be posting examples that fit the discussion of fascism that I laid out.
I will note Stanley’s variables of propaganda and unreality, and provide this quote: “When propaganda succeeds at twisting ideals against themselves and universities are undermined and condemned as sources of bias, reality itself is cast into doubt. We can’t agree on the truth” (57).
Without looking, and within half an hour of that first post, I came across the following.
Vance wants to ignore the past and rewrite what was important. And keep in mind, he is speaking to Trump voters. He, like his running mate, needs to be able to convince their followers that there were serious problems with the election in 2020 and that the real issue is the notion that the scary Big Tech people were censoring Americans. By convincing their followers of this unreality, they make it easier for their followers to reject truth and vote for Trump/Vance.
I will again quote attorney Ben Ginsberg. Ginsberg has a long c.v. full of conservative Republican bona fides, including representing Bush in the 2000 election.
“The evidence to back up the allegations of fraud and elections being unreliable simply does not exist,” Ginsberg said.
[…]
“Donald Trump and his supporters brought 64 cases. They lost 63 of them outright,” Ginsberg explained. The case they won related to a small number of ballots “far from outcome determinative,” he says.
Election deniers have said that they lost in court because the judges weren’t fair.
“Under the rule of law, you have every right to submit your litigation,” Ginsberg said. “But under the rule of law, a conservative principle, a Republican principle for as long as I’ve been practicing election law, you have to accept the rulings of the court.”
I will add the following from Stanley:
“Fascist politics replaces reasoned debate with fear and anger” (57).
“Regular and repeated obvious lying is part of the process by which fascist politics destroyed the information space” (57).
