I want to be right up front with this. We're in the grips of a fascist movement in this country that operates like a murderous death cult.

This is what happens when a country with a nationalist religion begins to falter. We have to call it what it is

2/

Trump performed live propaganda last night, staging for Americans a show of strength and power, ripping the mask off, posturing, all of it a matter of reassuring everyone he was stronger than the virus.

It was fascist propaganda. Pure and simple.

Let's break it down.

3/

Inbetween poses, Trump labored to breathe and looked terrible. He's much sicker than he's letting on.

Fascism isn't about strength. It's weakness and masculine fear of appearing weak, resulting in shows of overcompensation.

It's based in the flaws of masculinity.

4/

Besides failing nationalist myths, fascism relies on bruised and endangered masculinity, masculinity in crisis, to light the fire for preemptive violence and societal oppression.

It radicalizes men who are lost, feeling weak, and calls them to a great masculine mission.

5/

The fascist appeals to a nation in crisis, a nationalist cult that feels defeated and demoralized, and appeals using masculine symbols of militarism and unbridled aggression.

Again. It isn't strength. It's the illusion of strength in the face of weakness.

6/

We have been tricked into believing fascism is for "strongmen," that they are cruel but competent.

It's all a lie. It uses our stereotypes of patriarchal masculinity, which is all an illusion anyway, to hide fear and weakness.

That's what we're dealing with.

7/

Trump furthered the overcompensation, telling Americans not to let the pandemic "dominate" them.

It was based in flagging masculinity and pushed the idea that the country is only suffering because it's weak and that a rush of masculinity and willpower would alter reality.

8/

Trumpism is saturated with delusional masculinity. This pampered, sheltered businessman, this soft fraud of a man, is idolized as if he is the masculine ideal while he wears makeup, frets over his hair, seems ready to topple over.

It's mass hysteria.

9/

It bears noting that authoritarianism relies on this myth of masculine power.

There's a reason Putin's propagandists have created this artificial idea of Putin as a man's man. It was engineered to feed off our cultural stereotypes and the power of masculine insecurity.

10/

There's a reason "strongmen" flock to one another, support one another.

They're cut from the same cloth. Weaklings who profit and consolidate power behind the illusion of masculinity while failing to stand upon the strength of their ideals or principles.

11/

The American Right is drowning in this masculine overcompensation, so much so that the pandemic has been worsened because of these ludicrous ideas of what power and courage are.

There's a reason Trump and the Right are simpatico. It's the same tortured logic and fear.

12/

So much of what happens on the Right is instigated and worsened by how insecure they are about themselves and masculinity.

Turn on Hannity one night for five minutes and watch the pitiable overcompensation mixed with posturing meant to create an illusion of strength.

13/

This isn't new, of course. We've seen the Right traffic in these illusions, lose themselves in masculine posturing that leads to death on a mass scale.

It is this neurosis and insecurity that powers national security states, neverending wars, militarism, and oppression.

14/

Of course, this masculine overcompensation leads to shows of force, including paramilitary groups and street gangs, another essential part of fascist movements.

There's a cycle here, and we must understand how it happens and why.

15/

Fascism was founded on the idea that "men of history" are strong enough to impose their will on reality. That if they "dominate" reality and society they can actively twist the world into their vision and force others to accept it or else die.

16/

The Fascists of the 20th century believed they were above the law and not subject to "reality."

They believed "deeper truth" emanated from themselves, and their willingness to use violence or any means necessary, to be "stronger" than everyone else would change reality.

17/

It's important to note that fascists use existing faiths that circumvent empirical evidence to turn themselves into cult leaders and living gods.

What Trump has done with white-identity Evangelicals is nothing new or all that novel.

18/

What happens is that fascists form alliances with religious faiths based on preference and power. Eventually, because of their personalities, they coopt the religion altogether, creating a cult around themselves that supersedes the religion itself

That's what we're watching

19/

Once the fascist leader absorbs the religion they've coopted, they move to become the actual embodiment of the religion.

They become cult leaders, living, breathing receptacles for new revelations and "divine knowledge."

They become living messiahs.

20/

You need to understand this.

Because Trump is considered a "divine agent" by so many white identity evangelicals, he's infallible. He's divinely inspired.

He's beyond questioning, and so his fight to twist reality is aided by the mythology of religion.

21/

Rallies and events become churches unto themselves. They're about worshiping the cult leader and reaffirming a consensus belief in the new reality that has been put forth.

They are political, religious events, the spectacle itself reminiscent of the replaced religion.

22/

In these fascist rallies, the cult leader appears, blesses his devotees with his presence, re-indoctrinates them into his twisted, preferred worldview, and radicalizes them into continuing their worship and fealty.

It is a cult and Trump is the leader.

23/

For those who say it can't happen here, it already has. We've seen huge fascist movements in America, including a vibrant Nazi movement prior to World War II.

Not only are we not immune, we're incredibly and especially susceptible due to our myth of exceptionalism.

24/

We have seen viable candidates and political figures who openly embraced fascism, appealed to flagging masculinity, and called on America to join Hitler and the Nazis in a worldwide battle to preserve and advance white supremacy.

We are RIPE for fascism in America.

25/

As the hold of the cult spreads to the country, a "patriotic education" is necessary to bring the country's youth into the fold and cement them within the alternate reality of the fascist cult leader's choosing.

It indoctrinates entire generations by altering history.

26/

Because of the cult leader's control, not to mention the oppression of dissenters and manipulation of education and reality itself, the fascist is seen as being a god among men, a living, breathing deity who has proven his worth through violence and supposed strength.

27/

The cult leader fascist surrounds himself with sycophants who espouse their love and devotion and actually compete and destroy one another in a contest over who loves them the most.

It is rabid dysfunction and leads to gross incompetence and mass death.

28/

Meanwhile, every situation is laundered through the lens of the cult leader's infallibility. Everything is under control even as the world burns.

It's mass delusion and they and their believers begin to believe they are capable of miracles and wonders, being a deity and all

29/

Because the fascist requires reality bend to their whim, science and empirical facts break down. Even their experts are forced to lie and accept the altered reality that is beyond their own senses.

It is a matter of dark faith and deadly delusion.

30/

If the cult leader fascist wanes, becomes sick, suffers a setback, you will be deluged by propaganda that spotlights them as powerful and beyond fail.

This desperate delusion and attempt to twist reality flickers in and out, making you feel like you've gone mad.

31/

And finally, to control reality, the fascist targets anyone who troubles their viewpoint and mass delusion.

Anyone dissenting and not pledging their undying loyalty becomes a heretic and a terrorist. Their lack of faith seals their fate and necessitates their death.

32/

Because of the need to totally control reality and the reliance on paranoia, insecurity, and conspiracy theories, it becomes necessary for the fascist state to dole out violence en masse should the population question their chosen reality.

It leads to so much suffering.

33/

But the state cannot suppress all dissent. It relies on paramilitary goons, street gangs, but also the radicalization of their supports to mete out vigilante, preemptive violence.

It's an infection and a disease that spreads and eats away at the tissue of the society.

34/

We're witnessing a fascist movement, a death cult that worships to the point of mass casualties and widespread delusion.

We can't dance around it any longer. This is what we've been warning about. It's here. We're in it and we have to fight it.

35/

The first step in defeating fascism is recognizing it as fascism and not hiding behind national delusions of exceptionalism or immunity.

The next is establishing communities so we can reaffirm our realities and not live in fear

We must see this as weakness, not strength.

36/36