Week 2: The Tools of Fascism
Week 2: The Tools of Fascism
Fear, Order, and the Illusion of Righteousness-How Fascism Gains Power
July 7, 2025
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This Week’s Readings
This Week’s Readings
How Fascism Works - Chapter 4-6
How to Stop Fascism - Chapter 2-3
Hello, Welcome to Week 2 of July’s Resistance Book Club!
Hello, Welcome to Week 2 of July’s Resistance Book Club!
This week, we are exploring how fascism gains power and what the fascists want the USA to look like. Last week, we explored propaganda. We will dive further into how propaganda works in October, so be sure to subscribe to the Resistance Book Club.
Unreality
Unreality
The purpose of propaganda is to create an unreality, a distortion of reality not based on facts. Fascists use repeated lies to confuse truth from untruth. They also use conspiracy theories to influence their victims' reality and create paranoia; this leads them to only believe in what they can see with their own eyes. All of these fear tactics feed on their victims' emotions, xenophobia, racism, etc. However, some voters are more attracted to a system that benefits them (the white supremacist).
"Fascist politics seeks to destroy the relations of mutual respect between citizens that are the foundation of a healthy liberal democracy, replacing them ultimately with trust in one figure alone, the leader."
Hierarchy
Hierarchy
Fascist love hierarchy, particularly racial, gender, and religious hierarchies. What we see during Trump's second term is a hierarchy developed by white Christian Nationalists. White supremacist over people of color, "Christianity" over all other religions, and traditional gender roles with males controlling women.
"Right-wing critics warn that liberal equality can be used by marginalized groups as a weapon to displace the privileged status of dominant groups and their traditions."
This loss of hierarchy creates fear and anxiety in the perceived dominant group, white Christian nationalists. Those who are in the dominant group then believe they are victims being attacked, while they are the oppressors. I've seen these perceived fear tactics within my own MAGA family. Donald Trump as their Lord and Savior being "attacked" by people they believe are not Christian, but in reality, not Christian Nationalists, conforming to their idea of Christianity, which is a perversion of Christianity in itself.
Victimhood
Victimhood
Racial inequality persists today, while many white people are ignorant of that fact. With a shift from majority-minority, this has created fear around many white people from losing dominant status, therefore turning themselves into victims, unwilling to share resources or power with minority groups. This sense of loss often leads to fascist or nationalist movements, where the dominant group takes the position of oppressing the minority groups to maintain power.
"Fascist propaganda typically features aching hymns to the sense of anguish that accompanies loss of domination status. This sense of loss, which is genuine, is manipulated in fascist politics into aggrieved victimhood and exploited to justify past, continuing, or new forms of oppression."
"Fascist propaganda typically features aching hymns to the sense of anguish that accompanies loss of domination status. This sense of loss, which is genuine, is manipulated in fascist politics into aggrieved victimhood and exploited to justify past, continuing, or new forms of oppression."
The system has always been designed to benefit white males and females. Through victimhood, hierarchy, and propaganda, the belief that 'we' need to protect our dominance from 'them'. 'Us' being white males, thus rolling back any progress from 'them', everyone else, creating a monocultural ethno-state, using violence. White supremacists want white 'Christians' only, backed through Traditionalist viewpoints and pseudoscience around race and gender, seeped in eugenics.
What Do the Fascists Want to Build?
What Do the Fascists Want to Build?
Modern fascists want to destroy Democracy and create a Theocracy. They believe people were given too many freedoms, women, and those of color, returning America to a "white" America. We are already seeing this play out by the Trump Regime getting rid of DEI and locking up immigrants in concentration camps, many of whom are here legally. The fascists have created an unreality around five major points.
The Great Replacement Theory
The white race is being destroyed by feminists wanting women to work outside the home, thus having fewer white babies
Liberalism is the main enemy
Liberals let immigrants into the country, further diluting the white race; therefore, the liberals are to blame
'Cultural Marxism' is Destroying the West
The marriage between a man and a woman is the only legitimate relationship; therefore, liberals are diluting our ideology through homosexuality
The Primacy of Metapolitics
Internet spaces are used to spread this far-right ideology
Day X
"A mass outbreak of racial civil violence"
Their main goal is ultimately to uphold traditional gender roles and a pure white race.
Their main goal is ultimately to uphold traditional gender roles and a pure white race.
With the rise of technology and algorithms, the fascists have been able to manipulate the general public, spreading fear and misinformation, getting them to vote against their best interest, and instead for corporate interest. "The authoritarian right has become expert at manipulating constitutional law and gerrymandering electoral boundaries to entrench their power."
With warmth,
Amy
Working Towards Improvement
How do you see 'law and order' being used in political rhetoric today?
I would love to hear your insights from this week’s readings by either leaving a comment or chatting in the Substack Community Chat!
Next Week’s Readings: The Path to Resistance
Next Week’s Readings: The Path to Resistance
How Fascism Works - Chapter 7-8
How to Stop Fascism - Chapter 4-5
Reflections to consider while reading:
Reflections to consider while reading:
What role does the internet play in spreading authoritarian ideas?
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