I will say, this has never had anything to do with a perceived threat from NATO. That was his excuse, ruse, propaganda. Nuclear weapons are not, under Putins total control. If he were to try to use one, he should not be so near a window. A look into Putins thinking on this, would be Ivan IIyin. Putin idolized his thoughts. The Holy Russian Empire is a religion quest for Putin. He simply, screwed up.
I would suggest: Natalyia Bugayova, Institue for the Study of War, Dr. Fiona Hill, Brookings and Dr. Timothy Snyder, Yale. I'm sure they can explain it better than I. There are volumes written on this very subject. Obviously, I did not express myself clearly. My apologies.
Timely. Putin escalating with performative acts like referendums in breakaway provinces and more threats; I am not bluffing wrt nuclear weapons. Western leaders standing strong; at the present.
Another current parallel
Trump has “a rotating cast of aides has been tasked with following him around the golf course at the club he's at and giving him positive reinforcement from Twitter and wherever else they find it on the web, per ppl told of the practice.”
Travel safe.............. BBC reports this morning, Putin has activated 300,000 reservists. He is also enjoying fondling the nuclear button. Erdogan is pushing for return of all Ukrainian land. Meloni continues her domination in the polls and is likely to win this weekend. Bolsonaro will probably win, if he does, or doesn't. Fascism, in our country, has clearly taken on the "Dominionist" fashion for the foreseeable future............ Just another day in paradise.
Fascism is the new heroin, until people realize what the "end state" of this destructive political system is. Fascism never ends well because it is the politics of hate. It encourages the most vile aspects of human nature, while punishing human virtues. It exalts lunatics as heros.
Ruth, my comment is in the form of a question. If in the interest of combating global warming and climate catastrophe, BIden were to call the CEOs of all the American oil companies to the white house and say to them: Either you all present me with a program to decrease fossil fuel emissions, or I am going to nationalize the industry and run it in such a way so as to decrease fossil fuel emissions, would you say this action fits the playbook of an authoritarian leader, or is justified in the face of the climate catastrophe we all face? I note that "nationalization" is not new in America.
That would be an invitation to Fascism. At this point in time, a Democrat would never again, be elected to office. You have to have overwhelming public support for such a move. Biden is at 45%. Not a good idea. Check out polling, folks don't even believe in climate change.
At this point in our evolution of corporatocracy, Biden does not have the power to enact such a demand on oil companies. More accurately, they tell him what to do. The push for corporate power has been going on for many decades now, but especially since the rise of the Mont Pelerin Society and the neoliberal order. The POTUS is more like a figurehead now, than a real source of power. The real power lies BEHIND the Congress, POTUS and SCOTUS. The authoritarianism that we have, lies in the form of business power, yearning for fascism.
The former president’s obsession with making money- illegally usually - is attractive to many American power elites who enjoy the spoils of his greed.
This obsession with money has been a lifelong driver of his power. He’s not about to change his tactics anytime soon, so the CEO’s and other power brokers will keep him around as long as the money rolls in. Wonderful article Ruth- helped open my eyes to the real motivators of greed! Thank you
How does the US currently compare to this inequality metric? What are the consequences of ever escalating concentration of wealth upward? How will Citizens United continue to exacerbate the problem?
“This is certainly the case in Russia: in 2019 the richest 3% held 90% of the assets, with Putin's oligarchs owning the lion's share of those.”
Interesting how for both Putin and the Russian people’s condition was accelerated by the Pandemic. For him isolation made him worse. For the people, tired of Authoritarianism, loss of freedoms, tired of lack of opportunity, tiring of corruption, propaganda, and lies. Putin’s fall will be like when the Berlin Wall came down. Is it already happening in Kazakhstan? Will Belarus be next? And then like dominos...
Meloni is going to win in a landslide Sunday. Bolsonaro won't be far behind. Orban is flying high. Belgium is a cesspool with Vlaams and Xi Jinping is still killing Uyghur's. Fascism isn't going anywhere, but up. Just my opine.
Putin's actions reveal what is going on in his mind, and it's not that different from other authroritarians we have seen. We see machismo, grandiosity, magical thinking, sadism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, callousness, possible psychopathy, intolerance of dissent, social Darwinism and a belligerent foreign policy. These personality traits create a national hellscape when a national leader exhibits these. Putin and Trump are buddies because they have similar personalities and gravitate toward fascism.
Agree. At at the same time, their behavior(s) can become so (direly) predictable, are toddler-like because of their own lack of internal awareness, acknowledgement and control over their emotions -- which at this point (post-peak), can overwhelm them. Unfortunately these toddlers have access to dangerous weapons.
Earlier this year I was working with a student who was interested in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s use of cryptocurrencies, which was becoming a major issue. Ukraine had been using cryptocurrency to cover the funding of its weapons systems as it acts as a currency bound by no state and that has one of the easiest processes of international conversion. Lockheed Martin produces weapons systems, such as the Javelin anti-tank missiles, which Ukraine had initially been effectively using to defend its country from the Russian invasion.
Countries that do not rank high in measures of economic wealth, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), generally do better in the world of cryptocurrency. There are tools that can trace cryptocurrencies and related digital assets across blockchains to improve the current analysis of cryptocurrencies and their performance within economic activity.
Russia has been against using cryptocurrencies as a payment method in order to protect the Russian ruble, but this fear may soon be changing with all the economic sanctions imposed on Russia that appear to be increasingly highly effective even with goods not placed under economic sanctions! So stay tuned for a worsening situation for Russia!
Thanks. Crypto is a huge international problem, which will become worse. Preferred exchange of the "Dark Web." Check out 6/30/22 The Washington Spectator." Dave Troy has an article, "Paranoia on Parade," ect. Unbelievable work. We need to be discussing this much more.
I understand the psyche of the authoritarian. I understand why they do what they do. What I don't understand is why people are attracted to authoritarians. Who are these people, especially the ones who glom on.
For example, why does a Lindsey Graham attach himself to a sadistic monster like Trump? Or how about Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio? These are beyond everything else flawed people, so what do they get out of their relationship with Trump? How are these people any different than the people who linked their legacy on Hitler - Goring, Himmler, Goebbels, and Borman. Are these people any different than the supreme leader or are they somehow different.
And of course, there are a million or more devout believers who constitute a distinct minority, a cult. What are they getting out of all this?
The part I really don't get is why the vast majority who are sane and of sound mind don't soundly reject this insane aberration? In the old days, this authoritarian movement would never have gained so much ground in this country. Something changed and I can't figure out what.
All good questions. My first guess is people follow who have less-developed personas & can cash in on feeling part of a popular movement. Why -- on God's green earth -- do more sane people not speak out or tamp out this dangerous rhetoric is beyond me. Asleep at the wheel of democracy.
What you are addressing is in the realm of political psychology. Here a quote from J.M. Post on the subject of the charismatic leader/follower relationship.
"The sense of grandiose omnipotence of the leader is especially appealing to his needy follower. A hallmark of the destructive charismatic leader is absolutist polarizing rhetoric, drawing his followers together against the outside enemy."
In broken societies, especially economically broken ones, citizens become desperate for change and attach themselves to vile leaders with great promises.
Several months ago I wrote a piece called The Psychology of Fascism. Let me know if you want me to post it here?
This is the shortened version because the longer version was too large for substack.
It is commonly seen in those who believe in fascist politics, a retreat from reality in areas where politics are involved. The perception of science becomes influenced by their political beliefs. But so do other areas like foreign policy, education, military actions, social structure, the press, history and the worth of ethnic groups. The unrealistic demonization of political thought, beyond their own, becomes rampant. Fascism exaggerates existing political bigotry and creates warring ideological camps, polarized against each other. Under fascism, only one political party is accepted, due to the sociopathic narcissism and closed mindedness of the leader.
Fascism is a lie-based system, simply because it is, in most cases, led by a sociopath (secondary psychopathy). Sociopaths are inveterate liars so it makes sense that they use deception as their primary leadership tool. They set in place a foundation of fantasy among their listeners, based on their followers’ confirmation bias. The leader takes a concept that is suspected to be true by the followers, and then exaggerates it wildly, causing supposition to become truth. This was seen in older fascist countries like Germany and Italy where the past mediocre history of the country was modified into a grandiose past greatness, which the people wanted to believe, and did. Fascist leaders drive a wedge between the under educated and the intellectual community. Most nations that are ripe for fascism have a majority, who do not have a higher education. This is exploited by fascist leaders by criticizing the intellectual minority. They are criticized because they are seen as a threat to the fascist lie machine. The under educated followers gladly join in on this hate parade. This is another case of using confirmation bias to affect thinking but in this case, to sow hate. It has been proven through psychological experiments that conservatives have difficulty in abandoning beliefs, once they are accepted, even when given corrective information. This is known as the Backfire Effect. Since conservatives are the ones who embrace fascism, it becomes difficult for them to change and to reject fascist beliefs. They end up accepting fascist lies as the truth. We have seen evidence of the Backfire Effect in the followers of the Trump administration. The Backfire Effect seems to be an important mechanism in the build-up of fascism in society. Their beliefs are reinforced by fellow believers, so thinking becomes entangled in a fascist delusion feedback loop. Much effort is expended by believers in fascist lies to rationalize what they believe is the truth. But the foundation of what they believe is faulty and so all the rationalization in the world is not going to make their belief the truth.
The concept known as post-truth occurs when people believe that their political feelings carry more weight than the truth. With the constant bombardment of lies from a fascist leader, followers can become unmoored from reality. Fascist leaders do not like reality, as they want to create their own reality in the minds of their followers. Once reality and truth are discredited, then lies can be spread with impunity. This is the “end state” desired by fascist leaders. Right wing media attempts to rationalize their fascist behavior by criticizing those that criticize them. They say that the left media is wrong and that the right’s (fascist) stance is the righteous stance. They attempt to reverse right and wrong in the minds of their followers. Their fallacious fascist concept is glorified and becomes their new truth, while the real truth becomes a traitor to them. There is such strong conviction in their fallacious belief that they are willing to commit violence in support of it. We saw evidence of this with the Jan 6th coup attempt. It was all based on a huge fantasy perpetuated by a sociopath, Trump.
One propaganda technique used in fascism involves the use of demagoguery, a fear inducing deception. The mechanism in fascism is complex, in that it creates an outside threat that scares the followers so that they believe that they are victims of the threat. This victimhood causes anger and a sense of besiegement. This sense of being besieged by this outside enemy causes vengeance against this phantom foe. It is devious thought control. It badly divides society, as the enemy that is identified, usually involves others in society with different beliefs. Historically, most of those perpetuating this type of thought control, that I call besiegement politics, have been afflicted by the serious personality disorders of psychopathy or sociopathy. It is well known that those with these disorders are master manipulators, so their use of this technique is no surprise.
Many sociopathic leaders have what is known as magical thinking, where they feel that they can create reality just by thinking it to be so. Once their followers are in the post-truth mode, the magical thinking of their leader does not seem magical at all to them but is accepted as reality. The most ridiculous statements will seem plausible. Trump’s false prediction of a wild path of a hurricane, was absurd but was deemed as acceptable to his followers. They will accept an absurdity from someone of authority in their political clan, over the truth from someone outside their clan.
Fascist leaders are infamous for their lack of ethics. The reason can be traced to their mental condition. Hitler, Mussolini, Slobodan Milosevic, Pinochet, etc were all brutal killers, which is easy when one has a sociopathic conscience (none). The destructive consequence of this lack of ethics is that when this behavior is seen in their role model position, followers start to emulate it, to be more like their hero. We start seeing ethical drift in society. But emulating a sociopath is dangerous for individuals and society as a whole because it destroys the foundation of the social order and threatens the perception of reality itself. Followers of the sociopathic fascist start acting like sociopaths themselves.
Sociopaths are known for their anger and rage and those traits spill over into their leadership style, when sociopaths attain a fascist leadership position. This rage is probably due to their narcissism and comes to the surface when their superiority is threatened. An example of this was seen in press conferences with Trump, when a reporter asked a question that demanded some sort of truth from Trump. Since he has trouble with being truthful, his power structure was threatened and he lashed out at the reporter. Sociopaths are all about dominance and submission and when that dominance is challenged, they become angry. Unfortunately, the rage in the sociopathic leader transfers to his obsequious followers. We have seen examples of this in Trump’s followers, where they seem to be angry and belligerent, just like their hero. People who hold the belief that dominance and submission is the proper way in which human interaction should take place, are the same ones whom embrace fascism. They are attracted to fascism. Dominance and submission is a major pillar in fascist thinking. Historically, challenging a sociopathic fascist leader has had dire consequences because one is challenging the dominance/submission structure.
The cult-like following seen in fascism can be explained by the charismatic leader/follower relationship. There is a symbiosis between the leader and follower, where the leader needs the follower as much as the follower needs the leader. It’s a mutual addiction, so to speak. The omnipotence of the leader becomes worshiped by the followers, while the leader is needy for adoring fans. But charismatic fascists use angry rhetoric to convince their followers to hate all ideas outside their cult and polarize their followers against the outside enemy. Fascists badly divide societies.
One of the primary pillars of fascism is social Darwinism, so the question arises, how did this come to be? This concept is based on animal world “survival of the fittest” mentality where some members of society are considered to be worthy while others are not. Since sociopaths are all about pecking order and dominance and submission, it makes perfect sense that there would be a nexus between their mental state and the politics they use. The dark side of believing in social Darwinism is that the unworthy in society become blamed for the nation’s woes and therefore become targets for punishment.
Why do sociopaths prefer fascism? In their minds, sociopaths see themselves as a demigod and fascism gives them a platform to be what they feel they deserve. It also gives them the domination they crave. Fascism also gives them a structure where their personality disorder is not noticed and they are deemed to be normal by their followers.
We already know that the under educated are easy prey for fascist leaders but there are other characteristics of followers that attracts them to fascism. They have to believe that social Darwinism is the normal structure of society. They see themselves as better than others in society and are therefore racial bigots. They believe that only their one political belief is correct and that no other idea is acceptable. Therefore they are political bigots as well. Fascism depends on closed minded followers to succeed, but fascist leaders reinforce the closed mindedness by stating that non-believers are the outside enemy. Fascist followers are full of hate, just like their sociopathic leader. There is no shortage of narcissism and arrogance in the followers of fascism but these are also characteristics of fascist leaders, so there is a sense of comradery between them. It just strengthens the bond between them.
Thank you so much Steve for posting. Hate plus codependency are a toxic cocktail. It's multiplied out of control. It's like a genie has left the bottle. How do we fix? Using educated critical thinking skills plus love & strategy. Definitely alot of work to do in the next 45 days & 24 months and forever.
Thank you so much, Steve, for you concise and well-written essay on fascism. You write that:
[Followers of the sociopathic fascist start acting like sociopaths themselves,………..there are other characteristics of followers that attracts them to fascism. They have to believe that social Darwinism is the normal structure of society. They see themselves as better than others in society and are therefore racial bigots. They believe that only their own political belief is correct and that no other idea is acceptable………..…therefore they are political bigots as well………..…Fascist followers are full of hate, just like their sociopathic leader.]
I can definitely see some of the fascist constructs you describe in our present U.S. system now especially since Jan 6, 2021 (the insurrection). But I have to say that my understanding of fascism in our U.S. system crept up quickly on me and caught me quite a bit off guard. My own education has included much, much more socialism than fascism in my understanding of the development of political and economic systems. Every semester I have at least 150 first year students to whom I teach the “Principles of Economics” and one of the initial depictions I try to present, as a scaffolding, is a continuum of political/economic systems with “capitalism” on one end, “communism” on the opposite end, and “socialism” somewhat near communism. And then who owns the limited (not scarce) resources of land, labor, and capital that we have on earth. I do always emphasize that in its “purest” forms capitalism and communism have never really existed.
Anyway, I read somewhere that fascism came from socialism, but that doesn’t necessarily make sense to me and seems to be quite a stretch. Also, socialism seeks to focus on a “class” structure while fascism is more about “nations.” Socialists were always at odds with capital owners while fascists seemed to have a better relationship with capital although they still seem to be the bosses. Finally, it seems from your description above that anger/hatred (also presently in the U.S.) are motivators within fascism while a “common cause” of sorts is more the motivator within socialism.
Thanks Diane for added comments and knowledge, all helpful. I was ignorant of fascism even the term until I read Ruth's book. Imagine well-meaning Americans too busy carpooling/ working/ laundry/ children who haven't had time to keep up with this. It's alot to digest, when we've been winging it on auto-pilot for decades. Hopefully there's alot of fast-studies out there. I appreciate your explanations, along with Steve's. Helpful to absorb.
Diane-- I think there has been a lot of confusion about the economics of fascism over the years, mostly because the word socialist is in the name of the Nazi Party. Hitler used that as a ploy to get the working class on his side, but the Nazis were not socialist. Their economic system gave business great power and was considered a cartel system. It was replete with oligopolies and monopolies. There was obvious business/government collusion, just like Italy had under Mussolini. Henry Ford and Prescott Bush wanted fascism here, as it gave business more power. Our Libertarian Party, with their love of social Darwinism and business power are proponents of fascism, even though they don't openly admit it. The book, "Democracy in Chains" by Nancy MacLean shows how radical they are. It's about the Libertarian view of economics and their plan for America. It's quite shocking.
I actually have a copy of "Democracy in Chains" sitting right in front of me at my desk and I saw Nancy MacLean on C-SPAN discussing her book earlier this year. I'm right now in the middle of putting together four Excel workshops to enable our students to use the Data Analysis Tool and data..............but you've convinced me to finally get to some of those ideas in her book which the reviewers are calling a worthy successor to Jane Mayer's "Dark Money!" Thanks for reminding me, Steve!
Thanks for reviewing the Economics of each of these movements. The greater public needs this education too. Small businesses are at risk of closures, the whole economy affected. People sometimes listen to numbers, percentages weaved into examples. It's an attention-getter and increases credibility of a story. So much at stake. I wish this could be amplified (Department of Labor? Secretary Gina -- she is a sharp, excellent Cabinet member) to the general public too. Thanks for plainspeaking the Econ part.
This is a battle of good over evil. Pseudo-christians aside, I keep hopeful that the millions of Christians worldwide -- independent of 'organized religion' -- will in the grassroots pockets, snap back into righteousness of the Gospel. It's a numbers game. There are more good people than bad, the good people must gain control over the evil ones to save the planet. "There is neither Jew nor gentile, either slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one and the same in Christ Jesus." --Galathians 3:28
Where are the people that believe this? Now is our time to work this through. This is the moment we have been called for.
The author Chris Hedges wrote "American Fascists" a number of years ago to warn the American people about the trend in Christianity toward a radical fascist movement. It's a shocking book. He is a Harvard Divinity School graduate.
Thanks, I will look for that book. Not reading it yet, I can only exclaim my outrage that people falsely call themselves Christians, that is blasphemy. To be Christian and fascist, at the same time, is illogical.
[Important Ohio (Battleground state) down ballot election update!!!]
Extremist and QAnon conspiracy theorist JR Majewski is presenting himself as a combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks………He LIES!!!
Associated Press reports that JR Majewski NEVER deployed to Afghanistan and has exaggerated stories of his service!
Daily Beast says “Ohio candidate’s [JR Majewski’s] story of military heroism is mostly BS, Report says.”
JR Majewski said he was at the US Capital on Jan 6, 2021 because he has the right to be there and also took veterans there to support [Trump] at this “Stop the Steal” rally as he describes it.
VOTE BLUE!!!
Vote for U.S. Congressional Rep (Longest serving U.S. Congresswoman in U.S. history!) Marcy Kaptur (Dem-OH-09) for the working people of Ohio!!!
I will say, this has never had anything to do with a perceived threat from NATO. That was his excuse, ruse, propaganda. Nuclear weapons are not, under Putins total control. If he were to try to use one, he should not be so near a window. A look into Putins thinking on this, would be Ivan IIyin. Putin idolized his thoughts. The Holy Russian Empire is a religion quest for Putin. He simply, screwed up.
I would suggest: Natalyia Bugayova, Institue for the Study of War, Dr. Fiona Hill, Brookings and Dr. Timothy Snyder, Yale. I'm sure they can explain it better than I. There are volumes written on this very subject. Obviously, I did not express myself clearly. My apologies.
Timely. Putin escalating with performative acts like referendums in breakaway provinces and more threats; I am not bluffing wrt nuclear weapons. Western leaders standing strong; at the present.
Another current parallel
Trump has “a rotating cast of aides has been tasked with following him around the golf course at the club he's at and giving him positive reinforcement from Twitter and wherever else they find it on the web, per ppl told of the practice.”
I wonder how many of the 300,000 Russians drafted/conscripted/called to serve actually will?
Travel safe.............. BBC reports this morning, Putin has activated 300,000 reservists. He is also enjoying fondling the nuclear button. Erdogan is pushing for return of all Ukrainian land. Meloni continues her domination in the polls and is likely to win this weekend. Bolsonaro will probably win, if he does, or doesn't. Fascism, in our country, has clearly taken on the "Dominionist" fashion for the foreseeable future............ Just another day in paradise.
Fascism is the new heroin, until people realize what the "end state" of this destructive political system is. Fascism never ends well because it is the politics of hate. It encourages the most vile aspects of human nature, while punishing human virtues. It exalts lunatics as heros.
Ruth, my comment is in the form of a question. If in the interest of combating global warming and climate catastrophe, BIden were to call the CEOs of all the American oil companies to the white house and say to them: Either you all present me with a program to decrease fossil fuel emissions, or I am going to nationalize the industry and run it in such a way so as to decrease fossil fuel emissions, would you say this action fits the playbook of an authoritarian leader, or is justified in the face of the climate catastrophe we all face? I note that "nationalization" is not new in America.
That would be an invitation to Fascism. At this point in time, a Democrat would never again, be elected to office. You have to have overwhelming public support for such a move. Biden is at 45%. Not a good idea. Check out polling, folks don't even believe in climate change.
Agree, people not believing in climate change (climate catastrophe) are selfish and ignorant on purpose.
Thanks, I like "catastrophe" better. More accurate.
I read it somewhere & have started using it myself! yah, much more accurate -- every day it's something!*
At this point in our evolution of corporatocracy, Biden does not have the power to enact such a demand on oil companies. More accurately, they tell him what to do. The push for corporate power has been going on for many decades now, but especially since the rise of the Mont Pelerin Society and the neoliberal order. The POTUS is more like a figurehead now, than a real source of power. The real power lies BEHIND the Congress, POTUS and SCOTUS. The authoritarianism that we have, lies in the form of business power, yearning for fascism.
👏👏👏👏
TFG’s walls are closing in: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/21/nyregion/trump-fraud-lawsuit-letitia-james?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Wow, Ruth, current events have turned into a laboratory for you! And everything you've written about has come to pass. It's a bitch being right.
The former president’s obsession with making money- illegally usually - is attractive to many American power elites who enjoy the spoils of his greed.
This obsession with money has been a lifelong driver of his power. He’s not about to change his tactics anytime soon, so the CEO’s and other power brokers will keep him around as long as the money rolls in. Wonderful article Ruth- helped open my eyes to the real motivators of greed! Thank you
Dr. B-G,
How does the US currently compare to this inequality metric? What are the consequences of ever escalating concentration of wealth upward? How will Citizens United continue to exacerbate the problem?
“This is certainly the case in Russia: in 2019 the richest 3% held 90% of the assets, with Putin's oligarchs owning the lion's share of those.”
Interesting how for both Putin and the Russian people’s condition was accelerated by the Pandemic. For him isolation made him worse. For the people, tired of Authoritarianism, loss of freedoms, tired of lack of opportunity, tiring of corruption, propaganda, and lies. Putin’s fall will be like when the Berlin Wall came down. Is it already happening in Kazakhstan? Will Belarus be next? And then like dominos...
Meloni is going to win in a landslide Sunday. Bolsonaro won't be far behind. Orban is flying high. Belgium is a cesspool with Vlaams and Xi Jinping is still killing Uyghur's. Fascism isn't going anywhere, but up. Just my opine.
Putin's actions reveal what is going on in his mind, and it's not that different from other authroritarians we have seen. We see machismo, grandiosity, magical thinking, sadism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, callousness, possible psychopathy, intolerance of dissent, social Darwinism and a belligerent foreign policy. These personality traits create a national hellscape when a national leader exhibits these. Putin and Trump are buddies because they have similar personalities and gravitate toward fascism.
Agree. At at the same time, their behavior(s) can become so (direly) predictable, are toddler-like because of their own lack of internal awareness, acknowledgement and control over their emotions -- which at this point (post-peak), can overwhelm them. Unfortunately these toddlers have access to dangerous weapons.
Those with no conscience, having control of nuclear weapons, is a massive mistake.
seems like the system of safeguards is vulnerable, needs attention.
Dysfunctions of all sorts!
Earlier this year I was working with a student who was interested in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s use of cryptocurrencies, which was becoming a major issue. Ukraine had been using cryptocurrency to cover the funding of its weapons systems as it acts as a currency bound by no state and that has one of the easiest processes of international conversion. Lockheed Martin produces weapons systems, such as the Javelin anti-tank missiles, which Ukraine had initially been effectively using to defend its country from the Russian invasion.
Countries that do not rank high in measures of economic wealth, such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), generally do better in the world of cryptocurrency. There are tools that can trace cryptocurrencies and related digital assets across blockchains to improve the current analysis of cryptocurrencies and their performance within economic activity.
Russia has been against using cryptocurrencies as a payment method in order to protect the Russian ruble, but this fear may soon be changing with all the economic sanctions imposed on Russia that appear to be increasingly highly effective even with goods not placed under economic sanctions! So stay tuned for a worsening situation for Russia!
Thanks. Crypto is a huge international problem, which will become worse. Preferred exchange of the "Dark Web." Check out 6/30/22 The Washington Spectator." Dave Troy has an article, "Paranoia on Parade," ect. Unbelievable work. We need to be discussing this much more.
I understand the psyche of the authoritarian. I understand why they do what they do. What I don't understand is why people are attracted to authoritarians. Who are these people, especially the ones who glom on.
For example, why does a Lindsey Graham attach himself to a sadistic monster like Trump? Or how about Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio? These are beyond everything else flawed people, so what do they get out of their relationship with Trump? How are these people any different than the people who linked their legacy on Hitler - Goring, Himmler, Goebbels, and Borman. Are these people any different than the supreme leader or are they somehow different.
And of course, there are a million or more devout believers who constitute a distinct minority, a cult. What are they getting out of all this?
The part I really don't get is why the vast majority who are sane and of sound mind don't soundly reject this insane aberration? In the old days, this authoritarian movement would never have gained so much ground in this country. Something changed and I can't figure out what.
All good questions. My first guess is people follow who have less-developed personas & can cash in on feeling part of a popular movement. Why -- on God's green earth -- do more sane people not speak out or tamp out this dangerous rhetoric is beyond me. Asleep at the wheel of democracy.
What you are addressing is in the realm of political psychology. Here a quote from J.M. Post on the subject of the charismatic leader/follower relationship.
"The sense of grandiose omnipotence of the leader is especially appealing to his needy follower. A hallmark of the destructive charismatic leader is absolutist polarizing rhetoric, drawing his followers together against the outside enemy."
In broken societies, especially economically broken ones, citizens become desperate for change and attach themselves to vile leaders with great promises.
Several months ago I wrote a piece called The Psychology of Fascism. Let me know if you want me to post it here?
Steve, please provide a link of your aforementioned written piece for our interest........thank you!
This is the shortened version because the longer version was too large for substack.
It is commonly seen in those who believe in fascist politics, a retreat from reality in areas where politics are involved. The perception of science becomes influenced by their political beliefs. But so do other areas like foreign policy, education, military actions, social structure, the press, history and the worth of ethnic groups. The unrealistic demonization of political thought, beyond their own, becomes rampant. Fascism exaggerates existing political bigotry and creates warring ideological camps, polarized against each other. Under fascism, only one political party is accepted, due to the sociopathic narcissism and closed mindedness of the leader.
Fascism is a lie-based system, simply because it is, in most cases, led by a sociopath (secondary psychopathy). Sociopaths are inveterate liars so it makes sense that they use deception as their primary leadership tool. They set in place a foundation of fantasy among their listeners, based on their followers’ confirmation bias. The leader takes a concept that is suspected to be true by the followers, and then exaggerates it wildly, causing supposition to become truth. This was seen in older fascist countries like Germany and Italy where the past mediocre history of the country was modified into a grandiose past greatness, which the people wanted to believe, and did. Fascist leaders drive a wedge between the under educated and the intellectual community. Most nations that are ripe for fascism have a majority, who do not have a higher education. This is exploited by fascist leaders by criticizing the intellectual minority. They are criticized because they are seen as a threat to the fascist lie machine. The under educated followers gladly join in on this hate parade. This is another case of using confirmation bias to affect thinking but in this case, to sow hate. It has been proven through psychological experiments that conservatives have difficulty in abandoning beliefs, once they are accepted, even when given corrective information. This is known as the Backfire Effect. Since conservatives are the ones who embrace fascism, it becomes difficult for them to change and to reject fascist beliefs. They end up accepting fascist lies as the truth. We have seen evidence of the Backfire Effect in the followers of the Trump administration. The Backfire Effect seems to be an important mechanism in the build-up of fascism in society. Their beliefs are reinforced by fellow believers, so thinking becomes entangled in a fascist delusion feedback loop. Much effort is expended by believers in fascist lies to rationalize what they believe is the truth. But the foundation of what they believe is faulty and so all the rationalization in the world is not going to make their belief the truth.
The concept known as post-truth occurs when people believe that their political feelings carry more weight than the truth. With the constant bombardment of lies from a fascist leader, followers can become unmoored from reality. Fascist leaders do not like reality, as they want to create their own reality in the minds of their followers. Once reality and truth are discredited, then lies can be spread with impunity. This is the “end state” desired by fascist leaders. Right wing media attempts to rationalize their fascist behavior by criticizing those that criticize them. They say that the left media is wrong and that the right’s (fascist) stance is the righteous stance. They attempt to reverse right and wrong in the minds of their followers. Their fallacious fascist concept is glorified and becomes their new truth, while the real truth becomes a traitor to them. There is such strong conviction in their fallacious belief that they are willing to commit violence in support of it. We saw evidence of this with the Jan 6th coup attempt. It was all based on a huge fantasy perpetuated by a sociopath, Trump.
One propaganda technique used in fascism involves the use of demagoguery, a fear inducing deception. The mechanism in fascism is complex, in that it creates an outside threat that scares the followers so that they believe that they are victims of the threat. This victimhood causes anger and a sense of besiegement. This sense of being besieged by this outside enemy causes vengeance against this phantom foe. It is devious thought control. It badly divides society, as the enemy that is identified, usually involves others in society with different beliefs. Historically, most of those perpetuating this type of thought control, that I call besiegement politics, have been afflicted by the serious personality disorders of psychopathy or sociopathy. It is well known that those with these disorders are master manipulators, so their use of this technique is no surprise.
Many sociopathic leaders have what is known as magical thinking, where they feel that they can create reality just by thinking it to be so. Once their followers are in the post-truth mode, the magical thinking of their leader does not seem magical at all to them but is accepted as reality. The most ridiculous statements will seem plausible. Trump’s false prediction of a wild path of a hurricane, was absurd but was deemed as acceptable to his followers. They will accept an absurdity from someone of authority in their political clan, over the truth from someone outside their clan.
Fascist leaders are infamous for their lack of ethics. The reason can be traced to their mental condition. Hitler, Mussolini, Slobodan Milosevic, Pinochet, etc were all brutal killers, which is easy when one has a sociopathic conscience (none). The destructive consequence of this lack of ethics is that when this behavior is seen in their role model position, followers start to emulate it, to be more like their hero. We start seeing ethical drift in society. But emulating a sociopath is dangerous for individuals and society as a whole because it destroys the foundation of the social order and threatens the perception of reality itself. Followers of the sociopathic fascist start acting like sociopaths themselves.
Sociopaths are known for their anger and rage and those traits spill over into their leadership style, when sociopaths attain a fascist leadership position. This rage is probably due to their narcissism and comes to the surface when their superiority is threatened. An example of this was seen in press conferences with Trump, when a reporter asked a question that demanded some sort of truth from Trump. Since he has trouble with being truthful, his power structure was threatened and he lashed out at the reporter. Sociopaths are all about dominance and submission and when that dominance is challenged, they become angry. Unfortunately, the rage in the sociopathic leader transfers to his obsequious followers. We have seen examples of this in Trump’s followers, where they seem to be angry and belligerent, just like their hero. People who hold the belief that dominance and submission is the proper way in which human interaction should take place, are the same ones whom embrace fascism. They are attracted to fascism. Dominance and submission is a major pillar in fascist thinking. Historically, challenging a sociopathic fascist leader has had dire consequences because one is challenging the dominance/submission structure.
The cult-like following seen in fascism can be explained by the charismatic leader/follower relationship. There is a symbiosis between the leader and follower, where the leader needs the follower as much as the follower needs the leader. It’s a mutual addiction, so to speak. The omnipotence of the leader becomes worshiped by the followers, while the leader is needy for adoring fans. But charismatic fascists use angry rhetoric to convince their followers to hate all ideas outside their cult and polarize their followers against the outside enemy. Fascists badly divide societies.
One of the primary pillars of fascism is social Darwinism, so the question arises, how did this come to be? This concept is based on animal world “survival of the fittest” mentality where some members of society are considered to be worthy while others are not. Since sociopaths are all about pecking order and dominance and submission, it makes perfect sense that there would be a nexus between their mental state and the politics they use. The dark side of believing in social Darwinism is that the unworthy in society become blamed for the nation’s woes and therefore become targets for punishment.
Why do sociopaths prefer fascism? In their minds, sociopaths see themselves as a demigod and fascism gives them a platform to be what they feel they deserve. It also gives them the domination they crave. Fascism also gives them a structure where their personality disorder is not noticed and they are deemed to be normal by their followers.
We already know that the under educated are easy prey for fascist leaders but there are other characteristics of followers that attracts them to fascism. They have to believe that social Darwinism is the normal structure of society. They see themselves as better than others in society and are therefore racial bigots. They believe that only their one political belief is correct and that no other idea is acceptable. Therefore they are political bigots as well. Fascism depends on closed minded followers to succeed, but fascist leaders reinforce the closed mindedness by stating that non-believers are the outside enemy. Fascist followers are full of hate, just like their sociopathic leader. There is no shortage of narcissism and arrogance in the followers of fascism but these are also characteristics of fascist leaders, so there is a sense of comradery between them. It just strengthens the bond between them.
Thank you so much Steve for posting. Hate plus codependency are a toxic cocktail. It's multiplied out of control. It's like a genie has left the bottle. How do we fix? Using educated critical thinking skills plus love & strategy. Definitely alot of work to do in the next 45 days & 24 months and forever.
Thank you so much, Steve, for you concise and well-written essay on fascism. You write that:
[Followers of the sociopathic fascist start acting like sociopaths themselves,………..there are other characteristics of followers that attracts them to fascism. They have to believe that social Darwinism is the normal structure of society. They see themselves as better than others in society and are therefore racial bigots. They believe that only their own political belief is correct and that no other idea is acceptable………..…therefore they are political bigots as well………..…Fascist followers are full of hate, just like their sociopathic leader.]
I can definitely see some of the fascist constructs you describe in our present U.S. system now especially since Jan 6, 2021 (the insurrection). But I have to say that my understanding of fascism in our U.S. system crept up quickly on me and caught me quite a bit off guard. My own education has included much, much more socialism than fascism in my understanding of the development of political and economic systems. Every semester I have at least 150 first year students to whom I teach the “Principles of Economics” and one of the initial depictions I try to present, as a scaffolding, is a continuum of political/economic systems with “capitalism” on one end, “communism” on the opposite end, and “socialism” somewhat near communism. And then who owns the limited (not scarce) resources of land, labor, and capital that we have on earth. I do always emphasize that in its “purest” forms capitalism and communism have never really existed.
Anyway, I read somewhere that fascism came from socialism, but that doesn’t necessarily make sense to me and seems to be quite a stretch. Also, socialism seeks to focus on a “class” structure while fascism is more about “nations.” Socialists were always at odds with capital owners while fascists seemed to have a better relationship with capital although they still seem to be the bosses. Finally, it seems from your description above that anger/hatred (also presently in the U.S.) are motivators within fascism while a “common cause” of sorts is more the motivator within socialism.
Thank you again for your great essay!
Thanks Diane for added comments and knowledge, all helpful. I was ignorant of fascism even the term until I read Ruth's book. Imagine well-meaning Americans too busy carpooling/ working/ laundry/ children who haven't had time to keep up with this. It's alot to digest, when we've been winging it on auto-pilot for decades. Hopefully there's alot of fast-studies out there. I appreciate your explanations, along with Steve's. Helpful to absorb.
Thank you as well, Jan! You are always so active and generous with your input -- I appreciate it greatly!
Diane-- I think there has been a lot of confusion about the economics of fascism over the years, mostly because the word socialist is in the name of the Nazi Party. Hitler used that as a ploy to get the working class on his side, but the Nazis were not socialist. Their economic system gave business great power and was considered a cartel system. It was replete with oligopolies and monopolies. There was obvious business/government collusion, just like Italy had under Mussolini. Henry Ford and Prescott Bush wanted fascism here, as it gave business more power. Our Libertarian Party, with their love of social Darwinism and business power are proponents of fascism, even though they don't openly admit it. The book, "Democracy in Chains" by Nancy MacLean shows how radical they are. It's about the Libertarian view of economics and their plan for America. It's quite shocking.
I actually have a copy of "Democracy in Chains" sitting right in front of me at my desk and I saw Nancy MacLean on C-SPAN discussing her book earlier this year. I'm right now in the middle of putting together four Excel workshops to enable our students to use the Data Analysis Tool and data..............but you've convinced me to finally get to some of those ideas in her book which the reviewers are calling a worthy successor to Jane Mayer's "Dark Money!" Thanks for reminding me, Steve!
Thanks for reviewing the Economics of each of these movements. The greater public needs this education too. Small businesses are at risk of closures, the whole economy affected. People sometimes listen to numbers, percentages weaved into examples. It's an attention-getter and increases credibility of a story. So much at stake. I wish this could be amplified (Department of Labor? Secretary Gina -- she is a sharp, excellent Cabinet member) to the general public too. Thanks for plainspeaking the Econ part.
interested, in reading it Steve.
Excellent, excellent thoughts and questions, ChipsPOV!!! Thank you, thank you!!
This is a battle of good over evil. Pseudo-christians aside, I keep hopeful that the millions of Christians worldwide -- independent of 'organized religion' -- will in the grassroots pockets, snap back into righteousness of the Gospel. It's a numbers game. There are more good people than bad, the good people must gain control over the evil ones to save the planet. "There is neither Jew nor gentile, either slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one and the same in Christ Jesus." --Galathians 3:28
Where are the people that believe this? Now is our time to work this through. This is the moment we have been called for.
The author Chris Hedges wrote "American Fascists" a number of years ago to warn the American people about the trend in Christianity toward a radical fascist movement. It's a shocking book. He is a Harvard Divinity School graduate.
Thanks, I will look for that book. Not reading it yet, I can only exclaim my outrage that people falsely call themselves Christians, that is blasphemy. To be Christian and fascist, at the same time, is illogical.
[Important Ohio (Battleground state) down ballot election update!!!]
Extremist and QAnon conspiracy theorist JR Majewski is presenting himself as a combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks………He LIES!!!
Associated Press reports that JR Majewski NEVER deployed to Afghanistan and has exaggerated stories of his service!
Daily Beast says “Ohio candidate’s [JR Majewski’s] story of military heroism is mostly BS, Report says.”
JR Majewski said he was at the US Capital on Jan 6, 2021 because he has the right to be there and also took veterans there to support [Trump] at this “Stop the Steal” rally as he describes it.
VOTE BLUE!!!
Vote for U.S. Congressional Rep (Longest serving U.S. Congresswoman in U.S. history!) Marcy Kaptur (Dem-OH-09) for the working people of Ohio!!!