Never in my 83 years did I ever imagine this nightmare. I once thought the Nixon debacle was the worst we as a nation would experience. How naive I was!
There are already stormtroopers on the ground in North Carolina. The Patriot Front Neo Nazis have been assisting residents of North Carolina in the cleanup following the hurricane, while also spreading misinformation. This will be commonplace in a Trump presidency.
Here in Florida, Governor DeSantis has gone directly to governmental, official intimidation with door-knocking "election police" checking on the validity of signatures to a freedom-centered ballot initiative and, now, to threats of criminal charges to media outlets that carry advertisements in favor of the ballot initiative. It is amazing. I am trying to remember Dr. Snyder's admonition to not panic when the unthinkable happens. It has happened here.
Thank you Dr. Snyder. Being born near the start of the Great Depression, I do recognize all the signs of fascism. People who migrated here after the end of WW2 were immersed in the blood and terror of fascism as it spread its ugliness across Europe. I only read about it and saw pictures in newspapers, Life Magazine, Time, and news reels in movie theaters, but those things stuck in my memory.
I understand the people of the southern States, I don't know how it was before the 1970's but from the time I became a Director on the Board of Directors of the teachers union - the NEA National Education Association. I was in contact with teachers in southern States. Their quality of education was so low then and I doubt it has improved since. The less educated you are the more often you fall for demagogues. If you don't know the history, don't understand the economy in terms other than your household budget it's easier to accept the blame game. "I have to work hard in a crappy job, and have nothing in savings, so it must be someone else's fault"
There is a political scientist who I had heard within the last year on the "Smart People" podcast, who had data to suggest that on both sides of the divide only 20% each are well informed about the issues -- most people simply not having the time, the education, the energy or the patience (or any combination) to inform themselves better.
Any of you out there who haven't read Prof. Snyder's "Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning" (2015), should. It is a profound and nuanced work. You'll not only have a better understanding of "Bloodlands," but, like "The Road to Unfreedom," it is more relevant today than it was when it was written. I recognized "Black Earth" in today's post. "Introduction: "Hitler's World" (pp.1-10) is the best description of Hitler's ideas I've ever read. But don't leave after you've read it. Please stay and read the entire book.
Thank you Professor Snyder for following up on the theme of anti-science behavior as discussed in On Freedom. Unfortunately the anti-science attitude is common to virtually all who have dictatorial aspirations, for the simple reason that science is all about truth, and megalomaniacs view themselves as arbiters of truth.
In the US, the anti-science attitude appeared at the national level in the administration of Ronald Reagan, was carried to the next level by George W. Bush, and has reached new levels under Trump. But it would be a mistake to associate the hatred of science only with the right; there are people on the far left who are also science haters.
For those who wish to explore the topic further, I recommend Corrupted Science by John Grant and Voodoo Science by Robert Park. Both books were published more than 15 years ago, so do not include the latest threats, but in my view they remain current because the tactics of science deniers are basically unchanging.
Yes, the Left definitely has its own problem with denying biological reality: denying the fact that human life begins at conception, and denying the fact that a man cannot turn himself into a woman.
Scary forecast - but it will possibly happen if we don't start in the schools with the teaching of "Skeptical Thinking". You can be immunized against idiots.
Skeptical Thinking and fact based analysis was my education. How did we lose this? I suggest school boards, "democratically" elected, dominated by parents and "pastors" (grifters in a frock). 1+1 = 3 as long as elected parents say so.
Thanks for describing the characteristics, behaviors, and threats of fascism. Most people are angered when they believe they are being stripped of their rights. It’s important to distinguish between those who are supporting individual rights and those who are trying to take them away.
We must focus on their actions not their words. “By their fruits you shall know them.”
Many of my relatives and friends were caught up in Helene or Milton. One cousin experienced both storms: she was in NC for Helene, and back home in FL for Milton. I drove from Nashville to Cookeville, TN, this past week. When I stopped at a gas station in rural TN, I overheard an employee telling people that the government was bulldozing towns in NC and seizing the land.
I said that this was a lie. She said, "But I have heard several people saying that it was true." That's how she decided it must be true. She asked if I was from Chimney Rock (the alleged bulldozed town). I said no, but I had a house near there. (My grandparents' house that I take care of in Saluda, NC, also flooded by Helene, but not completely ruined.) Apparently she would not believe that her story was a lie unless I was actually a citizen of Chimney Rock. The fact that the story was completely implausible to any rational person did not matter.
About the "real people": there is a woman in my community here who posted a video on social media this past winter about how hard it is to be a livestock farmer in winter. She railed against "elites" that are sitting in warm houses, "in their designer duds," while the real people--people like her--have to work outside. Never mind that these spoiled, warm people are her customers; she apparently hates them and said that she is "more real" than we'll ever be.
I emailed her that this video was not good for her business, but she would not take it down. I quit buying meat from her though. She calls herself "the right-wing hippie," and while I don't see what part of her is a hippie, the right-wing, even fascist part of her was clear to see on her Instagram feed. She is the kind of person who, when the opportunity arises, will quickly be ready to deport or even kill everybody who is not as "real" as she is. Although she appears to be a sweet middle-aged lady, she is actually quite dangerous.
Also, nice shout out for Jason Stanley's crystalline and powerful book, How Fascism Works. I always keep copies on hand for my fascist-curious friends and acquaintances.
Thanks to all of you. We need to vote and to help get out the vote and to work to make sure that our children and grandchildren learn more about and appreciate our democracy. We cannot let grievances and prejudice take over our country.
As the polls are beginning to show, Trump is likely to win. So, we need to move beyond talking about stopping the unhinged fascist right through the electoral process and promote a plan to preempt a Trump victory. Based on all the evidence before him, Biden needs to immediately arrest Trump and Vance as the threat to democracy they are. Acting in his capacity as the nation’s first law enforcer, he will be immune as per the Supreme Court. I know such an act is highly unlikely, but Trump and Vance do not deserve to be treated like normal politicians who might occasionally slip into a minor falsehood and deserve a ticket out of jail. If I or you said the things they are saying, we’d be arrested and tried. No one can shout fire in a crowded theater and then escape the consequences of the impact of their actions on real human beings, whether after a devastating hurricane or after being falsely accused of murder, rape or consumption of cats and dogs.
If Trump is arrested it will add fuel to the fire of republican voters. Just think how we would feel if it happened to one of our favorite Democrat politicians (we would start with unrest against the fascists who unfairly jailed our politician who could fix everything.) I agree Trump should be arrested. However, republican voters need to shed their cult love for Trump or we risk a Civil War starting, which is what Putin wants to have happen.
Republican voters aren’t going to “shed their cult love for Trump” in the next 4 weeks. The only thing that will stop Trump before he takes office again is his arrest or a bullet. Sorry to be so frank and Trump-sounding, but the time for the fantasy that Trump will be defeated by the defection of his supporters and an overwhelming vote for Harris is over. I have already voted for Harris. I have donated many times to her campaign. At 82, I’ve seen us moving closer and closer to illiberalism for years. I’ve never given up hope for better times, but we’re past a time when we can expect to persuade our fellow “citizens” to do the right thing for democracy. I love this Substack blog, but participating in it is preaching to the converted. The time for talk is over at least for this election.
A bullet or an arrest is your answer to a politician you disagree with? Putting "citizens" in sarcastic quotation marks when referring to other Americans? You sound like the extremists you are criticizing.
When Trump is elected, in fact even if he isn’t elected, right wingers will do whatever they bloody want. And, I’m thinking here in terms of the American not the UK version of “bloody”. By then it will be too late to stop him.
Not only does Prof. Snyder deliver another excellent analysis of the troubling nature of the Republican politics, and introduces the at least to me new phrase "politics of impotence", with the impotence not being a by-product of incompetence but a political goal, Timothy does it in such crisp and clean and hard hitting prose that entire phrases should be used verbatim in political campaigning against the trump/vance nightmare.
In allowing Trump to run for president, we have legitimized craziness. We are like a parent who does not set limits. Now craziness and disinformation become the norm. We have set NO boundaries for lying. Everything is "free speech".
Never in my 83 years did I ever imagine this nightmare. I once thought the Nixon debacle was the worst we as a nation would experience. How naive I was!
I understand! Nixon was just disgusting, but this is truly frightening. We can only pray that sanity will prevail🙏🏻🙏🏻
There are already stormtroopers on the ground in North Carolina. The Patriot Front Neo Nazis have been assisting residents of North Carolina in the cleanup following the hurricane, while also spreading misinformation. This will be commonplace in a Trump presidency.
Here in Florida, Governor DeSantis has gone directly to governmental, official intimidation with door-knocking "election police" checking on the validity of signatures to a freedom-centered ballot initiative and, now, to threats of criminal charges to media outlets that carry advertisements in favor of the ballot initiative. It is amazing. I am trying to remember Dr. Snyder's admonition to not panic when the unthinkable happens. It has happened here.
Sowing doubt and discrediting FEMA is part of the push to privatize everything
“Beware of Paramilitaries.”
Have you seen the new movie out called, Civil War?
No, heard from friends it was worth it, from a Freedom of the press frame work.
Yes, it was terrifying -- really about this moment
Cannot like this
Thank you Dr. Snyder. Being born near the start of the Great Depression, I do recognize all the signs of fascism. People who migrated here after the end of WW2 were immersed in the blood and terror of fascism as it spread its ugliness across Europe. I only read about it and saw pictures in newspapers, Life Magazine, Time, and news reels in movie theaters, but those things stuck in my memory.
I understand the people of the southern States, I don't know how it was before the 1970's but from the time I became a Director on the Board of Directors of the teachers union - the NEA National Education Association. I was in contact with teachers in southern States. Their quality of education was so low then and I doubt it has improved since. The less educated you are the more often you fall for demagogues. If you don't know the history, don't understand the economy in terms other than your household budget it's easier to accept the blame game. "I have to work hard in a crappy job, and have nothing in savings, so it must be someone else's fault"
The less educated are so prone to following conspiracy theories and theorists, and I had no idea how remarkably uneducated we are as a nation.
There is a political scientist who I had heard within the last year on the "Smart People" podcast, who had data to suggest that on both sides of the divide only 20% each are well informed about the issues -- most people simply not having the time, the education, the energy or the patience (or any combination) to inform themselves better.
It is especially terrifying in the rural areas where even the educators are highly racist and undereducated.
Any of you out there who haven't read Prof. Snyder's "Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning" (2015), should. It is a profound and nuanced work. You'll not only have a better understanding of "Bloodlands," but, like "The Road to Unfreedom," it is more relevant today than it was when it was written. I recognized "Black Earth" in today's post. "Introduction: "Hitler's World" (pp.1-10) is the best description of Hitler's ideas I've ever read. But don't leave after you've read it. Please stay and read the entire book.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/11/meteorologists-death-threats-hurricane-conspiracies-misinformation
I wish I had something to say, but all this has left me without words. Except, they will blame the historians as well, as I’m sure you know.
Thank you Professor Snyder for following up on the theme of anti-science behavior as discussed in On Freedom. Unfortunately the anti-science attitude is common to virtually all who have dictatorial aspirations, for the simple reason that science is all about truth, and megalomaniacs view themselves as arbiters of truth.
In the US, the anti-science attitude appeared at the national level in the administration of Ronald Reagan, was carried to the next level by George W. Bush, and has reached new levels under Trump. But it would be a mistake to associate the hatred of science only with the right; there are people on the far left who are also science haters.
For those who wish to explore the topic further, I recommend Corrupted Science by John Grant and Voodoo Science by Robert Park. Both books were published more than 15 years ago, so do not include the latest threats, but in my view they remain current because the tactics of science deniers are basically unchanging.
Yes, the Left definitely has its own problem with denying biological reality: denying the fact that human life begins at conception, and denying the fact that a man cannot turn himself into a woman.
I listened to Obama's speech last night. I think he might have read your book:)
Scary forecast - but it will possibly happen if we don't start in the schools with the teaching of "Skeptical Thinking". You can be immunized against idiots.
Skeptical Thinking and fact based analysis was my education. How did we lose this? I suggest school boards, "democratically" elected, dominated by parents and "pastors" (grifters in a frock). 1+1 = 3 as long as elected parents say so.
"Grifters in a frock" Nice phrase!! LOL
Thanks for describing the characteristics, behaviors, and threats of fascism. Most people are angered when they believe they are being stripped of their rights. It’s important to distinguish between those who are supporting individual rights and those who are trying to take them away.
We must focus on their actions not their words. “By their fruits you shall know them.”
Many of my relatives and friends were caught up in Helene or Milton. One cousin experienced both storms: she was in NC for Helene, and back home in FL for Milton. I drove from Nashville to Cookeville, TN, this past week. When I stopped at a gas station in rural TN, I overheard an employee telling people that the government was bulldozing towns in NC and seizing the land.
I said that this was a lie. She said, "But I have heard several people saying that it was true." That's how she decided it must be true. She asked if I was from Chimney Rock (the alleged bulldozed town). I said no, but I had a house near there. (My grandparents' house that I take care of in Saluda, NC, also flooded by Helene, but not completely ruined.) Apparently she would not believe that her story was a lie unless I was actually a citizen of Chimney Rock. The fact that the story was completely implausible to any rational person did not matter.
About the "real people": there is a woman in my community here who posted a video on social media this past winter about how hard it is to be a livestock farmer in winter. She railed against "elites" that are sitting in warm houses, "in their designer duds," while the real people--people like her--have to work outside. Never mind that these spoiled, warm people are her customers; she apparently hates them and said that she is "more real" than we'll ever be.
I emailed her that this video was not good for her business, but she would not take it down. I quit buying meat from her though. She calls herself "the right-wing hippie," and while I don't see what part of her is a hippie, the right-wing, even fascist part of her was clear to see on her Instagram feed. She is the kind of person who, when the opportunity arises, will quickly be ready to deport or even kill everybody who is not as "real" as she is. Although she appears to be a sweet middle-aged lady, she is actually quite dangerous.
Thanks for elaborating themes of impotence, lies, and us-and-them politics you've covered so well in recent essays and media appearances. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/timothy-snyder-the-politics-of-impotence
Also, nice shout out for Jason Stanley's crystalline and powerful book, How Fascism Works. I always keep copies on hand for my fascist-curious friends and acquaintances.
Thanks to all of you. We need to vote and to help get out the vote and to work to make sure that our children and grandchildren learn more about and appreciate our democracy. We cannot let grievances and prejudice take over our country.
"Do not just sit back & hope." Get fired up & #VoteBlue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkf0_Ku-vgA
The GOP has been captured by fraudsters & power by any means authoritarians. The projection & propaganda never stops.
Trump & Vance can’t handle the truth threatening fact checkers, whistleblowers & truth tellers with retribution. https://wapo.st/3XXgHPt
Vance’s comment “I thought you weren’t going to fact check!” Was telling, no?
As the polls are beginning to show, Trump is likely to win. So, we need to move beyond talking about stopping the unhinged fascist right through the electoral process and promote a plan to preempt a Trump victory. Based on all the evidence before him, Biden needs to immediately arrest Trump and Vance as the threat to democracy they are. Acting in his capacity as the nation’s first law enforcer, he will be immune as per the Supreme Court. I know such an act is highly unlikely, but Trump and Vance do not deserve to be treated like normal politicians who might occasionally slip into a minor falsehood and deserve a ticket out of jail. If I or you said the things they are saying, we’d be arrested and tried. No one can shout fire in a crowded theater and then escape the consequences of the impact of their actions on real human beings, whether after a devastating hurricane or after being falsely accused of murder, rape or consumption of cats and dogs.
If Trump is arrested it will add fuel to the fire of republican voters. Just think how we would feel if it happened to one of our favorite Democrat politicians (we would start with unrest against the fascists who unfairly jailed our politician who could fix everything.) I agree Trump should be arrested. However, republican voters need to shed their cult love for Trump or we risk a Civil War starting, which is what Putin wants to have happen.
Republican voters aren’t going to “shed their cult love for Trump” in the next 4 weeks. The only thing that will stop Trump before he takes office again is his arrest or a bullet. Sorry to be so frank and Trump-sounding, but the time for the fantasy that Trump will be defeated by the defection of his supporters and an overwhelming vote for Harris is over. I have already voted for Harris. I have donated many times to her campaign. At 82, I’ve seen us moving closer and closer to illiberalism for years. I’ve never given up hope for better times, but we’re past a time when we can expect to persuade our fellow “citizens” to do the right thing for democracy. I love this Substack blog, but participating in it is preaching to the converted. The time for talk is over at least for this election.
A bullet or an arrest is your answer to a politician you disagree with? Putting "citizens" in sarcastic quotation marks when referring to other Americans? You sound like the extremists you are criticizing.
But let's not provoke right wingers into doing something even more stupid.
When Trump is elected, in fact even if he isn’t elected, right wingers will do whatever they bloody want. And, I’m thinking here in terms of the American not the UK version of “bloody”. By then it will be too late to stop him.
Perhaps the Judge in NY could remove him from the landscape.
Not only does Prof. Snyder deliver another excellent analysis of the troubling nature of the Republican politics, and introduces the at least to me new phrase "politics of impotence", with the impotence not being a by-product of incompetence but a political goal, Timothy does it in such crisp and clean and hard hitting prose that entire phrases should be used verbatim in political campaigning against the trump/vance nightmare.
Thank you, Timothy!
In allowing Trump to run for president, we have legitimized craziness. We are like a parent who does not set limits. Now craziness and disinformation become the norm. We have set NO boundaries for lying. Everything is "free speech".