Thread by @JYSexton

I'm grateful Mike Lee came out explicitly opposing democracy so we can talk about Trump, Republicans as fascists, our white supremacist founding, and America's direct link to Nazism.

For more on this hidden history, pick up my book AMERICAN RULE.

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penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…

I just recorded the second AMERICAN RULE lecture on this topic: the founding of America wasn't the mythological fairytale we've been told. It was a move by wealthy, white, slaveholding men to consolidate power.

It was vehemently anti-democratic.

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Mike Lee gave away the entire store.

What the Republican Party is doing right now is trying to destroy all democratic institutions in order to maintain power even as they are becoming a very small minority of the country.

It's fascism. A rewinding of the clock.

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Here's the truth: Trumpism is fascism.

It is a purposeful war on liberal democracy and an attempt by a fading majority to maintain power by any and all means.

We must understand that America is inherently susceptible to this in order to avoid this nightmare.

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We must understand fascism is a purposeful attack on liberal democracy and a philosophy of a "superior" minority holding power and sway over the political process while oppressing others in order to attack power

This is how it was designed, focused, and what's happening now.

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This mythology that Trump holds up through MAGA, his propaganda, and emphasis on "patriotic education" is a whitewashing of our history.

These myths are what power and perpetuate fascism.

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We are stuck in our myth of American Exceptionalism, a lie that tells us America has been chosen by god for some honorable, supernatural purpose.

It's propaganda that hides our white supremacist past and present while legitimizing horrible abuses.

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The idea that America was divinely inspired parallels with other fascistic, nationalist myths.

It is a purposeful weapon that allows white supremacists to do anything they want without consequence.

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We must examine our actual past, sort fact from fiction, and learn who we actually are, who we've been, all so we can plot a course forward.

Relying on these tired myths will only result in us being lost in a fascistic nightmare. This is what they are counting on.

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We are taught, of course, that the Revolution was rejecting the idea of Divine Right, or that anyone should be lorded over by an individual supposedly chosen by god to horde land, wealth, and power.

This is what animated the Enlightenment, but our story is completely skewed

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We're taught that the American Revolution was based on Jefferson's idea of the "sovereign individual," or liberty or freedom, that it went from Divine Right to democratic rule.

But that isn't true. That's the propaganda we're fed that misleads us and powers fascists.

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The unfortunate, inarguable truth, is that our founding was undertaken by wealthy, white, slaveholding men interested in protecting their interests and fashioning a system of government that served them and kept everyone else under control.

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To read the notes from the Constitutional debate is to read a group of hierarchical aristocrats who believe "common people" have no business governing themselves.

They believe in an a superior class making their decisions while allowing an illusion of control

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The biggest threat seen by the Founders is "excess democracy," or the trusting of self-rule and self-determination to common people.

They were too stupid, too uninformed, too inferior. They needed to be led by people who knew better. Who WERE better.

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The people who needed to rule?

The "fittest men."

Think about that. A society where a "superior race" runs everything.

It's proto-fascism. Pure and simple. Slaveholders,white supremacists, aristocrats. All of them running the world unchallenged.

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According to George Mason, it would be "unnatural" to trust common people to elect a president, like "referring a trial of colors to a blind man."

This is what the FRAMERS THOUGHT OF US. This is what they created for our government.

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Of course, James Madison, a slaveholder and white supremacist himself, was completely on board with the hierarchical, anti-democratic philosophy.

Only the wealthy would make the "safest depositories for Republican liberty."

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Wealth wasn't everything though.

There was race.

Our founding was explicitly white supremacist and intended to reinforce white supremacist control and slavery.

This is inarguable. It's in our very foundation and from the very beginning.

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When we hear all this talk about "the tyranny of the majority," we're talking about the danger of common people threatening private property.

It's about wealth. It's about power. It's about white supremacy.

The entire system is set up to be hierarchical and unfair.

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Here's one of the most disturbing, hidden truths.

We transitioned from rule by a monarch to rule by a white supremacist aristocracy.

It was proto-fascist in nature and all of our myths and rhetoric and legends about American Exceptionalism hide this fact.

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Here's something we don't talk about: Adolf Hitler actually admired America's form of government.

He saw it as a white supremacist achievement, our racial hierarchy hidden in our laws and customs as something to emulate. A fascistic goal to recreate in Nazi Germany.

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What fascism sought to do was to rewind the clock to a point where the white supremacist, hierarchical structure held control.

They were looking to reverse history itself and return us to a moment where vulnerable populations were completely oppressed.

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The actual philosophical underpinnings of fascism were to reverse time itself, to rely on religious-like myths and "deeper truths" that "strongmen" could wield.

It was about destroying democracy, which fascists saw as a poison that inhibited their control and power.

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Fascism is LITERALLY about minority groups and movements gaining control of society by means of force, intimidation, violence, and the outright destruction of democratic institutions.

It's a small group leveling their will on society and conquering it.

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The message was that society had been betrayed by democracy, that conspiracies involving people of color, vulnerable populations, liberals, and outside "puppetmasters" had conspired to destroy the nation.

The fascists promised a return to glory if democracy was destroyed.

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For decades now the American Right has been flooded with fascistic propaganda aimed at changing demographics, warning white Americans their days as the majority were numbered and that deadly plans were being enacted against them.

This is their message.

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First and foremost, the Right Wing media holds up the lie that our Founding wasn't white supremacist and aristocratic in nature.

It was divine. Aided by God. So how could you possibly even question it unless you're part of a satanic conspiracy?

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The Right's propaganda says that America is perfect, has been until they ruined it, and that any questioning is part of a larger attack, a satanic attack.

These fascists create an environment of ultra-nationalism that inspires militarism and violence.

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Meanwhile, in segments mirroring propaganda in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, viewers are told that the country is vanishing, that "outsiders" are infecting the body and changing everything.

It's part of the conspiracy, and unless dealt with means death of the country.

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This is where Trump and MAGA/fascism come in. He is the "strongman" who is willing to dispense of democracy now that it's "killing" America.

The Right has been radicalized and terrorized to the point where they will accept any action as long as it maintains their power.

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The sad truth of Trumpism is that it's preaching to a dwindling number of people, a very, very vocal minority who are terrified of their losing grip on power.

It is a fascistic movement determined to destroy democracy itself in order to continue with that power.

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Trumpism works in conjunction with white-identity evangelicals, who believe they are under attack and being persecuted. It's a deal so many fascists have made with Christians over the years.

It's a natural evolution - the church into a death cult of leader worship.

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And like other fascists, Trump works with law enforcement and the judicial system to roll back all gains done in civil rights and equal measures, recreating the unequal system designed by our Founding Fathers in pursuit of white supremacy and aristocracy.

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Like the previous fascist flareup with the Confederacy, Trumpism is about recognizing shifting power and demographics, and reacting with an outright war on liberal democracy and democratic institutions.

Not only can it happen here, it's happened and it's happening again.

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Mike Lee did us a favor.

In his addled state he gave the game away. The Republican Party is a fascist movement obsessed with rolling back the clock, reestablishing a power base that can't be challenged, and recreating the white supremacist America of the past.

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We cannot treat Trump or the Republican Party like they're anything but fascists. We can't act like this is in good favor.

We must learn our history, reject these white supremacist, aristocratic myths, and find something real, human, and lasting.

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Our history has been weaponized, perverted, turned into a twisted version of itself, all to keep us locked in the spell of white supremacy.

We have to use this crisis as a major moment of reconsideration and reconciliation. Anything less will be fatal.

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I keep saying it.

Trump isn't the disease, he's a symptom.

Get educated, get angry, and get organized. This isn't just an election. It's a tipping point. We have to win this and then work beyond it to create a society based on truth and democracy.

We can do it.

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