(Continued from the post above)

The second issue here is that JD Vance was speaking at the release party for a book titled "Up from Conservatism," which he glowingly commended. The book, again written mostly by minions from a fascist think tank called the Claremont Institute, argues among other things that "conservatives" need to "free their minds from the fear" of being called racists, while the author of this section, David Azerrad, repeats white nationalist talking points about African Americans, crime, and intelligence. A second author, Helen Andrews, promotes ending education subsidies, promoting male-dominated careers, and cutting assistance for child care as a method of coercing women to leave the workforce and essentially become tradwife mothers. A third writer, Scott Yenor, accuses the U.S. of operating under a "Queer Constitution" and advocates for drastic intervention by the state in everybody's sex lives: “in the states, new obscenity laws for a more obscene world should be adopted. Pornography companies and websites should be investigated for their myriad public ills like sex trafficking, addictions, and ruined lives. The justice of anti-discrimination must be revisited.” The book’s editor, Arthur Milikh, also calls for the complete destruction of the American education system, the militarization (no I'm not kidding) of childhood education, including teaching students to build and operate firearms, and the abolishment of sociology and social studies programs at public universities.

I should also mention that most of the people writing in Up from Conservatism have a track record of endorsing even *more* openly white nationalist views and activities; including support for white supremacist apartheid regimes like the former governments of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa, and one of the writers founded a secretive far right "fraternal order" while running a fascist conspiracy website in Idaho that demonized LGBTQ people and went after Republicans deemed not fascist enough for this brave new world order (of nazis.)

These are the people Vance is happy to support, and the ideas he thinks are commendable. All of which would be a serious problem if he were only just a Senator from Ohio, but reaches the level of catastrophe when you realize that Vance is on the cusp of entering the White House as a vital part of a Trump administration. An administration that through proposals like those found in Up from Conservatism, or Project 2025 would invest Trump's administration with the power to stack the government full of fascists, override our checks and balances on presidential power, and install deeply unpopular fascist policies like the ones detailed in this book that JD Vance loves so much.

And if supporting all of that *doesn't* make Vance a fascist, then we should just do away with the word entirely because it would no longer have any meaning. I happen to think the word fascist does still have a meaning, and calling out fascism when you see it is an important part of opposing fascism and the fascists that support it. Which is why I think it's long past time the media and the political class started being honest about what guys like JD Vance represent. Vance is a fascist, and there's no responsible way to deny it.

#Fascism #JDVance #USPol #Trump #ClaremontInstitute #GOP #ArthurMilikh #DavidAzerrad #HelenAndrews # ScottYenor