Having recently returned to blogging about and analyzing the news, my last four weeks have been pretty hectic; frankly I've just been trying to keep up with what amounts to a type of fascist "shock doctrine" as the Trump regime has literally sought to overwhelm its opposition by speedrunning the installation of a fascist dictatorship. In that environment, I've been forced to place a premium on short term outcomes and the very pressing dangers to anyone who doesn't support fascism presented by the regime's activities and rhetoric.

Unfortunately, this approach has left little time for me to talk about the larger, long term ideological conditioning project being undertaken by the regime to erase history, rewrite educational curriculums, and silence sources of information critical of fascism, white nationalism, and patriarchy. Given that the study of fascist propaganda, indoctrination, and the suppression of educators and media observers under fascism is both an area of expertise for me and a foundationally important part of the Trump regime's project to create a permanent white nationalist dictatorship in America, it's probably time for me to start talking about all the ways Trump is working to make sure it'll be impossible for your kids *not* to be fascists, now.

I'd like to start with this March 25th opinion piece by James Zogby writing for Common Dreams, where the author takes a big picture view of Trump's plans to rewrite history for the purposes of fascist indoctrination:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-s-war-on-history

Trump’s War on History Is Another Slouch Toward Authoritarianism

"Buried in the flurry of President Trump’s Executive Orders is one that has been largely ignored, despite being potentially the most far-reaching of these presidential acts. Titled “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” this diktat lays bare Trump’s intention to roll back the gains that have been made over the last half century by historians working to present a more accurate portrait of American and world history. Trump calls these efforts “anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false,” and demands instead that schools devote themselves to “patriotic education” that will “instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation”—in other words, to teach the kind of history we learned three generations ago."

Now to be clear, I do have some complaints about Zogby's tone here, because I feel like discussing the historical context of a white-centric, "patriotic" education in America while maintaining a calm, intellectually detached tone can give folks who're coming to this discussion without a good background in understanding fascist propaganda and indoctrination, the impression that the regime's assault on history and education is the kind of problem we can survive easily enough, because we survived it before the 1960's.

What I will remind those people however, and what I wish Zogby had spent a couple more paragraphs explaining, is that the vast majority of the powerful people in the American fascist movement are in fact a product of this type of white-centric, American exceptionalist education. This is precisely what folks like me, who study social hierarchies, and the history of fascism mean when we say that America has always embraced fascist ideology and participated in fascist indoctrination; Trump is not a wholly novel expression of American fascism, he's a product of historical fascist indoctrination in America and even just a return to that indoctrination is going to produce a whole generation of people who think it's totally fine and normal, to think like Trump does. That's literally the purpose of this project; the re-establishment of a white supremacist norm in education, historical study, and social discourse - forever.

There are of course knock on benefits for a permanent fascist order, including the ability to cast those teaching something besides this white-centric, American exceptionalist "patriotic" curriculum as enemies of the state and/or traitors. Furthermore, you can bet your ass that the Pork Reich isn't going to stop at rolling back social ideology and historical study to a pre-60's framework; these folks seem a lot more interested in returning to the 1850's, than the 1950's after all. But at the end of the day the Trump regime isn't counting on these changes to alter how you understand the world, our history, or enforced racial hierarchies; they're simply hoping that by silencing folks who know better, they can force indoctrinate the next generation of fascists as part of a permanent project to maintain a white nationalist dictatorship in America.

#Trump #Fascism #Education #History #Indoctrination #Zogby #WhiteSupremacy #Propaganda #WhiteNationalism #Patriarchy

As someone who has written herself to exhaustion just trying to keep up with the Trump regime's "shock doctrine" installation of a white nationalist dictatorship through a flurry of autocratic executive orders, I can understand how the larger public might not have noticed the one about defunding and ideologically controlling the niche-sounding Institute of Museum and Library Services. After all, we live in an internet world, were millions of people are happy to ask their garbage "AI" assistant for "facts" approved by technofascist billionaires, museums aren't a big part of your daily life, and unless you're poor or from an underserved rural community, there's a good chance you have no idea what kind of "services" a public library can provide anyway. As this March 21st article in the Guardian demonstrates however, this decision is deeply political and part of the regime's openly white nationalist agenda because of which types of people it targets, what services it removes, and how it fits into the larger fascist war to rewrite history and indoctrinate our society.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/21/trump-attack-libraries-devastating

Trump’s attack on libraries was predictable. Its consequences could be devastating

"How did we arrive at this moment? The targeting of library funding appears to be financial, but it’s deeply political. Last year alone, the American Library Association reported 1,247 attempts to ban library books nationwide, largely targeting works related to race, gender identity and LGBTQ+ experiences. Librarians increasingly face intimidation simply for defending intellectual freedom, the very principle libraries have always championed.

Yet libraries remain non-partisan, practical institutions focused on ensuring equitable access to information, learning and civic participation. From Boston’s Edward M Kennedy Institute, which offers IMLS supported immersive Senate debate simulations, to voter registration drives and disability-inclusive voting programs in Illinois and Alaska, libraries sustain democracy itself."

I don't think its hard to figure out why White Trash Hitler and his government full of nazi ghouls are targeting Indigenous communities, poor families, disabled people, educators, students, and folks dedicated to registering voters; in a variety of ways all of those groups are already people the regime has marked out as enemies of the new fascist order. Crucially however, I think this executive order has to be understood as part of a larger war on our history, education, and the accessibility of viewpoints that would be fundamentally opposed to a fascist regime like the Trump administration as a matter of course. Downmarket Mussolini isn't writing these executive orders in a vacuum and I'm glad this article's author tied what's going on here into the larger fascist quest to control the content of libraries; first in schools and now through the public library systems in America.

Reading this story I was reminded of a 2023 comment in the New York Times from Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association in the face of the nationwide crusade to ban library books by a very small number of fascists closely aligned with Trump and the larger Christian Nationalist movement. I don't have the exact quote in front of me, but Caldwell-Stone provided a great example of the "boiling frog" style of war on learning these people are waging by pointing out that two years prior, these fascists had been banning books by nonwhite, LGBTQ, and otherwise diverse authors in school libraries and telling folks that if they wanted to read them, they could just go to a public library and do so for free. By the time Caldwell-Stone had given the interview however, that very same group of ideologically motivated fascists, were pushing for all the same books to be banned in public libraries too; which makes it pretty clear that the goal isn't protecting students, but rather to keep *anyone* from consuming knowledge this Christian Nationalist movement that has coalesced around Trump, doesn't want them to read. Now that Trump is president, and working to make himself King, it's wholly unsurprising that he could continue those efforts to erase viewpoints his fascist regime cannot allow to exist, by starving and seeking to control the very public libraries where your average person would find those viewpoints in the first place.

Folks, I grew in a patriarchal fascist household dominated by my father, who I am certain if he were alive, would fully support the fascist Trump regime today. Access to other viewpoints through public libraries is how I escaped that cracker headcage. If these nazis have their way, none of our children will ever have the same opportunities to question unjust authority and imposed racial hierarchies as I did; and the nazis know that - in fact, they're counting on it.

#Fascism #Trump #Libraries #IMLS #Indoctrination #Propaganda #WhiteSupremacy #Education #ChristianNationalism #Patriarchy #History #Books

Many critics, who almost invariably do not work in the fields of historical study or education, will reflexively scoff at the idea that the Trump regime is attempting to erase, or re-write history in a way that supports a Christian Nationalist worldview as the official truth and indeed the only valid, legal way to speak about history; often while admitting that Trump is functionally illiterate and certainly doesn't read much history. Of course that argument is irrelevant because he's surrounded by a whole bunch of white nationalist freaks who certainly do read and care about history, in so much as it furthers their project to transform America into a permanent fascist dictatorship and white ethnostate; Stephen Miller, who is clearly functioning as the regime's Goebbels, has certainly read a history book or two. Even setting that obvious reality aside however, sometimes Trump's executive orders just come right out and admit this is the plan. Take for example Der Führer's recent order to put noted white nationalist (and Vice President) JD Vance in charge of scrubbing the Smithsonian museum (and zoo) complex of "improper ideology."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-smithsonian-executive-order

'Unabashed Fascism': Trump Executive Order Targets 'Improper Ideology' at Smithsonian

"U.S. President Donald Trump has elicited a fresh wave of anger after he signed an executive order on Thursday targeting exhibits or programs critical of the United States at the Smithsonian Institution, a sprawling network of largely free museums and Washington, D.C.'s National Zoo.

The order aims to prevent federal money from going to displays that "divide Americans based on race" or "promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy," as well as remove "improper ideology" from Smithsonian's museums, education centers, and research centers.

"This is unabashed fascism," wrote the journalist Lauren Wolfe on X on Thursday. Amy Rutenberg, a history professor at Iowa State University, wrote: "Last week, while visiting several Smithsonian museums, I kept wondering how long it would take for this administration to direct exhibits to be pulled. Not long, it turns out."

Look, if you think I'm being uncharitable about the purpose of this executive order, you can simply read the order yourself (here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/) because Downmarket Mussolini makes it very clear this is about erasing the history of slavery, structural racism, the existence of trans women, and anything that makes white people uncomfortable about the history of a white supremacist country built on chattel slavery and genocide. Trump even pinned the tail on the donkey by instructing the interior secretary to reinstall statues and monuments removed or changed since January 1st, 2020; and if your memory is failing you, that date is clearly about undoing projects to remove monuments to racists and Confederate slavers, in response to the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement and the George Floyd protests.

Anyone arguing this is about preserving history from ideology (a phrase that makes zero sense because history is affected by the ideologies governing human behavior at the time it happens; obviously) somehow, is literally pushing fascist propaganda; this is about establishing an official narrative in support of a white nationalist permanent social and political order, and slowly eliminating any source of facts that might argue with that narrative. This is ideological policing, and history has shown us that these efforts to rewrite the past and eliminate dissenting narratives typically end in, literal, mass graves.

#Fascism #Trump #JDVance #History #Patriarchy #Slavery #Education #Musem #Smithsonian #WhiteNationalism #Propaganda #IdeologicalPolicing #BLM #AntiTransPogrom #StephenMiller #GeorgeFloydProtests #ConfederateMonuments

It's important to understand that even in the regime's pettiest acts of rewriting history, we can find clear evidence of their authoritarian, Christian nationalist intentions. When they attack trans history, it's because they're trying to erase the existence of trans ppl; whether you believe that ends in denying medical care and driving trans folks out of public life or genocide is largely irrelevant (I believe one leads to the other, and history agrees with me) - the intention is clear. When they erase the achievements of women in our national record, they're trying to craft a future where a woman's role in society doesn't include things like scientific discovery, political activism, or breaking gender barriers in new fields of achievement. This ultimately is why no erasure, no reconstruction of our collective history along white nationalist principles, is too small, or too petty for these fascists to undertake. Every action has a reason - even if that reasoning seems far-fetched to you, a relatively normal person who is not a nazi that obsesses daily about how to force everyone else to adopt their worldview to justify and sustain a permanent Christian Nationalist dictatorship.

Given that, the administration's decision to erase or minimize the involvement of Harriet Tubman, deny the struggles of enslaved Black people to liberate themselves from a society organized to keep them in racialized bondage, and stress the idea that emancipation was the result of white ppl GRANTING liberation to Black ppl in America, has to be understood as something beyond cruelty or a desire to protect white feelings. This assault on Black history and in particular, the shameful history surrounding racialized chattel slavery in America, is clearly part of a larger project to restore and entrench a white nationalist order.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/06/us/national-parks-underground-railroad-harriet-tubman/index.html

"The National Parks Service webpage for the “Underground Railroad” used to lead with a quote from Tubman, the railroad’s most famous “conductor”, a comparison on the Wayback Machine between the webpage on January 21 and March 19 shows. Both the quote and an image of Tubman have since been removed, along with several references to “enslaved” people and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

The Washington Post first reported on the changes. The webpage now leads with commemorative stamps of various civil rights leaders with text including the phrase “Black/White Cooperation.” Whereas previously, the article started with a description of enslaved peoples’ efforts to free themselves and the organization of the Underground Railroad after the Fugitive Slave Act, the article now starts with two paragraphs that emphasize the “American ideals of liberty and freedom” and do not specifically mention slavery."

I don't think it's a secret that crackers in America hate the symbol of Black liberation that Harriet Tubman represents; we are after all talking about a woman who escaped slavery, lead dozens of other enslaved people to freedom, and helped John Brown plan and recruit for his raid on Harper's Ferry that some (myself included) would argue ultimately made the Civil War inevitable (which was a good thing.) Afterwards, she served as a scout in the Union army during the Civil War where she is credited with helping to liberate hundreds more enslaved people. After the war, Tubman's struggles to get recognized or compensated for her services to the government made it very clear how serious of a threat the white ruling class order of the day considered her. Towards the end of her life, she was also actively involved in the struggle for women's suffrage. So when modern day cracker fascists toss their spaghetti over Tubman potentially appearing on currency, or try to erase her from the story of abolition and emancipation, you have to understand that this has not only been a longstanding, important ideological goal for white nationalists, but also a question of destroying a symbol whose life encapsulates multiple aspects of the struggle against white supremacy and patriarchy; and Tubman didn't just struggle, she often won - that's not the kind of example a Christian Nationalist order wants to highlight as it imposes its will to fully restore sanctioned white supremacy as the official history and policy of the USA.

Speaking more broadly, the modern study of Critical Race Theory and thus the ongoing struggle for equality in the face of white supremacy by African Americans, rises out of the historical study of institutional slavery, discrimination, and exploitation of Black ppl by a white supremacist ruling order in America. If you change the story of slavery to credit white ppl for granting African Americans liberty, you knock out the evidentiary supporting plank and origin for the MODERN study of white supremacy, discrimination, and exploitation of Black ppl in America too.

#Fascism #Trump #History #HarrietTubman #CRT #WhiteNationalism #WhiteSupremecy #Racism #UndergroundRailroad #Empanicpation #Slavery

Okay folks, I'd like to stop here for a moment and explain why I'm talking about what probably appear to be "small ball" stories about the Trump regime erasing government websites, changing monuments, and using its control over government funding to rewrite history in a percentage of museums and libraries. I know that to some degree it's hard to take these actions completely seriously because, after all, changing the historical record as controlled by the government doesn't actually change history, and for now there are a lot of places where you can still get the real story.

The key however here is to understand these efforts to "bleach" US history in service of a white supremacist, Christian Nationalist worldview are only one small part of a larger project whose broad outlines are already apparent in the ideological policing activities of the regime. Altering government websites, monuments and museum exhibits allows the regime to establish an officially sanctioned history or worldview; which is a necessary first step in using the instruments Trump and the nazis have granted themselves by executive order, to force the acceptance and dissemination of that official history and worldview. What instruments? Well for starters, the vague and extremely broad executive order banning "DEI" (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) effectively gives the regime broad powers to punish institutions and entities in both the public and private sector, through government funding, FCC licensing, Civil Rights litigation, and DoJ investigations. What, in this context is DEI? Well so far, it's proven to be pretty much anything the white supremacist, fascist Trump regime says it is. This process is also replicated in the regime's declarations that trans people (and thus trans history) don't exist, and its efforts to seize control of higher education institutions under the guise of fighting "antisemitism" - through most of the same instruments, with some bonus antiterrorism and national security authority thrown in. Like the Gleichschaltung period during the Nazification of Germany under Hitler, this is a process where each stage feeds into the next stage, and the vague but broad powers the regime is seeking to enact here allow for a realignment of what can be taught, expressed, or ultimately thought (by future scholars) in a nearly unlimited number of ways. This isn't going to happen overnight, but as far as I can tell, it *is* happening, and this is the process by which the regime intends to literally rewrite history - not just on government websites, but everywhere.

So, as much as it might seem like I'm losing my shit over some barely used websites and statues in museums, the truth is that the Trump regime is making no secret of its attempts to reshape our past, to control our future - which is why we started this thread with a quote from Jason Stanley's book about precisely that phenomenon. The process and application of government authority by which it is doing so is very much out in the open; it's just that nobody but some historians folks have spent decades ignoring already, has really put together what it all means.

On Sunday evening, and seemingly out of the blue, Downmarket Mussolini took to his personal social media site to announce a 100% tariff on all movies "produced in a foreign land." Nobody really has a clue why Trump did this, nobody really knows how such a tariff would actually work, and various experts and observers in both US politics and the film industry are busy theorizing what the Klepto Kaiser is actually trying to accomplish here.

https://archive.ph/0Tm6p

Trump Says He’s Instituting a “100 Percent Tariff” on Films Produced Outside of the U.S. Because the “Movie Industry in America Is Dying”

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote. “Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! “Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

So what's going on inside Trump's lizard brain here? The list of theorized motivations is lengthy indeed; some have posited that it's a political distraction, part of his growing political battle with California Governor and 2028 Dem nomination hopeful Gavin Newsom, or a genuine attempt to force Hollywood studios to "re-shore" film production in America, among numerous other possible motivations. Based purely on the unhinged winger conspiracy tone of Trump's post, I'd just as easily be inclined to assume he saw a Daily Wire segment on "woke" movie studios and decided he had to "take action on this" like Silvio from the Sopranos on Columbus Day.

As for how such a tariff would actually work; that's just as big a mystery. Given the international and collaborative nature of modern filmmaking, it's actually quite hard to figure out what constitutes a "film made in a foreign land." Furthermore, the entire structure of our streaming service-focused entertainment industry makes it unclear how you'd even collect such a tariff. The most obvious targets in Trump's sights are probably subsidies from foreign governments film studios collect for filming in those countries.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/may/05/trumps-movie-tariffs-are-designed-to-destroy-the-international-film-industry

Trump’s movie tariffs are designed to destroy the international film industry

"The current thinking is that Trump’s most realistic option is to levy a tariff on any financial packages a film receives from a foreign government, rather than tax cinema tickets or streaming subscriptions. However, the effect of any tariff is likely to be dramatic."

Regardless of what Trump is trying to accomplish here, or how his proposed tariffs would work however, the expert consensus is that far from restoring the American movie industry, the Klepto Kaiser's tariff might literally destroy it.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/donald-trump-film

Film Insiders Say Trump's Proposed Hollywood Tariffs Would 'Destroy' Entertainment Industry

"This is NOT the effect this is going to have," one industry professional told Deadline. "It will make low- and mid-level productions completely unproducable, hence destroying many jobs from producer assistants to writers to post-production. Further, it will lessen the amount of big budget content created because the studios won't be able to make as much because the cost of production will be more."

An official at a top U.S. film company that produces movies both domestically and internationally told Deadline that international film distributors will be less likely to buy U.S. films under Trump's new tariff plan.

"It affects domestic distribution deals but it also impacts equity players who have money in movies because their films will suddenly be worth less money," they said. "We won't be able to make movies for the same budgets, actors won't get paid the same fees, and the list goes on. Simply, it would destroy the independent sector."

I can't pretend to know what's going on in the grizzled ball of hamburger Trump calls a brain, but it's hard for me not to think the destruction may indeed be the point. This is a fascist regime, that has already been making moves to seize control of every cultural institution in American life and repurpose them towards agreeing with and disseminating fascist propaganda. These guys are going after historical websites and Smithsonian exhibits to promote a white nationalist headcage, you can sure as shit bet that they want to influence Hollywood movies for the same purpose. Trump has no control over an international film industry; if he wants to censor the movies, they will have to be made here. Which may well be why he's trying to force movie studios to come home.

#Fascism #Trump #Movies #Hollywod #Ideology