Despite his authoritarian tendencies, Donald Trump never came close to dragging us into fascism. But he did drag us further toward a xenophobic, anti–working-class, right-wing-populist abyss. Those forces will continue to destroy American and global politics — if we don’t take them on and defeat them.
Here’s What We Learned About the Far Right From Donald Trump’s Presidency
Conservatives are sounding the alarm bell about a Marxist takeover, with at least one philosopher urging liberals to join forces with the Right to destroy the socialist bogeyman. But the values of liberalism have much more in common with socialism than the Right — and liberals sincerely committed to advancing freedom and equality should unite with leftists.
Why Liberals Should Unite With Socialists, Not the Right
The fact that Trump is taking his cues from the far-right fringes is, sadly, no surprise. After all, he has recently promoted a conspiracy theory about the coronavirus apparently concocted by a far-right nut who believes reproductive health problems are caused by women having sex with demons. The far right is where Trump’s heart is, which is why his impulse after the 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Virginia, was to describe the white supremacists who rampaged there as “very fine people.”
Pauline Hanson certainly tried. Sky News is supporting her moves (ODT)
via ASIO briefing warns that the far-right is exploiting coronavirus to recruit new members – ABC News
Sure, Trump is being impeached, Brexit is a mess, and the far right in Austria and Italy have suffered recent setbacks. Still, looking at the bigger picture, it’s hard not to conclude that such extremists have acquired the sort of mainstream legitimacy across the planet that they haven’t enjoyed in nearly a century.
Extremist groups are presenting themselves as legitimate entities in a way that threatens to reshape Australian politics
The problem with the Liberals and Nationals lining up with ‘crackpots and cranks’ is it’s not a cost-free exercise
“It’s not only sexism and it’s not only racism, and it’s not only Islamophobia, but it’s an amplification of all those phenomena.”
It’s not even clear that there are so many migrants. According to United Nations data, between January 2014 and March 2018, roughly 1.8 million people crossed the Mediterranean Sea to try and enter the EU. This number — which has driven Murray to such angst that he has pronounced the “death of Europe” — amounts to less than one-third of 1 percent of the EU’s population. In the meantime, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Pakistan continue to quietly host millions of refugees, many of whom were driven from their homes as a result of wars of aggression supported by Murray, whose past books include forthright tomes like “Neoconservatism: Why We Need It.”
via Why Douglas Murray’s “Strange Death of Europe” Is a Far-Right Hit — And Wrong
At a meeting in Vienna, Europe’s major far-right parties rant against EU, “radical Islam” and asylum immigrants.
Source: Europe far-right leaders join forces against Islam, EU – News from Al Jazeera
The dream of building the United States of Europe will become an obsolete memory of the past.
Source: Welcome to the world of Europe’s far-right – Al Jazeera English
In Britain Richard Berry continued to preach his uncompromising theory of “rotten heredity”. In 1934 he would argue that to eliminate mental deficiency would require the sterilisation of twenty-five per cent of the population. At the same time he also advocated the “kindly euthanasia” of the unfit.
But his legacy in Australia continued, with the Eugenics Society of Victoria operating until 1961.
Although Melbourne may wish to forget its dark past,
