November 19
GUEST: Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and author of five books, including How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, talks about the Trump presidency and the threat it poses to American democracy.
Pandemic offers Trump a dangerous opportunity to seize power
Like slaves to the tabloids, we can't stop following the fool that we elected four years ago. And almost elected again. If it were up to white people, Trump would be off starting new wars by now. 57% of white voters pulled the lever for Trump this time, and if it wasn't for voters of color, he would be planning his next four (or maybe twenty four) years right now.
What does it mean when the majority of whites people vote for a candidate that they know is a racist? Not a hidden racist either. Trump is a full blown, violent hate-monger, and the only people who are still unaware are the ones lying in the morgues and refrigerator trucks, the victims of his deadly lack of concern about COVID.
I don't know what I would do as a Black person. It wasn't ignorance that led to Trump's 57% of the white vote. It was that a majority of white are basically racist. No wonder the polls were so for off. It is one thing to vote in secret, and quite another to let your racism be seen in the light of day. These are the folks who used to wear those pointy white hats at night. And they are the majority of whites in America. That must have been what the Jews felt as Hitler tightened his grip. It wasn't just Hitler; he had discovered a rich vain of hatred in the German people, and had mined it all the way to the top.
If we want a real democracy, white America must come to terms with its centuries old fear and hatred of Blacks. Jason Stanley's How Fascism Works shows us the way it has been done before. Can we the people, both Black and white, save ourselves from the fate of the Germans?
