In 1919, Eugene Debs said that “in every age it has been the tyrant, who wraps himself in the cloak of patriotism, religion, or both.” When would-be tyrants broke into the Capitol building on January 6th, they carried American flags. They held signs that said “Jesus Saves” and “in God we Trust.” They chanted, “USA, USA.”
Although Debs couldn’t have known it then, his insight perfectly described the most dangerous quality of fascism, the ultimate incarnation of tyranny. Fascism is so dangerous because it adopts the ideology of the society in which it arises. In doing so, it fabricates these ideologies into deceptive mythologies, which attempt to reinterpret the entirety of society by employing familiar rhetoric. Fascist mythologies propose that a society, in its purest form, is fundamentally good; none of its injustices are endemic. Rather, they are the product of corruption and conspiracy by ethnic minorities, establishment elites, and the left.
By this logic, President Donald Trump is a fascist. This much, if not already apparent, was made clear on Jan. 6. The Capitol break-in merged tyrannical ideals with the incitement of violence, two telltale qualities of an aspiring fascist demagogue. But no fascist leader can be effective without a cadre of zealous supporters. The people who broke into the Capitol building believed in Trump’s fascist mythology enough to threaten violence and risk self-harm, despite a complete lack of evidence of systemic voter fraud. Why? How did Trumpian fascism so effectively establish itself in the minds of so many? And most importantly, how do we ensure that something like this never happens again?
The answer lies in understanding that fascism transcends politics. Fascism is a way of life. And at its core is its mythology.
Origins of Fascist Mythologies
Cultures have always created stories to explain sources of existential anxiety. In ancient times, these stories were about extreme weather, dangerous animals, and the seasons. Now, they’re about identity, injustice, and ideology. Indeed, there exists a very powerful and ubiquitous American mythology: one in which the founding principles of our society are moral, and that, despite historical shortcomings, every generation strives to provide freedom and opportunity to all. This American mythology grants us the ability to justify the existence of our society and ultimately vindicate its current condition.
But mythologies rarely stand the test of time. Just as few still believe that Zeus is the god of thunder, it is increasingly difficult to believe that America is truly the land of opportunity. With record-high economic inequality, wage stagnation, and increasing cross-generational poverty, the American mythology has begun to show cracks. It is becoming an insufficient rationalization for our anxieties. And when a mythology loses its explanatory power, it must be either replaced or repurposed. Fascism repurposes existing mythologies.
The most important feature of fascism, as discussed by philosopher Umberto Eco, is a cult of tradition, which claims that truth and morality come from a set of shared values and practices established by a society’s founders. The cult of tradition is accompanied by an aesthetic fantasy that glorifies particular historical periods for being the height of a society’s greatness. Taken together, these features generate a mythology which asserts that the present is merely a corrupt version of the past. To return to greatness, society must purify itself. Nazism maintained that Jews were the source of Germany’s corruption, claiming that their expulsion would restore German glory. Similarly, Trump’s mythology postulates that to “Make America Great Again,” we must suppress immigrants and their “apologists” and revive an idealized past.
More Than Lies
Like all mythologies, fascist mythologies are built upon and then maintained by untruths. Indeed, since he first declared his candidacy for president, Donald Trump has relentlessly lied to the American public. Most recently, he claimed that the 2020 election was fraudulent despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Consequently, polls have found that 70% of Republicans believe that the election was not free and fair. In fact, research has shown that Trump supporters tend to believe his lies even if they are demonstrated to be false.
To combat the spread of such misinformation, some social media sites have begun fact-checking Trump’s posts and suspending his accounts. But continually reasserting the truth has historically had little effect on Trump’s presidential approval ratings. This is because fascist mythologies make no distinction between fact and fiction. Instead, they distinguish between information that does and doesn’t support the existence of the mythology. Supportive information is automatically true while unsupportive information is automatically false. This dichotomy exists because truth, as Eco writes, “…has already been spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message.”
In this respect, fascist mythologies are both simple and satisfying. There is no need to interpret information, only to evaluate whether or not it supports the mythology. Similarly, there is no need for fascists to evaluate the morality or consequences of their actions. Any form of critical thinking is a denial of the mythology’s truth.
The Capitol Break-In: Exposing False Prophets
The events of Jan. 6 were the prophetic enactment of Trump’s fascist mythology. Rioters felt that the sovereignty of America, the source of universal goodness and truth, was being threatened. So it didn’t matter that its “attackers” were elected officials or that they were inhabiting a government building. What mattered to the mob on the sixth was the myth of America, a myth that promised them salvation. If they could win back their country, Trump told them, he could make their problems disappear.
Fortunately, few mythologies last forever. Following President Trump’s denouncement of the break-in and promise of a peaceful transition of power, some of his supporters were quick to express their feelings of outrage and betrayal online. They began to doubt the mythology’s prophet.
Feelings of disillusionment are key to unraveling any fascist mythology. Because mythologies claim to explain the entirety of society, any observable incongruities can cause the mythology to crumble. Notably, however, these incongruities must come from the source of universal truth, that is to say, the mythology’s prophet. Donald Trump claimed to be the interpreter of this truth, but his handling of the Capitol break-in has tarnished him in the eyes of some of his supporters.
The rest of America is now left with a choice: engage with and deconstruct Trump’s fascist mythology, or leave it alone and hope that it goes away. But even if its prophet is gone, the mythology still remains. Someday, another prophet may revive it. To ensure that the events of Jan. 6 never happen again, we must take advantage of the moment and reveal that Trump’s fascist mythology was created to manipulate and deceive Americans. It was created to take advantage of their anxieties, and to enrich its proponents.
The actual American truth is complicated. It isn’t universal, and it certainly isn’t fundamentally good. But it’s real, at the very least. And we can work with reality.
