We clearly don’t live in any of those Americas, because former President Donald Trump got yet another free pass from the press after echoing fascist slogans during a rally in New Hampshire last week.
Trump’s unhinged pledge to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country” was a line barely modified from its original 1930s Nazi form.
The solution is implied in the problem: When the “radical left” represents an existential threat to America itself, every response becomes legitimate — including disenfranchisement, dehumanization and even political violence.
The patchwork of Christian Dominionists, Proud Boys, neo-Nazis and shock jocks who make up the online MAGA right made certain their audiences saw Trump speaking their language.
But those same media outlets are now at risk of overcorrecting and missing those instances when Trump does actually make news — and parroting well-worn propaganda lines made famous by Nazis is certainly newsworthy.
If we want American democracy to survive, our media must resist at all costs the urge to normalize extremist, far-right rhetoric that history has shown is the precursor to state violence.
The original article contains 820 words, the summary contains 191 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
We clearly don’t live in any of those Americas, because former President Donald Trump got yet another free pass from the press after echoing fascist slogans during a rally in New Hampshire last week.
Trump’s unhinged pledge to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country” was a line barely modified from its original 1930s Nazi form.
The solution is implied in the problem: When the “radical left” represents an existential threat to America itself, every response becomes legitimate — including disenfranchisement, dehumanization and even political violence.
The patchwork of Christian Dominionists, Proud Boys, neo-Nazis and shock jocks who make up the online MAGA right made certain their audiences saw Trump speaking their language.
But those same media outlets are now at risk of overcorrecting and missing those instances when Trump does actually make news — and parroting well-worn propaganda lines made famous by Nazis is certainly newsworthy.
If we want American democracy to survive, our media must resist at all costs the urge to normalize extremist, far-right rhetoric that history has shown is the precursor to state violence.
The original article contains 820 words, the summary contains 191 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!