What is this “Right” of which you speak of? In the MSM it is *always* Far-Right.
Oh! Well, the MAGA Right is pretty much Far Right. I suppose the never-Trumpers might be the Right?
I agree with you though. Ever since Reagan, the Right has always been the Far Right.
It does beg the question though. If the Republican Party since Reagan (with the exception of George Bush) has been the Far Right, then what on Earth would the Right be? I suppose you could argue that the Right would be Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, George Bush, Ross Perot. Goldwater would have to be Far Right.
Conservative/Right: Wants to freeze all change and keep things the way they are or at least go slow with change.
Reaction/Reactionary/Far Right: Wants “backwards change” – that is, wants to go back to the glory days of how things used to be.
Now I’m Hard Left but on culture, I’m a reactionary because I want to roll back the Cultural Left to the 1996 Democratic Convention LOL. So you see rollback isn’t always a bad thing.
The MAGA’s are definitely reactionaries. See that slogan: “Make America Great Again?” Rollback. Back to the glory days of old. This can also be a fascist project (see below), but in that case, the Right wants a rightwing revolution and a rightwing authoritarian state or a rightwing dictatorship.
Fascism: This is literally a “conservative revolution,” same as Communism is a Left revolution. It’s “revolutionary conservatism” or the “revolutionary Right.” As it is the mirror image of communism, yes, in some ways, they do resemble each other. Fascism often wants a blood and soil revolution, and reifies the glorious past, national myths, national creation myths, etc.. For instance, Mussolini always referenced Rome. He was going to literally rebuild the Roman Empire!
It rises in reaction to a left that has gone too far or threatens to take over, often in a period of excess and decadence. Fascists equate the decay with too much democracy and promise an authoritarian solution. They also worship hierarchy, but all conservatives do. Fascism is also palingetic – that is, it represents the mythical Phoenix bird that rises from the ashes of its flames to fly again. The ashes represent the decadent present which the fascists will eliminate so the glorious culture of old can unfold again.
As MAGA folks don’t seem to believe in democracy anymore and seem to be pursuing an authoritarian Right project or “permanent Republican state” (a dictatorship of the Republican Party in the sense that you can never replace them), people argue that MAGA is a fascist movement. In a sense, all rightwing authoritarianism might be seen as fascist, though it typically doesn’t mirror Mussolinism.
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I quite enjoyed the Nixon tapes, it was a rare honest look at how a President is when the cameras are off. Some of what he said was also gold:
Reagan era was before my time, but conservatives are romantic about it. There was anti-commie films tied to it I believe.
Many MAGAs were liberals. I know plenty, and oddly some were hardcore liberals until this year. Late MAGAs.
Straight up or purist Nazis aren’t MAGAs.
There are many forms of hierarchy, I ended up on a site called “nerdarchy” today. For every hierarchy there’s a reverse hierarchy. The so called outcasts have their own hierarchy. I watched a lot of tattoo shows, and one artist who didn’t have tattoos was resented for it. Every group seems to want some order and assimilation.
Like Phoenix, you and I will rise again. I can’t help but be romantic about that.
“Straight up or purist Nazis aren’t MAGAs.” Tell that to the Charlotesville folks. And Ronald Reagan was one of the greatest war criminals of the past century.
They weren’t true Nazis. They adopted some of the same imagery and likely had some half-assed neo-Nazi punks. No absolute Nazis though. I’m talking the elite, as close to an actual Nazi as you can get with literal Nazis as father figures. They don’t fuck with MAGA.
Go to Stormfront sometime, my man. Straight up 100% Trump-supporting MAGA’s over there.
Wasn’t Don Black MAGA?
I believe it was swamped with Nazis at one point and some still linger. Then the higher-ups, probably Don Black, wanted to ditch the Nazi image. From then on no Swazis and they lost some Nazis.
Some other websites like enationalist were more Nazi friendly. I remember talking to a McCain supporter on Stormfront. He was really grasping for straws since McCain wasn’t even pretending to be a friend of White men. At its core, it’s a White-first site. It seems like a dead White horse now. Some people I liked there are literally dead. Anglin and his site were on fire during the Trump election. Trump rejected them in the end, but the Alt-Right helped Trump.
You are correct. I’ve been around White nationalists forever and let’s face it, a lot (but by no means all) White nationalists are either Nazis or Nazi sympathizers. Nazis always and only vote Republican, pretty much no exception. Not only that but pretty much all White nationalists and Nazis are MAGA’s, though some Nazis faulted him for being a philosemite, which, let’s face it, Trump is.
Trump’s fascism is actually a pro-Jewish fascism rather like the fascist Jewish project they have in Israel. Trump’s practically Jewish himself. Look at how he acts. Straight up New York City Jew.
I did respect Tom Metzger, even though he was a Nazi because at least he was for the workers and against the bosses. And I believe he said he always voted Democrat because he hated the bosses so much!
He wasn’t as much of an anti-Semite as you think. Louis Theroux did a documentary with him once and Theroux was at Metzger’s house and he let out that he was Jewish. Both Metzger and his wife were knocked off their feet, but Metzger recovered and his attitude was, “Oh well, that’s ok. I’ll be your friend anyway.” I think he hated Blacks for the most part. I’m not aware he discussed Jews that much.
His wife however became quite cold and it was clear she was a hardcore antisemite. If I had been Theroux her attitude would have made me feel bad. True antisemites are scary! I would hate to be a Jew and have to deal with true antisemites. I know exactly how it feels and it’s one of the worst feelings out there – being hated for what you are.
Metzger was very pleasant to Theroux for the rest of the show. He would be nice to you too if you warmed up to him, except I don’t think you would do that.
Nazi Light would be accurate. Many Nazi sympathizers don’t like Jews, but I believe few are hardcore Nazis. I know some that were hardcore but they’re a different class. They’re like a stricter form of Christian, say being a “Biblical Christian” instead of a “basic believer”.
Metzger had a good interaction with Whoopi too. He seemed like a real sweetie pie. Some comics associated with his brand were a bit much, even for me. Jews are crazy to run with Nazis. Talk about a death wish. I believe Theroux has done that a number of times if we’re thinking of the same guy.