The original edition of this book was published in 2018, The current edition of the book which I am discussing today was published in paperback format in 2020 due to the fact that it was a best seller and the upcoming election of 2020 made it both necessary and advantageous for the author and publisher to reissue the book in paperback due to the danger being presented to the country by TRAITOR Trump at that time. Today, that danger still persists in even greater form than four years ago. We now have major public figures who have worked closely with TRAITOR Trump actually using the words "Fascist" and "Facism" to describe him and his goals. This version of the book was released with a new preface by Jason Stanley. In the Preface on page IX, Stanley states that "I wrote this book as a warning against fascist politics, essentially the danger of rhetoric that encourages fear and anger as a means to foment ethnic and religious division, seeping into public discourse." (Jason Stanley, "How Fascism Works..." Page IX) Later in the Preface on page XII, he writes: "A distinguishing mark of fascism is the targeting of ideological enemies and the freeing of all restraints in combating them."(Stanley, Ibid, Page XII). That is exactly what TRAITOR Trump has been doing in this 2024 election campaign when he has discussed jailing his political enemies if the tragedy of his actual election should occur. TRAITOR Trump has even exceeded his own previous levels of fascist speech this week by stating on multiple occasions that Liz Cheney, one of only two Republicans in the entire country fit to hold public office at any level, should be forced to face "nine rifles pointed at her face". That kind of speech is not only fasicst, it is illegal in every state in the union and should be prosecuted to the highest level of the law. Even years before these kind of incredibly derogatory statements started coming regularly from TRAITOR Trump in 2024, Jason Stanley was seeing evidence of fascism in TRAITOR Trump's rhetoric:
"In the United States, as Donald Trump's campaign against immigration intensifies, it is sweeping untold numbers of undocumented workers of all backgrounds into anonymously run private detention centers, where they are concealed form view and public concern." (Jason Stanley, "Ibid, Page XV.)
Throughout the book, Stanley, who is a professor of philosophy at Yale University in an endowed chair, documents and discusses actions, speeches, and threats by TRAITOR Trump which are clearly fascist in nature. While this book was reissued in 2020, recent statements by several American generals who have worked closely with TRAITOR Trump about his fascist tendencies fully support what Stanley has to say about him and his danger to the country. In Bob Woodward's new book, "War", he tells a story of meeting General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a party:
“We have got to stop him!” Milley said. “You have got to stop him!” By “you” he meant the press broadly. “He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.” His eyes darted around the room filled with 200 guests of the Cohen Group, a global business consulting firm headed by former defense secretary William Cohen. Cohen and former defense secretary James Mattis spoke at the reception. “A fascist to the core!” Milley repeated to me. I will never forget the intensity of his worry." (The Atlantic, October 16, 2024, "The General's Warning". https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/10/the-generals-warning/680279/ )
In the book, Stanley writes in chapters which are descriptive of the key elements of fascist thinking and acts including Propaganda, Anti-intellectual, Unreality, Hierarchy, Victimhood, Law and Order, Sexual Anxiety, and Sodom and Gomorrah. In the 2003 issue of "Free Inquiry Magazine, Lawrence Britt discussed key elements of fascism under slightly different titles and I have written about that examination of fascism at this link six years ago. The fascism of TRAITOR Trump is not a new thing just because several American generals and other staff members who worked under him have suddenly begun to use the word "Fascist" about him in public. It has been existent many years and many of us who have been aware of it have also been making frequent studious attempts to educate the rest of the world about his fascism. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright actually published a book "Fascism A Warning" in 2018 and I wrote about her book that same year. Television personality Rachel Maddow, who also happens to be Dr. Rachel Maddow since she holds a Ph. D. in Political Science from the University of Oxford wrote a book in 2023 entitled "Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism" which I have written about at this link. In that interview, the two women actually read Stormy Daniels' testimony in her civil trial against TRAITOR Trump with Daniels playing herself and Maddow reading the parts of the several attorneys. It is an enlightening show and was the first opportunity the general public had to actually see the testimony from the "Hush Money Trial" since it was held without television cameras present. Let me suggest that you watch that interview after you have learned at least the basics of fascism which will make TRAITOR Trump's actions toward Daniels much more clearly understood for what they are: Fascism In Action. I have made reference to all these discussions of fascism to help the reader understand that Donald Trump's devotion to and practice of fascism is nothing new and Jason Stanley and I are not the only people working diligently to make all of America aware of the problem it presents on a daily basis to the country and the world.
In the epilogue to his book, Jason Stanley refers to the work of Yale professors Joshua Knobe and Adam Bear by saying that in a New York Times article they have found that "...Trump's continuing behavior-- actions and speech that used to be considered remarkable--have real and disturbing consequences: "These actions are not simply coming to be regarded as more typical; they are coming to be seen as more normal. As a result, they will come to be seen as less bad and hence less worthy of outrage." (Jason Stanley, "How Fascism Works...", Page188.)
A case in point which perfectly illustrates what Stanley is saying about the change over time in the public perceptions of TRAITOR Traitor Trump's fascist statements and intentons is the famous statement he made in 2016 saying "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?"(CBS News, January 23, 2016, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-i-could-shoot-somebody-and-i-wouldnt-lose-any-voters/ ) has now morphed into this death threat against Liz Cheney which is being investigated as a crime by the Attorney General of Arizona: “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.” (Deseret News, November 2, 2024, https://www.deseret.com/politics/2024/11/02/donald-trump-liz-cheney-war-hawk/ ) That statement was not rhetorical, harmless, or "just politics". It was intentional incitement of his most virulent and dangerous followers in the hope that one of them would do his bidding and assassinate Liz Cheney. It was a crime and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
