Marvel's Loki shows us what fascism looks like, and how it comes to take root within innocuous conservatism.

https://literatemachine.com

https://Patreon.com/ericrosenfield 

Corrections:

• Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Bros are not Jewish. Actual examples of Jewish funders of the right include Sheldon Adelson and Ike Perlmutter. I may upload a revised version of this audio with the names changed.

• Malthus never directly said that the poor and unskilled should be liquidated, but he did oppose aid to the poor on the theory that they should be allowed to naturally die out if they were of no use to society in order to preserve resources.

Interstitial music:

"I Can’t Stop" by Punch Deck | https://soundcloud.com/punch-deck 

Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com  

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US 

Bibliography and Further Reading

• David Brooks article on the foundations of conservatism: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/brooks-true-conservatism-dead-fox-news-voter-suppression/620853/?utm_source=feed
• George W. Bush says he looked in Putin's eyes and "saw his soul": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia_Summit_2001
• Mussolini on Totalitarianism and Fascism: http://www.historyguide.org/europe/duce.html
• "Ur Fascism", Umberto Eco
• Rich Scott wants to raise taxes on the poorest: https://news.yahoo.com/rick-scott-lies-tax-proposal-171630154.html
• 10% of Americans own 89% of the stock market: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/18/the-wealthiest-10percent-of-americans-own-a-record-89percent-of-all-us-stocks.htmlRight-wing proposals to nationalize Facebook: https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/bannon_proposes_nationalizing_facebook_google_data
• Laura Ingraham on punishing Disney: https://www.thewrap.com/laura-ingraham-disney-apple-republican-retaliation/
• Texas arresting parents of trans kids: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/10/texas-trans-kids-abortion-lgbtq-gender-ideology/
• Republicans allowed the Child Tax Credit to expire, throwing 3.7 million children into poverty: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/study-child-poverty-rising-tax-credit-expires-83071832
• FDR achievements: https://fdrsuite.org/americas-greatest-presidents-franklin-delano-roosevelts-top-achievements-as-president/
• Half of Americans are "not American in any meaningful sense":  https://americanmind.org/salvo/why-the-claremont-institute-is-not-conservative-and-you-shouldnt-be-either/
• More than half of Republicans believe in Great Replacement Theory: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/09/nearly-half-republicans-agree-with-great-replacement-theory/
• 77% of drug traffickers are US citizens, and come through ports of call: https://www.cato.org/blog/77-drug-traffickers-are-us-citizens-not-illegal-immigrants
• The border is not a "war zone": https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/not-war-zone-veterans-visit-texas-borderlands-military-outdoors-sierra-club
• Growing number of Republicans think Democracy is wrong for America: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/21/republicans-biden-trump-election-democracy
• GOP seizing the election system: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-01-01/insurrection-gop-seizes-election-power
• 401ks are a scam: https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/25/derechos-humanos/#are-there-no-poorhouses
• America's disappearing middle class: https://www.thedailybeast.com/in-the-future-well-all-be-renters-americas-disappearing-middle-class
• Peter Thiel's essay on how democracy is not compatible with freedom: https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian/
• Republicans becoming anti-democratic in charts: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22274429/republicans-anti-democracy-13-charts
• More information on the Backfire Effect, where people dig into their beliefs when presented with contrary evidence: https://youarenotsosmart.com/2017/01/13/yanss-093-the-neuroscience-of-changing-your-mind/