The Shadow King Enthroned (Part Two)

Recognizing Fascist Politics

Continued from Part One

Pillar #7 - Law and Order

Once again, Stanley offers German National Socialism as a textbook example. With Jews framed as the mortal enemy, the Nazi’s used “what surely must be the most common method of sowing fear about a minority group—as threats to law and order.”

In 1989 Donald Trump took out full page ads in NYC calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty in New York following the arrest of the Central Park Five, describing them as “crazed misfits,” and clearly implying their guilt well before they went on trial. The second part of the headline screamed: Bring Back Our Police! Pat Buchanan, the former Republican White House aide, called for the oldest of the group to be “tried, convicted and hanged in Central Park” It has since come to light, not only that they were innocent, but that they were known to be innocent by many involved in their prosecution. Trump has continued to claim that the five are guilty and has been sued for defamation by the now exonerated men (1).

In November 2016, Jeff Sessions, who became Trump’s attorney general, praised then president-elect Trump’s1989 comments about the Central Park Five as demonstrating his commitment to “law and order.”

Stanley offers evidence from social science to demonstrate that 150 years of racial propaganda has “linked black Americans to irredeemable criminality.” This includes the “super-predator” theory which influenced public discourse to the extent that in the 1996 presidential campaign, Clinton and Dole competed over who would be harsher on super-predators, and almost certainly contributed to draconian policies charging juveniles (mostly black) as adults.

We know based on scholarship and the work of groups such as the Innocence Project and the Sentencing Project (2), that the justice system is discriminatory and broken in many respects. But fascist rhetoric of law and order is not about justice.

As opposed to foundational democratic values relating to fair and equal treatment before the law, fascist law and order seeks to divide. Instead of equal and fair it offers up entire groups of people who, by their very existence, violate “law and order.” These groups (immigrants, young black men, Muslims, etc.) pose a threat that justifies extreme counter measures. It’s not a big step from there to punishing critics (activists, journalists, academics, etc.) deemed anti-American and threats to national security—a commonplace practice under authoritarian regimes, and one we’re familiar with from McCarthyism’s “Red Scare” tactics (3).

Trump’s consistent characterizations of immigrants as criminals (rapists, murderers, drug dealers) did what it was intended to do. It degraded and generalized the character of immigrants, increased fear, and strengthened us versus them thinking. It was unquestionably a huge part of the strategy that won him a second term.

Nixon brought out his racist “Law and Order" platform in the 1968 presidential campaign (4). It was a time of obvious civil unrest, but also a period (the 1960s) experiencing “the single largest reduction in the population of federal and state prisons in the nation’s history.” Despite that trend, upon winning the election the Nixon administration oversaw an unprecedented level of new prison construction. Nixon shifted the focus from Johnson’s anti-poverty and jobs initiatives to a focus on crime and punishment, especially in urban centers. Subsequent decades of “tough on crime” policy and rhetoric have led to where we are today, to the school-to-prison pipeline, the prison-industrial-complex, and entrenched stereotypes.

Trump’s own rhetoric echoes Nixon (5), but unlike Nixon, Trump is presiding over crime rates that do not provoke general alarm, and the only civil unrest to speak of is that which he himself has created in the minds of his followers.

Pillar #8 - Sexual Anxiety

Patriarchy has already been shown to run through all the strategies presented here and is becoming more self-evident every day in the second Trump administration. On day one Trump attacked immigrants and the transgender community through executive order in the name of “protecting women.” At a Oct. 20, 2024 rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Trump declared he would be a protector of women “whether the women like it or not” (6).

British historian Richard Grunberger summed up the crux of the Nazi view of women as “a dogma of inequality between the sexes as immutable as that between the races.” Within that context we can understand the fascist strategy of creating sexual anxiety. Jason Stanley opens this chapter thusly:

If the demagogue is the father of the nation, then any threat to patriarchal manhood and the traditional family undermines the fascist vision of strength….The politics of sexual anxiety is particularly effective when traditional male roles, such as that of family provider are already under threat by economic forces.

Stanley reminds us that propaganda and hysteria rooted in sexual anxiety has been used by racist ultra-nationalists around the world and cites Nazi Germany, Myanmar, India, and Russia as examples.

As a means of combatting French soldiers of African decent, Nazi Germany spread propaganda far and wide about the mass rape of German women. The propaganda was especially successful in the U.S. where a rally against “The Horror on the Rhine” in February 1921 drew a crowd of twelve thousand to Madison Square Garden. And as Stanley points out, “According to Hitler, Jews were behind a conspiracy to use black soldiers to rape pure Aryan women as a means of destroying the ‘white race.’ This was also a conspiracy theory shared by the American Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.”

The well known activist and scholar Angela Davis has written:

In the history of the United States, the fraudulent rape charge stands out as one of the most formidable artifices invented by racism. The myth of the Black rapist has been methodically conjured up whenever recurrent waves of violence and terror against the Black community have required convincing justification.

Much has been written about this long, sordid aspect of domestic history, and Trump has contributed to it, as in the Central Park Five case. And he’s now expanded it, infamously beginning his 2016 campaign by denouncing Mexican immigrants as rapists. Combined with his comments about undocumented immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump has taken yet another page right out of the Nazi playbook (7).

In October 2024, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University who writes about authoritarianism and fascism, said of Trump, “He’s been taking Americans and his followers on a journey since really 2015, conditioning them … step by step instilling hatred in a group, and then escalating. So immigrants are crime. Immigrants are anarchy. They’re taking their jobs, but now they’re also animals who are going to kill us or eat our pets or eat us. That’s how you get people to feel that whatever is done to them, as in mass deportation, rounding them up, putting them in camps, is OK” (8).

Anti-trans rhetoric and policy is more red meat for Trump’s anti-liberal base. Here again, it’s in the context of sexual anxiety that we can understand the real threat to the vision of a mythic past and patriarchal ideology.

In summarizing the politics of sexual anxiety, Stanley writes: “In liberal democracy, a politician who explicitly attacks freedom and equality will not garner much support. The politics of sexual anxiety is a way to get around this issue, in the name of safety; it is a way to attack and undermine the ideals of liberal democracy without being seen as explicitly so doing.”

Pillar #9 - Sodom and Gomorrah

With patriarchy and sexual anxiety as backdrop, Stanley calls the next strategy, Sodom and Gomorrah. Fascist attention here turns toward cosmopolitan urban centers singled out for their wickedness and sin.

We know that an easily exploitable urban vs rural divide exists. According to a June 2017 WA Post-Kaiser Foundation survey, “attitudes toward immigrants form one of the widest gulfs between U.S. cities and rural communities.” We know that Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is particularly popular in rural areas, which also have far fewer immigrants and therefore, most of what they “know” is anti-immigrant propaganda. The same trend plays out elsewhere. Stanley cites contemporary France as an example, and notes that support for the German Nazi Party was especially strong in countryside.

Trump’s racist, anti-city rhetoric is well established. Stanley quotes a typical line from 2017: “Our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape that they’ve ever been in before, ever, ever, ever. You take a look at the inner cities, you get no education, you get no jobs, you get shot walking down the street.” The purpose of such rhetoric is, of course, not to go on to suggest improving conditions, but simply to scare white Americans.

Major cities do indeed offer environments conducive to diversity and tolerance. They are thus obvious targets for fascist attack, as we see in the first days of Trump 2.0 in the form of unconstitutional immigration raids and the associated threats directed at liberal strongholds.

Nazi’s loved words like “parasite” and “degenerate.” In the lead-up and execution of the Rwandan genocide, the word “cockroach” was repeatedly used to dehumanize the minority population (9). Once such dehumanization reaches a certain level, even blatant genocide becomes possible, along with many other forms of violence, punishment, and oppression.

Trump’s hate speech is extreme. He’s already stereotyped and dehumanized a huge group of people (immigrants) as “poisoning the blood of our country”, as “rapists” and “savage criminal aliens,” as “vicious monsters” and “animals” who “live like vermin,” who are “terrorists" and “stone cold killers, “they’ll walk into your kitchen, they’ll cut your throat.” “They’re conquering your communities.” “This is an invasion.” “I will liberate our nation” (10). This is the kind of language that fuels and seeks to divide and justify oppression.

Stanley writes, “In fascism, the state is the enemy, to be replaced by the nation.” The nation is represented by a glorified mythic past of purity and patriarchy. It is white, christian, and straight.

Pillar #10 - Arbeit Macht Frei

Stanley calls the last strategy he explores, Arbeit Macht Frei. It is the slogan emblazoned on the gates of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, and can be translated as, Work Makes You Free.

In fascist ideology, in times of crisis and need, the state reserves support for members of the chosen nation, for ‘us’ and not ‘them.’ The justification is invariably because ‘they’ are lazy, lack a work ethic and cannot be trusted…because ‘they’ are criminal and seek only to live off of state largesse.

Hitler decries liberal democracy because it embodies a contrary value system, one that grants worth independently of victory in a meritocratic struggle. Hitler denounces democracy as incompatible with individuality, since it does not allow individual citizens to rise above others in competitive struggle. The fascist vision of individual freedom is similar to the libertarian notion of individual rights—the right to compete but not necessarily to succeed or even survive.

In contrast to the state, the fascist’s “nation” opposes the redistribution of wealth to “undeserving” groups. Social programs that offer supplement to the impoverished are seen as robbing people of their self-sufficiency. The ideal of hard work is weaponized against out-groups who can be cured of laziness and criminality by hard labor.

Stanley emphasizes that fascists also view organized labor as an enemy. As one of the strongest and most effective ways people come together across racial, class, and religious differences to fight for economic justice, undermining labor unions is a regular feature of fascist strategy.

Despite the current talking point of “giving people the dignity of work,” the reality is cutting the budget at the expense of the already marginalized, as well as attacking working people (11).

Tying together rhetoric and policy, Stanley offers the important observation that fascist policy creates the material conditions that seek to legitimate and perpetuate its discrimination, violence, and authoritarianism.

On day one Trump vacated a Biden initiative to shift away from private prisons; did away with Temporary Protected Status, affirmative action and DEI initiatives; implemented mass deportation while closing legal pathways to asylum; sought to end birthright citizenship; attempted to freeze trillions in already appropriated funding for federal grants and loans, threatening Medicaid, police departments, hospitals, and nonprofits; attacked organized labor; created snitch lines, etc. etc.

Keep the politics of us and them in mind as the Trump administration seeks to implement the Project 2025 agenda (12), including unraveling the social safety net.

Conclusion

Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them offers a comprehensive frame of reference from which you can draw your own conclusions about what you’re witnessing.

It’s important to remember that the ten pillars presented here are historical fascist strategies. It’s not a hit piece on Trump and MAGA, but includes actual statements and actions to see how they fit into the fascist playbook. If the strategies seem to check every box—then let’s not be afraid to name that as fascist and incompatible with democracy.

My own conclusion is that the politics of “us versus them” we are witnessing here at home could hardly be more blatant. The anti-democratic nature of the agenda is clear. The disregard for the Constitution; the sweeping grab for executive power— authoritarianism—is happening right now.

The criminalization and demonization of immigrants, the fear mongering and declaration of a national emergency, the unconstitutional arrests, the mass deportations, the hidden internment camps, and the cruelty inherent in it all, have chilling echos of Nazi Germany. Let us not forget that fascist propaganda sets the stage for what was once unthinkable to become reality—and Trump’s enemy list is long.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. —Martin Niemöller, German pastor

The lies have served their propaganda purposes very well. Trump 2.0 is more prepared and organized, with a policy agenda already spelled out in the Project 2025 manifesto. There is a loyal following, many of whom have already demonstrated their willingness to engage in blatant violence, intimidation, and destruction.

So how can fascist politics be countered? How to resist, stay grounded and resilient? How to continue to build toward a more peaceful, just, and beautiful world in today’s polarized context? I hope to address these questions in a future post.

This article’s title is inspired by the archetypes used in depth psychology. These are representations of universal qualities that are rarely expressed fully; each archetype contains its shadow (unmanifested) qualities. The King (or Queen) fully expressed represents the leader in our lives, holding our sense of purpose and vision. He is complex and wise, generous and accepting, and leads by example.

When the King energy is in shadow and inflated, it manifests as narcissistic, tyrannical grandiosity. At the same time, his sense of self-worth is so weak that he cannot tolerate any disagreement. As opposed to a true King, we have a scared little “special” boy who has never grown up.

Endnotes

1. Donald Trump and the Central Park Five: the racially charged rise of a demagogue, The Guardian, 2/17/2016. The Central Park 5 are suing Trump over Philly debate comments, NPR, 10/21/24.

2. The Innocence Project. The Sentencing Project.

3. McCarthyism, Free Speech Center.

4. Nixon Adviser Admits War on Drugs Was Designed to Criminalize Black People, Equal Justice Initiative, 3/25/16.

5. What Trump Really Means When He Tweets “LAW & ORDER!!!, The Marshall Project, 10/7/22.

6. Trump says he will protect women ‘whether they like it or not,’ The 19th News, 10/31/24.

7. Trump repeats 'poisoning the blood' anti-immigrant remark, Reuters, 12/16/23.

8. We watched 20 Trump rallies. His racist, anti-immigrant messaging is getting darker, Politico, 10/12/24.

9. Mapping hate speech to predict ethnic violence, Foreign Policy, 4/1/13.

10. Trump Again Demonizes Migrants for ‘Poisoning Our Country,’ Mother Jones, 7/9/24. Trump Amplifies His Dangerous Hate Speech Against Migrants, Mother Jones, 9/30/24.

11. SEIU Statement on Donald Trump’s Day One Executive Actions, Service Employees International Union, 1/20/25.

12. The People’s Guide to Project 2025, Democracy Forward.