Some More News - SMN: Ben Shapiro's 3rd Grade Book Reports On Fascism

Episode Date: December 7, 2022

Hi. Fascism has been on our minds lately and it looks like it's been on Ben Shapiro's as well. But, in looking through Shapiro's writing, he seems pretty confused about what fascism is, who is promoting it, when he doesn't like it, and when he totally does. Please fill out our SURVEY: https://kastmedia.com/survey/ Support us on our PATREON: http://patreon.com/somemorenews Check out our MERCH STORE: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/somemorenews?ref_id=9949 SUBSCRIBE to SOME MORE NEWS: https://tinyurl.com/ybfx89rh   Subscribe to the Even More News and SMN audio podcasts here: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/some-more-news/id1364825229 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ebqegozpFt9hY2WJ7TDiA?si=5keGjCe5SxejFN1XkQlZ3w&dl_branch=1 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/even-more-news  Follow us on social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/SomeMoreNews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SomeMoreNews/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SomeMoreNews/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@somemorenews  Get smarter See-Bee-Dee from NextEvo Naturals, and get up to 25% off subscription orders of $40 or more at https://NextEvo.com/podcast, promo code MORENEWS. Save 20% off and get free shipping by going to https://manscaped.com/somenews. Manscaped, for a perfect gift that will be the holiday's biggest hit. SOURCES: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C0UYEI7vFrBuQFXvyMZYmqm1S4pZ8551hVQFuxj1LBo/edit?usp=sharingSupport the show!: http://patreon.com.com/somemorenewsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, hey there. Here's some news and there it goes. Here's some more news though. Everybody's a fascist but me. Wait, how dare you? No, you're the fascist. Well, why I oughta, it is you who is the thing I said about you.

Anyway, that's the news. But some more specifically news. During a time of ineffective liberal governance and a growing crisis of capitalism, wealth inequality, perpetual war, and the notion of a rising social revolution, a charismatic to enough people, grievance peddler, liar, and right wing demagogue

rode a wave of reactionary social Darwinist, anti-elite, anti-communist, palingenetic ultra-nationalism, and via uneasy alliance with conservatives and not the most amount of votes, attempted a manipulation and preservation of capitalism and dictatorship against the left amidst popular enthusiasm.

The strong man so-and-so used selective populism and newspeak to appeal to social frustration, anti-intellectualism, militarism, machismo, conspiracies, and a contempt for the weak. His enemies are weak and strong. He and his followers made an attempt to violently overthrow democracy. And in this particular instance

of this kind of thing happening, it failed because it was, in a word, silly. And it didn't quite have the deliberation and organization of other more successful attempts at, because it was, in a word, silly. And it didn't quite have the deliberation and organization of other more successful attempts at, again, the word of the day is, fascism. Do we have a graphic? No, okay, well, can we do like a full screen bumper

to hide a cut? Yes. It's an oft debated word, fascism, to the point that to some people, it just means things I don't like, everyone I don't like is Hitler, et cetera. But the word does have a meaning. Historians write about it.

It's in the dictionary right after fasciolopsiasis, a fluke-borne disease that gives you diarrhea and is somehow not the worst neighbor of the two words. There isn't necessarily a consensus of what fascism is exactly, but there is quite a bit of overlap. You can't necessarily say part of the definition of fascism is being anti-trans,

but you can point out that anti-trans sentiment seems to lead to fascist ideology and has a lot of fascist support. And that the first book burning by the Nazis was the destruction of research on transsexualism. Fascism tends to have a charismatic strong man leader to coalesce around and exemplify, but a charismatic leader can just be like

an elected person who doesn't do fascism. There are inconsistencies and contradictions within fascism. There are political policies and cultural attitudes. There's what fascists say and what fascists do, which are often different. There's the expulsion of an inner threat, the view of nation as organism, the expansion outward. There's the political system in place

at the time fascism develops. There are inconsistent economics because any economic choice is valid if it serves the preservation of the nation. There's the anti-democratic nature of its ideology and its gain of power. It's actually a lot of things, and some are more important to the definition than others,

which is why there are so many definitions, long, some very short, some too simple, some too detailed. Some are just a popular meme list of bad things about George W. Bush by a former Xerox executive. Some are conservative pundits who want to say, well, actually the libs are the fascists or that the left are the real fascists, despite fascism being a movement in uneasy alliance

with conservatives against the left. And despite adopting some socialist language, quote, once in power, fascist regimes banned strikes, dissolved independent labor unions, lowered wage earners purchasing power, and showered money on armaments industries to the immense satisfaction of employers. A lot of stuff going on definition wise is my point, but more or less you can find solid definitions from folks like Robert Paxton, Roger Griffin, Umberto Eco,

and most communists. But anyway, after Donald Trump did all that stuff I mentioned earlier, the current president, Joe Biden, offhandedly was like, yeah, it's fascism a little bit. Specifically, he said, what we're seeing now is either the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It's not just Trump. It's the entire philosophy that underpins the, I'm going to say something. It's like semi-fascism. Excellent impression of Joe Biden. Now, to be clear, this is true. Not all Republicans, but some of them. Hardcore MAGA types. You know, Omega, Extreme, Supreme, MAGA Trumpists, piss peeps, poopy pooper Donald Frumpus and his peepy dumpy doo doos, whatever you want to call them, some of them.

But we'll get to that. The point is that when Biden said Trump is a semi-fascist, everyone freaked out, undiped their butts and laid a gooey turd about how Joey Brigadoon called your gammy and all plumbers Nazis. And then he gave a speech to address it and talk about the threat to democracy that Trump and his movement pose on account of wanting to overthrow the election and trying to do that.

You know, that thing that happened. Incidentally, in our video series about fascism, we recognize that one of our sources, historian Robert Paxton, did not at the time necessarily think that Trump was the figurehead of a fascist movement. January 6th changed that for him and he wrote a piece explaining, oh yeah, right, of course, it's fascism.

It may be silly fascism, but it has all of the qualities necessary to consider the word. So kudos to us for our journalistic integrity in acknowledging that in that video series and kudos to our journalistic gratitude for being correct about it. Another criticism of Trump's fasciness or lack thereof

was that while he did do a lot of right-wing demagoguery, one necessary element of fascism is a sort of constant internal enemy that must be expelled from society in one way or another. One could argue that he was doing that with immigrants and Muslims, though he wasn't always full-throated or explicit about it. And he was more focused on the keep more of them out

aspect of it. Of course, here he is these days. We will defend our constitution. We will defend the second amendment that we will proudly uphold the Judeo-Christian values and principles of our nation's founding. We will restore patriotic education to our schools and we will teach our children to love their country, honor our history, and to always respect our great American flag. Always respect our flag. Despite great outside dangers, our biggest threat remains the sick, sinister, and evil people from within our country.

You know who I'm talking about. You see them all the time. But no matter how big or powerful the corrupt radical left Democrats that we are fighting against may be, you must never forget, this nation does not belong to them. This nation belongs to you. That's who it belongs to.

This is your home. This is your heritage. And our American liberty is your God-given right. It's hard to argue that that's not, at least, extremely fascist rhetoric. Not just bad rhetoric, but specifically fascist rhetoric. But whatever, we're not necessarily here to nitpick about a definition,

even though we've already done that for a few minutes and that's what the rest of the episode's about. But the point is, when Joe Biden said this true thing about Trumpism, some of the nation flipped out and turded from their undyped bottoms, especially after his speech about how the last guy tried to overturn the election. I mean, look at him.

Ah, the guy, he's yelling in front of red in this photo. Red being one of the country's flag's colors. The others, of course, he's yelling in front of red in this photo. Red being one of the country's flags colors. The others of course being blue and white in this other photo. But he is like Hitler. Look at the fists. Those are Hitler fists if I ever seen one. Because actually, see, no, there's nothing fascist

or even dare one say, semi-fascist about Donald Trump or any of the people who really like Donald Trump. Because see, actually, if one were to read this six paragraph, but one of them is a single sentence article by editor emeritus and founder of Wilkes Brothers, The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro, Biden, the real semi-fascist,

sorry to use a headline from The Daily Times instead, but if I go to the Daily Wire's version, I get a pop-up for Daily Wire Plus's My Dinner With Trump. And when I X out of it, it only shows most of the first paragraph. And in order to read the sixth paragraph, but one of them is a single sentence article about how Joe Biden's the real semi-fascist,

I have to subscribe to Daily Wire Plus. So instead, I'll go to some other free website where the article is syndicated and read it there. Yes, I'm sorry, but it's time to read Ben Shapiro's unbelievably lazy third graders book report on fascism and hopefully help him improve it a bit. Because as Ben maybe, but probably not, seems to be discovering now,

perhaps Trump was a bit fascist all along, but more on that later. Let's get out the old, the red pen and get reading, okay. This week, President Joe Biden, in search of a new label to pin on his political opponents after the failure of his ultra-MAGA branding, which prompted peals of laughter rather than shutters of horror,

landed on a new slur with which to tar those who don't support his agenda. They are, he said, semi-fascists. Okay, so first of all, this sentence is extremely long, way too long, especially for your first sentence. M dashes and a colon in the first sentence? Ah, get real. X, Y, fix it.

But anyway, it's important to note that when Ben says those who don't support Biden's agenda, that's very obviously not who Joe Biden's talking about. Joe Manchin doesn't support his agenda. He's not calling Joe Manchin semi-fascist. He's not calling Marco Rubio a semi-fascist. As Biden made clear when he said the words Ben's going to directly quote in a second,

Ben explains, speaking with a crowd of Democratic donors in Maryland, Biden reportedly said, "'What we're seeing now is either the beginning "'or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. "'It's not just Trump. It's the entire philosophy that underpins the, I'm going to say something, it's semi-fascism.

For your sake, I'm going to skip a paragraph where he pretends to feel personally slighted by Barack Obama on behalf of farmers or whatever, but would like to point out that during this, one of the six paragraphs, but one of them is a single sentence, he describes it as Democrat politicians painting half of Americans as beneath contempt. And maybe half of Americans is doing quite a lot of work here, considering Biden specifies

that he means Trump's hardcore base and about one third of eligible Americans don't even vote. So maybe painting a small fraction of a third of American adults would be a little more accurate. It's nitpicking, but you know, this essay is half of Ben's grade, so still important. Let's get to the juicy round meat. But that fascism smear is particularly galling

coming from Biden the same week in which he announced without any constitutional authority whatsoever that he was erasing some $500 billion in student loan debts, the single largest executive action in American history. Single largest by like what exactly? Amount of money? Does the Emancipation Proclamation not count as a large executive action?

The Manhattan Project was funded through executive order. Is that big enough for you? Are all executive orders fascism? Was Trump's Muslim ban not fascism somehow? Student loan forgiveness, executive order fascism, Muslim ban, no fascism? What about ones enacted because you're fulfilling a campaign promise after being democratically elected

to do that thing? Does that count? And then when the court strikes down Biden's student loan forgiveness as unconstitutional, he's like, well, that's a bummer. I urge you to reconsider. Is that fascism? How are we picking and choosing here?

I don't know. Maybe we'll figure it out in the text. Ben further complains, Biden justified that action on the basis of a non-existent COVID-19 emergency. Now we're not gonna get in the weeds about whether or not a COVID-19 emergency existed or was a valid emergency,

and I'm sure it won't be relevant in a bit. But if you look at the statement announcing the plan, it very clearly is based on his campaign promise, the negative effects of massive debt and recovery from the pandemic, which objectively caused economic harm to the nation and globe. He has justified similar usurpations on similar grounds. He illegally tasked his occupational safety and health administration with forcing vaccines on some 80 million people on the basis of a public health emergency.

It's weird that he puts public health emergency in quotes. I wonder if that will be relevant very soon. Also, it's weird that his claim is that the government was illegally forcing vaccines on millions of people, because actually, in reality, if you didn't wanna take the vaccine, you merely had to regularly test for COVID. No forced vax, no holding you down and jabbing you or firing you if you don't take it.

Simply vaccine or a COVID test. This is fascism? Is offering a weekly COVID test alternative the same thing as forcing vaccines on some 80 million people, Ben? Is it? And is it even ideologically fascist to enact public safety measures

to protect the most vulnerable people in society? You could maybe use the word authoritarian for some practices if you feel like they go too far, like take a COVID test, but authoritarianism isn't fascism, although fascism is authoritarian. In fact, a fascist viewpoint might be to simply let the weak die in order to save the nation

and keep the economy going. Let the powerful survive, let nature do its thing to keep the nation strong. And here's some more, in fact. Hitler opposed vaccination for conquered and imprisoned populations so they would die faster. Anyway, he, Biden, used his centers for disease control and prevention to try to propagate an eviction moratorium

on the same basis. Propagate seems like the wrong word here, perpetuate maybe? In fairness, it's not like Ben is a professional writer, so it's an easy mistake. Because actually, Trump started the eviction moratorium. He did it with an executive order. Oh well, he bragged in July that he will reshape the American economy

on his own if Congress doesn't act in order to forestall a supposed climate change emergency. Once again, he puts some kind of emergency in quotes. What the hell is that about? He continues, if we're talking about semi-fascism, this stuff qualifies. That was the one sentence paragraph, by the way. Okay, so counterpoint, no, it doesn't, right?

Or maybe it does, he's not really done any work on explaining what fascism even is to him. Big red pen on that one so far in terms of clarity. He seems to think it's just a president using executive orders or exercising executive power. And he named a couple things that Trump did too or first. So is Trump actually semi-fascist then to Ben? Are some emergencies more worthy of semi-fascism than others? Originally, some of that might have been justified

by an actual emergency, but when the emergency went away, the powers didn't. Joe Biden is the next step in the semi-fascist progression of American government. Wait a second. There's a video version of this third grade book report with extra stuff, and the video is titled Joe Biden Just Called You a Semi-Fascist,

thus further demonstrating how Ben is incapable of framing anything honestly, considering that Biden is very clearly referring to Trump specifically and a small percentage of Trump supporters generally. Also, double wait a second. So sometimes dictatorial authoritarian actions are justified if there is a quote, actual emergency.

Whose definition of emergency? Is it Ben's? Should the president check with Ben specifically before he does every executive order? Is that a good system? I wonder what stuff he was even talking about. Let's check. Federal and state governments locking Americans

in their homes for up to two years. Oh, cool. Another thing that Donald Trump, a non-semi-fascist, did actually. And then Joe Biden, a semi-fascist, didn't do and consistently vocally said he wouldn't do. Also, two years? What realm do you live in? Locking people in their homes? Excuse me? They were federal guidelines recommending people stay home, not lockdowns. Ben, if you're seeing people locked in their homes,

you might want to call someone about that. I don't think that's normal. Okay, so I'm actually struggling to determine what Ben even thinks this word means. He's only got a couple paragraphs left. Hopefully he fucking gets to it. He writes, the history of fascism, after all,

does not begin with a dictator simply marching into a nation's capital and seizing total power. This is true. Good job to Ben on this one sentence. You get a sticker. It, fascism, more frequently begins with the destruction of the legislative branch at the hands of centralization of executive power.

Adolf Hitler didn't just declare himself dictator. Dictatorial power preceded him in the chancellor's office by several years, dating back to Heinrich Brüning, invoking emergency powers under Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution in 1930. Benito Mussolini came to power under constitutional means in 1922 and didn't consolidate his rule until 1925. Fascism, in other words, is a gradual process, and that process starts with executive branch actors accreting authority they were never given. What he means to be saying is that fascism taking hold can be a gradual process. But the mechanisms and processes

by which fascism takes power are not themselves the definition of fascism, right? Like if people vote for representatives to give a president more power and those representatives vote to give a president more power, are those representatives fascists? Maybe, but definitely, probably not.

Would Ben call the authorization for use of military force of 2001 fascists? Maybe. But definitely? Probably not. Would Ben call the authorization for use of military force of 2001 fascist? I probably would. But he wouldn't. Would he call Barbara Lee, who voted against it, a brave anti-fascist? No. No, he wouldn't. But if the specific power given isn't fascist in nature, The idea that fascism is using a constitution to give emergency power or simply a president exerting power, it's a bit absurd. Again, maybe authoritarian works in some cases, but I don't think that Ben Shapiro would be sitting around

watching Attack of the Clones, which I assume is his second favorite Star War behind Rise of Skywalker, watching the scene where Jar Jar Binks votes to give Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers and thinking, wow, look at that fascist Jar Jar Binks. Again, it's absurd. So let's finish this awful short article slash essay. Because our political discourse has devolved into middle school histrionics,

everyone I don't like is Hitler. Okay, actually, I'm gonna have to stop you right there, Ben, who once wrote about Barack Obama's fascist State of the Union, which eventually resulted in this delightful exchange. Again, it was your description of the State of the Union address in 2012 as fascist. The wording of President Trump's 2012 address was bad and wrong. That's all. There are plenty of things that are bad and wrong, but it doesn't make them fascist. Well, I suppose that's true. Okay, taking that sticker back, Ben. So maybe we shouldn't actually be listening to this guy,

but we're so close to the end of this article, which concludes, because our political discourse has devolved into middle school histrionics, everyone I don't like is Hitler, we fail to notice the gradual slide into tyranny, ignoring it on behalf of spectacular headlines and reactionary rhetoric. Standing up to that process isn't semi-fascism, it's the opposite. standing up to that process isn't semi-fascism, it's the opposite. So this is a weird way to frame this because it seems to be saying that Ben is not a semi-fascist, he's the opposite, an anti-semi-fascist, anti-Semifa.

But this article is supposed to be about how Trump's not a semi-fascist and Biden's the real semi-fascist. So what are you doing here, Ben? Nobody invited you. Do you think that Trump and MAGA are standing up to the expansion of executive power? The guy who said, I alone can fix it.

And the people who literally stormed the Capitol to overturn the election for their God King. They're concerned about overreaching executive power. No, he's inserting himself here for a reason that we will get into. But first, check minus for Ben on his bad essay. Poor job. My main note is that Ben doesn't bother explaining

why Trump or hardcore Trumpists aren't fascist. He never addresses the actual argument or claim, doesn't even make the attempt. He just goes straight to, no, actually you instead, you see, followed by a bunch of stuff that Trump did incidentally. So if we fail to answer what fascism is to Ben in this particular article, I guess we need to now ask, what does he think it isn't?

After, you know, ads. Pretty fascist of us to run these ads right now, eh? Eh. Hello to my many haters. You know, people were pretty upset when I bought that small Midwest town and banned all dancing and also education. They even booed me when I cooked and ate the high school mascot in front of everyone. So much for the fightin' nights.

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Lots of foam and meat. It's kind of hard to consume, honestly. Anywho, get smarter, say Bay Day, from NextEvo Naturals and get up to 25% off subscription orders of $40 or more at NextEvo.com slash podcast promo code more news. That's N-E-X-T-E-V-O.com slash podcast promo code more news. Hi, we're back and we just finished grading a 12 year old's book report on fascism and have so far determined that Trump isn't a semi-fascist

because of reasons so far unexplained. Biden is though, because of things like the eviction moratorium and COVID lockdowns, which Trump did. So we're a little confused about what is and isn't fascism. Luckily, Ben's terrible writing knows no limits and we have another article from him. The fascists aren't fascists,

they're threats to the left, which doesn't like competition. Of course, one could be a fascist and a threat to the left. In fact, it's a pretty common thing for fascists to be direct threats to the left. It's part of their whole thing. But maybe Ben is smart and reasonable about this in this one. Time to get out the old red pen

and hopefully not have to use it. This week, Italy prepared to welcome a new prime minister, 45-year-old Giorgia Maloney, leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party since 2014. Maloney is a populist conservative on issues ranging from marriage to immigration. She is a nationalist by philosophy and combatively passionate by temperament.

So right off the bat, Shapiro seems to be describing an aggressive nationalist who is a populist conservative regarding marriage and immigration and other topics. He mentions her party, Brothers of Italy, which is a right-wing offshoot of the literal neo-fascist party, Brothers of Italy, which is a right-wing offshoot of the literal neo-fascist party, the Italian Social Movement. He does not mention the party's history, so I guess we won't get into that and won't circle back to it soon. A clip of a speech Maloney gave at the

World Congress of Families in 2019 has now gone viral with American conservatives. She explained, why is the family an enemy? Why is the family so frightening? There is a single answer to all of these questions, because it defines us, because it is our identity, because everything that defines us is now an enemy for those who would like us to no longer have an identity and to simply be perfect consumer slaves.

And so they attack national identity. They attack religious identity. They attack gender identity. They attack family identity. We will defend God, country, and family. Now, I'm not gonna parse through this whole quote, actually, partly because if you hear it, you hear it. And if you don't, you won't.

Also, it's boring and incoherent. An anti-identity politics woman is lamenting her people's lack of identity, claiming there is an attack on family when nobody wants to destroy the family. And in fact, if anything, they want to expand the family. And in fact, in Biden's semi-fascist statement about student loan forgiveness,

he literally says he wants to make the student loan system more manageable for working families. So whatever, fear-mongering, God, country, family, et cetera, whatever. This speech, according to much of the media, represented an indicator of incipient fascism in the land of Benito Mussolini. Nevermind that former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi

scoffed at such a notion, calling the risk of fascism absolutely fake news. Appeal to authority, not an argument. Kabam, you just got faxed and logicked. The Intercept promptly called Maloney the latest fascist womanhood icon. Ishan Tharoor of the Washington Post railed that she's set to be her country's

most ultra-nationalist premier since fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Seems true so far. The brothers of Italy unquestionably has a history founded in neo-fascism, has ties to the far right, has had members praise Mussolini. One of them is literally a Mussolini. They're explicitly pro-natalist

and want to boost the birth rate among Italians to stop ethnic substitution. They wax nostalgic about fascism and fascist memorabilia and more. You don't have to be out there saying we're fascist to hear similarities and at least raise an eyebrow or the other one, whichever one. But according to Shapiro, this is absurd

to the point that he still doesn't define the word fascism and doesn't even attempt to explain why she shares no link to the word. He merely scoffs at the idea that people are saying this. Then, Maloney is merely the latest recipient of such treatment internationally. In Sweden, the new government supported by the right-wing Sweden Democrats is already being touted as proto-fascist

thanks to the origins of the SD. Before we move on, just too many commas, man. I know you're still learning, but it easily could have been, in Sweden, one comma, the new government is supported by the right-wing Sweden Democrats and already being touted as proto-fascist

thanks to the origins of the SD. Much cleaner, just a little red pen for you. I notice you also don't elaborate beyond the SD, much cleaner, just a little red pen for you. I notice you also don't elaborate beyond the phrase, "'Thanks to the origins of the SD.'" So I guess you could explain to readers what that is for context, you know, to help them. Otherwise, it seems like you're just breezing past something that might be informative.

For example, just literally reading off the Wikipedia, the Sweden Democrats were founded in 1988. The Sweden Democrats originally had its roots in Swedish fascism as well as white nationalism, but began distancing itself from its past during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Under the leadership of Jimmy Akesen since 2005, the SD underwent a process of reform

by expelling hardline members and moderating its platform. Today, the Sweden Democrats officially reject both fascism and Nazism on their platform. So that's good that they're doing that, but maybe they're being touted as proto-fascist because they were explicitly fascist like 17 years ago. Literally the year Batman Begins came out, or if you prefer Blood Rain, one or the other.

The guys who always talk about how the Democrats are the party of slavery and Lincoln was a Republican and the Southern strategy doesn't exist. You're going with the idea that it's absurd to call a party fascist when they started moderating their admittedly fascist platform 17 years ago. Though to be fair, maybe Ben's upset at the term proto. After all, they're not really proto-fascist.

They're by definition post-fascist. So maybe they kept some of the flavor is all people are probably saying. Anyway, I'm unconvinced so far, but back to the article. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been treated as a knockoff of Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that he won his last election with a bare majority of 52.52% of the vote,

increasing his vote share from 47.89% in 2018 and 44.87% in 2014. Okay, first of all, we just did a whole video about Orban. Check it out with the clickies. It's all about how, well, we didn't know it at the time, but it's apparently all about how Ben is very wrong about this. But also, I don't actually know what the point is here about the vote share.

He only won with a bare majority, whereas Putin regularly wins by a greater margin because he's a dictator. But also, the Nazi party never even won a majority vote. Is he just saying that only kind of winning an election means you can't be a fascist? This is seemingly a nonsensical thing to say. Also, if he's saying that Orban isn't a

Putin knockoff because he won with 52.52% of the vote, does he care that in 2000, Putin won with a bare majority of about 53% of the vote? Is that about 0.48% of the now a dictator range? What is his point about the percentage is my point. Also, Orban has described his desired governance as illiberal democracy and has of course praised Putin. So I don't know, maybe the comparison is apt. You know, I'm just gonna actually cross out that Orban sentence in this bad essay.

Polish deputy prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the Law and Justice Party, has been treated similarly. Okay, so there's actually no argument even offered here as to why this guy isn't a fascist or a liberal or anti-democratic or whatever. So I'm just going to assume it's gonna be extremely easy to, okay, yeah, it's right here.

So at one point, opposition members called for an EU investigation into the new Polish government's actions, and Kaczynski accused them of being Poles of the worst sort and having traitorous genes. So, not great, little fascist. But also the Law and Justice Party that Ben refers to here, along with Kaczynski, have long discussed how since 1989,

Poland's institutions and culture have been overrun by post-communist elites who must be purged because all of Poland's social and economic woes stem from that. Law and justice also claims to be the only legitimate representative of the people's interests on the basis that they are the only ones fighting this so-called system and the constitutional order

that they argue preserves its dominance. Kaczynski has long criticized what he describes as legal impossibilism, the notion that it is impossible for a democratically elected Polish government to fulfill the nation's will because of the checks and balances imposed on it by the Polish constitution.

Indeed, their 2010 draft of a new constitution not only eroded the principle of checks and balances imposed on it by the Polish constitution. Indeed, their 2010 draft of a new constitution not only eroded the principle of checks and balances by concentrating power in the hands of the president, but also eliminated the current constitution's protections against discrimination, Article 32, and supporting freedom of the press, Article 14, among other things. Considering everything we've read from Ben

about how Biden is the real semi-fascist for doing executive orders, do we even have to wonder what he would say about Biden if Joe said that our institutions were infected by his political enemies and that he alone represents the will of the people, that he can't do anything to fulfill that will because of the constitution

and then propose a new constitution that gave him more power. No, no, we don't. Anyway, poor law and justice party being called fascist like that. Ben continues in regards to all these very pro-democracy, nice leaders being smeared as fascist. So have Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro currently trailing in the polls

to socialistic former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and former and probable future Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. And since Ben doesn't bother explaining why they're not semi-fascist, I guess we won't bother explaining why they are. Also, there is, again, bringing up percentage of support for some reason.

Still not sure what your point is about that. Anyway, what precisely is the common thread linking these disparate politicians across a wide variety of countries? After all, none of these politicians are remotely like Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping. None of them preside over authoritarian states. Okay, again, Orban has praised Putin. So like, what are you talking about?

But also, does one need to preside over an authoritarian state in order to be an authoritarian or to have fascist or anti-democratic ideals? If you hate your constitution and want to get rid of it so you can enact the nation's will and are elected, do you suddenly no longer think those things? Was Russia not an authoritarian state? Then Putin was elected and it was,

then briefly not from 2008 to 2012, then authoritarian again. It's unclear. But what is clear? In fact, left-wing politicians have engaged in far more intrusive anti-democratic measures over the past two years, from lockdowns to unilateral centralization

of executive power. And here we are again, talking about expansion and centralization of executive power as if it's an exclusively left-wing Democrat thing. And Ben, again, Trump did the lockdowns, which again, were just federal guidelines, but he did it.

It was him using his little mouth and hands during his presidency. Or do you mean the brief stay at home orders some states issued? Like Republican Governor Mike DeWine. In fact, in fact, Ben, in 2020, Victor Orban, the guy who only got 52 point something percent of the vote, also imposed lockdowns and curfews

and literally ruled by decree. Sorry, I'm still just trying to get a sense of what any words mean and how they are applied and when they mean different things. So let's get to the actual claim. What, to Ben, is not fascist? The common thread is precisely the themes embraced by Maloney.

National pride and rejection of left-wing social values, the radical anti-traditionalism of the post-modernist left combined with the social apathy of centrists has led to a serious international backlash. That backlash takes the form of a resurgent recognition that basic roles within societies must be protected and that failure to do so is tantamount to national suicide. So what he's describing is nationalist, aggressive protection and promotion

of natural or basic hierarchies that are under attack because of a rising left and weak centrist governance, a necessary backlash in order to save the nation, an organism apparently, from suicide. Paxton might have described some of this as fascist contempt for the soft, complacent, compromising center was absolute, though fascist parties actively seeking power would need to make common cause with centrist elites against their common enemies on the left. Ben truly exemplifies the conservative collaborators in Paxton's assessment of the conditions leading to the

rise of fascism. A deadlock of constitutional government produced in part by the polarization that the fascists abetted. Conservative leaders who felt threatened by the loss of their capacity to keep the population under control at a moment of massive popular mobilization and advancing left and conservative leaders who refused to work with that left and who felt unable to continue to govern against the left without further reinforcement. But I digress, Ben continues.

And it is precisely that backlash that many in the media find so disquieting. To them, traditional roles are themselves fascist institutions. Those who promote such roles suggest that human happiness can't be found in atomistic individualism, supplemented by collective social welfare schemes,

or as Paxton might write, fascist scorn for slack bourgeois individualism. And so true freedom requires that those like Maloney be fought. Unfortunately for the left, anti-traditionalism is the privilege of the frivolous. And after the failure of totalitarian COVID-19 policy, Trump's or Bond's, who can say? The collapse of green utopianism and the decay of societal solidarity. Frivolity is no longer the order of the day, which means that Maloney and those who

agree with her are only the beginning. Only the beginning. A little warning to everyone. Very fun. I'm just going to put a little scared face and red pen next to a very poor grade on this poorly argued little book report. It just, it seems like maybe Ben doesn't know what he wants to say. It's more about his feelings. He gives examples of what he thinks is semi-fascist, but those apply to many of the people he vehemently claims aren't even close to fascist. He gives examples of what he thinks isn't fascism,

but he uses the words historians use to describe fascism. So what's going on here? Why can't Ben define this word or consistently apply it? Well, there's a reason. But first, we need to go back to when he actually did attempt to actually define it. Let's define a few terms. First of all, fascist intellectual thuggery. Let's start with fascism. What exactly is fascism? Well, this is a term that gets thrown around a lot by people who have never read a book. Which books, Ben? Okay, so we can now finally get to what he claims is the definition, but first, first, a second,

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We're so extremely fucking back, and we're finally at what I assume surely has to be the last attempt of Ben Shapiro to define what fascism is. Incidentally, it's also his first attempt. Okay, fascism is the phenomenon whereby people believe that they have the capacity to ram their beliefs down your throat at the point of a gun,

or say the point of a baton, or by throwing mollets of cocktails. That's what fascism truly is. Fascism is even more of a tactic than it is an ideology. It's sort of vague in terms of ideology, but I've been spending my entire career standing up against fascism and the idea of an overreaching government that uses the power of the gun in order to compel people to do what they want. Antifa is fascist. I am not a fascist. Ben is partially correct here in that fascism's

ideology can be inconsistent and contradictory. There's a lot of anti-intellectualism and conspiracies. It's part of the appeal, and it's why each fascist movement is unique to its own nation. They will often do or say whatever they need in order to gain power and reach their goals of national, and in many cases, racial supremacy. But there are also consistencies and important similarities

as we have discussed. And more importantly, no, fascism is not a tactic. Violence is a tactic. Violence is a fascist tactic, but it's not only a fascist tactic. Monarchies and feudalism use violence to enforce their ideology. Republics use violence to enforce laws.

Violence as a tactic is not fascism. No historian or honest user of words would claim that. Was the American Revolution, an effort to overthrow a monarchy and institute liberalism and representational democracy, fascism? Was the Civil War, fascism? Before, of course, Abraham Lincoln's fascist emancipation proclamation. Is Ben against forcing migrants to leave the country because guns are involved fascism? Ben claims to be a libertarian,

but wants strong borders enforced by the government that uses the power of the gun. See, he likes that part. If Congress made laws that were fascist or overreaching, or if people voted on expelling internal threats and building a wall or let's say, illegally occupying another territory, would you not call it fascist

because there was no violence to make it into law? Well, no, because even if the law wasn't an inherently violent one, how do you expel people without violence or the threat of violence? There is still the implication of violence because it's a law. Laws in countries with law enforcement imply violence.

Our society right now is built on the threat of violence. If you break the law, or even if you don't in some cases, you will be dealt with by law enforcement. Perhaps they will attempt to arrest you. If you resist arrest, you'll get the baton, or more likely the gun, because let's face it, the baton is honestly, it's just too much physical work for most cops.

Here's a video of a blind man being approached by the police who mistook his blind man's walking cane for a gun. And eventually they arrest him for being rude. If he resisted arrest, he'd be bruised or maybe dead if he were particularly tanned that day. Point is, there are countless videos like this, and I guarantee you every video of police brutality or abuse that Ben sees is met with,

well, just don't resist arrest. The word fascist would never cross his lips when talking about a cop. He can't, his brain would short circuit because much like other aspects of fascism, Ben likes them. He doesn't like them when they affect him, but he likes them. That's one of the big reasons he can't actually define this word honestly or confront it.

If he did, he would have to admit that he likes some of it. If you hear a historian describe elements of fascism, at least half of it would be appealing to him. We've seen that today. He could use real definitions and label Biden semi-fascist if he wanted to. Even America, as we live here, not just because of Trump, has fascist elements. Long history of fascism America has.

And we live in a time of acceptance of perpetual war, rampant propaganda, the co-opting of social revolutionist language in order to protect capital. Indeed, one of the shorter definitions of fascism is simply imperialism turned inward. And again, even Biden could be criticized for some of this stuff.

But things like hyperfunding the police in response to social revolution are things Ben likes. He loves the police and sending them to do violence. Here is his solution to the problem of fatherless children in poor crime-ridden neighborhoods. If Ben Shapiro is the king of the world, how do you fix Baltimore? How do you fix Detroit?

How do you fix the south side of Chicago? Okay, so here's the unpopular view, but it happens to be empirically correct. The first thing you have to do is you have to load the place with police. You gotta load the place with police because you have to stop crime. Once you stop crime,

then businesses are happy to invest in those areas. You're not gonna get businesses to invest in those areas and provide jobs unless the crime is gone. He likes it. He likes the point of a gun. He likes the preservation of our national myths, the gleeful and often cruel destruction of the left, the preservation of natural hierarchies

and capitalism at all costs, the demonization of minority culture as the cause of societal ills. But like I said, Ben also frames himself as a libertarian. He just wants limited government and maximum freedom, man, plus reinforcing natural hierarchy and tradition and banning gay marriage and stuff like that, but whatever. Because see, his libertarianism only goes so far

and he's very choosy about it. Here's a fantastic clip that Ben is not in from a libertarian debate back in 2016, arguing over whether the government should require driver's licenses. Should someone have to have a government issued license to drive a car? Hell no.

What's next, requiring a license to make toast in your own damn toaster? The license to drive? You know, I'd like to see some competency exhibited by people before they drive. Boo! Competency! Now, I don't think Ben would pretend to be the toaster guy, and it's safe to say that he thinks people should have driver's licenses. But what if someone doesn't believe that? What if they believe they should be able to just get in a car and drive faster than the speed limit? So they get in the car without a license and are caught for speeding.

In talking to the police, they simply peel off because they believe they don't need a license or to listen to some cop. Now there's a chase. The cops use their cute little maneuvers to stop the car. The person is apprehended. They resist. They get the fucking shit beat out of them.

Maybe shot because again, beatings take energy. So I guess my point is that definition of Ben's, while also inconsistent with other definitions he's given because he just sort of says whatever's convenient at the time, is bad. It's a bad, wrong definition that no historian would agree with. Violence is a tactic.

It is a fascist tactic, but it isn't fascism. In fact, fascist violence was quite publicly happening in the streets against communists. One of their tactics was provoking violence and then using it for propaganda, CC Andy Ngo. But it's not only his fondness for fascist elements that causes Ben to be unable to properly label it. Perhaps most importantly,

he can't properly label fascism because he knows. A lot of it's driven by this kind of nationalism without ideological roots, without kind of constitutionally philosophical roots. It's a nationalism that's almost reactionary to the perception that President Obama doesn't like the country very much or wants to weaken the country. And here comes Trump and he says, I'm going to make the country strong and great again. And people sort of resonate to that. And then finally, I think that it's a reaction to, you know, there's sort of the anti-establishment.

There's the pro-America sentiment, and then finally there's the sort of anti-elite movement that Trump tries to represent. See, I lied earlier. His fascism is a synonym for violence definition wasn't his first attempt. This moment from late 2016 features Ben lamenting the rise of Trump. He identifies one of the main elements that drove his rise and not in so many words, he loosely defines the beginnings of a fascist movement. It's not perfect, it's not great, but it's better than anything he has tried since.

It's an honest attempt. He saw it back then. He saw what Steve Bannon was doing, who incidentally is really into Victor Orban these days. What's that about, Ben? He tried to cover for his friends like Milo back in the day, but it was always there. He knew.

But then Trump won and he bit his tongue. And now he's seeing it more and more again. From his employee, Candace, if Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, okay, fine. The problem is he had dreams outside of Germany, Owens. To her good friend, Kanye, too much antisemitic garbage to fit here, West.

Ben has been very outspoken about Kanye's antisemitism, going so far as to use the word Nazi. Incidentally, here is Ben like a month ago talking about West's rhetoric right before he finally went full Nazi. I really don't care about people's response to that. I perform for an audience of one, and that's God. Wow. I mean, frankly, it sounds fantastic. Frankly, Kanye sounds much more sane than virtually everybody else in public life.

See, Ben kind of seems to love everything Nazis say up until they threaten him. All of West's rhetoric was gobbled up, his Christian nationalism, his White Lives Matter trolling, all of it. But then he went death con three on the Jews. And much like everything Ben deals with, he will 100% not reflect on what this means, on where he might actually be sitting,

on what side he's on now. Because incidentally, that clip was in response to Kanye's appearance on Tucker Carlson, who framed his interview with Ye as a sort of proof that everything was fine and Ye is reasonable and makes perfect sense and is fine and good. Tucker also cut several clips

from that Kanye is great interview that featured explicit antisemitism. So, I don't know, this Tucker guy, you know, doesn't quite seem like he's on the up and up is what I'm saying. Ben, maybe think about that. Anyway, Kanye is now running for president with the help of, oh, it's Ben's old friend Milo

and literal neo-Nazi and Trump fan Nick Fuentes. Fuentes has even harassed specifically Ben Shapiro in public while he was with his kids and wife. Here is Fuentes speaking after the GOP got pantsed in the midterms despite claims of a coming red wave. Abortion's popular, sodomy's popular, you know, being gay is popular,

being a feminist is popular, sex out of wedlock is popular, contraceptives are, it's's popular. You know, being gay is popular. Being a feminist is popular. Sex out of wedlock is popular. Contraceptives are popular. It's all popular. That's all. That's not to say it's good. That's not to say I like that. Popular means the people support it, which they do.

And it sucks and it is what it is, but that's why we need dictatorship. That's unironically why we need to get rid of all that. We need to take control of the media or take control of the government and force the people to believe what we believe or force them to play by our rules and reshape the society unsurprising from an obvious nazi of course but here is tragically corny youth meme lord outreach director fire plagiarist and trump sycophant benny johnson on the night of the midterms. What the Republican electorate wants is a strong executive who utilizes and wields power over his enemies and then destroys his enemies and makes them grovel, makes molten salty tears flow from their faces.

So he doesn't have the votes, but wants the minority party to have, in so many words, a dictator to crush his enemies. Would Ben call this fascism? Probably not, because they're on his side. Incidentally, at Benny Johnson's side is Charlie Kirk, a claimed freedom-loving libertarian and Republican operative from Turning Point, USA. And more importantly, Jack Posobiec, a fucking neo-Nazi.

He has many ties to neo-Nazis over the years, has a bunch of now-deleted, coded Hitler 1488 tweets, and has a documented and at one point public affinity for Richard Spencer, a literal Nazi. But again, this will not give Ben pause. He will not think, well, wait, why am I suddenly surrounded by Nazis? Why am I employing a Nazi sympathizer?

There's no way to tell. Ben seems to think that because conservatives say they don't like government, that they can't still believe and exemplify all other social and ideological aspects of fascism, and that they won't actually jump at the chance to have a strongman dictator enforce their minority beliefs on everyone.

One day, they'll have had enough, and like former GOP candidate and current conservative pundit, Jesse Kelly said on fascist propagandist, Tucker Carlson's show, they'll have to elect a Hitler. Would Ben Shapiro call Jesse Kelly a semi-fascist for saying that if the left goes too far, the right is going to have to elect a Hitler?

I've said this before and I'm telling you, I'm worried that I'm right. The right is going to pick a fascist within 10 to 20 years because they're not going to be the only ones on the outs. There's 60, 70 million of us. We're not a tiny minority. And if we're gonna be all treated like criminals and all subject to every single law while Antifa Black Lives Matter guys go free and Hunter Biden goes free, then the right's gonna take drastic measures. Probably not. Because he's a lying little twerp?

Probably. Oh no, look what the left made me do. Hitler stuff. Because of the trans stuff. Now we gotta burn down the trans library. See, when Tucker Carlson starts his broadcast with Another Weekend in Weimar. Just another weekend in Weimar. He's not saying it looks like fascism is on the rise. He's saying

the left is making me want fascism to be on the rise. Kelly said it out loud. They're all just saying it. Ben can write about how an international backlash against the left in support of nationalism and traditionalism and crushing the left for the sake of preserving natural hierarchies is good and righteous and not even semi-fascism. Then hear these Nazis say ostensibly the same thing and not bat an eye. And it's kind of sad because again, he knew. I mean, I think that he's already hurt conservatism pretty badly. My concern is that, and one of the reasons I'm not voting for him is because I'm concerned that he hurts conservatism

if he wins. If he wins, then really, because then you see this whole group of people who sort of follow him position to position based on loyalty to party and loyalty to him personally. That's a serious concern to me. If he loses,

I think that he hurts conservatism less in some ways, because there's been a repudiation of some of the things that he believes and says. Hmm. Ben's concerned about Trump and these people, his loyal followers, or perhaps put a slightly different way, an extreme MAGA philosophy. It's not just Trump. It's the entire philosophy that underpins the, I'm going to say something, it's semi-fascism. Thanks, Brandon. Anyway, I think that's the end of the show. Ben, if you're watching, F first of all. You get an F. F minuses all around. In fact,

put simply, your attempts at discussing fascism are bad and wrong. But also, I hope you learned something. After all, that's what this, whatever this was, is all about. Good night, good morning. See you in timid band practice. We're called Cody and the fucking assholes who are out of the band. What the fudge?

The video's over. Oh, I better like it and then subscribe to the channel that it's on. That's you now. Thanks for watching. We've got patreon.com slash some more news with early access, no ads in those. You can check out our podcast called even more news and this show

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