The film Trump used to incite supporters on Jan.6 was textbook fascist, anti-Semitic propaganda [View all]

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/5/2014156/-The-film-Trump-used-to-incite-supporters-on-Jan-6-was-textbook-fascist-anti-Semitic-propaganda

The film Trump used to incite supporters on Jan.6 was textbook fascist, anti-Semitic propaganda
Dartagnan for Community Contributors Team
Community
Friday February 05, 2021 · 11:40 AM EST


Most of the media reporting concerning the events of Jan. 6 has naturally focused on the stunning and unprecedented visual spectacle of the perpetrators physically invading the Capitol, trashing the chambers of the House and Senate, and committing assorted acts of physical violence. The reports have also typically included a clip or two of Trump’s most incendiary statements to incite the crowd immediately prior to the attacks: “Fight like hell, or you’re not going to have a country anymore”; "You don't concede when there's theft involved”; “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore,” and more.

Receiving considerably less attention has been a brief, two-minute film the Trump campaign played for the crowd immediately before they began their destructive onslaught of the Capitol. And It may be that journalists accustomed to covering Trump’s rallies over the past year simply consigned it to yet another piece of agit-prop previously deployed during Trump’s political campaign.

But, in the context of Trump’s invocation to insurrection on Jan. 6, it was far more than that. As analyzed by Jason Stanley and Justin Hendrix for Just Security, the film was a carefully crafted bit of fascist, anti-Semitic propaganda, teeming with dog whistles and tropes calculated to inspire hatred, anger and violent action against Jews, Democrats, and other perceived “enemies” among Trump’s base.

The film, which was played to the crowd gathered at the Ellipse immediately after Rudy Giuliani’s speech, is now (oddly) difficult to find on the Internet, but was preserved in video of the event itself taken by spectators and a right-wing YouTube channel. Here is a copy posted by Justin Hendrix, who assisted Stanley in editing it for the Just Security article.

Link to tweet

As Stanley observes at the outset, the film utilized familiar techniques characteristic of Nazi and other fascist-inspired propaganda to convey a specific message to its viewers.

To a scholar of fascist propaganda, well-versed in the history of the National Socialist’s pioneering use of videos in political propaganda, it was clear, watching it, what dangers it portended. In it, we see themes and tactics that history warns pose a violent threat to liberal democracy. Given the aims of fascist propaganda – to incite and mobilize – the events that followed were predictable.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/5/2014156/-The-film-Trump-used-to-incite-supporters-on-Jan-6-was-textbook-fascist-anti-Semitic-propaganda