The Film Trump Used To Incite Supporters on Jan.6 Was Textbook Fascist, Anti-Semitic Propaganda

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. 

Here is the full video. pic.twitter.com/wdA44QUBLk

— Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix) February 5, 2021

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.

In “decoding” this film, it’s necessary to see it in context of what Trump’s supporters believe. Stanley notes that the QAnon conspiracy theories, for example, share common characteristics with anti-Semitic tropes propounded by Nazi Germany. The white supremacist groups that organized the Jan. 6 rally and insurrection have also adopted “classic” fascist belief systems, including, most notably, theories of Jewish dominance in social and economic strata such as the press, the arts, and the financial industry. Historically, these core fascist assumptions were articulated vividly, for example, in Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and permeated subsequent Nazi propaganda. They were fundamental to Nazi ideology, in which, as Stanley notes, ”Liberal democracy is represented as a corruption, a mask for this takeover by a global elite.” 

Fascism also thrives and depends on what Stanley describes as the “patriarchal cult of the leader,” someone who explains to the common people what the nation has lost, why it was lost, and who is responsible.

[W]ho promises national restoration in the face of supposed humiliation by a treacherous and power-hungry global elite, who have encouraged minorities to destabilize the social order as part of their plan to dominate the “true nation,” and fold them into a global world government.

Other hallmarks of fascism include an almost mythical worship of the military and military symbolism, and an idyllic representation of past glory. The masculine ideal is also stressed to appeal to the biological instincts of the crowd, with a view towards mobilizing them to action, usually to “overthrow” their “oppressors,” as the fascist defines them.

Stanley convincingly illustrates how all of these fascist tropes resurface with a vengeance in the film Trump showed to his supporters on Jan.6, immediately prior to their attacks on the Capitol building.

The video begins with Trump’s eyes in the shadow, and its second frame focuses the audience on the Capitol building – America’s Reichstag, where the decisions being denounced by the rally’s organizers were being made that day. The third frame of the video is the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. This image immediately directs the attention of an audience attuned to an American fascist ideology to the supposedly elite class of Jews who, according to this ideology, control Hollywood. The appearance of the Hollywood sign makes no other sense in the context of a short video about an election. The next two images, of the UN General Assembly and the EU Parliament floor, connect supposed Jewish control of Hollywood to the goal of world government. As we have seen, according to Nazi ideology, Jews seek to use their control of the press and the entertainment industry to destroy individual nations. The beginning of the video focuses our attention on this supposedly “globalist,” but really Jewish, threat.

For those who might question whether the core message of this video was anti-Semitism, Stanley’s frame by frame analysis should swiftly dispel those doubts.

The next clip lingers on Joe Biden, with a vacant stare in his eyes and the video footage slowed, while Trump’s inauguration speech plays, “For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government, while the people have borne the cost.” It is clear from the image of Biden that he is not making the decisions. The video shifts to an image of Senator Charles Schumer, reminding the viewer of prominent Jewish leaders of the Democratic party. Schumer is wearing a Kente cloth, an image evocative of Ku Klux Klan ideology — that Jews support Black liberation movements as a way to undermine white rule and destroy the nation. The next frame shows the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, flanked by two Jewish Congressman, Representatives Nadler and Schiff. Pelosi, too, is controlled by Jews. 

As Stanley explains, these images, so painstaking assembled to create an impression in the viewer’s mind, are then followed by images of despair, decay and (white) destitution, ostensibly inflicted on America by an unholy “establishment” alliance of people of color and Jews, combining to cement and reignite fears of non-white societal dominance, all at the expense of “ordinary” Americans. Then, we hear the bold words of Donald Trump intoning that “that all changes, starting right here, right now.”

At this moment the trajectory of the film and its imagery change dramatically, as Trump’s appearance sparks a hysterical resurgence in patriotism and good feeling. Women are portrayed, “overcome with emotion,” at the dominance of the patriarchal figure of Trump, while factory machinery churning out new, “masculine” products such as pickup trucks are flashed before our eyes. In one sequence, “Trump is shown observing powerful rockets launch, images evocative, for those schooled in history, of the Nazi’s own obsession with this particular technology.”

Then, as if intended to tease its rapt audience with a final reminder, the scene shifts and we see the return of the threatening forces of darkness, epitomized by a weak and “smirking” Joe Biden, followed by scenes depicting social and economic calamity—and fear—at the hands of Black Lives Matter protesters, among others. Finally, images glowingly portraying Trump’s “successes,” epitomized by the stock market and a resurgence of “Christian identity” close out the film.

The point Stanley makes here is that this is not simply a laudatory campaign video. As used in this context it is an instrument to inculcate a susceptible crowd with fascist, anti-Semitic imagery and mobilize them towards the very acts of violence they proceeded to commit. The degree of responsibility Trump himself owns with regard to its production can be debated, but Stanley references the recent New York Times exposé which describes Trump as “micromanaging” that days’ events.

Ultimately, however, the genesis and funding of the film’s creation may be less important than its intent. What Stanley’s analysis clearly shows us is a deliberate effort to co-opt fascist and anti-Semitic imagery by the Trump administration to inflame the mob and perpetrate an insurrection against the government of the United States. For that single task, its impact and inevitable outcome were exactly what Donald Trump intended.

Please go here for the original article: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/5/2014156/-The-film-Trump-used-to-incite-supporters-on-Jan-6-was-textbook-fascist-anti-Semitic-propagand?detail=emaildkre