Saturday, October 7, 2023

Ruth Ben-Ghiat: Rep. Matt Gaetz, Praising "Force," Goes Full Fascist at the Iowa State Fair

 Chilling. This is the face of fascism.
This is what must be stopped.
— Molly

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), at the Iowa State Fair, Aug. 12, 2023. Stefani Reynolds/AFP, via Getty Images.
Channeling Mussolini, who also felt that only 
force could bring political change


These days, I'm often thinking about early Fascism: the years between 1922 and 1925, when Benito Mussolini was Prime Minister of a coalition government and focused on expanding his powers, including through the kinds of militia violence that had brought him to power.

Today's post takes us back to that period. It is prompted by a comment made by Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a MAGA extremist who loses no opportunity to wage war against our democracy and engage in mass indoctrination. For this seasoned information warrior, even the Iowa State Fair, a family event, is fair game: working in calls for violence while people are enjoying themselves is ideal for receptivity. Would you like some Fascism with your pork chop on a stick?

Gaetz had come to the fair to support his cult leader, Donald Trump, the leading GOP presidential candidate, and he opened with a repetition of the Big Lie, addressing Trump as "Mr. President."

"I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country," said Gaetz. "They are opening our borders. They are weaponizing our federal law enforcement against patriotic Americans who love this nation as we should. We are having a great time at the fair. We love standing with you. But we know that only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C. And so to all my friends here in Iowa, when you see them come for this man, know that they are coming for our movement and they are coming for all of us."

The casual insertion of an incitement to violence in a "light" remark --"we are having a great time at the fair" is what makes this statement so chilling.



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