Jeff Sharlet has spent two decades covering the intersection of extreme Christian nationalism and the far-right. In his new book, Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War, he gives snapshots of a country rapidly devolving into a Christian fascism state. He captures the rage, the despair, the dislocation, the alienation, the aesthetic of violence, and the magical thinking that are the foundations of all fascist movements—forces that are now coalescing around the Trump-led Republican Party. The bizarre conspiracy theories and buffoonish quality of many who lead and embrace this movement, such as Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert, make the use American fascists easy to ridicule and dismiss. But Sharlet implores us to take them seriously as an existential threat to what is left of our anemic democracy. Jeff Sharlet joins The Chris Hedges Report to discuss his new book and the rising tide of Christofascism threatening our democracy.
Yo! That's really interesting! The idea of fascism as serving emotional needs isn't something that I've thought of before. In contrast, where he says they're being invited to inhabit a gnostic worldview, that's how I understand fascism, as a type of rhetorical discourse. But the relationship between their emotional needs and the rhetoric that satisfies those needs...that connection I hadn't made before.
Also, these people are fucking insane.