The United States of America is growing more and more fascist under Donald Trump, who has used the neo-Nazi Great Replacement theory to rile up his MAGA base and make them fear that they are being deliberately replaced by immigrants and people of color.
What was once seen as a far-right, fringe conspiracy theory has turned into a regular talking point for Donald Trump and his MAGA base – and that’s by design.
Ibram X. Kendi, author of the new book Chain of Ideas, explains that the Great Replacement theory is one of the most valuable tools in Trump’s authoritarian playbook because “Once you can make people believe that they’re losing out, or their lives are being lost, or that they are even facing a genocide, then you can present yourself as their protector and their savior and then you could also go about taking away their rights and freedoms in the name of protecting them.”
And as the Trump administration continues its violent crackdown on immigration, Kendi sounds the alarm: “This is the same idea that Hitler pushed about Jews, that these people were alien to the nation and that there was this global conspiracy for Jews to destroy the nation… That is precisely what these ‘Great Replacement politicians’ are pushing now.”
Paid subscribers can watch the full interview above to also hear about how the Great Replacement theory is playing out in places like the United Kingdom, who some of the loudest voices pushing the theory are, and how it has motivated political violence and domestic terror in recent years.
Free subscribers can watch a three-minute preview.
Click here to buy a copy of Kendi’s book, Chain of Ideas. And if you’ve already read it, feel free to share your review of the book in the comments below!
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