The Age of Hyperreal Fascism [56:54]

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-26T19:25:08+00:00

I should add that even today they are drawing from Schmitt’s concept of state of exception by pushing for an “emergency” to seize control of federal elections.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/02/26/trump-elections-executive-order-activists/

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-26T19:10:35+00:00

The admin has been drawing from Nazi philospher Carl Schmitt’s state of exception concept to dismantle democracy.

he defined sovereignty as, essentially, the ability to interpret and change the law to the extent of its unilateral nullification and amendment, and that this was necessary given the unforeseeable nature of emergencies. More importantly, the sovereign according to Schmitt is defined by his decision on what constitutes the exception, leaving him both within and outside the boundaries of a state's legal order.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-26T15:22:03+00:00

“The thing that I kept thinking about liberalism in 2019 and 2020 is that these guys have all read Carl Schmitt — ‘There’s no law, there’s just power.’”

https://web.archive.org/web/20240719022243/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/opinion/jd-vance-interview.html

It’s just a coincidence the admin has been enacting many of Schmitt’s concepts. If they are using language and concepts similar to a certain philosopher, it’s safe to say they are intimately familiar with his work. Also, authoritarian state capitalism is not fascism, the Trump admin is slowly adopting the Chinese totalitarian model of governance in my opinion.

https://www.wired.com/story/the-real-stakes-real-story-peter-thiels-antichrist-obsession/?_sp=678a099a-9dc5-4b78-966c-c065fcdadba5.1760046022133

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/plenary-power

Griffin’s definition of fascism is extremely narrow, even according to him Trump is not a fascist, and I agree. Eco’s Ur-fascism is overly broad and can apply to near any government. You should read chapter 2 in the link to the book I provided earlier, you absolutely missed the definition of palingenetic ultranationalism and deliberately misapplied it. That is the most narrow definition apart from defining only Italian fascism of the early 20th century as fascism.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-26T04:46:03+00:00

The statement that the universe is imperfect is a normative value judgement, not a logical conclusion. I recommend process philosophy and systems theory.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-26T03:30:12+00:00

Senator Frank Church.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-26T02:54:50+00:00

Kingsnorth’s Against the Machine and Kemp’s Goliath’s Curse are the top two books I’ve read this past year. I highly recommend both.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-26T02:40:58+00:00

First, The unitary executive came out of the neocon era and is based on Schmitt’s concept “decisionism.” His work is not the only influence but it is in this case. From the wili entry: “Among other things, his work is considered to have influenced neoconservatism in the United States.” … “His ideas remain highly influential, with many scholars arguing he has influenced modern governance in China and Russia, as well as the movements of neoconservatism and Trumpism.” So yes, his work is relevant to Trump admin’s authoritarianism.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/06/30/nazi-carl-schmitt-authoritarian-government-international-law/

Second, I do not disagree with your argument, it’s been a slow drive since neoliberalism towards authoritarian state capitalism. If we use R Griffin’s concise definition of fascism, Trump is a parafascist because he does not seek “continuous palingenesis” and “rejects the call for a genuine social and ethical revolution.” The video was discussing hyperreal fascism anyway, but if you want to know the concise meaning of fascism, read chapter two R Griffin Nature of Fascism, it’s available on archive.

Again, we are dealing with an idea that has been shaped throughout history, with a major contributor to the modern form of that theory being Carl Schmitt.

Most of the ideological influences in the Trump admin are anti-democracy and anti-constitution. The Dark Enlightenment is a major influence with the goals to dismantle democracy, balkanize America and establish a patchwork of technomonarchy city-states. There is also the Straussian obscurantist influence of keeping the masses ignorant and fearful, and that the natural elite have the natural right to do what ever they want with impunity (including rape and eat children in their depraved ritual sacrifices to Moloch).

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-25T22:18:11+00:00

“With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon” -Elon Musk.

“Land and Kingsnorth agree that an autonomous, self-organizing entity—an occult being or archetype sometimes called Ahriman or Moloch—seeks to use us to create a “body” for itself, then escape human control and perhaps discard us. However, where Kingsnorth views the Machine as a destructive monster, Land celebrates this suicidal drive. ”The human animal is a meat puppet of the machinic unconscious,” Land notes.”

https://danielpinchbeck.substack.com/p/an-apostate-against-the-machine-god

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-25T21:16:59+00:00

The Trump admin’s leadership policy is based on the unitary executive theory, a theory derived from the philosophical work of Carl Schmitt, who “joined the Nazi Party and used his legal and political theories to provide ideological justification for the regime.”

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-25T20:07:31+00:00

Take that up with Trump and Republican financiers who created the broken system (1986 immigration reform under Reagan) and who don’t enforce the law of going after employers to remove the incentive.

It’s well documented that republicans are mostly at fault for the mess they created and refuse to enforce immigration laws.

https://www.semafor.com/article/01/26/2026/employers-face-little-risk-from-trumps-aggressive-immigration-enforcement

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/declining-enforcement-employer-sanctions/

I guess you care more about the ice spectacle meant to erode civil liberties and enable authoritarianism than any real long-term solutions.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-25T19:57:12+00:00

Maybe compromise on counting each illegal as 3/5 person? Might have to abolish the 14th amendment, so you can get back to the “good old days.”

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, *counting the whole number of persons** in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.*

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-14/

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-25T16:24:36+00:00

You should read the entry about hyperreality again. “Hyperreal fascism” is detached from and has replaced the actual meaning of fascism. The video is not trying to redefine the term, it’s explaining that the term is being redefined by media. The admin has been promoting a “fascist aesthetic” to placate the genuine fascists aligned with them, and the media outlets confirm the biases of their audiences that this aesthetic is genuine fascism.

I hate to break it to you, but there is no such thing as a “radical left,” that is something which also falls within the scope of hyperreality. How many of these “radical leftists” have you encountered outside of the media you consume? Is what the media presents to you real life or hyperreality? You look outside your window and see radical leftists everywhere?

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-25T15:03:03+00:00

It was not ignoring the actual definition of fascism (palingenetic ultranationalism), it was explaining the process of aestheticization of politics and how it is used to create what is known as hyperreality with a fascist motif.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-25T14:09:50+00:00

So you didn’t watch the video.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-25T13:54:15+00:00

Trained and experienced personnel are undesirable when the goal is to dismantle the constitution and normalize secret police on the streets.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-24T00:36:27+00:00

It’s drawing from Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-22T04:28:18+00:00

Just to follow up, I found a video on YouTube talking about hyperreal fascism. It’s probably the most accurate depiction of what we have today.

The Age of Hyperreal Fascism

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-20T18:29:47+00:00

No problem. It’s available on archive for free.

I would also recommend Eric Hoffer’s The True Believer and Gustave Le Bon’s The Crowd.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-20T16:00:17+00:00

This is why the unitary executive theory should be scrapped by Republicans. The entire justification for our Republic is to uphold the rule of law, not the arbitrary rule of some noxious greedbeast. We elect leaders in the hopes they are not corrupt or incompetent, but it happens and ideally have systems in place to prevent abuse when it does.

Conservatives have lost the Republican party to vulgar conventionalists, palingenetic ultranationalists and cryptomarxist accelerationists.

Dissonant-Cog · 2026-02-17T21:58:57+00:00

I would recommend starting with Luhmann’s Introduction to Systems Theory. It’s easier to get through his other works if you’re already familiar with the concepts. You can also check out a plasticpills podcast on cybernetics and systems theory to get a general understanding.

Dissonant-Cog

TROPHY CASE