Notes

Chapter 88: Benito Mussolini

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:49 GMT

337 Hitler’s political idol On Hitler’s early “adoration” of Mussolini, see Christian Goeschel, Mussolini and Hitler: The Forging of the Fascist Alliance (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018), 17–36. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1050870931 .

337 founder of fascism Historian and Mussolini expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat explains, “Benito Mussolini came up with the term fascism, he created the first one-party fascist state and he set the playbook and template for everything that came after.”Ben-Ghiat quoted in Olivia B. Waxman, “What to Know About the Origins of Fascism’s Brutal Ideology,” Time , March 22, 2019, time.com/5556242/what-is-fascism/ .

337 Like Hitler Hitler volunteered to serve in the Bavarian army in August 1914. Ian Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), 53. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821 .

337 served in the army . . . from the anti-war Italian Socialist Party Mussolini was conscripted into service in August 1915, one year after Hitler had volunteered to serve in the Bavarian army. Christopher Hibbert, Il Duce: The Life of Benito Mussolini (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1962), 24, 20–22. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/406067 to find this book at a library near you.

337 elected Mussolini for the first time . . . newly formed National Fascist Party Hibbert, Il Duce , 30. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/406067 .

337 anti-socialist industrial and agrarian elites “The general strike of August 1922 provided Mussolini with still more support. Agrarian, financial and industrial interests flocked to support the fascists as it became increasingly clear that their privileged positions were threatened.” See Paul M. Hayes, Fascism (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1973), 56–57. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/751213 .

337 inflicting “purificatory” violence . . . and strikers Amy King and Brian J. Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” Made By History, Time , June 14, 2024, time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ .

337 led about 25,000 Blackshirts . . . demanded the resignation of . . . Facta Hibbert, Il Duce , 33, 35. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/406067 .

337 refused Facta’s request . . . Facta resigned in protest Richard Brunies, “King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), July 14, 2021, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/king-victor-emmanuel-iii-italy .

337 appointed . . . thinking he could restore order Brunies, “King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/king-victor-emmanuel-iii-italy .

337 violence, intimidation, and propaganda . . . two-thirds of parliament seats Hibbert, Il Duce , 40–47; and “Italy: Election,” Time , April 14, 1924, time.com/archive/6651414/italy-election/ . Find Il Duce at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/406067 .

337–338 demanding that the “illegitimate” results . . . thrown out Giacomo Matteotti, May 30, 1924, quoted in King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ .

338 scolded . . . interrupted . . . more than one hundred times King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ .

338 half-joked with a colleague to write his eulogy Giacomo Matteotti reportedly told Socialist Giovanni Cosattini, “And now, get ready to deliver my funeral oration.” Matteotti quoted in Howard M. Sachar, The Assassination of Europe, 1918–1942: A Political History (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015), 52. See also King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ . Visit search.worldcat.org/title/880499804 to find The Assassination of Europe at a library.

338 abducted Matteotti . . . as he walked . . . Mauro Canali, “The Matteotti Murder and the Origins of Mussolini’s Totalitarian Fascist Regime in Italy,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 14, no. 2 (2009), www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710902826378 , 151–152; and Andrea Pisauro and Gianluca Fantoni, “The Murder of Giacomo Matteotti—Reinvestigating Italy’s Most Infamous Cold Case,” The Conversation , April 22, 2024, theconversation.com/the-murder-of-giacomo-matteotti-reinvestigating-italys-most-infamous-cold-case-228153 .

338 “You can kill me” . . . “but you can never kill the idea within me” Giacomo Matteotti quoted in King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ .

338 gripped Italy with demonstrations and protests King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ .

338 Two weeks after The “Aventine Secession,” as the withdrawal by these parties is known, occurred on June 27, 1924. This name is “derived from the withdrawal of the Roman population to the Aventine Hills in protest against the Patriciate in 493 bc.” “Aventine Secession,” Oxford Reference , accessed March 13, 2025, www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095436959 .

338 nearly two months before . . . a dozen miles outside Rome Matteotti’s body was discovered on August 16, 1924. Canali, “The Matteotti Murder and the Origins of Mussolini’s Totalitarian Fascist Regime in Italy,” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710902826378 , 151. See also Pisauro and Fantoni, “The Murder of Giacomo Matteotti—Reinvestigating Italy’s Most Infamous Cold Case,” theconversation.com/the-murder-of-giacomo-matteotti-reinvestigating-italys-most-infamous-cold-case-228153 .

338 joined . . . and exited the Chamber of Deputies King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ .

338 claimed absolute power, subjecting himself only . . . King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ .

338 banned independent media and all opposition parties and organizations King and Griffith, “The Centennial of an Assassination in Italy Offers a Sober Warning for Today,” time.com/6987974/matteotti-assassination-centennial-lesson/ .

338 “the first man to transform a democracy into a dictatorship” Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2021), 19. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1233267123 .

338 the fall of France imminent . . . headed for a decisive victory “In spring and summer 1940, Germany invaded and defeated Belgium, the Netherlands, and France . . . With the defeat of France in June 1940, virtually all of Western Europe fell under Nazi occupation.” “The Allies of WWII,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), August 29, 2024, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allies-world-war-ii . See also “Axis Powers in World War II,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, April 22, 2022, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/axis-powers-in-world-war-ii .

338 officially entered the war to share the spoils Italy entered the war on June 10 and France surrendered on June 22, 1940. “Axis Powers in World War II,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/axis-powers-in-world-war-ii ; and “France,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed March 13, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/france . “Having formally joined the Axis in 1939, Italy declared war on Britain and France in June 1940, entering World War II as Germany’s ally. The Fascist regime hoped to establish a new ‘Roman’ Empire, encompassing the Mediterranean Sea and beyond into North and East Africa and into the Levant (Syria and Lebanon). Italy invaded France in June 1940 and occupied a small strip of land on the Franco-Italian border as part of the armistice agreement with Vichy France in June 1940. In the autumn of 1940, Italy attacked Greece and invaded British-influenced Egypt from bases in Libya, which Italy had conquered from the Ottoman Turks in 1911.” “Italy,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed March 13, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/italy .

338 had turned in the Allies’ favor . . . and in North Africa “On August 7, 1942, American forces landed on Guadalcanal, the first landed steps on the long road to Tokyo. On August 23, German forces reached the banks of the Volga River, and the monumental battle at Stalingrad commenced. In late October, Rommel and his forces received their first taste of decisive defeat at the hands of the British at El Alamein. The Americans joined the fight in North Africa with the successful landings on November 8. In the brutal Naval Battle of Guadalcanal fought over November 12–15, the Americans succeeded in isolating the Japanese forces remaining on the island, while at virtually the same time on November 19 the Soviets under General Zhukov successfully surrounded over 250,000 German troops of the Sixth Army. The Germans at Stalingrad and the Japanese on Guadalcanal starved, until the German surrender and Japanese evacuation that both took place in the first week of February 1943. Winston Churchill would later title his account of these six months as the ‘Hinge of Fate’ that changed the Allied fortunes, and eventually sent us in the direction of ultimate victory in World War II.” Axis forces in North Africa surrendered on May 13, 1943. Keith Huxen, “The US Invasion of North Africa,” National WWII Museum, January 9, 2018, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/us-invasion-north-africa ; and “The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part One,” National WWII Museum, May 23, 2022, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allied-campaign-italy-1943-45-timeline-part-one .

338 invaded Sicily and . . . on the Italian mainland Keith Huxen, “Operation Husky: The Allied Invasion of Sicily,” National WWII Museum, July 12, 2017, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/operation-husky-allied-invasion-sicily ; and “The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part One,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allied-campaign-italy-1943-45-timeline-part-one .

338 removed Mussolini . . . placed him under arrest “The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part One,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allied-campaign-italy-1943-45-timeline-part-one .

338 rescued the incarcerated Mussolini William Tuohy, “SS Officer Skorzeny Wrongly Credited With Deed, Historian Says: Mussolini Rescue: A New Version,” Los Angeles Times , December 26, 1987, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-26-mn-7422-story.html ; and Raphael Rues, “The Rescue of Benito Mussolini: the Real Story and Its Swiss Connection,” Swiss National Museum, blog, September 11, 2023, blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2023/09/the-rescue-of-benito-mussolini-the-real-story-and-its-swiss-connection/ .

338 appointed Mussolini . . . the Italian Social Republic Goeschel, Mussolini and Hitler , 261, 263–269. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1050870931 .

338-339 defeated troops loyal to Mussolini and Hitler “The Allied Campaign in Italy, 1943-45: A Timeline, Part Three,” National WWII Museum, May 27, 2022, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/allied-campaign-italy-1943-45-timeline-part-three .

339 captured him . . . executed Mussolini the next day Robert Citino, “Death of the Duce, Benito Mussolini,” National WWII Museum, April 28, 2020, www.nationalww2museum.org/death-of-benito-mussolini ; and Goeschel, Mussolini and Hitler , 288–289. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1050870931 .

339 confirming Hitler’s final decision to die by suicide “ While he was told about Mussolini’s execution by the partisans, it is uncertain whether he knew the macabre details of his erstwhile idol’s death. In any case, news of the Duce’s death confirmed Hitler’s plan to commit suicide, always on his mind in the event of defeat, in order to avoid a similarly grisly fate.” Goeschel, Mussolini and Hitler , 289. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1050870931 .

339 surrendered on April 29, 1945 “Representatives of the German command in Italy signed the surrender on April 29, and it became effective on May 2, 1945.” “Italy,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/italy . See also “Instrument of Local Surrender of German and Other Forces Under the Command or Control of the German Commander-In-Chief Southwest; April 29, 1945,” The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, accessed January 17, 2025, avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/gs9.asp .

339 including José Antonio Kast’s father Esteban J. Uriburu, God’s Tabernacle: Barbara Kast, 1950–1968 , trans. Tímea Horváth (Óbudavár, Hungary: Family Academy-Óbudavár Association, 2014), csaladok.schoenstatt.hu/sites/default/files/csaladok/olvass/barbara_kast.pdf , 11, via Google Translate.

339 refused to allow fascism to die John Whittam, Fascist Italy (Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995), 138–139 . Visit search.worldcat.org/title/31436744 to find this book at a local library.

339 created different groups Martin Durham, Women and Fascism (London: Routledge, 1998), 79. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/437073347 .

339 united in 1946 and named . . .Italian Social Movement Durham, Women and Fascism , 79; and Whittam, Fascist Italy , 138–139. Library copies of Women and Fascism can be found at search.worldcat.org/title/437073347 , and copies of Fascist Italy can be found at search.worldcat.org/title/31436744 .

339 the organizational heir of the Italian Social Republic Alessio Gagliardi and Matteo Pasetti, “Fascism in the Public Sphere of Post-Fascist Italy,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 29, no. 3 (2024), www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2354136 , 246.

339 set up their offices on Via della Scrofa in Rome Bernd Riegert, “Who Is Giorgia Meloni, the Star of the Italian Far Right?” Deutsche Welle (DW), September 26, 2022, www.dw.com/en/italy-election-who-is-giorgia-meloni-the-star-of-the-far-right/a-62604896 .

339 the same Rome address Riegert, “Who Is Giorgia Meloni, the Star of the Italian Far Right?” www.dw.com/en/italy-election-who-is-giorgia-meloni-the-star-of-the-far-right/a-62604896 ; and Nicole Winfield, “How a Party of Neo-Fascist Roots Won Big in Italy,” Associated Press (AP) News, September 26, 2022, apnews.com/article/elections-rome-italy-6aa9fcb003071c307190a4053f199d98 .

339 remains the same as the original MSI logo Winfield, “How a Party of Neo-Fascist Roots Won Big in Italy,” apnews.com/article/elections-rome-italy-6aa9fcb003071c307190a4053f199d98 .

339 “their first duty was defensive, not offensive . . .” Alexander Brown, “Italy’s Right Still Hasn’t Broken Its Ties to Fascism,” Jacobin , March 16, 2023, jacobin.com/2023/03/italy-right-fratelli-ditalia-giorgia-meloni-fascism-mussolinis-grandchildren .

Chapter 89: Italian Social Movement

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:48 GMT

340 the postwar antifascist consensus in Italy “The defeat of the Axis Powers in 1945 appeared to bring an end to the fascist nightmare . . . Fascism was discredited and became a term of abuse . . . Initially there were a few extreme right groups on the fringe, like the Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI) in Italy. However, there was no public demand for the rebirth of Italian Fascism or hardcore German National-Socialism.” The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right , eds. Peter Davies and Derek Lynch (London: Routledge, 2002), 39. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/475960249 .

340 operated behind the scenes in the MSI . . . Giorgio Almirante their leader The Italian Social Movement “was officially led by a group of young ex-fascists with a low profile: the first general secretary was a young official of the RSI (Repubblica Sociale Italiana) (Italian Social Republic), Giorgio Almirante. But behind them, old and more experienced leaders of the fascist regime, who lived in hiding because of the prosecutions, guided the party. The MSI’s first ‘10 points’ programme somewhat veiled its ideological-political mould, insisting on ‘national conciliation’ and pacification, economic recovery, and so on . . . but all the symbolic and cultural references were unquestionably linked to fascism.” Piero Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003), 36. Find a library copy at search.worldcat.org/title/62132369 .

340 the chief of staff of the Ministry of Popular Culture . . . Associated Press, “Giorgio Almirante, Italian Neo-Fascist, Dies at 73,” New York Times , May 23, 1988, www.nytimes.com/1988/05/23/obituaries/giorgio-almirante-italian-neo-fascist-dies-at-73.html .

340 received funding from some . . . that had supported Mussolini Dennis Eisenberg, The Re-emergence of Fascism (Worcester, UK: Trinity Press, 1967), 145–146, touches on the “influential group of landowners, businessmen and industrialists who suppl[ied] much of the necessary financial support” in the early years of the MSI’s existence, especially after the appointment of the famed fascist naval commander Junio Valerio Borghese as honorary president. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/394409?oclcNum=394409 .

340 six deputies (out of 574) and one senator (out of 237) Chamber of Deputies, April 18, 1948, The Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior, Central Directorate of Electoral Services, elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=18/04/1948&es0=S&tpa=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpe=A , via Google Translate; and Senate, April 18, 1948, The Historical Archive of Elections, elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=S&dtel=18/04/1948&es0=S&tpa=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpe=A , via Google Translate.

340 unbending anti-NATO stance . . . opening to remove him R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy: Life Under the Fascist Dictatorship, 1915–1945 (New York: Penguin, 2007), 548. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/85484316 .

340 a journalist and . . . took over in 1950 Augusto De Marsanich “had been an important if second-rank figure throughout the [Mussolini] dictatorship . . . He had published in Critica Fascista , was promoted to be Under-Secretary of Communications from 1935 to 1943, while remaining long-time head of the PNF’s [National Fascist Party’s] legal office.” During the years of the Italian Social Republic, De Marsanich was “charged . . . with the management of Alfa Romeo and the Banco di Roma.” Bosworth, Mussolini’s Italy , 548–549. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/85484316 .

340 led the party’s . . . Arturo Michelini Mario Caciagli, “The Movimento Sociale Italiano–Destra Nazionale and Neo-Fascism in Italy,” in Right-Wing Extremism in Western Europe , ed. Klaus von Beyme (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2013), 23. Michelini’s obituary in the New York Times stated, “Mr. Michelini joined Mussolini’s Fascist party as soon as he finished studies in accounting at 18.” “Arturo Michelini, Neo-Fascist Leader,” New York Times , June 16, 1969, nyti.ms/4iGy8xe , 47. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/1103528325 to find Right-Wing Extremism in Western Europe at a library near you.

340 to make the MSI more electable versus . . . Caciagli, “The Movimento Sociale Italiano–Destra Nazionale and Neo-Fascism in Italy,” 23. Find a library copy of Right-Wing Extremism in Western Europe , in which Caciagli’s piece appears, at search.worldcat.org/title/1103528325 .

340 reclaimed the party helm in 1969, he bridged the factions Caciagli, “The Movimento Sociale Italiano–Destra Nazionale and Neo-Fascism in Italy,” 23–24. For a contemporaneous account, see Melton S. Davis, “Almirante Is No M-s---i—Yet,” New York Times , June 6, 1971, www.nytimes.com/1971/06/06/archives/almirante-is-no-msi-yet-almirante-is-no-msiyet.html . Find a library copy of Right-Wing Extremism in Western Europe , in which Caciagli’s piece appears, at search.worldcat.org/title/1103528325 .

340 subsequently grew in the 1970s “In 1973, at the peak of Almirante’s secretariat, there were . . . 4,335 sections, with 420,000 registered members.” Antonio Carioti, “From the Ghetto to Palazzo Chigi: The Ascent of the National Alliance,” Italian Politics 10 (1996), www.jstor.org/stable/45402576 , 74.

341 a tax adviser . . . a novelist . . . Giorgia Angus Holland, “‘I Am Giorgia’: Italy’s Far-Right Leader and the Confounding World of Italian Politics,” Sydney Morning Herald , August 4, 2024, www.smh.com.au/national/i-am-giorgia-italy-s-far-right-leader-and-the-confounding-world-of-italian-politics-20240722-p5jvka.html .

341 abandoned . . . sinking them into poverty Holland, “‘I Am Giorgia,’” www.smh.com.au/national/i-am-giorgia-italy-s-far-right-leader-and-the-confounding-world-of-italian-politics-20240722-p5jvka.html .

341 more than a thousand terror attacks “The years from 1969 to 1988 are conventionally defined as the ‘Years of Lead’ because of the quantity, frequency, and virulence of political violence. According to our data, Italy experienced over 8000 conflict events, including domestic terrorist attacks and other forms of political violence, leading to hundreds of deaths and several thousand wounded victims.” Figure 1 shows the number of violent acts committed by “neofascist groups,” which tally over one thousand. Stefano Costalli et al., “The Violent Legacy of Fascism: Evidence From Italy,” Comparative Political Studies 58, no. 14 (2024), doi.org/10.1177/00104140241252089 , 4, 15.

341 bombed . . . killing eighty-five people “In the bloody aftermath, rescue squads worked for over twelve hours to pull the dead and maimed from the rubble. As they labored, a young neofascist entered a telephone booth across town and dialed Bologna’s leading newspaper. ‘This is the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei,’ he said. ‘We claim responsibility for the explosion in the railway station.’ The final toll: eighty-five dead—the eldest an eighty-six-year-old man, the youngest a three-year-old child—and more than two hundred wounded.” Thomas Sheehan, “Italy: Terror on the Right,” New York Review of Books , January 22, 1981, www.nybooks.com/articles/1981/01/22/italy-terror-on-the-right/ .

341 The more . . . the more . . . pulled away from the party Piero Ignazi, “Fascists and Post-Fascists,” in The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics , eds. Erik Jones and Gianfranco Pasquino (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2015), 217–218. Find an edition of this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1039409889 .

341 decried political violence Ignazi, “Fascists and Post-Fascists,” 218. Find a library copy of The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics , in which this chapter appears, at search.worldcat.org/title/1039409889 .

341 rehabilitated its image “A few examples demonstrate this change of political climate: in 1983 the socialist prime minister, Bettino Craxi, declared, during the parliamentary confidence debate, that he would treat all parliamentary groups in the same vein without any discrimination; MSI leaders were invited, for the first time, to public meetings together with other antifascist party leaders; and the MSI secretary, Almirante, was admitted to the PCI [Italian Communist Party] headquarters, in June 1984, at the funeral of the PCI secretary, Enrico Berlinguer.” Ignazi, “Fascists and Post-Fascists,” 219. Find a library copy of The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics , in which this chapter appears, at search.worldcat.org/title/1039409889 .

341 took over the party in 1987 For details on the Sorrento Congress in December 1987, at which Fini was elected as the new leader of MSI, see Giovanni Tassani, “The Italian Social Movement: from Almirante to Fini,” Italian Politics 4 (1990), www.jstor.org/stable/43039624 , 129, 130–132, 134.

341 volunteered for the Italian Social Republic Mauro Giordano, "Gianfranco Fini Turns 71: Politics, Wives, Daughters, the Brother-in-Law Case and the Return,” Corriere di Bologna , January 3, 2023, corrieredibologna.corriere.it/bologna/politica/cards/gianfranco-fini-compie-71-anni-politica-mogli-figlie-caso-cognato-ritorno/gianfranco-fini-origini-famiglia-nonno-comunista_principale.shtml , via Google Translate.

341 died in 1988 See AP, “Giorgio Almirante, Italian Neo-Fascist, Dies at 73,” www.nytimes.com/1988/05/23/obituaries/giorgio-almirante-italian-neo-fascist-dies-at-73.html .

341 joined MSI’s Youth Front in 1992 Amy Kazmin and Giuliana Ricozzi, “Hard-Right Giorgia Meloni’s Rise from Rough Streets to Cusp of Power in Italy,” Financial Times , September 6, 2022, www.ft.com/content/530de94d-6aef-45d7-aa8e-a1211284745c .

341 helped found . . . The Ancestors “Biography,” Sito Ufficiale di Giorgia Meloni ( Official Website of Giorgia Meloni ), accessed March 24, 2025, www.giorgiameloni.it/biografia/ , via Google Translate.

Chapter 90: Fascist-Antifascist

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:46 GMT

342 direct line of descent from Mussolini’s fascism Nicole Winfield, “How a Party of Neo-Fascist Roots Won Big in Italy,” Associated Press (AP) News, September 26, 2022, apnews.com/article/elections-rome-italy-6aa9fcb003071c307190a4053f199d98 .

342 deleted . . . celebrated each year Historian Amy King writes of a letter by Meloni published in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Liberation Day in 2023, “Meloni’s letter, published on a day intended to mark freedom from fascism, was remarkable for its failure to mention ‘antifascism’ once.” Amy King, “Contested Memory in Giorgia Meloni’s Italy: How Her Far-Right Party Is Waging a Subtle Campaign to Commemorate Fascist Figures,” The Conversation , August 14, 2023, theconversation.com/contested-memory-in-giorgia-melonis-italy-how-her-far-right-party-is-waging-a-subtle-campaign-to-commemorate-fascist-figures-211465 .

342 “the fascist-antifascist binary . . .” King, “Contested Memory in Giorgia Meloni’s Italy,” theconversation.com/contested-memory-in-giorgia-melonis-italy-how-her-far-right-party-is-waging-a-subtle-campaign-to-commemorate-fascist-figures-211465 .

342 as victims of fascism and contributors . . . King, “Contested Memory in Giorgia Meloni’s Italy,” theconversation.com/contested-memory-in-giorgia-melonis-italy-how-her-far-right-party-is-waging-a-subtle-campaign-to-commemorate-fascist-figures-211465 .

342 the “divisive” fascist-antifascist binary “‘April 25 Is Divisive’ Meloni Calls for National Holiday to Be November 4,” Agenzia Giornalistica Italia (AGI), October 31, 2018, www.agi.it/politica/news/2018-10-31/meloni_festa_nazionale_4_novembre_25_aprile-4554680/ , via Google Translate; and “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, April 25, 2023, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

342 the international bestseller “ M: Son of the Century,” HarperCollins Publishers, accessed March 14, 2025, www.harpercollins.com/products/m-son-of-the-century-antonio-scurati . To find Antonio Scurati, M: Son of the Century , trans. Anne Milano Appel (New York: Harper, 2021) at a library, visit search.worldcat.org/title/1306239633 .

342 won Italy’s most prestigious literary prize “Strega Prize 2019, Antonio Scurati Wins with 228 Votes: ‘I Dedicate the Victory to Those Who Fought Fascism,’” la Repubblica , July 5, 2019, www.repubblica.it/robinson/2019/07/05/news/premio_strega_2019_vince_antonio_scurati_con_228_voti-230388207/ ,via Google Translate; and “Italian Premio Strega Collection in the Library of Congress,” Library of Congress Research Guides, accessed March 14, 2025, guides.loc.gov/premio-strega .

342 “Will the heirs to that history recognize it once and for all?” Antonio Scurati, “Liberation Day Monologue,” CounterPunch , April 23, 2024, www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/23/liberation-day-monologue/ .

342–343 “could have gone down one of these two paths . . .” Scurati, “Liberation Day Monologue,” www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/23/liberation-day-monologue/ .

343 “It has undoubtedly taken the second path” Scurati, “Liberation Day Monologue,” www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/23/liberation-day-monologue/ .

343 “historical anniversaries” Scurati, “Liberation Day Monologue,” www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/23/liberation-day-monologue/ .

343 “blamed the massacres . . . on the Nazis alone” Scurati, “Liberation Day Monologue,” www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/23/liberation-day-monologue/ .

343 “the word ‘anti-fascism’” Scurati, “Liberation Day Monologue,” www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/23/liberation-day-monologue/ .

343 “Until that word . . . to haunt the house of Italian democracy” Scurati, “Liberation Day Monologue,” www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/23/liberation-day-monologue/ .

343 One of the spring 1944 massacres . . . the Ardeatine Caves massacre “In this false spring of ours, however, we are not only commemorating Matteotti’s political murder. We are also commemorating the 1944 Nazi-fascist massacres perpetrated by the German SS, with the complicity and collaboration of the Italian fascists, those that were carried out at the Fosse Ardeatine, Sant’Anna di Stazzema and Marzabotto. These are just some of the places where Mussolini’s demonic allies massacred thousands of defenceless Italian civilians in cold blood.” Scurati, “Liberation Day Monologue,” www.counterpunch.org/2024/04/23/liberation-day-monologue/ .

343 “335 innocent Italians” . . . “killed simply because they were Italian” “President Meloni’s Statement on Anniversary of the Fosse Ardeatine Massacre,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, March 24, 2023, www.governo.it/en/articolo/president-meloni-s-statement-anniversary-fosse-ardeatine-massacre/22190 .

343 mostly political prisoners and Jews . . . antifascist (and anti-Nazi) “The majority of the victims taken by the SD [Security Service of the SS] were Italians already serving prison sentences, many of them for their activities in the Resistance. After the Nazis finished rounding up the hostages, they held 335 men, five over the quota. 57 of them were Jews. Some were just grabbed randomly off the streets of Rome. The youngest was 15, the oldest over 70.” Jason Dawsey, “The Italian Resistance and the Ardeatine Caves Massacre,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), July 23, 2019, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/italian-resistance-and-ardeatine-caves-massacre .

343 authorized the mass killing in retaliation for . . . Dawsey, “The Italian Resistance and the Ardeatine Caves Massacre,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/italian-resistance-and-ardeatine-caves-massacre ; and “Ardeatine Caves Massacre,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed March 25, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ardeatine-caves-massacre .

343 largely hailed from Italy’s South Tyrol . . . “Ardeatine Caves Massacre,” encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ardeatine-caves-massacre .

343 forty-two officers dead Dawsey, “The Italian Resistance and the Ardeatine Caves Massacre,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/italian-resistance-and-ardeatine-caves-massacre .

343 arrested 13,000 Jewish people . . . primarily Auschwitz Every two or three days for the next two months, Nazis bring roughly 1,000 Jewish people to Auschwitz. “The Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup,” Yad Vashem: The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, accessed March 25, 2025, www.yadvashem.org/holocaust/france/vel-dhiv-roundup.html .

343 “It’s not France” Marine Le Pen stated, “I don’t think France is responsible for the Vel d’Hiv . . . I think that generally speaking if there are people responsible, it’s those who were in power at the time. It’s not France.” Marine Le Pen quoted in “Le Pen Denies French Responsibility in WWII Round-Up of Paris Jews,” France 24, October 4, 2017, www.france24.com/en/20170410-le-pen-denies-french-responsability-wwii-round-paris-jews-vel-hiv .

344 faced “No Kings” protests “‘No Kings’ Protests Across the United States,” New York Times , June 14, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/us/protests-cities-no-kings.html ; and Alaina Demopoulos, “Were the No Kings Protests the Largest Single-Day Demonstration in American History?” The Guardian , June 19, 2025, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/19/no-kings-how-many-protesters-attended ; Steve Gorman and Brad Brooks, “‘No Kings’ Protests Draw Large Crowds in US Cities to Decry Trump,” Reuters, October 18, 2025, www.reuters.com/world/us/no-kings-rallies-expected-draw-millions-across-us-protest-against-trump-2025-10-18/ .

344 celebrated pro-slavery Confederates For examples, see Time, “President Trump Praises Robert E. Lee as a Great General During a Rally in Ohio | TIME,” YouTube, October 15, 2018, youtu.be/oeMwKD93B2g?si=UVk_jBrpVnzT87PM ; and Associated Press, “Restoration of Torn-Down Confederate Monument Will Cost $10 Million Over 2 Years, Military Says,” NBC News, August 7, 2025, www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/restoration-torn-confederate-monument-will-cost-10-million-2-years-mil-rcna223633 .

344 opposed women’s reproductive rights For examples, see Nina Totenberg and Sarah McCammon, “Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade, Ending Right to Abortion Upheld for Decades,” All Things Considered , NPR, June 24, 2022, www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn ; Mary Clare Jalonick, “Republicans Block Bill to Protect Contraception Access as Democrats Make Election-Year Push,” Associated Press (AP) News, June 5, 2024, apnews.com/article/contraception-senate-abortion-biden-trump-reproductive-rights-3f9e8546624a3acf8e64d1138fcb84b1 ; Julie Rovner, “Trump’s Already Gone Back on His Promise to Leave Abortion to States,” KFF Health News, February 5, 2025, kffhealthnews.org/news/article/trump-executive-order-hyde-amendment-abortion-pentagon/ ; Brittni Frederiksen et al., “Title X Grantees and Clinics Affected by the Trump Administration’s Funding Freeze,” KFF, April 15, 2025, www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/title-x-grantees-and-clinics-affected-by-the-trump-administrations-funding-freeze/ ; and Aaron Glantz, “New Trump Rule to Ban VA Abortions for Veterans Even in Cases of Rape and Incest,” The Guardian , August 29, 2025, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/29/trump-veterans-affairs-abortion-ban .

344 advocated the colonization of Canada and Greenland Jessie Yeung and Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, “Trump Renews Threat of Military Force to Annex Greenland,” CNN, May 4, 2025, www.cnn.com/2025/05/04/world/greenland-annexation-threat-trump-nbc-interview-intl-hnk .

344 called fascist See Emma Bowman, “Harris Called Trump a ‘Fascist.’ Experts Debate What Fascism Is—and Isn’t,” NPR, October 29, 2024, www.npr.org/2024/10/29/nx-s1-5164488/harris-trump-fascist-explained .

344 “European monarchy” . . . as well as “slavery . . . and (today) wokeism”v Kevin D. Roberts, “Foreword: A Promise to America,” in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project , eds. Paul Dans and Steven Groves (Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, 2023), static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf , 14.

344 attends the wreath-laying ceremony “Mattarella Lays Wreath in Rome for Liberation Day,” ANSA English, April 25, 2023, www.ansa.it/english/news/general_news/2023/04/25/mattarella-lays-wreath-in-rome-for-liberation-day_6ce96ead-b7da-4890-8eaa-ca77142fefb1.html .

Chapter 91: Resistance

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:45 GMT

346 “Dear editor, today . . .” “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, April 25, 2023, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

346 Italy’s most widely circulated newspaper “DMS Data 2025: February 2025 Newspapers, Weekly Newspaper Editions,” Accertamenti Diffusione Stampa (ADS), accessed March 25, 2025, available at www.adsnotizie.it/Dati/DMS_Page# , via Google Translate. Meloni had previously written several other letters to Corriere della Sera to make a political point, including one proposing sea desalination for drinking water (July 10, 2022), one on immigration—condemning comparisons between the Italian immigrants who lost their lives in Belgium in the Marcinelle mining disaster in 1956 to contemporary immigrants to Italy (August 7, 2022), and one on Italian anarchist Alfredo Cospito (February 4, 2023). Giorgia Meloni, “Giorgia Meloni: More Technological Water Network and Drinkable Water from the Sea. This Is How to Fight Drought (While Respecting the Environment),” Corriere della Sera , July 10, 2022, http://www.corriere.it/cronache/22_luglio_10/giorgia-meloni-lettera-9dd6f7aa-ffb9-11ec-a15c-229c03190307.shtml , via Google Translate; Meloni, “Marcinelle and the Migrants, Different Stories,” opinion, Corriere della Sera , August 7, 2022, www.corriere.it/opinioni/22_agosto_07/marcinelle-migranti-storie-diverse-f5c6d216-1687-11ed-9b98-cecb1a656088.shtml , via Google Translate; and Meloni, “Meloni on the Cospito Case: ‘No Basis for Delmastro’s Resignation. Now Everyone Should Tone It Down, Including Fratelli d’Italia,’" Corriere della Sera , February 23, 2023, www.corriere.it/politica/23_febbraio_04/meloni-cospito-lettera-ac56d0dc-a484-11ed-a9a2-20247d5f06f9.shtml , via Google Translate.

346 a long history of associating migrants and crime A study of headlines and articles in Corriere della Sera from 1992 to 2009 found an enduring “association between migrants and crime” in the paper’s content. See Lorenzo Montali et al, “The Representation of Migrants in the Italian Press: A Study on the Corriere della Sera (1992–2009),” Journal of Language and Politics 12, no. 2 (January 2013) , doi.org/10.1075/jlp.12.2.04mon , 226, 239.

346 “I hope” . . . ”contribute to making . . . bastion of democracy” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

346 “saw these reflections fully mature . . .” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

346 corruption scandals . . . ran for mayor of Rome . . . ran for mayor of Naples William Drozdiak, “Italians Use Vote to Vent Anger Over Scandals,” Washington Post , November 22, 1993, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/11/23/italians-use-vote-to-vent-anger-over-scandals/2d7e5f39-eb88-430f-8568-38323e380f58/ .

346 47 percent of the vote . . . 44 percent . . . Both lost Piero Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003), 44. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/62132369 .

346 never secured even 10 percent MSI’s best performance in parliamentary elections to that point had been in 1972, when the party secured 8.67% of votes for the Chamber of Deputies and 9.19% of votes for the Senate. Chamber of Deputies, May 7, 1972, The Historical Archive of Elections, elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=C&dtel=07/05/1972&es0=S&tpa=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpe=A , via Google Translate; and Senate, May 7, 1972, The Historical Archive of Elections, elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?tpel=S&dtel=07/05/1972&es0=S&tpa=I&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpe=A , via Google Translate.

346 caused . . . to turn to the MSI Berlusconi had voiced support for Gianfranco Fini in the mayoral election in Rome, saying, “If I were in Rome, I would certainly vote for Fini.” After Berlusconi launched Forza Italia (FI) in January 1994, “In southern and central Italy, FI and Fini’s party were able to agree to run on a common platform, the Pole of Good Government, which produced a common slate of FI and AN [National Alliance] candidates.” Tom Gallagher, “Exit from the Ghetto: The Italian Far Right in the 1990s,” in The Politics of the Extreme Right: From the Margins to the Mainstream , ed. Paul Hainsworth (London: Pinter, 2000), 72 (Berlusconi quote), 73 (on FI and AN). Visit search.worldcat.org/title/957700940 to find an edition of this book at your local library.

346 announced the rebranding Fini created the National Alliance organization in January 1994. MSI was dissolved a year later and became the National Alliance party. Alan Cowell, “Berlusconi and Cabinet with Neo-Fascists Take Office in Italy,” New York Times , May 12, 1994, www.nytimes.com/1994/05/12/world/berlusconi-and-cabinet-with-neo-fascists-take-office-in-italy.html ; and “The Italian Right: 3 Men to Watch: Gianfranco Fini, National Alliance,” New York Times , March 30, 1994, https://nyti.ms/3XxNAmN , 6; and Peter Shadbolt “Italy’s Hard Right Dissolves fascist past,” United Press International (UPI), January 28, 1995, www.upi.com/Archives/1995/01/28/Italys-hard-right-dissolves-fascist-past/1080791269200/ .

346–347 formed a coalition and a political party. . . to take on . . . William D. Montalbano, “Rightists Win Historic Vote in Italy: Europe: Media Tycoon Silvio Berlusconi Is Front-Runner for Prime Minister; His Three-Party Alliance Leads in Both Houses of Parliament. Corruption Furor Propels Shift from Centrist Rule,” Los Angeles Times , March 29, 1994, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-29-mn-39808-story.html . Berlusconi’s announcement of Forza Italia on January 26, 1994 can be seen at Forza Italia, “Silvio Berlusconi—Discorso discesa in campo—26 gennaio 1994,” YouTube, January 25, 2024, youtu.be/aStF2b5ryJg?si=6oaJPb2nCTPKnebp .

347 founded . . . became the largest private broadcaster in Italy “Factbox: Berlusconi’s Business Empire,” Reuters, August 1, 2013, www.reuters.com/article/world/factbox-berlusconis-business-empire-idUSBRE97017P/ ; and Agustino Fontevecchia, “Berlusconi’s Tax Fraud: Using Offshore Accounts to Make $349M on U.S. TV and Movie Rights,” Forbes , October 26, 2012, www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2012/10/26/berlusconis-tax-evasion-using-offshore-accounts-to-make-349m-on-u-s-tv-and-movie-rights/ .

347 became prime minister of the first . . . since World War II Alan Cowell, “Italy’s Right Wing Heads for Victory in Landmark Vote,” New York Times , March 29, 1994, www.nytimes.com/1994/03/29/world/italy-s-right-wing-heads-for-victory-in-landmark-vote.html ; and William Drozdiak, “No Fascists in Cabinet, Italy’s New Premier Says,” Washington Post , May 26, 1994, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/05/27/no-fascists-in-cabinet-italys-new-premier-says/4e6113ff-b301-4ac9-be74-214beefc3a6c/ .

347 usurped George Newth, “Matteo Salvini, Giorgia Meloni, and ‘Post-Fascism’ as Political Logic,” Political Studies Association, September 9, 2022, www.psa.ac.uk/matteo-salvini-giorgia-meloni-and-post-fascism-as-political-logic/ .

347 Four days after the election . . . in . . . La Stampa Alan Cowell, “Leader of Italian Neo-Fascists Praises Mussolini,” New York Times , April 2, 1994, www.nytimes.com/1994/04/02/world/leader-of-italian-neo-fascists-praises-mussolini.html .

Chapter 92: Great Replacement of History

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:44 GMT

348 “ the greatest statesman of the century ” Gianfranco Fini quoted in Alberto Statera, “Il migliore resta Mussolini,” La Stampa , April 1, 1994, quoted in and translated by Matteo Pasetti, “The ‘Fascist Threat’ in Berlusconi’s Italy,” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 29, no. 3 (2024), www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2349841 , 324.

348 “will have to make an extraordinary effort . . .” Fini quoted in Statera, “Il migliore resta Mussolini,” quoted in and translated by Pasetti, “The ‘Fascist Threat’ in Berlusconi’s Italy,” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2349841 , 324.

348 vast demonstrations on Liberation Day Pasetti, “The ‘Fascist Threat’ in Berlusconi’s Italy,” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2349841 , 324–325. See also William D. Montalbano, “Italians Mark WWII Victory over Fascism,” Los Angeles Times , April 26, 1994, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-26-mn-50687-story.html .

348 stayed home. He claimed the “left” . . .” Pasetti, “The ‘Fascist Threat’ in Berlusconi’s Italy,” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2349841 , 325.

348 spoke about the defeat of “fascism in Europe” Silvio Berlusconi, opening speech to the Chamber of Deputies, May 16, 1994, quoted in Pasetti, “The ‘Fascist Threat’ in Berlusconi’s Italy,” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2349841 , 325.

348 “a great statesman” Silvio Berlusconi quoted in William Drozdiak, “No Fascists in Cabinet, Italy’s New Premier Says,” Washington Post , May 26, 1994, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/05/27/no-fascists-in-cabinet-italys-new-premier-says/4e6113ff-b301-4ac9-be74-214beefc3a6c/ .

348 “away liberties” . . . “the country into war . . . for a while, Mussolini did some . . .” Berlusconi quoted in Drozdiak, “No Fascists in Cabinet,” www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/05/27/no-fascists-in-cabinet-italys-new-premier-says/4e6113ff-b301-4ac9-be74-214beefc3a6c/ .

348 murdered thousands of political opponents Historian and Mussolini expert R. J. B. Bosworth estimates that between 1919 and 1925 alone, Mussolini was responsible for “the murder of two thousand and more political opponents.” R. J. B. Bosworth, Mussolini and the Eclipse of Italian Fascism: From Dictatorship to Populism (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021), 116. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/1244811399 to find this book at a local library.

348 “never killed anyone” . . . “on holiday in exile” Silvio Berlusconi quoted in Gianluca Luzi, “Berlusconi choc su Mussolini,” la Repubblica , September 12, 2003, quoted in and translated by Pasetti, “The ‘Fascist Threat’ in Berlusconi’s Italy,” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2349841 , 326.

348 “as a somewhat benevolent and philanthropic dictatorship” Pasetti, “The ‘Fascist Threat’ in Berlusconi’s Italy,” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1354571X.2024.2349841 , 326.

348–349 lost in the 1996 Italian general election Daniel Williams, “Leftists Claim Victory in Italian Election,” Washington Post , April 22, 1996, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/04/22/leftists-claim-victory-in-italian-election/a0d48742-b3c9-4a3d-bffc-e9af0419e6bf/ .

349 the party’s new national youth leader Clarida Salvatori and Laura Martellini, “Giorgia Meloni, from the Youth Front to the Triumph in the Elections: The Stages of Her Career,” Corriere Roma , September 28, 2022, roma.corriere.it/cronaca/cards/giorgia-meloni-fronte-gioventu-trionfo-elezioni-tappe-carriera/militanza-giovanile-fdg-azione-studentesca_principale.shtml , via Google Translate.

349 “For me, Mussolini was a good politician” INA Politique, “1996: Giorgia Meloni ‘Mussolini était un bon politicien’ | Archive INA,” YouTube, September 23, 2022, youtu.be/XuoXr-zjqas?si=We87ud9AZyFyjJGV , 0:45–0:49, via Google Translate.

349 “Everything he did, he did for Italy . . .” INA Politique, “1996: Giorgia Meloni ‘Mussolini était un bon politicien’ | Archive INA,” youtu.be/XuoXr-zjqas?si=We87ud9AZyFyjJGV , 0:50–0:54.

349 coalition won “Berlusconi Wins Senate Majority,” The Guardian , May 14, 2001, www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/14/1 .

349 prime minister until 2006 Frances D’Emilio, “Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s Tarnished 3-Time Premier, Dies at 86,” Associated Press (AP) News, June 12, 2023, apnews.com/article/berlusconi-dead-remembrance-c7caf48435ab4f2a81032df2ba2007e1 .

349 elected . . . to the Chamber of Deputies Bernd Riegert, “Who Is Giorgia Meloni, the Star of the Italian Far Right?” Deutsche Welle (DW), September 26, 2022, www.dw.com/en/italy-election-who-is-giorgia-meloni-the-star-of-the-far-right/a-62604896 .

349 joined the third . . . as the Italian minister of youth Stefano Pitrelli and Anthony Faiola, “Berlusconi’s Testosterone Politics Have Been Overtaken by Women in Italy,” Washington Post , June 12, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/06/12/silvio-berlusconi-women-giorgia-meloni-italy/ .

349 helped form Brothers of Italy Nicole Winfield, “How a Party of Neo-Fascist Roots Won Big in Italy,” AP News, September 26, 2022, apnews.com/article/elections-rome-italy-6aa9fcb003071c307190a4053f199d98 .

349 assumed the presidency . . . in 2014 “Profile: Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister, Italy,” Forbes , accessed March 27, 2025, www.forbes.com/profile/giorgia-meloni/ .

349 “the vast majority of them African men” Giorgia Meloni, “Dress rehearsals for ethnic substitution in Italy . . .” Facebook, October 6, 2016, www.facebook.com/giorgiameloni.paginaufficiale/posts/prove-generali-di-sostituzione-etnica-in-italia-nel-2015-pi%C3%B9-di-100-mila-italian/10154534547787645 , archived at Wayback Machine, February 10, 2026 capture, web.archive.org/web/20260210170713/http://web.archive.org/screenshot/https://www.facebook.com/giorgiameloni.paginaufficiale/posts/prove-generali-di-sostituzione-etnica-in-italia-nel-2015-pi%C3%B9-di-100-mila-italian/10154534547787645 , via Google Translate.

349 “dress rehearsals for ethnic substitution” Meloni, “Dress rehearsals for ethnic substitution in Italy . . .” www.facebook.com/giorgiameloni.paginaufficiale/posts/prove-generali-di-sostituzione-etnica-in-italia-nel-2015-pi%C3%B9-di-100-mila-italian/10154534547787645 , archived at web.archive.org/web/20260210170713/http://web.archive.org/screenshot/https://www.facebook.com/giorgiameloni.paginaufficiale/posts/prove-generali-di-sostituzione-etnica-in-italia-nel-2015-pi%C3%B9-di-100-mila-italian/10154534547787645 .

349 another phrase Renaud Camus used Renaud Camus writes, “The Great Replacement, ethnic substitution, the change of people and civilisation, is by far the biggest and most urgent problem Western countries have to face.” Renaud Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , (Plieux, France: Renaud Camus, 2018), 188. See also 23, 36, 62, 64, 66, 70, 83, 185. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

349 “big capital” . . . “for low-cost labor, slaves” Mediatime Network, “Giorgia Meloni Against Ethnic Substitution,” YouTube, January 29, 2017, youtu.be/4EzNi5PGbRA?si=V5pgowh_wJW3sWQ1 , 0:01–1:08, via Google Translate. See also Carlo Canepa, “Every Time Meloni and Salvini Talked about ‘Ethnic Substitution,’” Pagella Politica , April 19, 2023, pagellapolitica-it.translate.goog/articoli/meloni-salvini-sostituzione-etnica .

349 “It’s called ethnic substitution” Mediatime Network, "Giorgia Meloni Against Ethnic Substitution," youtu.be/4EzNi5PGbRA?si=V5pgowh_wJW3sWQ1 , 1:15–1:18.

349 “there is an ethnic substitution plan in Italy” Vista Agenzia Televisiva Nazionale, “Ethnic Substitution, What Giorgia Meloni Said 6 Years Ago," YouTube, April 24, 2023, youtu.be/EgVdu6ZYgWY?si=Xzgueb2O8DjmzpJg , 0:12–0:15, via Google Translate.

349 “an accomplice of the uncontrolled immigration . . .” Giorgia Meloni, Twitter, February 3, 2017, 9:59 a.m., x.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/827531927653646337 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/rUmvl .

349 “In fact, as any honest observer will acknowledge” President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera n ewspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, April 25, 2023, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

349 “the right-wing parties in parliament . . . ” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

349 “Fascist leaders appeal to history to replace . . .” Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (New York: Random House, 2018), 21. Visit earch.worldcat.org/title/1144112665 to find this book at a library.

Chapter 93: White Man’s Party

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:42 GMT

351 told four congresswomen of color Though Trump did not mention the congresswomen by name, his tweets were targeted at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Only Omar was born outside of the United States. Jonathan Lemire and Calvin Woodward, “Leave the US, Trump Tells Liberal Congresswomen of Color,” Associated Press (AP) News, July 14, 2019, apnews.com/article/728ada1e918a482c9e9b1f3e24937caa .

351 “go back” . . . ”came from” Trump wrote, “So interesting to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!” Donald J. Trump, Twitter, July 14, 2019, 8:27 a.m., x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1150381396994723841 , archived at archive.today, September 9, 2020 capture, archive.ph/5mscZ .

351 denied that Trump’s tweets were racist When asked by a reporter if Trump’s tweets were racist, McCarthy firmly answers, “No.” Washington Post , “McCarthy: Trump’s Tweets Were Not Racist,” YouTube, July 16, 2019, youtu.be/TjAASh7mKHU?si=38R1bcTurxjYpsu4 , 0:00–0:05.

351 “We are the party of Lincoln” Washington Post , “McCarthy: Trump’s Tweets Were Not Racist,” youtu.be/TjAASh7mKHU?si=38R1bcTurxjYpsu4 , 2:16–2:17.

351 “ The Republican Party is the party of . . .” Right Side Broadcasting Network, “Full Event: Donald Trump Rally in Everett, WA 8/30/16 (RSBN CAMERAS),” YouTube, August 30, 2016, www.youtube.com/live/gPfautohnMw?si=u9h9WtTAiP8NabZ7 , 48:30–48:47.

351 “It is the Democratic Party that is the party of slavery, the party of Jim Crow” Right Side Broadcasting Network, “Full Event: Donald Trump Rally in Everett, WA 8/30/16 (RSBN CAMERAS),” www.youtube.com/live/gPfautohnMw?si=u9h9WtTAiP8NabZ7 , 48:50–48:57.

351 founding in 1828 “While there is no precise date for the beginning of the Democratic party, its origin can be traced to the late 1700s when Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican party organized opposition to the Federalist Party . . . Most historians agree that the Democratic party as we know it today began with Andrew Jackson’s successful 1828 presidential campaign.” CNN, “Democratic Party History,” in “1996 Democratic National Convention: Chicago,” CNN.com, accessed March 28, 2025, edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/conventions/chicago/facts/history/index.shtml .

351 supported or accepted slavery and its expansion On the “popular sovereignty” policy of the Democrats, which empowered White men in territories (rather than Congress) to decide on the slavery question, see Joshua A. Lynn, Preserving the White Man’s Republic: Jacksonian Democracy, Race, and the Transformation of American Conservatism (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2019), 11–33. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1065821195 .

351 enacted laws . . . from remaining in enslaving states At least six Democrat-led enslaving states—Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Virginia, and Arkansas—prohibited emancipated people from remaining in the state. For legislative details, see Henry W. Farnam, Chapters in the History of Social Legislation in the United States to 1860 , ed. Clive Day (Union, NJ: Lawbook Exchange, 2000), 199–200; and Judith Kelleher Schafer, Becoming Free, Remaining Free: Manumission and Enslavement in New Orleans, 1846–1862 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003), 146–148. Find Chapters in the History of Social Legislation in the United States to 1860 ( search.worldcat.org/title/42476722 ) and Becoming Free, Remaining Free ( search.worldcat.org/title/51297235 ) at a local library.

351 from settling in Midwestern states John A. Logan, then a Democrat, sponsored the Illinois Black Law of 1853, which banned Black migration into Illinois. In Indiana, 95 out of 150 delegates at the 1851 convention that drafted the constitution, which banned Black migration, were Democrats. See Illinois General Assembly, General Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eighteenth General Assembly, Convened January 3, 1853 (Springfield, IL: Lanphier & Walker, 1853), archive.org/details/lawsofstateofill1853illi/page/56/mode/2up , 57–60 (Illinois law text); “27. Illinois Black Law (1853),” 100 Most Valuable Documents at the Illinois State Archives , Illinois Secretary of State, accessed September 26, 2025, https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/archives/online-exhibits/100-documents/1853-black-law.html (law summary and information on Logan); David G. Vanderstel, “1851 Indiana Constitution,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed September 26, 2025, www.in.gov/history/about-indiana-history-and-trivia/explore-indiana-history-by-topic/state-constitutions/the-1851-indiana-constitution-by-david-g-vanderstel/ (composition of 1851 Indiana constitutional convention); “Constitution of 1851 as originally written: Article 13—Negroes and Mulattoes,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed September 26, 2025, www.in.gov/history/about-indiana-history-and-trivia/explore-indiana-history-by-topic/indiana-documents-leading-to-statehood/constitution-of-1851/article-13-negroes-and-mulattoes/ (text of section 13 of 1851 Indiana Constitution).

351 “I want to have nothing to do either . . . the white man’s party” The transcript of this speech notes that this line was met with “great applause.” Speech of Hon. Lyman Trumbull, of Illinois, at a Mass Meeting in Chicago, August 7, 1858 (Washington, D.C.: Buell & Blanchard, 1858), www.google.com/books/edition/Speech_of_Hon_Lyman_Trumball_of_Illinois/Nr0mDo_PGHQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP5&printsec=frontcover , 13.

351 “We are for free white men” Speech of Hon. Lyman Trumbull , www.google.com/books/edition/Speech_of_Hon_Lyman_Trumball_of_Illinois/Nr0mDo_PGHQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP5&printsec=frontcover , 13.

352 helped found the Republican Party in 1854 Eric Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 104–106. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/726734951 .

352 advocates of “free soil” dominated Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men , 58–65. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/726734951 .

352 the North’s paper of record Adam Tuchinsky, Horace Greeley’s New-York Tribune: Civil-War Era Socialism and the Crisis of Free Labor (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009), 212. See also “New-York Tribune (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924,” Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers , National Digital Newspaper Program, Library of Congress and National Endowment for the Humanities, accessed March 31, 2025, www.loc.gov/item/sn83030214/ . To find Tuchinsky’s book at a library, visit search.worldcat.org/title/726824350 .

352 “There are Republicans who are Abolitionists . . ." New York Tribune , October 15, 1856, quoted in Foner, Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men , 61. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/726734951 .

352 in pressing for the removal . . . from the United States James Oakes, Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861–1865 (New York. W. W. Norton & Company, 2014), 279–280. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/783162639 .

352 “The North does not want . . .” Lyman Trumbull in U.S. Congress, Congressional Globe , 36th Cong., 1st sess. (December 8, 1859), www.google.com/books/edition/The_Congressional_Globe/sw525nrZdcIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA60&printsec=frontcover , 60.

352 appropriate money for remigration Abraham Lincoln, “Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Colored Men,” August 14, 1862, in Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-colonization-deputation-colored-men ; and Phillip W. Magness and Sebastian N. Page, Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2011), 3–4. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/793207678 .

352 failed to materialize See Sydney Trent, “Abraham Lincoln’s Disastrous Effort to Get Black People to Leave the U.S.,” Washington Post , February 19, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/02/19/abraham-lincolns-disastrous-effort-get-black-people-leave-us/ .

352 wanted to expand slavery . . . the policy of “popular sovereignty” Lynn, Preserving the White Man’s Republic , 11–33; and Laura Schulte, “PolitiFact: Did Democrats Want to Expand Slavery Pre-Civil War, While Republicans Opposed It?” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , January 9, 2024, www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/politifactwisconsin/2024/01/09/did-democrats-want-to-expand-slavery-before-the-civil-war/72107569007/ . Find White Man’s Republic at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1065821195 .

352 “where it exists” During his first debate against Douglas, held in Ottawa, Illinois, in August 1858, Lincoln declared, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” Lincoln went on to directly quote this line in his first inaugural address in March 1861. Abraham Lincoln, “First Joint Debate, at Ottawa, August 21, 1858,” in Political Speeches and Debates of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, 1854–1861 , ed. Alonzo T. Jones (Battle Creek, MI: International Tract Society, 1895), www.google.com/books/edition/Political_Speeches_and_Debates_of_Abraha/Gvc-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR1&printsec=frontcover , 179; and Abraham Lincoln, “First Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln,” March 4, 1861, The Avalon Project, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp .

352 seceded after Lincoln’s election For a list of the eleven states that seceded, and their dates of secession, see “War Declared: States Secede from the Union,” Kennesaw Mountain, National Battlefield Park, National Park Service, September 19, 2023, www.nps.gov/kemo/learn/historyculture/wardeclared.htm .

352 attempted . . . only to save the Union In a letter to Horace Greeley in August 1862, Lincoln wrote, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about Slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union.” Abraham Lincoln, “Letter in Reply to Horace Greeley on Slavery and the Union—The Restoration of the Union the Paramount Object,” August 22, 1862, in Peters and Woolley, The American Presidency Project, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-reply-horace-greeley-slavery-and-the-union-the-restoration-the-union-the-paramount .

352 only way . . . was to end slavery “On July 13 Lincoln told Secretary of State William H. Seward and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles that he had nearly decided that an emancipation declaration was necessary in order to save the Union.” John B. Boles, Black Southerners, 1619–1869 (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1984), 190. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/900344791 .

352 his offer . . . before 1900 In his Second Annual Message to Congress in December 1862, Lincoln proclaimed, “Our national strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the land we inhabit: not from our national homestead. There is no possible severing of this but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us.” He insisted that his scheme for “compensated emancipation” “would shorten the war, perpetuate peace, insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of the country.” Abraham Lincoln, “December 1, 1862: Second Annual Message,” Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia, millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/december-1-1862-second-annual-message . Less than two months earlier, Lincoln had issued his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, in which he warned Confederate enslaving states that if they did not surrender by January 1, 1863, “all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Abraham Lincoln, “Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation,” September 22, 1862, National Archives, www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals_iv/sections/transcript_preliminary_emancipation.html .

352 signed . . . to join the Union Army and Navy “By the end of the Civil War, roughly 179,000 black men (10% of the Union Army) served as soldiers in the U.S. Army and another 19,000 served in the Navy. Nearly 40,000 black soldiers died over the course of the war—30,000 of infection or disease . . . Black women, who could not formally join the Army, nonetheless served as nurses, spies, and scouts, the most famous being Harriet Tubman, who scouted for the 2d South Carolina Volunteers.” For a transcript of the proclamation, see Abraham Lincoln, “Emancipation Proclamation,” January 1, 1863, Milestone Documents, National Archives, www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/emancipation-proclamation . For more information on the service of Black men and women in Union forces, see “Black Soldiers in the U.S. Military During the Civil War,” National Archives, October 4, 2023, www.archives.gov/education/lessons/blacks-civil-war .

353 pursued his remigration plans “Though the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1862 did not include reference to colonization, one hour before Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation he signed an agreement with business man Bernard Kock to settle 5,000 contrabands in Haiti. In January 1863 Lincoln instructed that negotiations be held with foreign governments holding possessions in the Caribbean and Central America and these negotiations were continued into 1864. In early January 1865 Reverend James Mitchell, who worked with Lincoln throughout his Presidency on the issue of colonization, reported that Lincoln chose to close the policy of colonization ‘for the time being’ as it risked diverting manpower from the U.S. Colored Troop recruitment. Although there is a great deal of skepticism about the accuracy of the story because of his character, Benjamin Butler did meet Lincoln on April 11, 1865 and recounted that Lincoln expressed concerns about impending racial violence against freedmen and asked Butler to investigate using Central America as a prospective refuge. Whether his emerging vision for reconstruction would have included colonization as a policy cannot be known because of his untimely death.” Phillip W. Magness, “Lincoln and Colonization,” Essential Civil War Curriculum, Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech, accessed April 1, 2025, www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/lincoln-and-colonization.html .

353 more than 90 percent “In 1861 there were about 4 million blacks in the United States. Almost 90 percent of African Americans, about 3.5 million, were slaves living in fifteen southern states. Slightly more than half of the remaining 10 percent were free blacks living in the South, and the rest were free blacks living in the North.” “Civil Rights: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Civil War,” in Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619–1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass , vol. 1, ed. Paul Finkelman (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 277. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1081065259 .

353 providing . . . civil and voting rights See “Reconstruction and Black Political Activism,” Black Americans in Congress, 1870–2007, History, Art & Archives , U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian, 2008, history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Fifteenth-Amendment/Reconstruction/ .

353 largely looked the other way . . . For details on the relationship between the Republicans’ abandonment of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow and lynchings, see “Back to Brutality: Restoring Racial Hierarchy Through Terror and Violence” and “Lynching in America: From ‘Popular Justice’ to Racial Terror,” in Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror , 3 ^rd ed., accessed April 1, 2025, lynchinginamerica.eji.org/report/ .

353 welcomed segregationist Democrats. . . with Harry Truman Southern segregationists resisted the civil rights movement and largely switched to the Republican Party in time for Ronald Reagan’s presidential election in 1980. Segregationist Southern Democrats walked out of the 1948 Democratic National Convention in protest of the party’s support for civil rights. They formed the States Rights Democratic (or Dixiecrat) Party and nominated Strom Thurmond of South Carolina—who later became a Republican over his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964—as their presidential candidate in the 1948 election. The official Dixiecrat platform declared, “We oppose and condemn the action of the Democratic Convention in sponsoring a civil rights program calling for the elimination of segregation, social equality by Federal fiat, regulations of private employment practices, voting, and local law enforcement.” By contrast, the Dixiecrats “oppose the elimination of segregation, the repeal of miscegenation statutes, the control of private employment by Federal bureaucrats called for by the misnamed civil rights program. We favor home-rule, local self-government and a minimum interference with individual rights.” States Rights Democratic Party, “Platform of the States Rights Democratic Party,” August 14, 1948, Teaching American History, teachingamericanhistory.org/document/platform-of-the-states-rights-democratic-party/ . On other key events that led to the Southern political migration to the Republican party by 1980, see Ron Elving, “Dixie’s Long Journey from Democratic Stronghold to Republican Redoubt,” It’s All Politics , NPR, June 25, 2015, www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/25/417154906/dixies-long-journey-from-democratic-stronghold-to-republican-redoubt .

Chapter 94: Modern KKK

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:41 GMT

354 “What gets lost . . .” Conn Carroll, “Text: Sen. Rand Paul’s speech at Howard University,” Washington Examiner , April 10, 2013, www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/1858052/text-sen-rand-pauls-speech-at-howard-university/ .

354 “look at the Dixiecrats . . .” Senator Ted Cruz, “Sen. Cruz on Fox News’ America Newsroom—Feb. 8, 2017,” YouTube, February 8, 2017, youtu.be/aU8o35GuR8w?si=QIe-_JpTfv4dowuS , 5:31–5:42.

354 compared . . . to the KKK During an interview with conservative commentator David Harris Jr., Greene said of the Black Lives Movement, “It’s basically the same tactics that the Ku Klux Klan used to use. They used to go and take to the streets with torches and their uniforms and go out there like some sort of army. They would threaten courts. They would threaten people in their towns if they didn’t behave the way they wanted them to behave.” David Harris Jr., “Special Guest Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene Joins Me to Talk About Chauvin Verdict & More!” Periscope, April 21, 2021, www.pscp.tv/w/1YqxoyglLwMGv , 6:11–6:32.

354 “. . . The Democrat Party is the party of the Ku Klux Klan” Harris Jr., “Special Guest Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene Joins Me to Talk About Chauvin Verdict & More!” www.pscp.tv/w/1YqxoyglLwMGv , 6:32–6:37.

354 “modern grand wizards of the modern KKK” Alex Tabet and Katherine Koretski, “Vivek Ramaswamy calls Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Author Ibram Kendi Part of ‘Modern KKK,’” NBC News, August 25, 2023, video, www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/vivek-ramaswamy-calls-rep-ayanna-pressley-author-ibram-kendi-part-mode-rcna101873 , 0:29–1:20. The “modern grand wizards of the modern KKK” line begins at 1:19.

354 a backdrop that read “TRUTH” Thomas Beaumont, “Republican presidential candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy greets people at a campaign stop in Pella, Iowa, Friday, Aug. 25, 2023,” 2023, photograph, Associated Press Photo, dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/2454d73/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4009x2673+0+0/resize/1440x960!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Fba%2F8c%2F7e3b4c519671fc83333776c52bcf%2Fb18b25e9b4d4487bb227fb793e961bce .

354–355 “April 25, 1945, clearly marks . . .” “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, April 25, 2023, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

355 “ The whole white race may be submerged . . .” “Mussolini Warns on Birth Rate Drop,” New York Times , September 27, 1928, nyti.ms/4hVQPLO , 1, 9.

355 “While, for instance, the whites . . .” “ Mussolini Warns on Birth Rate Drop,” nyti.ms/4hVQPLO , 9.

355 “China has 400,000,000 inhabitants” “ Mussolini Warns on Birth Rate Drop,” nyti.ms/4hVQPLO , 9.

355 “alarm” . . . “sounding and all who can see . . .” “ Mussolini Warns on Birth Rate Drop,” nyti.ms/4hVQPLO , 9.

355 a series . . . including barring interracial marriage and extramarital sex Christopher Shinn, “Inside the Italian Empire: Colonial Africa, Race Wars, and the ‘Southern Question,’” in Shades of Whiteness , ed. Ewan Kirkland (Oxford, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2016), 42; and Michael A. Livingston, The Fascists and the Jews of Italy: Mussolini’s Race Laws, 1938–1943 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 67-68. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/1239981177 ( Shades of Whiteness ) and search.worldcat.org/title/823860721 ( The Fascists and the Jews of Italy ) to find these books at a library.

355 positioned Jews and Africans as the great replacers of Italy’s “Aryan race” Aaron Gillette, “The Origins of the ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” Journal of Modern Italian Studies 6, no. 3 (2001), www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 306, 312–313.

355 Drafted . . . heavily edited by Mussolini Gillette, “The Origins of the ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 306, 307–308, 313.

355 positively reviewed by handpicked Gillette, “The Origins of the ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 313.

355 first appeared . . . on July 14, 1938 Gillette, “The Origins of the ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 305.

355 “The concept of race is purely biological” Italics in the original. “Appendix: ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” 1938, in Gillette, “The Origins of the ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 318.

355 “the Jews do not belong to the Italian race” Italics in the original. “Appendix: ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 319.

355 “The population of Italy today. . .” Italics in the original. “Appendix: ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 319.

356 “If the extreme leftists manage . . .” Branko Grims quoted in Álvaro Peñas, “‘Without Christian Roots Europe Cannot Exist’: An Interview with Branko Grims,” European Conservative , August 23, 2023, europeanconservative.com/articles/interviews/without-christian-roots-europe-cannot-exist-an-interview-with-branko-grims/ .

356 “The racial composition of today . . .” Italics in the original. “Appendix: ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 319.

356 “The population stock of France . . . ” Renaud Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , (Plieux, France: Renaud Camus, 2018), 22–23. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

356 “The purely European character of the Italians . . .” “Appendix: ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 320.

356 “We are willing to mix with one another . . .” “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the 31st Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp,” Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, July 23, 2022, 2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu/speech-by-prime-minister-viktor-orban-at-the-31st-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp/ .

356 “Islamic civilisation” “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the 31st Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp,” 2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu/speech-by-prime-minister-viktor-orban-at-the-31st-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp/ .

356 “constantly moving towards Europe” “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the 31st Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp,” 2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu/speech-by-prime-minister-viktor-orban-at-the-31st-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp/ .

356 “occupying and flooding the West” “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the 31st Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp,” 2015-2022.miniszterelnok.hu/speech-by-prime-minister-viktor-orban-at-the-31st-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp/ .

356 “It is time for the Italians to proclaim . . .” Formatting in the original. “Appendix: ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 319.

356 “the doctrine of people who . . .” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 83–84. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

356 secretly recorded . . . the youth division of Brothers of Italy Angelo Amante, “Rome’s Jews Outraged After Videos Show Antisemitism in Meloni’s Youth Movement,” Reuters, June 27, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/romes-jews-outraged-after-videos-show-antisemitism-melonis-youth-movement-2024-06-27/ .

356–357 identified as fascists. They berated . . . with antisemitic comments Amante, “Rome’s Jews Outraged After Videos Show Antisemitism in Meloni’s Youth Movement,” www.reuters.com/world/europe/romes-jews-outraged-after-videos-show-antisemitism-melonis-youth-movement-2024-06-27/ .

356–357 yelled the Nazi slogan “Sieg Heil!” Amante, “Rome’s Jews Outraged After Videos Show Antisemitism in Meloni’s Youth Movement,” www.reuters.com/world/europe/romes-jews-outraged-after-videos-show-antisemitism-melonis-youth-movement-2024-06-27/ .

357 “angry and saddened” Giorgia Meloni, letter to Brothers of Italy, July 2, 2024, quoted in Crispian Balmer, “Italy’s Meloni Tells Her Party There Is No Rom for Fascism in Its Ranks,” Reuters, July 2, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/italys-meloni-tells-her-party-there-is-no-room-fascism-its-ranks-2024-07-02/ .

357 “no room in Brothers of Italy for racism or antisemitism” Meloni, letter to Brothers of Italy, www.reuters.com/world/europe/italys-meloni-tells-her-party-there-is-no-room-fascism-its-ranks-2024-07-02/ .

357 “extra-European race” . . . “a civilization different from . . .” “Appendix: ‘Manifesto of Racial Scientists,’” www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545710110084253 , 320.

357 “uncontrolled immigration” Giorgia Meloni, Twitter, February 3, 2017, 9:59 a.m., x.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/827531927653646337 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/rUmvl .

357 “ethnic substitution” Mediatime Network, "Giorgia Meloni Against Ethnic Substitution," youtu.be/4EzNi5PGbRA?si=V5pgowh_wJW3sWQ1 , 1:15–1:18; and Vista Agenzia Televisiva Nazionale, “Ethnic Substitution, What Giorgia Meloni Said 6 Years Ago," April 24, 2023, youtu.be/EgVdu6ZYgWY?si=Xzgueb2O8DjmzpJg , 0:12–0:15.

Chapter 95: Liberal Democracy

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:39 GMT

358 “patient negotiations” . . . “aimed at defining . . .” “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, April 25, 2023, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

358 founded . . . opposed “liberal democracy” On the MSI’s ideological rejection of liberal democracy, see Piero Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2003), 36–37, 40, 43, 46, 48, 51. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/62132369 .

358 “not unanimously desired . . .” “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

358 elected a constituent assembly “Qualunquismo,” in Mark F. Gilbert and Robert K. Nilsson, Historical Dictionary of Modern Italy , 2nd ed. (Plymouth, UK: Scarecrow Press, 2007), 360–361. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1133661600 .

358 556 legislators were 30 members Constituent Assembly, July 2, 1946, The Historical Archive of Elections, Ministry of the Interior, Central Directorate of Electoral Services, elezionistorico.interno.gov.it/index.php?dtel=02%2F06%2F1946&es0=S&lev0=0&levsut0=0&ms=S&tpa=I&tpe=A&tpel=A , via Google Translate.

358 a short-lived party with fascist ties . . . joined the MSI Gilbert and Nilsson, “Qualunquismo,” 360–361. Find the book in which this article appears at search.worldcat.org/title/62132369 .

358 The authors, known as the Constitutional Arch, comprised the Newth, “Matteo Salvini, Giorgia Meloni, and ‘Post-Fascism’ as Political Logic,” www.psa.ac.uk/matteo-salvini-giorgia-meloni-and-post-fascism-as-political-logic/ ; and Franco Astengo and Giovanni Burzio, “Italian Political Parties Between the Constituent Assembly and Tangentopoli,” Riforme Istituzionali (Institutional Reforms), January 23, 2012, www.riforme.info/segn/5703-i-partiti-tra-costituente-tangentopoli .

358–359 “under any form whatsoever” . . .“temporary limitations . . . for the Fascist regime” Section XII of Constitution of the Italian Republic (1948), www.senato.it/documenti/repository/istituzione/costituzione_inglese.pdf , 41.

359 “a text that set out to unite and not to divide . . .” “President Letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

359 a retired professor of history . . . and a columnist for Corriere della Sera A 2025 biographical blurb of Ernesto Galli della Loggia states, “Ernesto Galli della Loggia was Professor of Contemporary History at the Italian Institute of Human Sciences (SUM) in Florence, which merged with the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa . . . He is a columnist for the Corriere della Sera .” “Ernesto Galli Della Loggia, Vincenzo Lavenia, What History for the Italian School, Saturday, September 20, 2025, Modena, Piazza Sant’Agostino,” Festival Filosofia, accessed September 29, 2025, www.festivalfilosofia.it/2025/dibattiti/Quale+storia+per+la+scuola+italiana/Ernesto+Galli+Della+Loggia%2CVincenzo+Lavenia , via Google Translate.

359 chronicled . . . allowed former fascist leaders to run for office by 1953 Ernesto Galli della Loggia, “Coming to Terms with Our Past: The Wisdom of the Constitution,” Corriere della Sera , April 11, 2023, www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_11/i-conti-il-nostro-passatola-saggezza-costituzione-8b6037ae-d88e-11ed-a8f9-e221e4e860de.shtml?refresh_ce , via Google Translate.

359 “time—they rather hoped . . .” Galli della Loggia, “Coming Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_11/i-conti-il-nostro-passatola-saggezza-costituzione-8b6037ae-d88e-11ed-a8f9-e221e4e860de.shtml?refresh_ce .

359 “admit that, yes, fascism . . .” Ernesto Galli della Loggia, “The Past and Us: The Fear of Eternal Fascism,” Corriere della Sera , October 31, 2021, www.corriere.it/opinioni/21_ottobre_31/passato-noi-paura-dell-eterno-fascismo-95e3fa5c-3a75-11ec-850c-0c14b1133c9c.shtml , via Google Translate.

359 “de-Christianization” of Europe Ernesto Galli della Loggia, “Conservatives Should Focus on the Future, Not the Past,” Corriere della Sera , April 25, 2023, www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_25/i-conservatori-si-occupinodel-futuro-non-passato-e252a844-e392-11ed-89e2-97aae0cbce13.shtml , via Google Translate.

359 lamented low birth rates Galli della Loggia, “Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_25/i-conservatori-si-occupinodel-futuro-non-passato-e252a844-e392-11ed-89e2-97aae0cbce13.shtml .

359 “how many ties with our cultural past . . .” Galli della Loggia, “Letter to the Corriere della Sera Newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_25/i-conservatori-si-occupinodel-futuro-non-passato-e252a844-e392-11ed-89e2-97aae0cbce13.shtml .

360 454 million Christians and 71 million Muslims Numbers rounded to the nearest whole million. Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” April 2, 2015, assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf , 147.

360 decline between now and 2050 . . . projected to increase Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf , 147.

360 from 67 percent in 2020 to 65 percent in 2050 Pew Research Center, “Religious Composition by Country, 2010–2020,” accessed October 30, 2025, www.pewresearch.org/religion/feature/religious-composition-by-country-2010-2020/ ; and Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf , 147.

360 “increasingly probable prevalence . . .” Galli della Loggia, “Conservatives Should Focus on the Future, Not the Past,” www.corriere.it/editoriali/23_aprile_25/i-conservatori-si-occupinodel-futuro-non-passato-e252a844-e392-11ed-89e2-97aae0cbce13.shtml .

360 roughly 16 percent . . . Numbers rounded to the nearest whole million. Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf , 147.

360 “. . . the largest net losses from switching” Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf , 12.

360 “Globally, about 40 million people . . . 106 million . . .” Pew Research Center, “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010–2050,” assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf , 12.

Chapter 96: Antifa

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:38 GMT

361 more than 90 percent . . . Researchers at the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) found: “The vast majority of demonstration events associated with the BLM movement are non-violent. In more than 93% of all demonstrations connected to the movement, demonstrators have not engaged in violence or destructive activity. Peaceful protests are reported in over 2,400 distinct locations around the country. Violent demonstrations, meanwhile, have been limited to fewer than 220 locations—under 10% of the areas that experienced peaceful protests.” Roudabeh Kishi and Sam Jones, “Demonstrations and Political Violence in America: New Data for Summer 2020,” ACLED, September 3, 2020, acleddata.com/report/demonstrations-and-political-violence-america-new-data-summer-2020 .

361 comes from . . . to militantly confront . . . Nazism Mark Hallam, “Trump’s ‘Antifa’ Claims Spark German Dispute,” Deutsche Welle (DW), June 3, 2020, www.dw.com/en/trumps-antifa-accusations-spark-debate-in-germany-the-movements-birthplace/a-53665573 .

361 cast Antifa as terrorists See Nikolaus Wachsmann, Hitler’s Prisons: Legal Terror in Nazi Germany (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2004), 113; and Remigio Petrocelli, Importing Fascism: The Italian Community’s Fascist Experience in Interwar Scotland (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2025), 140. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/53138578 ( Hitler’s Prisons ) and earch.worldcat.org/title/1482610899 ( Importing Fascism ) to find these books at a library.

361 “. . . designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization” Donald J. Trump, Twitter, May 31, 2020, 12:23 p.m., x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267129644228247552 , archived at archive.today, July 15, 2024 capture, archive.ph/B31FY .

361 “Correct decision, which is also long overdue . . .” Alice Weidel, Twitter, June 1, 2020, 4:40 a.m., x.com/Alice_Weidel/status/1267375457349091328 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/dz3WT

361 “Antifa hates freedom and the rule of law” Geert Wilders, Twitter, June 1, 2020, 2:03 a.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1267336037967302656 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/TTYxl .

361–362 “They claim to be anti-racists and anti-fascists . . .” Wilders, Twitter, June 1, 2020, x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1267336037967302656 , archived at archive.ph/wip/TTYxl .

362 “Nice gang there in Amsterdam” Geert Wilders, Twitter, June 1, 2020, 1:17 a.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1267324479321055234 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/HPfg0 .

362 “mob rule” . . . “rioting, looting, arson, and violence” C-SPAN, “President Donald Trump Full Acceptance Speech at 2020 Republican National Convention,” YouTube, August 28, 2020, youtu.be/RhL9iFkBaus?si=o5MOXpGwTajFhjhy , 49:46–50:01 (discussion of “mob rule”), 50:09–50:12 (“rioting, looting, arson and violence”).

362 “the Republican Party” . . . “the voice of the patriotic . . .” C-SPAN, “President Donald Trump Full Acceptance Speech at 2020 Republican National Convention,” youtu.be/RhL9iFkBaus?si=o5MOXpGwTajFhjhy , 53:35–53:42.

362 “Across Europe, these pseudo ‘antifa’ are using violence . . .” Marine Le Pen, Twitter, April 8, 2021, 5:26 a.m., x.com/MLP_officiel/status/1380089783930748929 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/Ulbpk .

362 “No less than 4,000 crimes per year . . .” Geert Wilders, Twitter, November 24, 2022, 2:27 a.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1595680386658492417 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/Ga77B .

362 “are 100% responsible for letting this scum in” Wilders, Twitter, November 24, 2022, x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1595680386658492417 , archived at archive.ph/wip/Ga77B .

362 assumed executive authority “What We Know So Far About Tunisia’s Political Crisis,” Al Jazeera, July 26, 2021, www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/26/tunisias-political-crisis-all-you-need-to-know-in-500-words .

362 violent protests . . . and corruption Simon Speakman Cordall, “‘Things Are Getting Worse': Tunisia Protests Rage On as Latest Victim Named,” The Guardian , January 27, 2021, www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jan/27/things-are-getting-worse-tunisia-protests-rage-on-as-latest-victim-named ; Human Rights Watch, “Tunisia: Police Use Violent Tactics to Quash Protests,” February 5, 2021, www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/05/tunisia-police-use-violent-tactics-quash-protests ; News agencies, “Tunisians Protest as COVID Surges, Economy Suffers,” Al Jazeera, July 25, 2021, www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/25/tunisians-protest-as-covid-surges-economy-suffers ; and Sharan Grewal, “Kais Saied’s Power Grab in Tunisia,” Brookings Institution, July 26, 2021, www.brookings.edu/articles/kais-saieds-power-grab-in-tunisia .

362 a “self-coup” Grewal, “Kais Saied’s Power Grab in Tunisia,” www.brookings.edu/articles/kais-saieds-power-grab-in-tunisia .

362 suspended parliament and forced the prime minister to resign “What We Know So Far About Tunisia’s Political Crisis,” Al Jazeera, July 26, 2021, www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/26/tunisias-political-crisis-all-you-need-to-know-in-500-words .

362 rule by decree . . . and revised Tunisia’s constitution Human Rights Watch, “Tunisia: President Intensifies Attacks on Judicial Independence,” February 27, 2023, www.hrw.org/news/2023/02/27/tunisia-president-intensifies-attacks-judicial-independence .

362 “criminal plan” . . . “to change the demographic composition . . .” Kais Saied, speech to Tunisian National Security Council, February 21, 2023, quoted in Jean-Luc Mounier, “Sub-Saharan Migrants in Tunisia Living in ‘Climate of Fear’ After Surge in Racist Attacks,” France 24, March 4, 2023, www.france24.com/en/africa/20230304-living-in-a-climate-of-fear-sub-saharan-migrants-in-tunisia-under-attack .

362 “the successive waves of illegal immigration . . .” Saied, speech to Tunisian National Security Council, quoted in Mounier, “Sub-Saharan Migrants in Tunisia Living in ‘Climate of Fear’ After Surge in Racist Attacks,” www.france24.com/en/africa/20230304-living-in-a-climate-of-fear-sub-saharan-migrants-in-tunisia-under-attack .

363 “A truck driver was assaulted, beaten . . .” José Antonio Kast Rist, Twitter, February 10, 2022, 6:47 p.m., x.com/joseantoniokast/status/1491921887517044736 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/4s4rU .

363 “raped by two ‘Arabic-speaking’ men” . . . “the government . . .” Alice Weidel, X, November 10, 2023, 2:25 a.m., x.com/Alice_Weidel/status/1722878040953262106 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/HEZ0h .

363 dragged . . . and murdered Jeff Amy et al., “Police Arrest Man in Killing of Nursing Student at University of Georgia,” Associated Press (AP) News, February 24, 2024, apnews.com/article/woman-dead-university-georgia-augusta-nursing-student-1e41b14c2d1e7c4889bc509abf5b42df ; and Jeff Amy et al., “The Killing of a Georgia Nursing Student Is Now at the Center of the US Immigration Debate,” AP News, February 27, 2024, apnews.com/article/biden-trump-riley-immigrants-crime-63181cbc7a89fe9fe28b1d0cf84c8b9a .

363 arrested . . . and charged him with murder Amy et al., “Police Arrest Man in Killing of Nursing Student at University of Georgia,” apnews.com/article/woman-dead-university-georgia-augusta-nursing-student-1e41b14c2d1e7c4889bc509abf5b42df ; and Amy et al., “The Killing of a Georgia Nursing Student Is Now at the Center of the US Immigration Debate,” apnews.com/article/biden-trump-riley-immigrants-crime-63181cbc7a89fe9fe28b1d0cf84c8b9a .

363 the 16,256 homicides in the United States January 2024 to December 2024 “Expanded Homicides Reported in the United States,” FBI Crime Data Explorer, last updated September 15, 2025, accessed September 29, 2025, “ cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/shr .

363 the overwhelming majority . . . by American citizens While 2024 homicide data is not available by citizenship status, evidence shows that immigrants commit less violent crime (and crime, in general) than U.S.-born people. Jasmine Garsd, “Immigrants Are Less Likely to Commit Crimes Than U.S.-Born Americans, Studies Find,” All Things Considered , NPR, March 8, 2024, www.npr.org/2024/03/08/1237103158/immigrants-are-less-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-us-born-americans-studies-find . Federal data on U.S. district court prosecutions in 2018 show that U.S. citizens accounted for 92.3% of people charged with a violent offense, compared with 1.6% for documented non-U.S. citizens and 4.4% for undocumented non-U.S. citizens. Suzanne M. Strong and Mark Motivans, “Non-U.S. Citizens in the Federal Criminal Justice System, 1998–2018,” U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 252647, November 2021, bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/ncfcjs9818.pdf , 7.

363 “an animal” Donald Trump, Michigan’s WFDF radio station, February 27, 2024, quoted in Amy et al., “The Killing of a Georgia Nursing Student Is Now at the Center of the US Immigration Debate,” apnews.com/article/biden-trump-riley-immigrants-crime-63181cbc7a89fe9fe28b1d0cf84c8b9a .

363 “Crooked Joe Biden’s Border INVASION” . . . “killing our citizens!” Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, February 26, 2024, 12:01 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/111998854564291670 , archived at Wayback Machine, February 27, 2024 capture, web.archive.org/web/20240227210653/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/111998854564291670 .

363 “ The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country. . . ” NBC Chicago, “Donald Trump’s Full Speech at 2024 RNC,” YouTube, July 19, 2024, youtu.be/dLUK_MEJP_M?si=nAYKJgITEQ3w8DIp , 1:02:34–1:02:38.

363 “prisons” or “jails” or “insane asylums” NBC Chicago, “Donald Trump’s Full Speech at 2024 RNC,” youtu.be/dLUK_MEJP_M?si=nAYKJgITEQ3w8DIp , 1:02:57–1:03:05.

363 “Our crime rate is going up . . .” NBC Chicago, “Donald Trump’s Full Speech at 2024 RNC,” youtu.be/dLUK_MEJP_M?si=nAYKJgITEQ3w8DIp , 1:03:35–1:03:46.

363 “violent crime” fell from 2022 to 2023 “FBI Releases 2023 Crime in the Nation Statistics,” FBI, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, September 23, 2024, www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2023-crime-in-the-nation-statistics .

363 fell by 11.6 percent “FBI Releases 2023 Crime in the Nation Statistics,” www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2023-crime-in-the-nation-statistics .

363 “the largest single year decline” in twenty years Ryan J. Reilly and Ken Dilanian, “Murder and Other Violent Crime Dropped Across the U.S. Last Year, FBI Data Shows,” NBC News, September 23, 2024, www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/violent-crime-dropped-america-last-year-new-fbi-data-shows-rcna172217 .

363 fell about 9.4 percent “FBI Releases 2023 Crime in the Nation Statistics,” www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2023-crime-in-the-nation-statistics .

363 “property crime” . . . the lowest rate since 1961 Ken Dilanian, “Most People Think the U.S. Crime Rate Is Rising: They’re Wrong.” NBC News, December 16, 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/people-think-crime-rate-up-actually-down-rcna129585 .

363 falling crime rates . . . in 2025 In August 2025, the FBI reported, “National violent crime decreased an estimated 4.5% in 2024 compared to 2023 estimates: Murder and non-negligent manslaughter recorded a 2024 estimated nationwide decrease of 14.9% compared to the previous year. In 2024, the estimated number of offenses in the revised rape category saw an estimated 5.2% decrease. Aggravated assault figures decreased an estimated 3.0% in 2024. Robbery showed an estimated decrease of 8.9% nationally.” “FBI Releases 2024 Reported Crimes in the Nation Statistics,” FBI, Criminal Justice Information Services Division, August 5, 2025, www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2024-reported-crimes-in-the-nation-statistics .

363–364 to restore “order” in Los Angeles . . . and Portland, Oregon Irie Sentner and Paul McLeary, “Trump, Justifying Domestic Military Action, Tells Pentagon Leaders to ‘Handle’ the ‘Enemy from Within,’” Politico , September 30, 2025, www.politico.com/news/2025/09/30/trump-military-cities-training-ground-00587977 ; Lazaro Gamio and Chris Hippensteel, “How and Where the National Guard Has Deployed to U.S. Cities,” New York Times , October 27, 2025, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/10/27/us/us-national-guard-deployments.html .

363–364 all Democrat-led cities, four led by Black mayors See “Karen Bass,” Ballotpedia, accessed October 30, 2025, ballotpedia.org/Karen_Bass (Los Angeles); Muriel Bowser,” Ballotpedia, accessed October 30, 2025, ballotpedia.org/Muriel_Bowser (Washington, D.C.); “Paul Young,” Ballotpedia, accessed October 30, 2025, ballotpedia.org/Paul_Young_(Tennessee) (Memphis); “Brandon Johnson,” Ballotpedia, accessed October 30, 2025, ballotpedia.org/Brandon_Johnson_(Illinois) (Chicago); and Keith Wilson, Ballotpedia, accessed October 30, 2025, ballotpedia.org/Keith_Wilson (Portland).

364 more than three-fourths . . . more “crime” in 2023 than in 2022 “More than three-quarters of Americans, 77%, believe there is more crime in the U.S. than a year ago, and a majority, 55%, say the same about crime in their local area.” Jeffrey M. Jones, “More Americans See U.S. Crime Problem as Serious,” Gallup News, November 16, 2023, news.gallup.com/poll/544442/americans-crime-problem-serious.aspx .

364 “My neighbors never post on NextDoor . . .” Jeff Asher, “Americans Are Bad at Perceiving Crime Trends,” Jeff-alytics , blog, December 4, 2023, jasher.substack.com/p/americans-are-bad-at-perceiving-crime .

364 “These outlier incidents become . . .” Asher, “Americans Are Bad at Perceiving Crime Trends,” jasher.substack.com/p/americans-are-bad-at-perceiving-crime .

364 “worried about appearing out of touch . . .” Abdallah Fayyad, “Lawmakers Are Overreacting to Crime,” Vox , April 25, 2024, www.vox.com/policy/24139552/crime-rates-falling-tough-laws-mass-incarceration .

Chapter 97: Custodian of Fascism

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:36 GMT

365 “entrusted the very strength of democracy . . .” “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, April 25, 2023,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

365 “were excluded from the constitutional process . . .” “the democratic right wing” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

365. “family” . . . “has been able to expand over the years” . . . “who had opposed . . .” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.corriere.it/politica/23_febbraio_04/meloni-cospito-lettera-ac56d0dc-a484-11ed-a9a2-20247d5f06f9.shtml .

365 “This is how a great democracy was born . . .” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

365 “A democracy in which . . .” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

365 “the only true antidote . . .” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

365 “Hence I cannot understand why . . .” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

366 “Fathers, uncles, brothers . . .” Marion Maréchal, speech at Salle des Fêtes in Sens, France, 2017, quoted in Julian Coman, “Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron Face Off for the Soul of France,” The Guardian , March 26, 2017, www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-french-elections .

366 “If, a century later . . . Vote for Marine Le Pen” Maréchal, speech at Salle des Fêtes in Sens, France,” www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-french-elections .

366 reminisced . . . who fought in both world war s Coman, “Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron face off for the soul of France,” www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-french-elections .

366 “He was an extraordinary patriot” Marie-Solange Werner quoted in Coman, “Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron Face Off for the Soul of France,” www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-french-elections .

366 “The Germans tried to enlist him . . .” Werner’s fuller quote is “With a family history like that, how can I use my life for anything other than fighting for French values? How could I not be in the Front National?” Werner quoted in Coman, “Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron Face Off for the Soul of France,” www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/marine-le-pen-emmanuel-macron-french-elections .

366 executed . . . for leading . . . at the University of Munich Shortly before her execution by guillotine, Sophie Scholl told the head of the People’s Court, “I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation.” Sophie’s 24-year-old brother, Hans, a founding member of the group, was arrested and executed alongside his sister. Among Hans’s final words were “Long live freedom!” Tanja B. Spitzer, “Sophie Scholl and the White Rose,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), February 22, 2020, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sophie-scholl-and-white-rose ; and Jud Newborn, “Hans and Sophie Scholl Were Once Hitler Youth Leaders: Why Did They Decide to Stand Up to the Nazis?” Smithsonian Magazine , February 17, 2023, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hans-and-sophie-scholl-were-once-hitler-youth-leaders-why-did-they-decide-to-stand-up-to-the-nazis-180981643/ .

366 “Sophie Scholl would have voted AfD” AfD Nürnberg-Süd/Schwabach, Facebook, January 2017, quoted in Christoph Hasselbach, “Anti-COVID Protesters Trivialize Nazi-Era Persecution,” Deutsche Welle (DW), November 28, 2020, www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-how-german-protesters-are-trivializing-nazi-era-persecution/a-55753236 .

366 Trump supporters . . . on Martin Luther King Day in 2024 See The Young Turks, “MAGA on Why MLK Would Be a Trump Supporter,” YouTube, January 23, 2024, youtu.be/WZ9YOxjRyHY?si=r5-BhM7Mmc_ycZ5E .

366 "the tradition of all anti-colonial struggles” Renaud Camus, “10 ^th Anniversary of Riposte Laïque,” 2017, in “Parti de l’In-nocence (PI),” France Politique , ed. Laurent de Boissieu, accessed April 3, 2025, www.france-politique.fr/wiki/Parti_de_l%27In-nocence_(PI) , via Google Translate.

366 listed . . . as a possible model . . . as an inspiration Camus, “10th Anniversary of Riposte Laïque,” www.france-politique.fr/wiki/Parti_de_l%27In-nocence_(PI) .

366–367 “Algeria, having become independent . . .” Camus, “10th Anniversary of Riposte Laïque,” www.france-politique.fr/wiki/Parti_de_l%27In-nocence_(PI) .

367 “. . . no liberation of the territory . . . without remigration” Camus, “10th Anniversary of Riposte Laïque,” www.france-politique.fr/wiki/Parti_de_l%27In-nocence_(PI) .

367 “the African colonisation of Europe . . .” Emphasis is Camus’s. Renaud Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , (Plieux, France: Renaud Camus, 2018), 43. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

367 made Europe the richest continent in the world and Africa the poorest continent in the world by the twentieth century See Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972; London: Verso, 2018). Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1080637113 .

367 About ten million people Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (London: Pan Books, 2006), 280. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/42769595 to find this book at a library.

367 “Congo Free State,” the personal colony . . . from 1885 to 1908 Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost , 87, 259. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/42769595 .

367 resisted German colonial stealing . . . Namibia “What Is Genocide?: The Herero and Namaqua Genocide,” The Holocaust Explained , Wiener Holocaust Library, accessed October 30, 2025, www.theholocaustexplained.org/what-was-the-holocaust/what-was-genocide/the-herero-and-namaqua-genocide/ .

367 called for the extermination Lothar von Trotha’s Extermination Order, October 2, 1904, German History in Documents and Images , accessed October 30, 2025, germanhistorydocs.org/en/wilhelmine-germany-and-the-first-world-war-1890-1918/ghdi:document-5478 .

367 approximately 75,000 people “Some claim these statistics are inflated, while” some “Herero activists believe the figures were far greater.” “‘Our Auschwitz, Our Dachau’: Reckoning with Germany’s Genocide in Namibia,” Al Jazeera, November 6, 2022, www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2022/11/6/reckoning-with-genocide-in-namibia ; and “What Is Genocide?: The Herero and Namaqua Genocide,” www.theholocaustexplained.org/what-was-the-holocaust/what-was-genocide/the-herero-and-namaqua-genocide/ .

367 forcing them to cultivate cotton, upwards of 300,000 people . . . Jessica Parker and Danai Nesta Kupemba, “Germany Asks Forgiveness for Tanzania Colonial Crimes,” BBC News, November 1, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67285182 ; and “Tanzania Country Profile,” BBC News, May 2, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14095776 .

367 massacred upwards of 20,000 . . . in three days, in retaliation for . . . Emanuele Ertola, “Italians Committed Terrible Crimes, Then Forgot Them,” Jacobin , February 20, 2024, jacobin.com/2024/02/addis-abada-ethiopia-italian-massacre . On colonial governor Rodolfo Graziani, see “Marshal Rodolfo Graziani Dies; Leader of Italy’s Army in Africa; Ex-Viceroy of Ethiopia, LastI Head of Fascist Troops, Was Convicted as War Criminal,” New York Times , January 12, 1955, www.nytimes.com/1955/01/12/archives/marshal-rodolfo-graziani-dies-leader-of-italys-army-in-africa.html .

367 in the fifteenth century . . . initially to protect newly extracted gold . . . and then . . . Christopher R. DeCorse, “Early Trade Posts and Forts of West Africa,” in First Forts: Essays on the Archaeology of Proto-colonial Fortifications , ed. Eric Klingelhofer (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2010), 213–214; and Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), The Transatlantic Slave Trade , 2022, eji.org/report/transatlantic-slave-trade/origins/#the-barbarity-of-the-middle-passage . Find First Forts at a library near you at search.worldcat.org/title/682614081 .

367 four hundred years “The Portuguese made history as the first Europeans to sail along the Atlantic . . . in order to bring enslaved Africans back to Europe,” arriving in Lagos in 1444. Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America , rev. ed. (New York: Bold Type Books, 2023), 23. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1340743269 . Slave Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, accessed April 4, 2025, www.slavevoyages.org/ , records the transatlantic human trade as ending in 1866.

367–368 roughly the current population of France The population of France at this writing is 68.5 million. U.S. Census Bureau, “France,” accessed April 4, 2025, www.census.gov/popclock/world/fr .

367–368 sixty million people—a tally that includes . . . Steven Mintz writes, “The transatlantic slave trade was the largest movement of people in history. Between 10 and 15 million Africans were forcibly removed from the continent between 1500 and 1900 . . . The Atlantic slave trade, however, was not the only slave trade within Africa. Nearly as many Africans were exported across the Sahara Desert, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean from AD 650 to 1900 as were shipped across the Atlantic. Islamic traders probably exported 10 million slaves into north Africa, Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, and India. In addition, it now seems clear that during the era of the Atlantic slave trade, many and perhaps most of the enslaved were kept in Africa. It is imaginable that as many as 60 million Africans died or were enslaved as a result of these various slave trades.” Mintz, “Introduction,” in African American Voices: A Documentary Reader, 1619–1877 , ed. Steven Mintz, 4th ed. (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 10. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/259265596 .

368 includes the people who died in wars . . . human traders on the coast “Captives were usually obtained in the traditional way, by warfare; some were kidnapped . . . As the [European] demand for slaves increased, coastal Africans began to raid inland, and march their enchained captives to the coast. Many, an untold number, died in the process of capture and during the long march to the coast. More died on the coast in the Europeans’ grossly overcrowded barracoons (slave-holding prisons) while awaiting shipment. In the late eighteenth century it was estimated that 4.5 per cent of captives died on shore; 12.5 per cent on board ship and 33 per cent during ‘seasoning’ in the Americas. When one adds the numbers killed in battle or in raids, it looks as if half those destined to be enslaved died before they commenced their often brief lives as unfree, dehumanised labourers.” Marika Sherwood, After Abolition: Britain and the Slave Trade Since 1807 (London: I. B. Tauris, 2007), 6. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/74525317 . See also EJI, The Transatlantic Slave Trade , eji.org/report/transatlantic-slave-trade/origins/#the-barbarity-of-the-middle-passage .

368 deathly waits in the castles and boats “Records do not establish an exact death toll, but scholars estimate the mortality rate among those confined in barracoons and on board docked trading ships ‘equaled that of Europe’s fourteenth-century Black Death,’ which claimed at least 40% of Europe’s population.” EJI, The Transatlantic Slave Trade , eji.org/report/transatlantic-slave-trade/origins/#the-barbarity-of-the-middle-passage .

368 nearly 2 million . . . and 10.7 million . . . Slave Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database estimates that 12.5 million captives endured the Middle Passage, with 10.7 million surviving. David Eltis, “The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database: Methodology,” Slave Voyages, August 24, 2025, www.slavevoyages.org/blog/the-transatlantic-slave-trade-database/16 .

368 double its size in 1850, if not for . . . human trading Patrick Manning, Slavery and African Life: Occidental, Oriental, and African Slave Trades (Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge, 1991), 171. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/19739639 .

368 “demographic change” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 43. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

368 ended human trading under a Whig government Arthur Burns, "William Wyndham Grenville (Whig, 1806-1807)," History of Government, blog, GOV.UK, October 14, 2015, history.blog.gov.uk/2015/10/14/william-wyndham-grenville-whig-1806-1807/ .

368 twenty years of activism in Parliament UK Parliament, "Parliament and the British Slave Trade: Overview: Wilberforce makes the case," accessed December 4, 2025, www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/tradeindustry/slavetrade/overview/wilberforce-makes-the-case/ .

368 claimed that the Conservative Party was responsible George Osborne was chancellor of the exchequer and first secretary of state on October 5, 2015, when he said, “For it was Conservatives in previous governments that ended the slave trade, that stopped children working in factories and gave them universal education. They gave equal votes to women and equal rights to disabled people.” See “The Rt Hon George Osborne,” GOV.UK, accessed www.gov.uk/government/people/george-osborne ; and Patrick Worrall, “Is George Osborne Rewriting History?” Channel 4, October 5, 2015, www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-george-osborne-rewriting-history .

368 as an independent MP . . . into a Tory James Cleverly, Twitter, August 1, 2019, 1:13 p.m., x.com/JamesCleverly/status/1156976369831686151 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/eAXuu . On William Wilberforce’s political affiliation and career in parliament, see Worrall, “Is George Osborne Rewriting History?” www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-george-osborne-rewriting-history ; and “Historic Figures: William Wilberforce (1759–1833),” BBC, accessed April 4, 2025, www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilberforce_william.shtml .

368 a Black Tory MP . . . as home secretary in 2023 Rajeev Syal and Aletha Adu, “James Cleverly Appointed Home Secretary in Cabinet Reshuffle,” The Guardian , November 13, 2023, www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/13/james-cleverly-appointed-home-secretary-in-cabinet-reshuffle .

368 refused to apologize or retract Within a few days of Cleverly’s initial tweet, Angus Young of Hull Live—William Wilberforce had been an MP for Hull—reported that Cleverly’s inaccurate tweet had “attracted nearly 4,000 replies,” with “many of them calling on the MP for Braintree to either apologise or delete his post.” Instead of issuing an apology in response to backlash, Cleverly doubled down: “A lots of people unhappy that I described William Wilberforce as a Tory because he described himself as an independent. His friend and political ally Pitt the Younger is universally described as a “Tory PM” even though he described himself as an independent too! #GoFigure” See Angus Young, “Backlash over Conservative Party Chairman James Cleverly’s Wrong William Wilberforce Claim,” Hull Live, August 5, 2019, www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/james-cleverly-conservative-party-william-3174768 ; and James Cleverly, Twitter, August 8, 2019, 4:42 p.m., x.com/JamesCleverly/status/1159568073550180374 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/8Mcij .

Chapter 98: Scientism

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:35 GMT

369 suspects . . . at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Amy King, “Contested Memory in Giorgia Meloni’s Italy: How Her Far-Right Party Is Waging a Subtle Campaign to Commemorate Fascist Figures,” The Conversation , August 14, 2023, theconversation.com/contested-memory-in-giorgia-melonis-italy-how-her-far-right-party-is-waging-a-subtle-campaign-to-commemorate-fascist-figures-211465 .

369 “the objective of those who, in preparation . . .” “President Meloni’s Letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, April 25, 2023,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

369 “using the category of fascism . . .” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

369 “a kind of weapon of mass exclusion . . .” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

369 “surrender of religion to science” . . . “the ‘totalitarian’ conception of science . . .” Augusto Del Noce, “Toward a New Totalitarianism,” 1970, in Augusto Del Noce, The Crisis of Modernity , ed. and trans. Carlo Lancellotti (Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014), 89. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/879528729 .

370 “This could be how the ‘sunset of the West’ . . .” Augusto Del Noce, “The Shadow of Tomorrow,” 1970, in Del Noce, The Crisis of Modernity , 95. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/879528729 .

370 Meloni co-authored Zach Campbell and Lorenzo D’Agostino, “This Supposed Mafia Manifesto Doesn’t Stand Up to a Google Search, Bloomberg , July 20, 2023, www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-07-20/the-mafia-manifesto-used-in-italy-s-war-on-nigerian-gangs-is-suspect .

370 “attacked by the young Nigerians . . .” Alessandro Meluzzi, Giorgia Meloni, and Valentina Mercurio (hereafter “Meloni et al.”), Nigerian Mafia , 2019, excerpt in “Eurafrica Seen Through a Smartphone: Immigration According to Giorgia Meloni’s ‘Nigerian Mafia,’” El Grand Continent , May 25, 2024, legrandcontinent.eu/es/2024/05/25/eurafrica-vista-desde-el-smartphone-la-inmigracion-segun-la-mafia-nigeriana-de-giorgia-meloni/ , via Google Translate.

370 “Nigerian asylum seekers” . . . released Meloni et al., Nigerian Mafia , excerpt in “Eurafrica Seen Through a Smartphone: Immigration According to Giorgia Meloni’s ‘Nigerian Mafia,’” legrandcontinent.eu/es/2024/05/25/eurafrica-vista-desde-el-smartphone-la-inmigracion-segun-la-mafia-nigeriana-de-giorgia-meloni/ .

370 “privileges” . . . “a nobility above the law . . . ” Meloni et al., Nigerian Mafia , excerpt in “Eurafrica Seen Through a Smartphone: Immigration According to Giorgia Meloni’s ‘Nigerian Mafia,’” legrandcontinent.eu/es/2024/05/25/eurafrica-vista-desde-el-smartphone-la-inmigracion-segun-la-mafia-nigeriana-de-giorgia-meloni/ .

370 convicted of murdering, raping, and dismembering . . . in Macerata, Italy “Italian Man Who Shot Migrants Given 12-Year Prison Term,” Reuters, October 3, 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-shooting-macerata/italian-man-who-shot-migrants-given-12-year-prison-term-idUSKCN1MD2IY/ ; and Enrico Mingori, “Death of Pamela Mastropietro: Oseghale Sentenced to Life Imprisonment,” The Post Internazionale ( TPI ), May 29, 2019, www.tpi.it/cronaca/pamela-mastropietro-sentenza-osenghale-20190529329723/ , via Google Translate.

370 denied raping and killing Mingori, “Death of Pamela Mastropietro,” www.tpi.it/cronaca/pamela-mastropietro-sentenza-osenghale-20190529329723/ .

370 died of an overdose Mingori, “Death of Pamela Mastropietro,” www.tpi.it/cronaca/pamela-mastropietro-sentenza-osenghale-20190529329723/ .

370 Two other Nigerian men . . . charges were dropped Enrico Mingori, “Pamela Mastropietro Story: The Death of the 18 Year Old Roman: Reconstruction,” TPI , May 29, 2019, www.tpi.it/cronaca/pamela-mastropietro-storia-20190529329509/ ; and “Pair’s Pamela-Murder Detention Revoked (2),” ANSA English, June 7, 2018, accessed via Wayback Machine, December 31, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20251231121052/https://www.ansa.it/english/news/general_news/2018/06/07/pairs-pamela-murder-detention-revoked-2_7082582e-9158-45b3-9741-a4909ca7903c.html/ .

370 “Shoot the beasts on sight” Quoted in Frederika Randall, “‘Shoot the Beasts on Sight’: The Far Right and Italy’s Elections,” The Nation , February 21, 2018, www.thenation.com/article/archive/shoot-the-beasts-on-sight-the-far-right-and-italys-elections/ .

370 most popular great replacement party Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy only surpassed Matteo Salvini’s League as the country’s leading great replacement party in the 2022 election. See Daniele Albertazzi and Mattia Zulianello, “Italy’s Election Is a Case Study in a New Phase for the Radical Right,” The Conversation, October 13, 2022, theconversation.com/italys-election-is-a-case-study-in-a-new-phase-for-the-radical-right-92198 .

370 “What was this worm still doing in Italy?” Matteo Salvini, Facebook, February 1, 2018, quoted in Jason Horowitz, “This Italian Town Once Welcomed Migrants: Now, It’s a Symbol for Right-Wing Politics,” New York Times , July 7, 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/world/europe/italy-macerata-migrants.html . For Salvini’s Facebook post, which appears to have been edited from the original quoted in the media, see Matteo Salvini, “Nigerian immigrant, expired residence permit, drug dealer . . .” Facebook, February 1, 2018, www.facebook.com/salviniofficial/photos/a.10151670912208155/10155504139498155 , via Google Translate.

370 “He wasn’t fleeing a war . . . ” Salvini, Facebook, February 1, 2018, quoted in Horowitz, “This Italian Town Once Welcomed Migrants: Now, It’s a Symbol for Right-Wing Politics,” www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/world/europe/italy-macerata-migrants.html ; and Salvini, “Nigerian immigrant, expired residence permit, drug dealer . . .” www.facebook.com/salviniofficial/photos/a.10151670912208155/10155504139498155 .

371 Originally . . . founded . . . leading northern Italy to secede . . .“Padania” “Factsheet: The League (Lega, Lega Nord, the Northern League),” Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University, September 14, 2020, accessed via Wayback Machine, September 28, 2020 capture, web.archive.org/web/20200928122244/bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-the-league-lega-lega-nord-the-northern-league/ .

371 cast Italy’s north . . . shunned those . . . from the south Benito Giordano, “A Political-Economic Geography of Italian Regionalism: The Northern League (Lega Nord), 1984–96” (Ph.D. diss., University of Durham, 1997), etheses.dur.ac.uk/5082/1/5082_2535.PDF , 166–173; Keith Botsford, “Arrivederci, Thieving Roma: Umberto Bossi Is Loud in the Land, a Disconcerting Voice with Disturbing Echoes, Says Keith Botsford,” The Independent , October 12, 1992, www.independent.co.uk/voices/arrivederci-thieving-roma-umberto-bossi-is-loud-in-the-land-a-disconcerting-voice-with-disturbing-echoes-says-keith-botsford-1556957.html ; and David Willey, “The Rise and Fall of Northern League Founder Umberto Bossi,” BBC News, April 14, 2012, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17703460 .

371 the third party . . . in 1994 Benito Giordano, “The Contrasting Geographies of ‘Padania’: The Case of the Lega Nord in Northern Italy,” Area 33, no. 1 (March 2001), www.jstor.org/stable/20004121 , 30.

371 transformed . . . by promoting great replacement theory “Factsheet: The League (Lega, Lega Nord, the Northern League),” web.archive.org/web/20200928122244/bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-the-league-lega-lega-nord-the-northern-league/ ; and Albertazzi and Zulianello, “Italy’s Election Is a Case Study in a New Phase for the Radical Right,” theconversation.com/italys-election-is-a-case-study-in-a-new-phase-for-the-radical-right-92198 ; and Anna Momigliano, “Italy’s Northern League Goes Local to Stay National,” Politico , October 18, 2017, www.politico.eu/article/italys-northern-league-goes-local-to-stay-national/ .

371 “There is an ongoing attempt at genocide . . .” Matteo Salvini quoted in John Drogo, “Matteo Salvini Against the Terrible Kalergi Plan,” Next Quotidiano , August 17, 2015, www.nextquotidiano.it/matteo-salvini-contro-il-terribile-piano-kalergi/ , via Google Translate.

371 became the new “south” Alexander Stille, “How Matteo Salvini Pulled Italy to the Far Right,” The Guardian , August 9, 2018, www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/09/how-matteo-salvini-pulled-italy-to-the-far-right ; and Cecilia Biancalana, “The Spectrum of Italian Populist Parties in the 2024 European Elections: A Shift in the Balance of Power on the Right,” European Center for Populism Studies, October 29, 2024, www.populismstudies.org/the-spectrum-of-italian-populist-parties-in-the-2024-european-elections-a-shift-to-the-right/ .

371 the new national party Lega . . . Salvini as premier “Lega: Here’s the Symbol: Via Nord but with Salvini as Prime Minister,” Rai News, December 21, 2017, www.rainews.it/archivio-rainews/articoli/lega-simbolo-via-nord-Salvini-premier-a6ca9637-6154-45e2-a98c-f91fda0893ea.html , via Google Translate; and Biancalana, “The Spectrum of Italian Populist Parties in the 2024 European Elections,” www.populismstudies.org/the-spectrum-of-italian-populist-parties-in-the-2024-european-elections-a-shift-to-the-right/ .

371 lost a race for town council . . . in 2017 Colleen Barry, “Police: Extreme-Right Gunman Shoots 6 Africans in Italy,” Associated Press (AP) News, February 3, 2018, apnews.com/article/b643ccb5726b481ca2c86072d20ef9a8 .

371 a Nazi tattoo on his forehead Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Francis O’Connor, “An Italian Neo-Fascist Shot 6 Immigrants: So Why Won’t Italy’s Political Parties Condemn Xenophobia?” Washington Post , February 9, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/09/an-italian-neo-fascist-shot-6-migrants-how-does-this-play-into-the-upcoming-elections/ .

371 reading Hitler’s Mein Kampf “Nazi Literature Found in Italy Shooting Suspect’s Home,” CBS News, February 5, 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/italy-macerata-attack-luca-traini-hitler-nazi-literature-shooting-africans./ .

371 his “captain” Luca Traini quoted in Horowitz, “This Italian Town Once Welcomed Migrants: Now, It’s a Symbol for Right-Wing Politics,” www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/world/europe/italy-macerata-migrants.html .

Chapter 99: Basic Math

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:34 GMT

372 days after Oseghale’s arrest News of Innocent Oseghale’s arrest broke on February 1. Colleen Barry, “Police: Extreme-Right Gunman Shoots 6 Africans in Italy,” Associated Press (AP) News, February 3, 2018, apnews.com/article/b643ccb5726b481ca2c86072d20ef9a8 ; and Alessandra Ziniti and Paolo Gallori, “Girl Chopped to Pieces, Stuffed in Suitcases, Drug Dealer Arrested: Autopsy Does Not Clarify Cause of Death,” la Repubblica , February 1, 2018, www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/02/01/news/ragazza_morta_in_valigie_fermato_nigeriano-187785520/ , via Google Translate.

372 “justice for Pamela” Luca Traini quoted in “Italian Man Who Shot Migrants Given 12-Year Prison Term,” Reuters, October 3, 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-shooting-macerata/italian-man-who-shot-migrants-given-12-year-prison-term-idUSKCN1MD2IY/ .

372 grabbed his semiautomatic pistol Francesco Marone, “Right-Wing Extremism and Lone-Actor Violence in Italy: The Case of the 2018 Macerata Shooting,” Modern Italy 28, no. 1 (2023), /www.cambridge.org/core/journals/modern-italy/article/abs/rightwing-extremism-and-loneactor-violence-in-italy-the-case-of-the-2018-macerata-shooting/04625E74C0C38A4934AF08AD8FA29240 , 23.

372 climbed into his black Alfa Romeo 147 Jason Horowitz, “This Italian Town Once
Welcomed Migrants: Now, It’s a Symbol for Right-Wing Politics,” New York Times , July 7, 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/07/07/world/europe/italy-macerata-migrants.html .

372 in search of African immigrants . . . opened fire whenever he saw . . . Barry, “Police: : Extreme-Right Gunman Shoots 6 Africans in Italy,” apnews.com/article/b643ccb5726b481ca2c86072d20ef9a8 .

372 “kill them all” Luca Traini quoted in Pietro Castelli Gattinara and Francis O’Connor, “An Italian Neo-Fascist Shot 6 Immigrants: So Why Won’t Italy’s Political Parties Condemn Xenophobia?” Washington Post , February 9, 2018,” www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/09/an-italian-neo-fascist-shot-6-migrants-how-does-this-play-into-the-upcoming-elections/ .

372 seriously wounded . . . from Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, and Mali “Nazi Literature Found in Italy Shooting Suspect’s Home,” CBS News, February 5, 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/italy-macerata-attack-luca-traini-hitler-nazi-literature-shooting-africans/ . For some of the survivors’ stories, see James Reynolds, “Italy Migrants Attack: Macerata Shooting Reveals a Bitter National Debate,” BBC News, February 12, 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43030951 .

372 drove to . . . wrapped an Italian flag on his shoulders Elisabetta Povoledo, “‘Racial Hatred’ Cited After African Immigrants Are Shot in Italy,” New York Times , February 3, 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/world/europe/macerata-italy-shooting.html .

372 a fascist salute before being arrested Povoledo, “‘Racial Hatred’ Cited After African Immigrants Are Shot in Italy,” www.nytimes.com/2018/02/03/world/europe/macerata-italy-shooting.html .

372 a majority . . . occasionally or at all times “justifiable” “10% said racist acts were always justified and a further 45% who said racist acts could be acceptable depending on the situation.” Angela Giuffrida, “More Than Half of Italians in Poll Say Racist Acts Are Justifiable,” The Guardian , November 12, 2019, www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/12/more-than-half-of-italians-in-poll-say-racism-is-justifiable .

372 applauded . . . pledged to pay his legal costs Gattinara and O’Connor, “An Italian Neo-Fascist Shot 6 Immigrants: So Why Won’t Italy’s Political Parties Condemn Xenophobia?” www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/09/an-italian-neo-fascist-shot-6-migrants-how-does-this-play-into-the-upcoming-elections/ .

372 about twenty-five . . . beat up four North Africans . . . Lorenzo Tondo, “Attacks on Immigrants Highlight Rise of Fascist Groups in Italy,” The Guardian , February 6, 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/06/attacks-on-immigrants-highlight-rise-of-fascist-groups-in-italy .

372 inscribed Traini’s name on a magazine Paola Pagnanelli, “New Zealand, Luca Traini’s Name on the Weapons of the Massacre” Who Is He?” il Resto del Carlino , March 15, 2019, www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/macerata/cronaca/nuova-zelanda-traini-ced0cbd9 , via Google Translate.

372 listed . . . “partisans/freedom fighters/ethno soldiers” . . . “a stand against . . . genocide” Brenton Tarrant, “The Great Replacement,” manifesto, March 15, 2019.

373 stabbed and killed three . . . and injured eight more children and two adults Robyn Vinter, “Southport Murder Accused Named as Axel Rudakubana,” The Guardian , August 1, 2024, www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/01/southport-accused-named-as-axel-rudakubana .

373 at a dance class in Southport, England Vinter, “Southport Murder Accused Named as Axel Rudakubana,” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/01/southport-accused-named-as-axel-rudakubana .

373 arrested Rudakubana at the scene Juliana Kim, “Far-Right, Anti-Immigration Riots Persist Across the U.K.: Here’s What to Know,” NPR, August 4, 2024, www.npr.org/2024/08/04/nx-s1-5063346/uk-riots-far-right-what-to-know .

373 Misinformation . . . was a Muslim immigrant Vinter, “Southport Murder Accused Named as Axel Rudakubana,” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/01/southport-accused-named-as-axel-rudakubana .

373 born in Wales . . . after the 1994 genocide “Axel Rudakubana: Troubled Teen Whose Knife Rampage Shocked Britain,” France 24, January 23, 2025, www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250123-axel-rudakubana-troubled-teen-whose-knife-rampage-shocked-britain .

373 tossed bricks and Molotov cocktails at a local mosque Kim, "Far-Right, Anti-Immigration Riots Persist Across the U.K.: Here’s What to Know,” www.npr.org/2024/08/04/nx-s1-5063346/uk-riots-far-right-what-to-know .

373 gripped the streets of Manchester . . . and Belfast Kim, “Far-Right, Anti-Immigration Riots Persist Across the U.K.: Here’s What to Know,” www.npr.org/2024/08/04/nx-s1-5063346/uk-riots-far-right-what-to-know .

373 “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: STOP THE BOATS” Kim, “Far-Right, Anti-Immigration Riots Persist Across the U.K.: Here’s What to Know,” www.npr.org/2024/08/04/nx-s1-5063346/uk-riots-far-right-what-to-know ; Benjamin Cremel/AFP via Getty Images, “Protestors hold a banner reading ‘Enough is Enough—Stops [sic] The Boats’ during a demonstration on Whitehall, outside the entrance to 10 Downing Street in central London . . .,” photograph, Getty Images, July 31, 2024, www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/protestors-hold-a-banner-reading-enough-is-enough-stops-the-news-photo/2164046410 ;

and IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire, “July 31, 2024, London, England, UK: Protesters hang a Stop the boats banner outside Downing Street . . .” photograph, July 31, 2024, IMAGO, www.imago-images.com/st/0719230160 .

373 about seven hundred demonstrators . . . to asylum seekers in Rotherham Kim, “Far-Right, Anti-Immigration Riots Persist Across the U.K.: Here’s What to Know,” www.npr.org/2024/08/04/nx-s1-5063346/uk-riots-far-right-what-to-know .

373 “Get them out!” Rotherham rioters quoted in Emine Sinmaz and Robyn Vinter, “Rioters Try to Torch Rotherham Asylum Seeker Hotel Amid Far-Right Violence,” The Guardian , August 4, 2024, www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/04/rioters-try-to-torch-rotherham-asylum-seeker-hotel-amid-far-right-violence . The rioters’ chant can be heard at 0:22–0:27 of the article’s embedded video.

373 broke windows . . . Sinmaz and Vinter, “Rioters Try to Torch Rotherham Asylum Seeker Hotel Amid Far-Right Violence,” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/04/rioters-try-to-torch-rotherham-asylum-seeker-hotel-amid-far-right-violence ; and Yuliya Talmazan, “U.K. Far-Right Riots Spread, Triggering Emergency Security Meeting,” NBC News, August 5, 2024, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/uk-starmer-cobra-security-far-right-riots-protests-spread-migration-rcna165116 .

373 set . . . on fire Sinmaz and Vinter, “Rioters Try to Torch Rotherham Asylum Seeker Hotel Amid Far-Right Violence,” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/04/rioters-try-to-torch-rotherham-asylum-seeker-hotel-amid-far-right-violence .

373 tossed a flaming bin Kim, “Far-Right, Anti-Immigration Riots Persist Across the U.K.: Here’s What to Know,” www.npr.org/2024/08/04/nx-s1-5063346/uk-riots-far-right-what-to-know .

373 “Our country is being destroyed . . .” Nigel Farage, X, July 30, 2024, 5:47 p.m., x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1818403062794666257 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/ayNfl .

373 "all acts of political violence" LBC, "Nigel Farage pressed on whether rioters should 'stop,'" YouTube, August 6, 2024, www.youtube.com/shorts/9DS9Ecefkis .

373 “The one that starts shooting at innocent people . . .” Giorgia Meloni, Twitter, February 5, 2018, 8:51 a.m., x.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/960511234650116096 .

373 roughly 15,000 people in Macerata Barbie Latza Nadeau, “Italians Protest Against Fascism Following Shooting of African Migrants,” CNN, February 10, 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/02/10/europe/italy-migrants-protest/index.html .

373 “ in Macerata the march is against racism, not . . .” Giorgia Meloni, Twitter, February 10, 2018, 3:43 a.m., x.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/962245561025028098 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/jD1he .

37 “You are ridiculous!” Giorgia Meloni, Twitter, February 10, 2018, x.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/962245561025028098 , archived at archive.ph/wip/jD1he .

374 led in the polls, steering . . . Frances D’Emilio, “Italian Candidate for Premier Defends ‘White Race’ Remark,” AP News, January 15, 2018, apnews.com/general-news-f808dda8e586458790ef6d942952ac5c .

374 campaigned on . . . and remigrating 150,000 immigrants Griff Witte and Stefano Pitrelli, “A Gruesome Murder, A Hate-Filled Shooting Rampage, And a Reckoning with Immigration Before Italy Votes.” Washington Post , February 6, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/a-gruesome-murder-a-hate-filled-shooting-spree-and-a-reckoning-with-immigration-before-italy-votes/2018/02/06/d34f8598-0aa7-11e8-998c-96deb18cca19_story.html .

374 “isn’t a question of being xenophobic or racist . . .” Attilio Fontana quoted in D’Emilio, “Italian Candidate for Premier Defends ‘White Race’ Remark,” apnews.com/general-news-f808dda8e586458790ef6d942952ac5c .

374 “We must decide . . . if our white race . . .” Fontana quoted in D’Emilio, “Italian Candidate for Premier Defends ‘White Race’ Remark,” apnews.com/general-news-f808dda8e586458790ef6d942952ac5c .

374 “An invasion is underway” Matteo Salvini quoted in D’Emilio, “Italian Candidate for Premier Defends ‘White Race’ Remark,” apnews.com/general-news-f808dda8e586458790ef6d942952ac5c .

374 won his election “Fontana Wins Lombardy Election, 49.7%,” ANSA English, March 6, 2018, www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2018/03/06/fontana-wins-lombardy-election-49.7_ac5d7883-4ec9-4e78-96c5-0526b6f0d059.html .

374 about 600,000 immigrants, primarily from Africa “Italian Man Who Shot Migrants Given 12-Year Prison Term,” www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-shooting-macerata/italian-man-who-shot-migrants-given-12-year-prison-term-idUSKCN1MD2IY/

374 represented about 1 percent . . . The population of Italy was 60,494,000 at the beginning of 2018 and 60,391,000 at the end of 2018. Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (Istat), “Demographic indicators,” February 9, 2018, www.istat.it/en/press-release/demographic-indicators-year-2017/ ; and Istat, “Demographic indicators,” February 7, 2019, www.istat.it/en/press-release/demographic-indicators-year-2018/ .

374 comprised about 1.7 percent of Europe’s population “Jewish Population of Europe in 1933: Population Data by Country,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, November 18, 2024, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/jewish-population-of-europe-in-1933-population-data-by-country .

374 ran on protecting . . . from immigration and violence For example, see Matteo Salvini, Twitter, February 3, 2018, 11:12 a.m., x.com/matteosalvinimi/status/959821942831435776 , archived at archive.today February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/AkBsk , via Google Translate. See also Jason Horowitz, “Italy’s Populists Turn Up the Heat as Anti-Migrant Anger Boils,” New York Times , February 5, 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/world/europe/italy-election-northern-league-populists-migrants.html .

374 the fourth lowest in the European Union Istat, Perpetrators and Victims of Homicide, Years 2018–2019 , February 5, 2021, www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/perpetrators-victims-homicide-2018-19.pdf , 14.

374 trending downward “Homicides have been falling since the 1990s.” Istat, Perpetrators and Victims of Homicide, Years 2018–2019 , www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/perpetrators-victims-homicide-2018-19.pdf , 1. Between 2017 and 2018, the homicide rate dropped from 0.59 per 100,00 inhabitants to 0.57 per 100,00 inhabitants. Istat, Homicide Victims, Year 2018 , www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Homicide-victims_EN_Final.pdf , 1.

374–375 92.7 percent of Italian murder victims . . . In the first half of 2021—which appears to be the first period for which Istat included such data in their official reports— that figure was 83 percent. Istat, Homicide Victims, Year 2022 , November 24, 2023, www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Vittime-di-omicidio-2022.pdf , 1, via Google Translate; and Istat, Homicide Victims, Year 2021 , November 24, 2022, www.istat.it/it/files/2022/11/REPORT-VITTIME-DI-OMICIDIO_2021.pdf , 3, via Google Translate.

375 the proportion . . . significantly shot up between 2012 and 2021 Even “in 2017, when it was lowest, the share stood at about 73%. By 2020, it exceeded 85%.” Michela Finizio, “In Italy, Femicides Are Not Decreasing Like Homicides,” European Data Journalism Network, March 15, 2023, www.europeandatajournalism.eu/cp_data_news/in-italy-femicides-are-not-decreasing-like-homicides/ .

375 “express it with their feet Renaud Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , (Plieux, France: Renaud Camus, 2018), 41. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

375 11 million African-born migrants . . . of 750 million people International Organization for Migration (IOM), “Chapter 3: Migration and Migrants: Regional Dimensions and Developments, Africa” World Migration Report 2024 , worldmigrationreport.iom.int/what-we-do/world-migration-report-2024-chapter-3/africa ; and United Nations Population Division, “Total Population by Sex, Europe, 2020,” United Nations Population Data Portal, accessed April 8, 2025, population.un.org/dataportal/data/indicators/49/locations/908/start/2020/end/2020/table/pivotbylocation?df=05fe7de8-440f-45fa-9800-ccfa3af94588 . The European population in this sentence has been rounded to the nearest million, from 749,524,045 to 750,000,000.

375 “real” . . . “opinion” . . . “French and European colonisation” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 41. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

375 “to France and to Europe to settle down as soon as they think . . .” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 41. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

375 nearly 1.4 billion people in Africa United Nations Population Division, “Total Population by Sex, Africa, 2020,” population.un.org/dataportal/data/indicators/49/locations/903/start/2020/end/2020/table/pivotbysex?df=3dd80cd8-17df-4ac9-8c6a-1b5482967462 .

375 The top destination . . . Africa “Most international migration occurs within the region. The latest available international migrant stock data (2020) show that around 21 million Africans were living in another African country.” IOM, “Chapter 3: Migration and Migrants: Regional Dimensions and Developments, Africa,” worldmigrationreport.iom.int/what-we-do/world-migration-report-2024-chapter-3/africa .

375 “what made Europe so desirable” . . . “was the simple fact . . .” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 41. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

375 about a quarter . . . live in “Less than one-third (27.2%) of all African migrants live in Europe.” Mo Ibrahim Foundation and Africa-Europe Foundation, Africa and Europe: Facts and Figures on African Migrations (2022), mo.ibrahim.foundation/sites/default/files/2022-02/aef_summit_african-migrations.pdf , 2.

Chapter 100: Eating Cats

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:32 GMT

377 “Violence is never the solution” Matteo Salvini, Twitter, February 3, 2018, 11:12 a.m., x.com/matteosalvinimi/status/959821942t831435776 , archived at archive.today February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/AkBsk .

377 “Out-of-control immigration leads to chaos . . .” Salvini, Twitter, February 3, 2018, x.com/matteosalvinimi/status/959821942831435776 , archived at archive.ph/wip/AkBsk .

377 the third most votes . . . more votes than . . . and Meloni’s Brothers of Italy See “Party-by-Party Results” in “Italian Elections 2018—Full Results,” The Guardian , March 5, 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2018/mar/05/italian-elections-2018-full-results-renzi-berlusconi .

377 the most seats, though not a majority “Italian Elections 2018—Full Results,” www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2018/mar/05/italian-elections-2018-full-results-renzi-berlusconi .

377 Italy’s interior minister and one of two deputy prime ministers . . . Steve Scherer and Gavin Jones, “Italy’s Anti-Establishment Leaders Revive Governing Coalition,” Reuters, May 31, 2018, www.reuters.com/article/world/italy-s-anti-establishment-leaders-revive-governing-coalition-idUSKCN1IW0Z5/ .

377 withdrew from in fall 2019 “Salvini Pulls Support for Italian Coalition, Calls for Snap Election,” France 24, August 8, 2019, w ww.france24.com/en/20190808-italy-salvini-pulls-support-coalition-calls-snap-election ; and “Make or Break Time in Italy for Forming New Government,” France 24, August 28, 2019, www.france24.com/en/20190828-make-or-break-italy-form-new-government .

377 the most seats from Italy European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2019–2024: Italy—Official Results,” accessed February 13, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/italy/2019-2024/constitutive-session/ .

377 organizing . . . into the Identity and Democracy group Zia Weise, “Salvini Alliance to Be Named Identity and Democracy,” Politico , June 12, 2019, www.politico.eu/article/matteo-salvini-european-parliament-alliance-to-be-named-identity-and-democracy/ ; and Jennifer Rankin, “MEPs Create Biggest Far-Right Group in European Parliament,” The Guardian , June 13, 2019, www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/13/meps-create-biggest-far-right-group-in-european-parliament .

377 “ Migrationism is financed today by . . . "Meloni et al., Nigerian Mafia , quoted in Mario Portanova, “Nigerian Mafiosi? Savages and Cannibals’: All the ‘Pearls’ of Giorgia Meloni’s Book,” Il Fatto Quotidiano , September 16, 2023, www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2023/09/16/i-mafiosi-nigeriani-selvaggi-e-cannibali-tutte-le-perle-del-libro-di-giorgia-meloni/7289823/ , via Google Translate.

377–378 “the definition of wild man. . .” Meloni et al., Nigerian Mafia , quoted in Portanova, “Nigerian Mafiosi? Savages and Cannibals’: All the ‘Pearls’ of Giorgia Meloni’s Book,” www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2023/09/16/i-mafiosi-nigeriani-selvaggi-e-cannibali-tutte-le-perle-del-libro-di-giorgia-meloni/7289823/ .

378 “risk of ethnic substitution, as we live in a world . . .” Meloni et al., Nigerian Mafia , excerpt in “Eurafrica Seen Through a Smartphone: Immigration According to Giorgia Meloni’s ‘Nigerian Mafia,’” El Grand Continent , May 25, 2024, legrandcontinent.eu/es/2024/05/25/eurafrica-vista-desde-el-smartphone-la-inmigracion-segun-la-mafia-nigeriana-de-giorgia-meloni/ .

378 did not provide evidence that “Nigerian mafia criminals” . . . “in exchange for . . .” Meloni et al., Nigerian Mafia , quoted in Portanova, “Nigerian Mafiosi? Savages and Cannibals’: All the ‘Pearls’ of Giorgia Meloni’s Book,” www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2023/09/16/i-mafiosi-nigeriani-selvaggi-e-cannibali-tutte-le-perle-del-libro-di-giorgia-meloni/7289823/ .

378 “totalitarian” Del Noce, “Toward a New Totalitarianism,” 89. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/879528729 to find The Crisis of Modernity , in which this piece appears, at a library.

378 “a kind of weapon of mass exclusion” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

378 homicides . . . nearly nonexistent Istat, Homicide Victims, Year 2022 , November 24, 2023, www.istat.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Vittime-di-omicidio-2022.pdf , 1; and Istat, Homicide Victims, Year 2021 , November 24, 2022, www.istat.it/it/files/2022/11/REPORT-VITTIME-DI-OMICIDIO_2021.pdf , 3.

378 “An immigrant cooks a poor kitten . . ." Giorgia Meloni, Twitter, June 30, 2020, 8:10 a.m., x.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1277937559872700416 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/8rHKR .

378 “Zero tolerance for this criminal . . .” Meloni, Twitter, June 30, 2020, x.com/GiorgiaMeloni/status/1277937559872700416 , archived at archive.ph/wip/8rHKR .

378 third presidential campaign Donald Trump first ran for president in 2000, as a candidate for the Reform party. “Tracking the 2024 Presidential Candidates,” Decision 2024, NBC News, last updated January 7, 2025, www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/presidential-candidates-tracker ; and Edward Helmore, “How Trump’s Political Playbook Evolved Since He First Ran for President in 2000,” The Guardian , February 5, 2017, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/05/donald-trump-reform-party-2000-president .

378 “Warning to all about our beloved pets . . .” Facebook post quoted in Monir Ghaedi, “Fact Check: Disinformation Targets Haitian Migrants,” Deutsche Welle (DW), September 13, 2024, www.dw.com/en/fact-check-how-the-stigmatization-of-haitian-vodou-led-to-a-disinformation-campaign/a-70200764 .

379 “We wish to clarify that there have been no . . .” Springfield Police Division, statement to NBC News, quoted in David Ingram, “Ohio Police Have ‘No Credible Reports’ of Haitian Immigrants Harming Pets, Contradicting JD Vance’s Claim,” NBC News, September 9, 2024, www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/jd-vance-ohio-police-no-reports-haitian-immigrants-harming-pets-rcna170271 .

379 “ My whole family is biracial” . . . “I never wanted to cause problems for anyone” Quoted in Kevin Williams, “Ohio Woman Says She Regrets Sharing False Rumor About Haitians on Facebook,” New York Times , September 17, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/09/17/us/springfield-haitians-pets-facebook-rumor.html .

379 used AI . . . Black men hunting Trump as he cradled a cat Michael Williams, “Trump Campaign and JD Vance Promote False Rumors About Haitian Immigrants Eating Pets,” CNN, September 9, 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/09/09/politics/republicans-vance-hatian-immigrants-pets-rumors/index.html .

379 “President Trump will deport migrants who eat pets” Trump War Room, X, September 9, 2024, last edited 10:40 a.m., x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1833153578434797685 , archived at archive.today, September 10, 2024 capture, archive.ph/1siNP .

379 “Kamala Harris will send them . . .” Trump War Room, X, September 9, 2024, x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1833153578434797685 , archived at archive.ph/1siNP .

379 no one . . . JD Vance See JD Vance, X, September 9, 2024, 10:22 a.m., x.com/JDVance/status/1833148904864465117 , archived at archive.today, September 25, 2024 capture, archive.ph/dfiI2 ; Huo Jingnan and Jasmine Garsd, “JD Vance Spreads Debunked Claims about Haitian Immigrants Eating Pets,” All Things Considered , NPR, September 10, 2024, www.npr.org/2024/09/10/nx-s1-5107320/jd-vance-springfield-ohio-haitians-pets ; and Kit Maher and Chris Boyette, “JD Vance Defends Baseless Rumor About Haitian Immigrants Eating Pets,” CNN, September 15, 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/09/15/politics/vance-immigrants-pets-springfield-ohio-cnntv/index.html .

379 terrorized Haitians . . . and calling in bomb threats Macollvie J. Neel, “Haitian Families in Ohio Under Attack as Racist Claims Spread,” Haitian Times , September 11, 2024, haitiantimes.com/2024/09/11/haitian-immigrants-in-ohio-under-racist-attacks/ ; Isaac Chotiner, “A Haitian Immigrant in Springfield Experiences the Best and Worst of America,” New Yorker , September 24, 2024, www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/a-haitian-immigrant-in-springfield-experiences-the-best-and-worst-of-america ; and Jessica Orozco and Jeremy P. Kelley, “Springfield City Hall, Schools, County Hit by Bomb Threat Tied to Haitian Issues,” Springfield News-Sun , September 12, 2024, www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-city-hall-evacuated-due-to-unspecified-threat/LEJGCXXHZRHT3HH3HYHABRZGT4/ .

379 referenced Springfield Donald J. Trump, “Live: President Trump in Tucson, AZ,” YouTube, September 12, 2024, www.youtube.com/live/TSKB6PsSoss?si=WBXA6U3dq-muCW20 , 41:43–42:28.

379 “I'm angry about young American girls. . . ” Donald J. Trump, “Live: President Trump in Tucson, AZ,” www.youtube.com/live/TSKB6PsSoss?si=WBXA6U3dq-muCW20 , 17:39–17:47.

Chapter 101: Present Divisions

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:31 GMT

380 what Trump termed “migrant crime” See “Read the Full Transcripts of Donald Trump’s Interviews With TIME,” Time , April 30, 2024, time.com/6972022/donald-trump-transcript-2024-election/ .

380 39.9 percent . . . “certain of the danger of ethnic substitution . . ." CENSIS (Centro Studi Investimenti Sociali, or Center for Studies in Social Investment), “The Irrational Society,” press release, December 3, 2021, accessed via Wayback Machine, December 3, 2021 capture, web.archive.org/web/20211203090917/www.censis.it/rapporto-annuale/la-societ%C3%A0-irrazionale , via Google Translate.

380 pledged to impose a naval blockade . . . Alessandra Rizzo, “Giorgia Meloni: She’s Called for a Naval Blockade of Africa to Stop Migrants—Who Is the Far-Right Leader Set to Become Italy’s First Female PM?” Sky News, September 24, 2022, news.sky.com/story/who-is-giorgia-meloni-far-right-leader-set-to-become-italys-first-female-pm-12703271 ; and Crispian Balmer, “Migrants Face Tougher Times in Meloni’s Italy,” Reuters, October 7, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/europe/migrants-face-tougher-times-melonis-italy-2022-10-07/ .

380 Taking a page from Australia and England Tiffanie Turnbull, “How Australia Wrote the ‘Stop the Boats’ Playbook,” BBC News, March 17, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-64898507 .

380 “stop the boats” from North Africa Barbie Latza Nadeau, “Analysis: Will Italy’s PM Stop the Boats or Will the Boats Stop Her?” CNN, April 23, 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/04/23/europe/meloni-italy-migrants-politics-intl/index.html .

380 as illusory as Trump’s border wall On Trump’s border wall, see Lucy Rodgers and Dominic Bailey, “Trump Wall: How Much Has He Actually Built?” BBC News, October 31, 2020, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46824649 . On Meloni’s naval blockade, see Maurice Stierl, “Ten Years of Maritime Resistance in the Mediterranean Sea,” Al Jazeera, opinion, July 31, 2024, www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/7/31/ten-years-of-maritime-resistance-in-the-mediterranean-sea .

380 the most votes and seats Paul Kirby, “Giorgia Meloni: Italy's Far-Right Wins Election and Vows to Govern for All,” BBC News, September 26, 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63029909 .

380 Italy’s first female prime minister . . . her deputy prime minister Angela Giuffrida, “Far-Right Leader Giorgia Meloni Sworn In as Italy’s Prime Minister,” The Guardian , October 22, 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/22/far-right-leader-giorgia-meloni-sworn-in-as-italys-prime-minister .

380 r eceived half the share of votes . . . Lega received 8.9% of the vote, down from 17.4% in 2018. See “Italy—2022 General Election,” in “Italy—National Parliament Voting Intention,” Politico , Poll of Polls, accessed April 10, 2025, www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/italy/ .

380 former Lega voters casting the most votes . . . “Most of the votes for FdI in the 2022 election came from voters who opted for Lega in 2018 . . . the appreciation of FdI’s leader is the most important factor explaining vote switching from 2018 to 2022. Briefly, for former Lega voters only an appreciation of Meloni was impactful in turning towards FdI.” Leonardo Puleo et al., “Giorgia on Their Minds: Vote Switching to Fratelli d’Italia in the Italian General Election of 2022,” Party Politics 31, no. 4 (June 2024), doi.org/10.1177/13540688241257780 .

380–381 forced . . . to provide their personal data . . . to receive the COVID vaccine “The report finds that data collected by the state for administering public services, such as registering for the Covid vaccine, administering tax benefits, and mandatory membership in professional associations, was repurposed to spread Fidesz’s campaign messages.” Human Rights Watch, Trapped in a Web: The Exploitation of Personal Data in Hungary’s 2022 Elections , December 1, 2022, www.hrw.org/report/2022/12/01/trapped-web/exploitation-personal-data-hungarys-2022-elections#_ftn127 . Hungary Today reported, “During the coronavirus epidemic, millions of people registered on the Hungarian government’s official vakcinainfo.gov.hu website as a prerequisite for receiving vaccinations.” “PM Orbán Sends New Political Newsletter to E-mail Addresses Registered for Vaccination,” Hungary Today , April 14, 2022, hungarytoday.hu/pm-orban-new-political-newsletter-to-e-mail-address-vaccination-registration/ .

381 used that data to microtarget . . . won handily Human Rights Watch, Trapped in a Web , www.hrw.org/report/2022/12/01/trapped-web/exploitation-personal-data-hungarys-2022-elections#_ftn127 .

381 prime minister of Israel for the third time Carrie Keller-Lynn, “Netanyahu Returns as PM, Wins Knesset Support for Israel’s Most Hardline Government,” Times of Israel , December 29, 2022, www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-resumes-role-as-pm-as-israels-most-hardline-government-ever-takes-office/ .

381 the most seats in the 2022 Israeli legislative election International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Election Guide, “Israeli Knesset 2022 General,” November 1, 2022, last updated March 10, 2023, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3970/ .

381 formed a governing majority with . . . and Jewish Power parties “Israel’s Netanyahu Closer to Hard-Right Government with New Legislation,” Reuters, December 27, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-netanyahu-closer-hard-right-government-with-new-legislation-2022-12-27/ .

381 lost the 2022 presidential election IFES Election Guide, “Brazilian Presidency Round 2,” October 30, 2022, last updated August 2, 2023, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3867/ .

381 more seats than any other party in both houses IFES Election Guide, “Brazilian Chamber of Deputies 2022 General,” October 2, 2022, last updated August 2, 2023, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3762/ ; and IFES Election Guide, “Brazilian Federal Senate 2022 General,” October 2, 2022, last updated August 2, 2023, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3763/ .

381 campaigned on . . . in snap elections “Anti-Vaccine Protesters Try to Storm Bulgaria's Parliament,” Reuters, January 12, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/europe/anti-vaccine-protesters-try-storm-bulgarias-parliament-2022-01-12/ ; and Elitsa Simeonova and Tony Wesolowsky, “Revival on the Rise: Ahead of Elections, Far-Right Party Is Tapping into Bulgarian Public Anger,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, October 1, 2022, www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-elections-revival-pro-russian/32060748.html .

381 won twenty-seven seats, more than doubling its 2021 total Revival won 13 seats in the National Assembly in the November 2021 election. IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2022 General,” October 2, 2022, last updated August 23, 2023, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3966/ ; and IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2021 General November,” November 14, 2021, last updated August 16, 2023, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3960/ .

381 campaigned against . . . and immigration Kazutaka Kamizawa, “Populist Sanseito Party Rising Through Rhetoric Seen on YouTube,” Asahi Shimbun , December 11, 2022, www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14781333 .

381 won the party’s first-ever seat in the House of Councillors Kamizawa, “Populist Sanseito Party Rising Through Rhetoric Seen on YouTube,” www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14781333 .

381 edited and published Yuki Honda et al., “Five-Year-Old Suffrage Party Is a ‘Shadow Government’ That Secretly Controls Society, Its Leader Claims,” Asahi Shimbun , July 16, 2025, www.asahi.com/articles/AST7H1CH9T7HUTIL008M.html , via Google Translate.

381 “Jewish international . . . capital” . . . “fears about . . . pandemic” . . . “enormous profits” Party for the Promotion of Democracy Q&A Book: Basic Edition , ed. Sohei Kamiya, June 2022, quoted in Honda et al., “Five-Year-Old Suffrage Party Is a ‘Shadow Government’ That Secretly Controls Society, Its Leader Claims,” www.asahi.com/articles/AST7H1CH9T7HUTIL008M.html .

381 “Jewish international finance capital Party for the Promotion of Democracy Q&A Book: Basic Edition , ed. Sohei Kamiya, June 2022, quoted in Honda et al., “Five-Year-Old Suffrage Party Is a ‘Shadow Government’ That Secretly Controls Society, Its Leader Claims,” www.asahi.com/articles/AST7H1CH9T7HUTIL008M.html .

381 “effectively controls Western society . . .” Party for the Promotion of Democracy Q&A Book: Basic Edition , ed. Sohei Kamiya, June 2022, quoted in Honda et al., “Five-Year-Old Suffrage Party Is a ‘Shadow Government’ That Secretly Controls Society, Its Leader Claims,” www.asahi.com/articles/AST7H1CH9T7HUTIL008M.html .

381 more than 2 percent . . . to officially become a political party in Japan Himari Semans, “Sanseito Touts ‘Japanese First’ Rhetoric to Gain Support,” Japan Times , July 1, 2025, www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/01/japan/politics/sanseito-upper-house-election/ .

381 finished third at 7.15 percent . . . 1.3 percent of the vote in 2019 IFES Election Guide, “Portuguese Assembly of the Republic 2022 General,” January 30, 2022, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3823/ ; and IFES Election Guide, “Portuguese Assembly of the Republic 2019 General,” October 6, 2019, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3178/ .

381 the second-most-powerful party in Sweden IFES Election Guide, “Swedish Parliament 2022 General,” September 11, 2022, last updated August 2, 2023, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3813/ .

381 agreed not to enter . . . its “hard-line” immigration policies through Charles Szumski, ”Sweden Launches Global Campaign Against Migration,” Euractiv, January 25, 2023, www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/sweden-launches-global-campaign-against-migration/ .

382 “an elevenfold increase” . . . from eight to eighty-nine Jules Darmanin, “Le Pen’s National Rally Wins Seats, Airtime and Money in French Vote,” Politico , June 20, 2022, www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-national-rally-win-seat-airtime-money-france-legislative-election/ .

382 39 percent . . .“ their government’s response . . . too restrictive . . .” Jon Henley, “Majority of Public in Europe Support Covid Vaccine Passports—Survey,” The Guardian , November 19, 2021, www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/19/majority-of-public-in-europe-support-covid-vaccine-passports-survey .

382 up 16 percentage points from 2020 Henley, “Majority of Public in Europe Support Covid Vaccine Passports—Survey,” www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/19/majority-of-public-in-europe-support-covid-vaccine-passports-survey .

382 exceeded the fifteen-seat minimum to become . . . for the first time since 1986 Darmanin, “Le Pen’s National Rally Wins Seats, Airtime and Money in French Vote,” www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-national-rally-win-seat-airtime-money-france-legislative-election/ .

382 increased public financing . . . and other benefits Tracy McNicoll, “Prizes Abound for Le Pen’s Far Right in Historic French Legislative Elections,” France 24, June 14, 2022, www.france24.com/en/france/20220614-prizes-abound-for-le-pen-s-far-right-in-historic-french-legislative-elections .

382 handed over the presidency . . . Jordan Bardella Kim Willsher, “France’s Far-Right National Rally Elects New President to Replace Le Pen,” The Guardian , November 5, 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/05/frances-far-right-party-rn-elects-new-president-to-replace-le-pen .

382 “the African continent” . . . “the demographic bomb” BFMTV, “Follow the Debate Between Nathalie Loiseau and Jordan Bardella on BFMTV, YouTube, May 15, 2019, www.youtube.com/live/fz3i_6wblig?si=8flonhmEtSptt9Ty , 34:40–34:49, via Google Translate; and Jordan Bardella, BFMTV debate May 15, 2019, quoted in “Jordan Bardella Mentions the "Great Replacement’ Without Naming It,” France-Soir , May 16, 2019, www.francesoir.fr/politique-france/jordan-bardella-evoque-le-grand-remplacement-sans-le-nommer .

382 41.5 percent of the vote “French Election: Macron Holds Off Far-Right Push,” New York Times , April 24, 2022, last updated April 25, 2022, www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/24/world/french-election-runoff-results ; and IFES Election Guide, “French Presidency 2022 Round 2,” April 24, 2022, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed April 10, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3803/ .

382 his number one bestseller Submission “shot to the top of the country’s bestseller lists with a first-week sale of more than 100,000 copies.” Alison Flood, “Houellebecq’s Soumission Becomes Instant Bestseller in Wake of Paris Attacks,” The Guardian , January 16, 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/16/michel-houellebecq-soumission-bestseller-charlie-hebdo .

382 published on the day of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack Flood, “Houellebecq’s Soumission Becomes Instant Bestseller in Wake of Paris Attacks,” www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/16/michel-houellebecq-soumission-bestseller-charlie-hebdo .

382 loses the first round of voting . . . head of the “Muslim Brotherhood” party Tony Todd, “A Muslim-Run France? Novel Sparks Islamophobia Row,” France 24, January 4, 2015, www.france24.com/en/20150104-novelist-houellebecq-vision-muslim-governed-france-not-racist-islamaphobia ; and Alex Preston, “Submission by Michel Houellebecq Review—Satire That’s More Subtle Than It Seems,” The Guardian , September 8, 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/08/submission-michel-houellebecq-review-satire-islamic-france .

382 fear electing . . . put Ben Abbes in power Todd, “A Muslim-Run France? Novel Sparks Islamophobia Row,” www.france24.com/en/20150104-novelist-houellebecq-vision-muslim-governed-france-not-racist-islamaphobia .

382 replace . . . with Muslim culture Todd, “A Muslim-Run France? Novel Sparks Islamophobia Row,” www.france24.com/en/20150104-novelist-houellebecq-vision-muslim-governed-france-not-racist-islamaphobia .

382 “What is very interesting about this book . . .” Marine Le Pen quoted in Todd, “A Muslim-Run France? Novel Sparks Islamophobia Row,” www.france24.com/en/20150104-novelist-houellebecq-vision-muslim-governed-france-not-racist-islamaphobia .

382 “We see in Jewry an immediate danger . . .” Joseph Goebbels, Sportpalast speech, February 18, 1943, quoted in Peter Longerich, Goebbels: A Biography , trans. Alan Bance et al. (New York: Random House, 2015), 559. To find this book at a library, visit search.worldcat.org/title/869262446 .

382 “Germany, in any case, does not intend . . .” Goebbels, Sportpalast speech, quoted in Longerich, Goebbels , 559. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/869262446 .

382 won the 2022 French presidential election “French Election: Macron Holds Off Far-Right Push,” www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/24/world/french-election-runoff-results .

383 called for the abolition of Liberation Day in 2018 “‘April 25 Is Divisive’: Meloni Calls for National Holiday to Be November 4,” www.agi.it/politica/news/2018-10-31/meloni_festa_nazionale_4_novembre_25_aprile-4554680/ ; and Monica Rubino, “Meloni Launches Fdi's Patriotic Offensive: ‘November 4th Becomes a National Holiday Again, April 25th Is Divisive,’" la Repubblica , November 1, 2018, www.repubblica.it/politica/2018/11/01/news/meloni_festa_4_novembre_fdi-210531022/ , via Google Translate.

383 “divisive” “‘April 25 Is Divisive’: Meloni Calls for National Holiday to Be November 4,” www.agi.it/politica/news/2018-10-31/meloni_festa_nazionale_4_novembre_25_aprile-4554680/ .

383 “Freedom Day” to “overcome past divisions” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Italian Government, www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

383 “all Italians who put the love for their homeland . . . ” “President Meloni’s letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Liberation Day,” www.governo.it/it/node/22468 .

Chapter 102: Shithole

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:29 GMT

387 “PRESIDENCIA DE LA REPÚBLICA” Seal pictured in Víctor Peña and Carlos Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” El Faro , February 10, 2020, elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm , via Google Translate.

387 patrol nearby streets Peña and Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm .

387 look down from surrounding rooftops Peña and Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm .

387 5,000 people gathered “Some 5,000 supporters of Nayib Bukele waited for more than three hours for the president’s arrival to hear his speech.” Peña and Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm ; and Carlos Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” El Faro , February 10, 2020, elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

387 liken the day to a liberation day Nayib Bukele proclaimed, “There is another article of the Constitution that does not give me the power, it does not give it to me, it gives it to the Salvadoran people, that when officials break the constitutional order, the Salvadoran people have the right to insurrection to remove those officials and reestablish the constitutional order.” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm , via Google Translate. For a full video of Bukele’s speech and march into the Blue Room, which depicts the scenic details provided in this Link, see El Salvador 2020, “Histórico.!!! Feb. 9/20 Concentración del Pueblo en Asamblea. Discurso Completo Presidente Bukele,” YouTube, February 15, 2020, youtu.be/i3-8ZXqqH4g?si=ck8AbRzr2NIyvsPv .

387 “shithole” Donald Trump quoted in Josh Dawsey, “Trump Derides Protections for Immigrants from ‘Shithole’ Countries,” Washington Post , January 12, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks-protections-for-immigrants-from-shithole-countries-in-oval-office-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html .

387 portrayed . . . controlled by all-powerful transnational gangs Ali Watkins and Meridith Kohut, “MS-13, Trump and America’s Stake in El Salvador’s Gang War,” New York Times , December 10, 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/us/el-salvador-ms-13.html ; and Lisa Cubías, “Trump’s War on Gangs,” Universidad de Navarra, Global Affairs and Strategic Studies, accessed September 30, 2025, www.unav.edu/web/global-affairs/detalle/-/blogs/trump-s-war-on-gangs .

387 exporting murderers to the United States Rebecca Morin, “Trump: ‘Animals’ Comment Referred to MS-13 Gang Members," Politico , May 17, 2018, www.politico.com/story/2018/05/17/trump-immigrants-animals-595118 .

387        and Italy Mario Portanova, “Nigerian Mafiosi? Savages and Cannibals’: All the ‘Pearls’ of Giorgia Meloni's book,” Il Fatto Quotidiano , September 16, 2023, www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2023/09/16/i-mafiosi-nigeriani-selvaggi-e-cannibali-tutte-le-perle-del-libro-di-giorgia-meloni/7289823/ , via Google Translate.

388 almost all of whom had no record of violence Out of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants sent to El Salvador in March 2025, "the government knew that only six of the immigrants were convicted of violent crimes. Mica Rosenberg et al., “Trump Administration Knew Most Venezuelans Deported from Texas to a Salvadoran Prison Had No U.S. Convictions,” Texas Tribune , May 30, 2025, www.texastribune.org/2025/05/30/trump-el-salvador-deportees-criminal-convictions-cecot-venezuela .

388 to a Salvadoran mega-prison Thomas Graham, “The El Salvador Mega-Prison at the Dark Heart of Trump Immigration Crackdown,” The Guardian , April 30, 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/30/el-salvador-cecot-mega-prison-trum .

388 plans to send U.S. citizens Gram Slattery and Sarah Morland, “Trump Calls for Deporting Some Citizens to El Salvador, Testing US law,” Reuters, April 15, 2025, www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-wants-deport-some-us-citizens-el-salvador-2025-04-14/ .

388       “the replacers” . . . “replacists” Renaud Camus, Y ou Will Not Replace Us! (Plieux, France: Renaud Camus, 2018), 20–21. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

388       “There is no living together but . . .” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 51, 192. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

388 what Camus termed nocence Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 51–52. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

388       founded the In-nocence Party in 2002 Norimitsu Onishi, “The Man Behind a Toxic Slogan Promoting White Supremacy,” New York Times , September 20, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/world/europe/renaud-camus-great-replacement.html .

Chapter 103: Old Ideas

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:28 GMT

390 more than an hour late Víctor Peña and Carlos Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” El Faro , February 10, elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm .

390 barbed-wire fencing Carlos Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” El Faro , February 10, 2020, elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm , via Google Translate.

390 A dozen soldiers Peña and Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm .

390 “I promised during the campaign . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

390 “Today we are fulfilling that campaign promise” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

390 “There is the Legislative Palace . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’’’ elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

390 “Now, what happened to make us . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

390 “How much money would you pay. . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

390–391 “these criminals in the Legislative Assembly . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

391 “Nayib! Nayib! Nayib!” Crowd quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

391 refusing . . . a $109 million bank loan Marcos Aleman, “El Salvador Standoff Deepens over Loan for Security Forces,” Associated Press (AP) News, February 9, 2020, apnews.com/general-news-484506fa419639890c813d97ad736976 .

391 called a special session . . . and urged “the Salvadoran people to come” Nayib Bukele, Twitter, February 7, 2020, 11:37 a.m., x.com/nayibbukele/status/1225820885761888256 .

391 “the constitutional order” Nayib Bukele quoted in Aleman, “El Salvador Standoff Deepens over Loan for Security Forces,” apnews.com/general-news-484506fa419639890c813d97ad736976 .

391 “dictatorship” FLMN party quoted in Aleman, “El Salvador Standoff Deepens over Loan for Security Forces,” apnews.com/general-news-484506fa419639890c813d97ad736976 .

391 dozens of soldiers and police officers Aleman, “El Salvador Standoff Deepens over Loan for Security Forces,” apnews.com/general-news-484506fa419639890c813d97ad736976 .

391 posted loyalty oaths Loyalty oaths were posted by Fuerza Armada (the armed forces of El Salvador) and PNC El Salvador (the National Civil Police) on Twitter. Fuerza Armada, Twitter, February 8, 2020, 8:06 p.m., x.com/FUERZARMADASV/status/1226311491168632833 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/Xx7iQ ; and PNC El Salvador, Twitter, February 8, 2020, 11:46 p.m., x.com/PNCSV/status/1226366707394105344 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/iH4A4 .

Chapter 104: Firehose of Disinformation

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:26 GMT

392 is Catholic Andrew Lapin, “El Salvador’s President, Trump’s New Deportation Partner, Is a Pro-Israel Palestinian,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, April 17, 2025, www.jta.org/2025/04/17/global/el-salvadors-president-trumps-new-deportation-partner-has-a-strange-history-with-jews-and-israel .

392 like most Salvadorans “According to a December 2022 survey by the University of Central America’s Institute of Public Opinion, 42.2 percent of the population identifies as Catholic, 36.6 percent as evangelical Christian, and 17 percent with no religious affiliation. Approximately 2.7 percent of the population identifies as “other,” which includes Anglicans, Jehovah’s Witnesses, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Muslims, Baha’is, Jews, Buddhists, and members of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness. Approximately 1.5 percent of the population identifies as agnostic or atheist. A small segment of the population adheres to Indigenous religious beliefs, with some mixing of these beliefs with Christianity and Islam. Muslim leaders estimate there are 18,000 Muslims.” U.S. Department of State, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: El Salvador , accessed September 30, 2025, www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/el-salvador/ .

392 The Christian parents . . . immigrated to El Salvador from Palestine Lapin, “El Salvador’s President, Trump’s New Deportation Partner, Is a Pro-Israel Palestinian,” www.jta.org/2025/04/17/global/el-salvadors-president-trumps-new-deportation-partner-has-a-strange-history-with-jews-and-israel .

392        arrived in 1921 Lapin, “El Salvador’s President, Trump’s New Deportation Partner, Is a Pro-Israel Palestinian,” www.jta.org/2025/04/17/global/el-salvadors-president-trumps-new-deportation-partner-has-a-strange-history-with-jews-and-israel .

392        as an industrial chemist . . . a prominent businessman in San Salvador Jimmy Alvarado et al., “The Bukele Clan That Rules with Nayib,” El Faro , June 17, 2020, elfaro.net/en/202006/el_salvador/24542/The-Bukele-Clan-that-Rules-with-Nayib.htm .

392 Olga and Armando had their firstborn son Alvarado et al., “The Bukele Clan That Rules with Nayib,” elfaro.net/en/202006/el_salvador/24542/The-Bukele-Clan-that-Rules-with-Nayib.htm .

392        converted to Islam in adulthood . . . inaugural mosque in 1992 Lapin, “El Salvador’s President, Trump’s New Deportation Partner, Is a Pro-Israel Palestinian,” www.jta.org/2025/04/17/global/el-salvadors-president-trumps-new-deportation-partner-has-a-strange-history-with-jews-and-israel ; Alvarado et al., “The Bukele Clan that Rules with Nayib,” elfaro.net/en/202006/el_salvador/24542/The-Bukele-Clan-that-Rules-with-Nayib.htm ; and Gabriel Labrador, “How Bukele Crafted a Best-Selling Political Brand,” El Faro , May 3, 2022, elfaro.net/en/202205/el_salvador/26155/How-Bukele-Crafted-a-Best-Selling-Political-Brand.htm .

392 “in God, in Jesus Christ” Nayib Bukele, 2015 interview, quoted in Raphael Ahren, “His Dad Was an Imam, His Wife Has Jewish Roots: Meet El Salvador’s New Leader,” Times of Israel , February 7, 2019, www.timesofisrael.com/his-dad-was-an-imam-his-wife-has-jewish-roots-meet-el-salvadors-new-leader/ .

392        as respecting all faiths . . . and his wife, Gabriela Ahren, “His Dad Was an Imam, His Wife Has Jewish Roots: Meet El Salvador’s New Leader,” www.timesofisrael.com/his-dad-was-an-imam-his-wife-has-jewish-roots-meet-el-salvadors-new-leader/ .

392 descends from Sephardic Jews Ahren, “His Dad Was an Imam, His Wife Has Jewish Roots: Meet El Salvador’s New Leader,” www.timesofisrael.com/his-dad-was-an-imam-his-wife-has-jewish-roots-meet-el-salvadors-new-leader/ .

392        expelled . . . in the late fifteenth century James William Nelson Novoa, “Sephardic Diaspora,” in Oxford Bibliographies Online , last modified March 23, 2023, accessed September 30, 2025, www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195399301/obo-9780195399301-0509.xml .

392 wanted to pursue law . . . didn’t suit him Vera Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” Time , August 29, 2024, time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

392 pursued . . . advertising Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

392–393 “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule . . .” Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (Cleveland, OH: The World Publishing Company, 1951), 474; and Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2021), 106. Find The Origins of Authoritarianism ( search.worldcat.org/title/1450556499 ) and Strongmen ( search.worldcat.org/title/1233267123 ) at a library near you.

393 Disinformation is . . . See “Disinformation,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, accessed October 31, 2025, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disinformation .

393 false information that is . . . See “Misinformation,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , accessed October 31, 2025, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misinformation .

393 also put forth by the U.S. government “Foreign Influence Operations and Disinformation,” Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, accessed via Wayback Machine, February 24, 2023 capture, web.archive.org/web/20230224204340/https://www.cisa.gov/topics/election-security/foreign-influence-operations-and-disinformation .

393 “an anger state promotes the process of motivated reasoning . . .” Sijing Chen et al., “Spread of Misinformation on Social Media: What Contributes to It and How to Combat It,” Computers in Human Behavior 141 (April 2023), doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107643 , 7.

393 When people lack . . . more susceptible to believing disinformation According to Chen et al., “Individuals’ low level of issue knowledge or scientific knowledge and cognitive ability would affect their susceptibility to misinformation on social media.” Chen et al., “Spread of Misinformation on Social Media: What Contributes to It and How to Combat It,” doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107643 , 7.

393 generally have lower levels of skepticism . . . more vulnerable to disinformation Chen et al. found that older people had a “lower level of skepticism and higher level of acceptance of misinformation were observed among older people.” Chen et al., “Misinformation on Social Media: What Contributes to It and How to Combat It,” doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107643 , 6.

393 with higher levels of critical thinking are less vulnerable . . . Chen et al. state “individuals with a high level of critical thinking are . . . less vulnerable to misinformation.” Chen et al., “Spread of Misinformation on Social Media: What Contributes to It and How to Combat It,” doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107643 , 7.

393 attacks on education Sarah Schwartz and Eesha Pendharkar, “Here’s the Long List of Topics Republicans Want Banned from the Classroom,” Education Week , February 2, 2022, www.edweek.org/policy-politics/heres-the-long-list-of-topics-republicans-want-banned-from-the-classroom/2022/02 ; and “Right-Wing Attacks on Education and Student Expression,” American Oversight, September 29, 2023, americanoversight.org/investigation/right-wing-attacks-on-education-and-student-expression/ .

393 bans of books on . . . and transphobia See PEN America, “PEN America Index of School Book Bans—2024-2025,” accessed October 31, 2025, pen.org/book-bans/pen-america-index-of-school-book-bans-2024-2025/ ; and PEN America, “The Normalization of Book Banning: Banned in the USA, 2024–2025,” October 1, 2025, pen.org/report/the-normalization-of-book-banning/ .

393 “It was” . . . “the blunt instrument of reassuring ignorance . . .” Masha Gessen, Surviving Autocracy (New York: Riverhead Books, 2020), 31. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1137807208 .

393 1.5 million tweets . . . between April 2012 and April 2019 Jacob Davey and Julia Ebner, ‘The Great Replacement’: The Violent Consequences of Mainstreamed Extremism , Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2019, www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/The-Great-Replacement-The-Violent-Consequences-of-Mainstreamed-Extremism-by-ISD.pdf , 5.

393 “steadily increased” Davey and Ebner, ‘The Great Replacement’: The Violent Consequences of Mainstreamed Extremism , www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/The-Great-Replacement-The-Violent-Consequences-of-Mainstreamed-Extremism-by-ISD.pdf , 5.

393 tripling between 2015 and 2018 Davey and Ebner, ‘The Great Replacement’: The Violent Consequences of Mainstreamed Extremism , www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/The-Great-Replacement-The-Violent-Consequences-of-Mainstreamed-Extremism-by-ISD.pdf , 24.

Chapter 105: Customers

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:25 GMT

394 dropped out of college Vera Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” Time , August 29, 2024, time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

394       led . . . Obermet Sarah Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” Reuters, November 29, 2022, www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ ; and Gabriel Labrador, “How Bukele Crafted a Best-Selling Political Brand,” El Faro , May 3, 2022, elfaro.net/en/202205/el_salvador/26155/How-Bukele-Crafted-a-Best-Selling-Political-Brand.htm .

394       presided over Obermet and other companies Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

394 got his political start running advertising for. . . Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

394 battled Salvadoran elites . . . during the Salvadoran Civil War Carlos S. Maldonado, “The Collapse of the FMLN, the Former Salvadoran Guerrilla Movement Nayib Bukele Wants to Eliminate,” El País English , March 11, 2024, english.elpais.com/international/2024-03-11/the-collapse-of-the-fmln-the-former-salvadoran-guerrilla-movement-nayib-bukele-wants-to-eliminate.html .

394       transformed into a political party Maldonado, “The Collapse of the FMLN, the Former Salvadoran Guerrilla Movement Nayib Bukele Wants to Eliminate,” english.elpais.com/international/2024-03-11/the-collapse-of-the-fmln-the-former-salvadoran-guerrilla-movement-nayib-bukele-wants-to-eliminate.html .

394 father joined the party . . . joined too . . . eye on political office Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ ; and Labrador, “How Bukele Crafted a Best-Selling Political Brand,” elfaro.net/en/202205/el_salvador/26155/How-Bukele-Crafted-a-Best-Selling-Political-Brand.htm .

394 elected Bukele their mayor in 2012 Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

394       used that office . . . for mayor of San Salvador Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ ; and Labrador, “How Bukele Crafted a Best-Selling Political Brand,” elfaro.net/en/202205/el_salvador/26155/How-Bukele-Crafted-a-Best-Selling-Political-Brand.htm .

394 the FMLN’s “crown jewel” Quoted in Laura Bernal, “Nayib Bukele, the Most Popular Capitalist on the Salvadoran Left,” Contra Punto , February 27, 2015, accessed via Wayback Machine, March 18, 2015 capture, web.archive.org/web/20150318042620/http://www.contrapunto.com.sv/nacionales/politica/nayib-bukele-el-capitalista-mas-popular-de-la-izquierda-salvadorena , via Google Translate; and Nayib Bukele, “Now, the Crown Jewel will belong to the people . . .” Facebook, March 20, 2015, www.facebook.com/nayibbukele/posts/ahora-la-joya-de-la-corona-ser%C3%A1-del-pueblo/783461325073394/ , via Google Translate, archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/jsIGX .

394       Bukele won Bernal, “Nayib Bukele, the Most Popular Capitalist on the Salvadoran Left,” web.archive.org/web/20150318042620/http://www.contrapunto.com.sv/nacionales/politica/nayib-bukele-el-capitalista-mas-popular-de-la-izquierda-salvadorena ; and Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

394 reached 103 murders per 100,000 people Kevin Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” Washington Post , April 1, 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

394 the highest rate in the Americas, twenty times the U.S. rate Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

394 carried out many of the murders José Miguel Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador (Miami: Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center and Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, Florida International University, 2017), lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 14.

394 founded Barrio 18 in the 1960s Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 13.

394 created MS-13 in Los Angeles in the early 1980s Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 13.

394–395 After . . . began deporting members of these gangs . . . Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 13.

395        unsubstantiated charge . . . sending gang members to the United States NBC Chicago, “Donald Trump’s Full Speech at 2024 RNC,” YouTube, July 19, 2024, youtu.be/dLUK_MEJP_M?si=nAYKJgITEQ3w8DIp , 1:05:39–1:05:57.

395 contributed to the growth of the most powerful gangs . . . Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 13.

395 leveraged the conditions . . . to recruit more members Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 13–14, 19, 20.

395 attempted to crush . . . through mano dura (iron-fist) policies Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 14.

395 up “thousands of youth based on their appearance . . .” Steven Dudley, “How ‘Mano Dura’ is Strengthening Gangs,” 2010, quoted in Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 14.

395 “Most of these arrests did not hold up . . .” Dudley, “How ‘Mano Dura’ is Strengthening Gangs,” quoted in Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 14.

395 sent thousands . . . heavily recruited new members “The government of Francisco Flores implemented the Plan Mano Dura policy in 2003, which enabled police officers to arrest suspected gang members based on their physical appearances as many gang members pledge allegiance and loyalty to the organization by having tattoos—often on their faces, hands, and other extremities. This strategy resulted in the prison population increasing from 4,000 to 8,000 in the first four months after the implementation of this policy.” The authors add, “Overcrowded jails and prisons function as recruiting grounds for gang members.” Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 14, 66.

395 fled El Salvador between 2012 and 2016 Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

395 joined other . . . fleeing the Northern Triangle Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

395 introduced an aid package Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

395 created jobs . . . assisted returning immigrants Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

395 immigration from Guatemala and Honduras . . . Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

395 aging . . . moving out of the demographic window . . . fifteen and twenty-nine Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

395 most likely to join a gang or immigrate to another country A survey of members of youth gangs in El Salvador found “interviewees’ ages ranged from 13 to 56, but the majority (75%) were 30 years old or younger at the time of this study . . . Most gang members joined the gang during adolescence. The average age of joining a gang is 15 years old and has remained the same over the past decade.” Cruz et al., The New Face of Street Gangs: The Gang Phenomenon in El Salvador , lacc.fiu.edu/research/the-street-gangs-in-central-america-research-initiative-scrain/the-new-face-of-street-gangs-the-gang-phenomenon-in-el-salvador-eng.pdf , 17. On immigration age, see Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

395–396 younger than El Salvador’s Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

396 “youth bulge” Justin Yifu Lin, “Youth Bulge: A Demographic Dividend or a Demographic Bomb in Developing Countries?” World Bank Blogs, January 5, 2012, https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/developmenttalk/youth-bulge-a-demographic-dividend-or-a-demographic-bomb-in-developing-countries .

396 the rise in immigration from Guatemala and Honduras Sieff, “U.S. Officials Said Aid to El Salvador Helped Slow Migration: Now Trump Is Canceling It,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-officials-said-aid-to-el-salvador-helped-slow-migration-now-trump-is-canceling-it/2019/04/01/5a8ca570-540a-11e9-aa83-504f086bf5d6_story.html .

396 ended the aid David C. Adams, “Trump Cuts Off Aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador,” Univision News, March 29, 2019, www.univision.com/univision-news/latin-america/trump-cuts-off-aid-to-honduras-guatemala-and-el-salvador . There is no evidence that Trump ended this aid to intentionally increase the number of immigrants but that it would have benefited him politically.

396 did all he could Lauren Markham, “Can a Millennial Mayor Save One of the World’s Most Violent Cities?” The Guardian , October 18, 2016, www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/18/nayib-bukele-san-salvador-mayor-save-worlds-most-violent-city .

396 installing lights on every street corner, increasing police patrols Markham, “Can a Millennial Mayor Save One of the World’s Most Violent Cities?” www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/18/nayib-bukele-san-salvador-mayor-save-worlds-most-violent-city .

396 creating more youth scholarships, and revitalizing San Salvador’s downtown business district Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

396 created his own media empire Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

Chapter 106: Cinematographer

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:23 GMT

397 started directing a team of professionals Gabriel Labrador, “How Bukele Crafted a Best-Selling Political Brand,” El Faro , May 3, 2022, elfaro.net/en/202205/el_salvador/26155/How-Bukele-Crafted-a-Best-Selling-Political-Brand.htm ; and Vera Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” Time , August 29, 2024, time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

397 built one of the largest social media followings in El Salvador Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

397 clashes with FMLN leaders Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

397 aimed to separate his political brand Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

397 the two major parties that had long ruled El Salvador Aída M. Betancourt Simán, “Bukele Broke the Political Order in El Salvador: Now the Real Work Begins,” Washington Post , February 11, 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/11/bukele-broke-political-order-el-salvador-now-real-work-begins/ .

397 failing to secure enough votes . . . at a municipal council meeting in September 2017 Anne Liedloff, “El Salvador: Expelled by the FMLN, San Salvador’s Mayor Will Run for President,” Latin America Bureau, October 30, 2017, lab.org.uk/el-salvador-san-salvadors-mayor-will-run-for-president-after-fall-out-with-fmln/ .

397 a “witch” and a “damn traitor” and tossed an apple at her face Xochitl Marchelli’s recollection of events, quoted in Cristian Meléndez, “He Threw an Apple at Me and if I Don’t Move Away It Will Fall on My Face: Xotchil Marchelli,” La Prensa Grafica , September 15, 2017, www.laprensagrafica.com/elsalvador/Me-tiro-una-manzana-y-si-no-me-aparto-me-cae-en-el-rostro-Xotchil-Marchelli-20170915-0026.html , via Google Translate.

397 expelled Bukele Liedloff, “El Salvador: Expelled by the FMLN, San Salvador’s Mayor Will Run for President,” lab.org.uk/el-salvador-san-salvadors-mayor-will-run-for-president-after-fall-out-with-fmln/ .

397 established his own political party Bukele announced the establishment of Nuevas Ideas on October 25, 2017. See Nayib Bukele, “Our New Movement,” Facebook, October 25, 2017, www.facebook.com/nayibbukele/videos/1469791213107065/ , via Google Translate, archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/0E21n#selection-913.67-913.81 .

397 “our new movement” Bukele, “Our New Movement,” www.facebook.com/nayibbukele/videos/1469791213107065/ , archived at archive.ph/0E21n#selection-913.67-913.81 .

397 “the traditional politicians” Daniel Girón, “Nuevas Ideas || Nayib Bukele,” YouTube, October 25, 2017, youtu.be/Z067IEs9OBI?si=-krYycrtWhzAmCpR , 0:08–0:09, via Google Translate. This is a YouTube upload of Bukele, “Our New Movement,” www.facebook.com/nayibbukele/videos/1469791213107065/ , with a translatable transcription.

397 “finance themselves with dirty money” Girón, “Nuevas Ideas || Nayib Bukele,” youtu.be/Z067IEs9OBI?si=-krYycrtWhzAmCpR , 4:14–4:16.

397 “a real, horizontal movement” Girón, “Nuevas Ideas || Nayib Bukele,” youtu.be/Z067IEs9OBI?si=-krYycrtWhzAmCpR , 6:40–6:42

397 “those millions of Salvadorans who want change for our country” Girón, “Nuevas Ideas || Nayib Bukele,” youtu.be/Z067IEs9OBI?si=-krYycrtWhzAmCpR , 7:15–7:18

397 “There’s enough money to go around . . .” Bukele quoted in Jonathan Blitzer, “The Rise of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s Authoritarian President,” New Yorker , September 5, 2022, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/12/the-rise-of-nayib-bukele-el-salvadors-authoritarian-president .

398 tied . . . to the corruption of past presidents . . . Blitzer, “The Rise of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s Authoritarian President,” www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/09/12/the-rise-of-nayib-bukele-el-salvadors-authoritarian-president ; and Associated Press, “El Salvador: Anti-Corruption Candidate Nayib Bukele Wins Presidential Election,” The Guardian , February 3, 2019, www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/04/el-salvador-anti-corruption-candidate-nayib-bukele-wins-presidential-election .

398 almost 54 percent Gene Palumbo and Elisabeth Malkin, “Nayib Bukele, an Outsider Candidate, Claims Victory in El Salvador Election,” New York Times , February 3, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/03/world/americas/salvador-bukele-election.html .

398 the nation’s youngest head of state Diego Oré and Nelson Renteria, “Nayib Bukele: The Tough-on-Crime Former Ad Man Set to Secure New El Salvador Term,” Reuters, February 1, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/americas/nayib-bukele-tough-on-crime-former-ad-man-set-secure-new-el-salvador-term-2024-02-01/ .

398 Around twenty young, tech-savvy Salvadorans Sarah Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” Reuters, November 29, 2022,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

398 some of whom . . .worked out of a house in a residential neighborhood Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

398 created hundreds of sock puppets . . . accounts Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ . On “sock puppets,” or puppet accounts, see also Jane Esberg, “All the President’s Trolls: Real and Fake Twitter Fights in El Salvador,” commentary, International Crisis Group, July 13, 2020, www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/el-salvador/all-presidents-trolls-real-and-fake-twitter-fights-el-salvador .

398 followed Bukele Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

398 reported . . . to get their accounts suspended Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

398 relied on bots . . . particularly TikTokers and YouTubers Labrador, “How Bukele Crafted a Best-Selling Political Brand,” elfaro.net/en/202205/el_salvador/26155/How-Bukele-Crafted-a-Best-Selling-Political-Brand.htm ; Esberg, “All the President’s Trolls: Real and Fake Twitter Fights in El Salvador,” www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/el-salvador/all-presidents-trolls-real-and-fake-twitter-fights-el-salvador ; and Megan Janetsky, “As Free Press Withers in El Salvador, Pro-Government Social Media Influencers Grow in Power,” Associated Press (AP) News, Aug 13, 2023, apnews.com/article/bukele-tiktok-youtube-influencers-disinformation-el-salvador-5523937ba0e499af71e7f2ff7e72eeac .

398 given press credentials . . . traditional journalists are denied access Janetsky, “As Free Press Withers in El Salvador, Pro-Government Social Media Influencers Grow in Power,” apnews.com/article/bukele-tiktok-youtube-influencers-disinformation-el-salvador-5523937ba0e499af71e7f2ff7e72eeac ; and Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

398 share . . . and the “blockbuster-quality videos” . . . of police confronting gangs Janetsky, “Free Press Withers in El Salvador, Pro-Government Social Media Influencers Grow in Power,” apnews.com/article/bukele-tiktok-youtube-influencers-disinformation-el-salvador-5523937ba0e499af71e7f2ff7e72eeac .

398 hundreds of accounts . . . “tens of thousands” . . . at a time U.S. State Department report quoted in Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

398 allowing Bukele to control . . . which in turn has allowed Bukele to shape . . . Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

398 “ firehose of falsehood” Christopher Paul and Miriam Matthews, “The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It,” RAND, July 11, 2016, www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html .

398 traced . . . to 2008 Paul and Matthews, “The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It,” www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html .

398 “high numbers of channels and messages” Paul and Matthews, “The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It,” www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html .

398–399 “a shameless willingness to disseminate . . .” Paul and Matthews, “The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It,” www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html .

399 “rapid, continuous, and repetitive” Paul and Matthews, “The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It,” www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html .

399 “first impressions are very resilient” Paul and Matthews, “The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It,” www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html .

399 “lacks commitment to consistency” Paul and Matthews, “The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It,” www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html .

399 multiple arguments from multiple sources . . . more persuasive than . . . Paul and Matthews, “The Russian ‘Firehose of Falsehood’ Propaganda Model: Why It Might Work and Options to Counter It,” www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html .

399 with ties . . . founded the Internet Research Agency Robert S. Mueller, Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election (hereafter Mueller Report ), vol. 1, March 2019,” www.justice.gov/storage/report_volume1.pdf , 4, 22; and U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Intelligence, Report on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election , Vol. 2: Russia’s Use of Social Media with Additional Views , 116th Cong., 1st sess., 2020, www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf , 15.

399 drummed up support for Brexit and Trump’s election Matthew Field and Mike Wright, “Russian Trolls Sent Thousands of Pro-Leave Messages on Day of Brexit Referendum, Twitter data reveals,” The Telegraph , October 17, 2018, accessed via Wayback Machine, October 17, 2018 capture, web.archive.org/web/20181017201052/https:/www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/17/russian-iranian-twitter-trolls-sent-10-million-tweets-fake-news/ .

399 @America_1st_ accumulated 24,000 followers on Twitter Mueller Report , www.justice.gov/storage/report_volume1.pdf , 1:27.

399 named “Secured Borders” . . . “Being Patriot” . . . “Stop All Invaders” Mueller Report , www.justice.gov/storage/report_volume1.pdf , 1:25.

399 deactivated in August 2017 Mueller Report , www.justice.gov/storage/report_volume1.pdf , 1:26.

399 at least 29 million Americans and as many as 126 million people around the world Mueller Report , www.justice.gov/storage/report_volume1.pdf , 1:26.

399 rebranded as the Lakhta Internet Research National Intelligence Council, “Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections,” March 10, 2021, in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, 117th Cong., 1st. Sess., Serial No. 117–27 (June 10, 2021), www.congress.gov/117/chrg/CHRG-117hhrg48244/CHRG-117hhrg48244.pdf , 92.

399 By 2019 . . . “outsourced” . . . to Ghana, Nigeria, and Mexico National Intelligence Council, “Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections,” in U.S. House of Representatives, Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , www.congress.gov/117/chrg/CHRG-117hhrg48244/CHRG-117hhrg48244.pdf , 92; and Clarissa Ward et al., “Russian Election Meddling Is Back—Via Ghana and Nigeria—and in Your Feeds,” CNN, April 11, 2020, edition.cnn.com/2020/03/12/world/russia-ghana-troll-farms-2020-ward/index.html .

399 did not seem to know National Intelligence Council, “Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections,” in U.S. House of Representatives, Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , www.congress.gov/117/chrg/CHRG-117hhrg48244/CHRG-117hhrg48244.pdf , 92; and Ward et al., “Russian Election Meddling Is Back—Via Ghana and Nigeria—and in Your Feeds,” edition.cnn.com/2020/03/12/world/russia-ghana-troll-farms-2020-ward/index.html .

399 paid . . . that expressed hate of White Americans Žilvinas Švedkauskas et al., “Russia’s Disinformation Campaigns Are Targeting African Americans,” Washington Post , July 24, 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/24/russias-disinformation-campaigns-are-targeting-african-americans/ .

399 after George Floyd’s murder National Intelligence Council, “Foreign Threats to the 2020 US Federal Elections,” in U.S. House of Representatives, Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , www.congress.gov/117/chrg/CHRG-117hhrg48244/CHRG-117hhrg48244.pdf , 92.

Chapter 107: Constitutional Disorder

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:21 GMT

400 “So we put into operation. . .” Carlos Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” El Faro , February 10, 2020, elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

400 “Sixty percent of homicides have been reduced . . .” Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

400 38 homicides per 100,000 people, a third of the rate in 2015 See United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “Intentional Homicide—Dataset," data UNODC, accessed April 21, 2025, dataunodc.un.org/dp-intentional-homicide-victims .

400 one of the highest in the world Jeremy Giles, “The Problem with El Salvador’s Crime Numbers,” Foreign Policy , August 8, 2024, foreignpolicy.com/2024/08/08/el-salvador-bukele-crime-homicide-prison-gangs/ .

400 nearly by half, from 2019 to 2020 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “Intentional Homicide—Dataset,” dataunodc.un.org/dp-intentional-homicide-victims .

400 from 21.5 . . . to 7.8 in 2022 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, “Intentional Homicide—Dataset,” dataunodc.un.org/dp-intentional-homicide-victims .

400 2.4 in 2023 “El Salvador Says Murders Fell 70% in 2023 as It Cracked Down on Gangs,” Reuters, January 3, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-says-murders-fell-70-2023-it-cracked-down-gangs-2024-01-03/ .

400 announced . . . the second-lowest homicide rate . . . only to Canada “El Says Murders Fell 70% in 2023 as It Cracked Down on Gangs,” www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-says-murders-fell-70-2023-it-cracked-down-gangs-2024-01-03/ .

400 “A certain country, and I happen to like the president . . .” NBC Chicago, “Donald Trump’s Full Speech at 2024 RNC,” YouTube, July 19, 2024, youtu.be/dLUK_MEJP_M?si=nAYKJgITEQ3w8DIp , 1:03:46– 1:04:01.

400 “He would have you convinced that because . . .” NBC Chicago, “Donald Trump’s Full Speech at 2024 RNC,” youtu.be/dLUK_MEJP_M?si=nAYKJgITEQ3w8DIp , 1:05:45–1:05:57.

400–401 tabulated . . . not been independently verified . . . shut researchers out Bukele’s “administration has sealed data that was once publicly available, including counts of missing persons and bodies in mass graves, a telltale sign of gang executions. Human rights groups and families of victims have claimed this is a way to make crime statistics look better than they really are.” Sarah Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” Reuters, November 29, 2022, www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ . See also Nelson Renteria, “In El Salvador, Discrepancy over Deaths and Mass Graves Alarms Critics,” Reuters, August 3, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-discrepancy-over-deaths-mass-graves-alarms-critics-2022-08-03/ ; and “Discrepancy Persists in El Salvador’s Violent Death Toll Since 2022,” El Salvador Now, September 3, 2025, www.elsalvadornow.org/2025/09/03/discrepancy-persists-in-el-salvadors-violent-death-toll-since-2022-persiste-disparidad-en-conteo-de-muertes-violentas-en-el-salvador-desde-2022 , via Google Translate.

401 are not included in homicide statistics Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ ; and Renteria, “In El Salvador, Discrepancy over Deaths and Mass Graves Alarms Critics,” www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-discrepancy-over-deaths-mass-graves-alarms-critics-2022-08-03/ .

401 “who do not want to finance . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

401 “And what did they do with those weapons and ammunition? . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

401 bribed . . . to deliver votes . . . in the 2014 presidential election Eleno Castro and Randy Kotti, “Saving Democracy: Reducing Gang Influence on Political Elections in El Salvador,” M.A. Thesis, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 2022, www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/degree%20programs/MPAID/files/Castro%2C%20Eleno%20%26%20Randy%20Kotti_SYPA.pdf , 11.

Chapter 108: Blood on His Hands

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:19 GMT

402 discovered . . . had paid the gangs . . . his mayoral campaign Eleno Castro and Randy Kotti, “Saving Democracy: Reducing Gang Influence on Political Elections in El Salvador,” M.A. Thesis, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 2022, www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/degree%20programs/MPAID/files/Castro%2C%20Eleno%20%26%20Randy%20Kotti_SYPA.pdf , 11.

402 held secret negotiations with Barrio 18 and MS-13 “Treasury Targets Corruption Networks Linked to Transnational Organized Crime,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, press release, December 8, 2021, home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0519 ; and Castro and Kotti, “Saving Democracy: Reducing Gang Influence on Political Elections in El Salvador,” www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/degree%20programs/MPAID/files/Castro%2C%20Eleno%20%26%20Randy%20Kotti_SYPA.pdf , 11.

402 In exchange for money . . . agreed to support . . . Castro and Kotti, “Saving Democracy: Reducing Gang Influence on Political Elections in El Salvador,” www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/degree%20programs/MPAID/files/Castro%2C%20Eleno%20%26%20Randy%20Kotti_SYPA.pdf , 11. See also Carlos Martínez et al., “Bukele Has Been Negotiating with MS-13 for a Reduction in Homicides and Electoral Support,” El Faro , September 6, 2020, elfaro.net/en/202009/el_salvador/24785/Bukele-Has-Been-Negotiating-with-MS-13-for-a-Reduction-in-Homicides-and-Electoral-Support.htm .

402 agreed to limit gang violence . . . and keep homicide rates low “Treasury Targets Corruption Networks Linked to Transnational Organized Crime,” home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0519 ; and Castro and Kotti, “Saving Democracy: Reducing Gang Influence on Political Elections in El Salvador,” www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/degree%20programs/MPAID/files/Castro%2C%20Eleno%20%26%20Randy%20Kotti_SYPA.pdf , 11.

402 with money and privileges in prison . . . access to sex workers “Treasury Targets Corruption Networks Linked to Transnational Organized Crime,” home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0519 ; and Castro and Kotti, “Saving Democracy: Reducing Gang Influence on Political Elections in El Salvador,” www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/degree%20programs/MPAID/files/Castro%2C%20Eleno%20%26%20Randy%20Kotti_SYPA.pdf , 11.

402 blessed by El Salvador’s constitution Martínez, "Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

402 “Where is the unconstitutionality?” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

402 “Is it unconstitutional for the people to peacefully gather . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

402 “Those who have broken the constitutional order . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

402 “Blood is on their hands. Scoundrels!” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

403 “another article of the Constitution” . . . gives . . . “to the Salvadoran people” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

403 “officials break the constitutional order . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

403 “Insurrection! Insurrection! Insurrection!” Crowd quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

Chapter 109: Fight Like Hell

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:18 GMT

404 “Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” Wall Street Journal , February 7, 2021, video, www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 4:19-4:29.

404 Biden had defeated Trump “Presidential Election Results 2020: Biden Wins,” New York Times , accessed April 25, 2020, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-president.html .

404 spread doubts about the integrity of American elections David Siders, “‘Rigged Election’ Goes from Trump Complaint to Campaign Strategy,” Politico , July 31, 2020, www.politico.com/news/2020/07/31/trump-rigged-election-campaign-strategy-388884 ; and Amanda Seitz et al., “Trump and Allies Spread Falsehoods to Cast Doubts on Election,” Associated Press (AP) News, November 4, 2020, apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-wisconsin-misinformation-013e89a828a01668ba3da6a2f6f91ca9 .

404 that the election had been stolen from him Seitz et al., “Trump Allies Spread Falsehoods to Cast Doubts on Election,” apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-wisconsin-misinformation-013e89a828a01668ba3da6a2f6f91ca9 ; and “Compiling the Truth: A Resource to Refute the ‘Stolen Election’ Lies,” Campaign Legal Center, September 24, 2021, campaignlegal.org/update/compiling-truth-resource-refute-stolen-election-lies .

404 stole millions of dollars from his supporters Sarah Hansen, “Trump Campaign Paid $3.5 Million to Stop The Steal Organizers, Report Finds,” Forbes , June 29, 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2021/02/10/trump-campaign-paid-35-million-to-stop-the-steal-organizers-report-finds/ ; and Shane Goldmacher and Rachel Shorey, “Trump’s Sleight of Hand: Shouting Fraud, Pocketing Donor’s Cash for Future,” New York Times , February 1, 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/us/politics/trump-cash.html .

404 “stop the steal” A phrase and hashtag used by Trump and supporters to deny the legitimacy of the 2020 election. See “Compiling the Truth: A Resource to Refute the ‘Stolen Election’ Lies,” campaignlegal.org/update/compiling-truth-resource-refute-stolen-election-lies .

404 charged . . . with permitting “illegal” voters . . .Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Detroit Donald J Trump, “This may be the most important speech I’ve ever made....” YouTube, December 2, 2020, youtu.be/720O_yBLrTs?si=C0hqUeh9LMmB4KqM , 2:51–3:05; Alana Wise, “Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims Widespread Fraud In Latest Election Speech,” NPR, November 5, 2020, www.npr.org/2020/11/05/931930379/fact-check-trump-falsely-claims-widespread-fraud-in-latest-election-speech ; and Juana Summers, “Trump Push to Invalidate Voters in Heavily Black Cities Alarms Civil Rights Groups,” All Things Considered , NPR, November 24, 2020, www.npr.org/2020/11/24/938187233/trump-push-to-invalidate-votes-in-heavily-black-cities-alarms-civil-rights-group .

404 largely White districts . . . for Trump “Trump garnered the support of 65% of rural voters, including 71% of White rural voters; the latter represented an increase over the 62% he received among this group in 2016.” Ruth Igielnik et al., “Behind Biden’s 2020 Victory,” Pew Research Center, June 30, 2021, www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2021/06/30/behind-bidens-2020-victory/ .

404 conspiracy theories about ballot stuffing Abril Mulato and Ali Swenson, “Ballot-Stuffing Video Was Shot in Russia, Not Michigan,” Associated Press (AP) News, November 5, 2020, apnews.com/article/fact-checking-9673760741 .

404 dead voters Accusations of dead voters occurred in Arizona, Michigan, and other states. See Jonathan J. Cooper, “Arizona Official Refutes Review That Counted 282 Dead Voters,” AP News, August 1, 2022, apnews.com/article/elections-arizona-donald-trump-phoenix-government-and-politics-e11fb4726ee010e4d031a63acff939cd ; Jack Goodman et al., “U.S. Election 2020: The ‘Dead Voters’ in Michigan Who Are Still Alive,” BBC News, November 13, 2020, www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54874120 ; and Amy Gardner and Paulina Firozi, “Here’s the Full Transcript and Audio of the Call between Trump and Raffensperger,” Washington Post , January 5, 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raffensperger-call-transcript-georgia-vote/2021/01/03/2768e0cc-4ddd-11eb-83e3-322644d82356_story.html .

404 immigrant voters Trump made this claim at political rallies among other places. See Bloomberg News, “Live: Trump Stumps for Georgia Republicans David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler Ahead of State Runoff,” YouTube, January 4, 2021, 2:46:50–2:46:55, www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HisWmJJ3oE ; and Walter Olson, “Shedding Light on the Incidence of Illegal Noncitizen Voting,” Cato Institute, May 22, 2024, www.cato.org/blog/shedding-light-incidence-illegal-noncitizen-voting .

404 voting machines . . . in Biden’s favor Emma Brown, et al., “Trump-Allied Lawyers Pursued Voting Machine Data in Multiple States, Records Reveal,” Washington Post , August 15, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/08/15/sidney-powell-coffee-county-sullivan-strickler/ .

404 replayed . . . about his election being stolen Concha Pérez-Curiel et al., “Impact of Trump’s Digital Rhetoric on the US Elections: A View from Worldwide Far-Right Populism,” Social Sciences 10, no. 5 (2021), www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/5/152 .

404–405 repeated the disinformation Abby Livingston and Shawn Mulcahy, “As States Count Votes, Some of Texas’ Most Prominent Republican Politicians Are Spreading Misinformation About the Election,” Texas Tribune , November 6, 2020, www.texastribune.org/2020/11/06/texas-republicans-trump-results/ ; and Karen Yourish, et al., “Over 370 Republican Candidates Have Cast Doubt on the 2020 Election,” New York Times , October 13, 2022, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/13/us/politics/republican-candidates-2020-election-misinformation.html .

404–405 refused to acknowledge Steve Scalise, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and other Republicans refused to admit that Trump had lost the election. See Rhian Lubin, “Republicans Still Can’t Say ‘Trump Lost the 2020 Election,’” The Independent , October 6, 2024, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/republicans-refuse-donald-trump-lost-2020-election-b2624708.html ; Martin Pengelly, “Republican Leader Steve Scalise Refuses to Admit Trump Lost Election to Biden,” The Guardian , February 21, 2021, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/21/steve-scalise-trump-biden-election-abc-jonathan-karl ; and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Twitter, December 26, 2020, 11:08 a.m., x.com/mtgreenee/status/1342864836003311616 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/uVhE2 .

405 brought dozens . . . all of which were thrown out There were more than 60 court cases in which Republicans alleged election fraud and lost. These include Trump v. Biden (Wisconsin), King v. Whitmer (Michigan), Ward v. Jackson (Arizona) and many others. See “Results of Lawsuits Regarding the 2020 Elections,” Campaign Legal Center, September 24, 2021, campaignlegal.org/results-lawsuits-regarding-2020-elections .

405 organized false slates of electors Gabriella Cantor and Sara Wiatrak, “The Cases Against Fake Electors and Where They Stand,” Citizens for Ethics, July 9, 2024, www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-reports/the-cases-against-fake-electors-and-where-they-stand/ .

405 published a blog post Joe Biggs, “The Second Civil War Is More Realistic Than You Think,” The Biggs Report , November 10, 2020.

405 leader of the Proud Boys “Jan. 6: Proud Boys Lieutenant Joe Biggs, Who Warned of ‘Second Civil War,’ Sentenced to 17 Years,” Democracy Now! , September 1, 2023, www.democracynow.org/2023/9/1/proud_boys_leaders_january_6th_sentencing .

405 “Buy ammo, clean your guns . . .” Biggs, “The Second Civil War Is More Realistic Than You Think.”

405 “impossible” . . . “have lost the 2020 Election . . .” Donald J. Trump, Twitter, December 19, 2020, 1:42 a.m., x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1340185773220515840 , archived at archive.today, November 8, 2024 capture, archive.ph/ZD1KI .

405 established the “Ministry of Self-Defense” Alan Feuer, “Proud Boys Ignored Orders Given at Pre-Jan. 6 Meeting,” New York Times , June 26, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/06/26/us/politics/proud-boys-jan-6.html .

405 “stand back and stand by” C-SPAN, “First 2020 Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” YouTube, September 29, 2020, www.youtube.com/live/wW1lY5jFNcQ?si=99-Zco7OizWYh2DK , 1:33:40–1:33:43.

405 “Many of you have traveled from . . .” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 6:46–6:54.

405 “We love Trump! We love Trump!” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 7:00–7:19.

405 “We’re gathered together . . .” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 8:45–8:55.

405 “But this year, using the pretext . . .” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 12:00–12:13.

405 blaming . . . for the pandemic Melanie Hart and Michael Fuchs, “Trump’s Coronavirus Survival Strategy: Blame China,” Center for American Progress, April 14, 2020, www.americanprogress.org/article/trumps-coronavirus-survival-strategy-blame-china/ .

405–406 “China virus” and “kung flu” Colby Itkowitz, “Trump Again Uses Racially Insensitive Term to Describe Coronavirus,” Washington Post , June 23, 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-again-uses-kung-flu-to-describe-coronavirus/2020/06/23/0ab5a8d8-b5a9-11ea-aca5-ebb63d27e1ff_story.html ; and Mishal Reja, “Trump’s ‘Chinese Virus’ Tweet Helped Lead to Rise in Racist Anti-Asian Twitter Content: Study,” ABC News, March 18, 2021, abcnews.go.com/Health/trumps-chinese-virus-tweet-helped-lead-rise-racist/story?id=76530148 ; Alana Wise, “White House Defends Trump’s Use of Racist Term to Describe Coronavirus,” NPR, June 22, 2020, www.npr.org/2020/06/22/881810671/white-house-defends-trumps-use-of-racist-term-to-describe-coronavirus .

405–406 the more . . . blamed Asians and Asian Americans Reja, “Trump’s ‘Chinese Virus’ Tweet Helped Lead to Rise in Racist Anti-Asian Twitter Content: Study,” abcnews.go.com/Health/trumps-chinese-virus-tweet-helped-lead-rise-racist/story?id=76530148 ; and Yulin Hswen, “Online Hate: The New Virus,” American Journal of Public Health 112, no. 4 (April 2022), pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8961821/pdf/AJPH.2022.306754.pdf , 545–546.

406 to terrorize Asian Americans Reja, “Trump’s ‘Chinese Virus’ Tweet Helped Lead to Rise in Racist Anti-Asian Twitter Content: Study,” abcnews.go.com/Health/trumps-chinese-virus-tweet-helped-lead-rise-racist/story?id=76530148 ; and Hswen, “Online Hate: The New Virus,” pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8961821/pdf/AJPH.2022.306754.pdf , 545–546.

406 decreased . . . leaped by 149 percent in major cities “Fact Sheet: Anti-Asian Prejudice March 2020 – Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism,” Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, CSUSB, accessed via Wayback Machine, March 2, 2021 capture, web.archive.org/web/20210302205640/www.csusb.edu/sites/default/files/FACT%20SHEET-%20Anti-Asian%20Hate%202020%203.2.21.pdf , 1; and Kimmy Yan, “Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by nearly 150% in 2020, mostly in N.Y. and L.A., new report says,” NBC News, March 9, 2021, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-nearly-150-2020-mostly-n-n1260264 .

406 did not ebb in 2021 Neil G. Ruiz et al., “Discrimination Experiences Shape Most Asian Americans’ Lives,” Pew Research Center, November 30, 2023, www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/RE_2023.11.30_Asian-American-Discrimination_Report.pdf , 62.

406 One of the deadliest attacks “8 Dead in Atlanta Spa Shootings, With Fears of Anti-Asian Bias,” New York Times , March 17, 2021, www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/17/us/shooting-atlanta-acworth .

406 purchased a 9mm handgun and ammunition Jon Shirek, “Trump’s ‘Chinese Virus’ Tweet Helped Lead to Rise in Racist Anti-Asian Twitter Content: Study,” 11Alive (WXIA-TV), March 16, 2022, www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/atlanta-spa-shootings-one-year-later/85-3e411107-d07f-40a6-b98b-28f44bf13eff .

406 purchased a bottle of bourbon in Cherokee County Shirek, “Where Does the Case Stand for Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings? One Year Later,” www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/atlanta-spa-shootings-one-year-later/85-3e411107-d07f-40a6-b98b-28f44bf13eff .

406 drove to Young’s Asian Massage . . . chugging Shirek, “Where Does the Case Stand for Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings? One Year Later,” www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/atlanta-spa-shootings-one-year-later/85-3e411107-d07f-40a6-b98b-28f44bf13eff ; and Tim Craig et al., “A Nationwide Horror: Witnesses, Police Paint a Picture of a Murderous Rampage That Took 8 Lives,” Washington Post , March 18, 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/national/what-happened-atlanta-shooting/2021/03/18/163e4de8-8733-11eb-8a8b-5cf82c3dffe4_story.html .

406       “eliminate” the “temptation” Capt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office communicating Long’s motives, quoted in Eliott C. McLaughlin et al., “What We Know About Robert Aaron Long, the Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings,” CNN, March 18, 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/03/17/us/robert-aaron-long-suspected-shooter/index.html .

406 alleged sex workers Per NPR, “Although authorities have not said whether sex work occurred at the businesses, the spas he targeted were reported sites of law enforcement prostitution stings and reviewed online as places where sex work occurred.” Emma Bowman, “Atlanta Killings: Sex Worker Advocate Sees Deadly Consequences of Overlapping Hatreds,” NPR, March 21, 2021, www.npr.org/2021/03/21/979811779/atlanta-killings-sex-worker-advocate-sees-deadly-consequences-of-overlapping-hat .

406 a murderous f of East Asian women See Khanh Doan, “War and Sex Work: The Atlanta Spa Shootings, an Extension of White Sexual Imperialism,” Columbia Political Review , September 20, 2022, www.cpreview.org/articles/2022/9/war-and-sex-work-the-atlanta-spa-shootings-an-extension-of-white-sexual-imperialism .

406 sat . . . for about an hour Shirek, “Where Does the Case Stand for Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings? One Year Later,” www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/atlanta-spa-shootings-one-year-later/85-3e411107-d07f-40a6-b98b-28f44bf13eff .

406       entered the massage parlor in the late afternoon Shirek, “Where Does the Case Stand for Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings? One Year Later,” www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/atlanta-spa-shootings-one-year-later/85-3e411107-d07f-40a6-b98b-28f44bf13eff ; and Ramon Padilla et al., “Visual Timeline: What Happened at Atlanta Spa Shootings,” USA Today , March 17, 2021, updated March 19, 2021, www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2021/03/17/graphics-atlanta-spa-shootings-robert-long/4731540001/ .

406 about half an hour after . . . used the slur “China virus” Trump used this slur around 4:14 p.m.. “Fox News Primetime,” Fox News, March 16, 2021, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20210316_230000_FOX_News_Primetime/start/780/end/840 , 0:45–0:51. Long entered Young’s Asian Massage at 4:50 p.m. Elyse Samuels et al., “Surveillance Video Shows Atlanta Suspect Entered First Spa More Than an Hour Before Shooting,” Washington Post , March 19, 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/03/19/surveillance-video-atlanta-shooting .

406 paid for a massage Shirek, “Where Does the Case Stand for Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings? One Year Later,” www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/atlanta-spa-shootings-one-year-later/85-3e411107-d07f-40a6-b98b-28f44bf13eff .

406 retired to a bathroom Minyvonne Burke, “Atlanta-Area Spa Shooter to Serve 4 Life Sentences in Cherokee County Slayings,” NBC News, July 27, 2021, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/atlanta-area-spa-shootings-suspect-pleads-guilty-cherokee-county-charges-n1275139 .

406 pulled out his handgun . . . started shooting Shirek, “Where Does the Case Stand for Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings? One Year Later,” www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/atlanta-spa-shootings-one-year-later/85-3e411107-d07f-40a6-b98b-28f44bf13eff ; and Burke, “Atlanta-Area Spa Shooter to Serve 4 Life Sentences in Cherokee County Slayings,” www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/atlanta-area-spa-shootings-suspect-pleads-guilty-cherokee-county-charges-n1275139 .

406 drove about thirty miles “Leaders Mark 2-Year Anniversary of Atlanta Spa Shootings with Series of Events,” Fox 5 Atlanta, March 16, 2023, www.fox5atlanta.com/news/atlanta-spa-shootings-two-year-anniversary-events .

406       opened fire again “Leaders Mark 2-Year Anniversary of Atlanta Spa Shootings with Series of Events,” www.fox5atlanta.com/news/atlanta-spa-shootings-two-year-anniversary-events .

406       hurried . . . at Aromatherapy Spa “Leaders Mark 2-Year Anniversary of Atlanta Spa Shootings with Series of Events,” www.fox5atlanta.com/news/atlanta-spa-shootings-two-year-anniversary-events .

406 murdered four Korean American women . . . Janice Yu, “One Year After the Atlanta Spa Shootings, We Can’t Forget the Victims’ Names,” Washington Post , March 16, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/03/16/janice-yu-atlanta-spa-victims-reflections/ ; and Regina Kim, “Atlanta Spa Shootings: What Korean-Language Media Told Us That the Mainstream Media Didn’t,” Rolling Stone , March 31, 2021, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/atlanta-shootings-what-korean-language-media-told-us-that-the-mainstream-media-didnt-1149698 .

406 two Chinese American women . . . Juliana Kim et al., “‘All I Can Think About Is Her’: Families Grieve for Victims of Atlanta Attacks,” New York Times , March 19, 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/us/atlanta-shooting-victims-spa.html ; and Yu, “One Year After the Atlanta Spa Shootings, We Can’t Forget the Victims’ Names,” www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/03/16/janice-yu-atlanta-spa-victims-reflections/ .

406 Two White Americans . . . Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio et al., “What We Know About the Victims in the Atlanta Shootings,” New York Times , March 19, 2021, last updated May 11, 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/us/atlanta-shooting-victims.html ; Jewel Wicker and Victoria Bekiempis, “Paul Andre Michels: 'very good-hearted' handyman killed in Atlanta shootings,” The Guardian , March 18, 2021, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/18/paul-andre-michels-atlanta-spa-shootings ; and Charles Bethea, “Mario González Still Wants to Know Why the Police Held Him After the Atlanta Shooting,” New Yorker , March 29, 2021, ] www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/mario-gonzalez-still-wants-to-know-why-the-police-held-him-after-the-atlanta-shooting .

406 arrested Long later that evening Craig et al., “A Nationwide Horror: Witnesses, Police Paint a Picture of a Murderous Rampage That Took 8 Lives,” Washington Post , March 18, 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/national/what-happened-atlanta-shooting/2021/03/18/163e4de8-8733-11eb-8a8b-5cf82c3dffe4_story.html .

406 confessed . . . “not racially motivated” On March 17, 2021, police captain Jay Baker said during the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office press conference that Robert M. Long told the police that the shootings were “not racially motivated.” McLaughlin et al., “What We Know About Robert Aaron Long, the Suspect in Atlanta Spa Shootings,” www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/us/atlanta-shooting-victims.html .

407 “Our election was over at ten o’clock . . .” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 12:18–12:22.

407 “We are leading Pennsylvania, Michigan . . .” in “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 12:22–12:44.

407 “Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit!” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 12:44–12:50.

407 “Stop the steal! Stop the steal! Stop the steal!” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 12:44–12:50.

407 gathered for a joint session U.S. Congress, Congressional Record , Daily Edition, Vol. 167, No. 4, 117 ^th Congress, 1st sess. (January 6, 2021), www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-167/issue-4/house-section/article/H76-4 .

407 ordered . . . and block the certification of Biden’s victory “Trump's Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 13:00–15:00.

407 “Now, it is up to Congress . . .” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 14:55–14:58.

407 “And after this, we’re going to walk down . . .” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 14:58–15:06.

407 “walk down to the Capitol” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 15:09–15:12.

407 “cheer on our brave senators and congress-men and -women” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 15:15–15:20.

407 “we’re probably not going to be cheering so much . . .” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 15:21–15:25.

407 “Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 15:27–15:32.

407 “You have to show strength and you have to be strong” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 15:31–15:34.

407 “stand strong for our country” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 ,16:07–16:08.

407 “our country has been under siege for a long time” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 16:10–16:13.

407 “We’ve set it on a much straighter course” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 16:16–16:19.

407 “fake election” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 27:35–27:36.

407 “And we fight. We fight like hell . . .” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 1:09:34–1:09:41.

407–408 already at the Capitol Mike Wendling, “January 6th Capitol Riot: Who Are the Oath Keepers and Why Are They on Trial?” BBC News, September 27, 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63013702 .

408 knocked over the fences . . . retreated closer to the building See U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol , 117th Cong., 2nd sess., House Report No. 117–663 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2022), www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf , 637–669.

408 “war council” had met at the Trump International Hotel Seth Abramson, “January 5 War Council at Trump International May Have Had More Attendees Than Previously Known,” Proof , January 29, 2021, sethabramson.substack.com/p/january-5-war-council-at-trump-international .

408 Trump’s sons were present Abramson, “January 5 War Council at Trump International May Have Had More Attendees Than Previously Known,” sethabramson.substack.com/p/january-5-war-council-at-trump-international .

408 Rudy Giuliani, and . . . Michael Flynn Abramson, “January 5 War Council at Trump International May Have Had More Attendees Than Previously Known,” sethabramson.substack.com/p/january-5-war-council-at-trump-international .

Chapter 110: Brazil Last

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:15 GMT

409 Present . . . Eduardo Bolsonaro Olivia Little, “MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell’s Facebook Posts Are Full of Insider Information from January 6,” MediaMatters, February 5, 2021, www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/mypillow-ceo-mike-lindells-facebook-posts-are-full-insider-information ; Seth Abramson, “Major Update on January 5 Trump War Council Expands Its Potential Size Significantly,” Proof , February 6, 2021, sethabramson.substack.com/p/breaking-major-update-on-january ; and Brian Mier, “Eduardo Bolsonaro ‘War Council’ Visit Triggers Investigation,” Brasil Wire, March 11, 2021, www.brasilwire.com/eduardo-bolsonaro-war-council-visit-triggers-investigation/ .

409 a member . . . since 2015 Richard Mann, “Meet Eduardo Bolsonaro, Parallel Chancellor of Brazil and Close Ally of Steve Bannon,” Rio Times , May 3, 2019, www.riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/rio-politics/meet-eduardo-bolsonaro-parallel-chancellor-of-brazil-and-close-ally-of-steve-bannon/ .

409 the chair of Brazil’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and National Defense Estadão Conteúdo, “Chamber: Eduardo Bolsonaro Is Elected President of the Foreign Relations Committee,” Estado De Mina s, March 14, 2019, www.em.com.br/app/noticia/politica/2019/03/14/interna_politica,1037862/camara-eduardo-bolsonaro-e-eleito-presidente-da-comissao-de-relacoes.shtml , via Google Translate.

409 signed Vox’s Madrid Charter Disenso Foundation, “Madrid Charter: In Defense of Freedom and Democracy in the Iberosphere,” Madrid Forum, October 26, 2020, fundaciondisenso.org/carta-de-madrid-en-defensa-de-la-libertad-y-la-democracia-en-la-iberosfera/ , via Google Translate.

409 “Italy’s new prime minister is God, fatherland and family” Eduardo Bolsonaro, Twitter, September 25, 2022, 9:33 p.m., x.com/BolsonaroSP/status/1574210404020092929?s=20&t=cJnFFBBj9kwLqDS4EBGvWA , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/9il1J ; Oliver Holmes, “Italy Election: Far-Right Brothers of Italy Set to Take Power; Russia Ready for ‘Constructive Relations’ with Party—as It Happened,” The Guardian , September 26, 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/sep/26/italy-election-result-giorgia-meloni-brothers-of-italy-far-right .

409 lose his reelection in 2022 Brian Ellsworth and Lisandra Paraguassu, “Lula Narrowly Defeats Bolsonaro to win Brazil Presidency Again,” Reuters, October 30, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-votes-heated-bolsonaro-vs-lula-presidential-runoff-2022-10-30/ .

409 met with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago to discuss strategy Elizabeth Dwoskin and Gabriela Sá Pessoa, “Trump Aides Bannon, Miller Advising the Bolsonaros on Next Steps,” Washington Post , November 23, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/23/brazil-bolsonaro-bannon/ .

409 alleging . . . could be hijacked Diane Jeantet, “Brazilian Voters Bombarded with Misinformation Before Vote,” Associated Press (AP) News, October 25, 2022, apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-caribbean-social-media-brazil-b75e51f515b0a708800198afa1b8601d ; and Diane Jeantet and Carla Bridi, "Explainer: Bolsonaro Knocks Brazil’s Voting System,” AP News, September 6, 2022, apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-caribbean-voting-donald-trump-elections-fb592d5165e5bb07c0426199d86b5787 .

409 So did his network of . . . Jeantet and Bridi, "Explainer: Bolsonaro Knocks Brazil’s Voting System,” apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-caribbean-voting-donald-trump-elections-fb592d5165e5bb07c0426199d86b5787 ; and Bruno Meyerfeld and Anna Vigna, “Brazil Election: A Disinformation Machine in Full Swing,” Le Monde , September 27, 2022, www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2022/09/27/brazil-election-a-disinformation-machine-in-full-swing_5998322_4.html .

409 spread Bolsonaro’s disinformation on . . . Lori Regattieri and Débora Salles, “Election Manipulation in Brazil’s 2022 General Elections,” Mozilla Foundation, February 27, 2024, www.mozillafoundation.org/en/research/library/global-elections-casebook/brazil-case-study/ ; and Patrícia Rossini, et al., “Explaining Beliefs in Electoral Misinformation in the 2022 Brazilian Election: The role of Ideology, Political Trust, Social Media, and Messaging Apps,” Misinformation Review , Harvard Kennedy School, May 16, 2023, misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/article/explaining-beliefs-in-electoral-misinformation-in-the-2022-brazilian-election-the-role-of-ideology-political-trust-social-media-and-messaging-apps/ .

409 dismissed the integrity . . . since 2014, when he was a congressman Jack Nicas et al., “How Bolsonaro Built the Myth of Stolen Elections in Brazil,” New York Times , October 25, 2022, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/25/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-misinformation.html .

409 amplified his disinformation Bruno Benevides, “Russian Hackers Are Trying To Interfere in Brazilian Elections, Cybersecurity Firm Says,” Folha De S. Paulo , October 5, 2018, www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/world/2018/10/russian-hackers-are-trying-to-interfere-in-brazilian-elections-cybersecurity-firm-says.shtml .

409 never found evidence of election fraud Nicas et al., “How Bolsonaro Built the Myth of Stolen Elections in Brazil,” www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/25/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-misinformation.html .

409–410 kept promising to share evidence Nicas et al., “How Bolsonaro Built the Myth of Stolen Elections in Brazil,” www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/25/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-misinformation.html .

410 invited dozens of foreign diplomats . . . André Spigariol and Jack Nicas, “Bolsonaro Gathers Foreign Diplomats to Cast Doubt on Brazil’s Elections,” New York Times , July 19, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-election-fraud-claim.html .

410 suggested . . . closer involvement of Brazil’s military . . .election security Spigariol and Nicas, “Bolsonaro Gathers Foreign Diplomats to Cast Doubt on Brazil’s Elections,” www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-election-fraud-claim.html .

410 shaking at the prospects of a military coup Spigariol and Nicas, “Bolsonaro Gathers Foreign Diplomats to Cast Doubt on Brazil’s Elections,” www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-election-fraud-claim.html .

410 “I have seen very few leaders as exceptional . . .” Viktor Orbán quoted in Jair M. Bolsonaro, Twitter, October 1, 2022, 9:27 a.m., x.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1576202106960158720 , 00:08–00:17, via Google Translate.

410 “We are talking about a president who . . .” Orbán quoted in Bolsonaro, Twitter, October 1, 2022, x.com/jairbolsonaro/status/1576202106960158720 , 00:41–0:50.

410 losing . . . to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Ellsworth and Paraguassu, “Lula Narrowly Defeats Bolsonaro to win Brazil Presidency Again,” www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazil-votes-heated-bolsonaro-vs-lula-presidential-runoff-2022-10-30/ .

410 did not concede defeat “Brazilian Judge Rejects Attempt to Overturn Lula Election Victory,” Al Jazeera, November 24, 2022, www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/24/brazilian-judge-rejects-attempt-to-overturn-lula-election-victory .

410 employed a firehose of disinformation online about electoral fraud Jack Nicas, “Brazil Counted All Its Votes in Hours: It Still Faced Fraud Claims,” New York Times , November 10, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/world/americas/brazil-election-fraud.html ; and Nicas, et al., “How Bolsonaro Built the Myth of Stolen Elections in Brazil,” www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/10/25/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-misinformation.html .

410 unsuccessfully appealed . . . throw out 280,000 votes . . . “Brazilian Judge Rejects Attempt to Overturn Lula Election Victory,” www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/24/brazilian-judge-rejects-attempt-to-overturn-lula-election-victory .

410 tens of thousands . . . in more than twenty Brazilian cities Dwoskin and Sá Pessoa, “Trump Aides Bannon, Miller Advising the Bolsonaros on Next Steps,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/23/brazil-bolsonaro-bannon/ .

410 set up encampments . . . Brasília Dwoskin and Sá Pessoa, “Trump Aides Bannon, Miller Advising the Bolsonaros on Next Steps www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/23/brazil-bolsonaro-bannon/ .

410 called on military commanders to overthrow Lula “Brazil Riot: Pro-Bolsonaro Riots Laid Bare Threat to Brazilian Democracy,” New York Times , January 9, 2023, www.nytimes.com/live/2023/01/09/world/brazil-congress-riots-bolsonaro?smid=url-share .

410 apparently plotted to assassinate Lula Ana Ionova, “Lula Was Target of Assassination Plot, Brazilian Police Say,” New York Times , November 19, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/world/americas/brazil-soldiers-president-lula-assassination-plot.html .

410 arrested two years later Ionova, “Lula was Target of Assassination Plot, Brazilian Police Say,” www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/world/americas/brazil-soldiers-president-lula-assassination-plot.html .

410 ratified Lula’s election Thiago Alves, “Brazil’s Lula Defends Democracy in Certification Speech,” Brazil Reports, December 12, 2022, brazilreports.com/brazils-lula-defends-democracy-in-certification-speech/3374 .

410 inaugurated President Lula on January 1, 2023 Tara John et al., “Lula da Silva Sworn In as Brazil’s President Amid Fears of Violence from Bolsonaro Supporters,“ CNN, January 1, 2023, edition.cnn.com/2023/01/01/americas/brazil-lula-da-silva-inauguration-intl/index.html .

410 fled to the safe harbor of Orlando Ueslei Marcelino, “Brazil’s Bolsonaro Lands in Florida, Avoiding Lula Handover,” Reuters, December 31, 2022, hwww.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-bolsonaro-says-no-justification-attempted-terrorist-act-capital-2022-12-30/ ; and Carrie Kahn and Alex Leff, “Bolsonaro Lays Low in Florida as Brazil Cracks Down on Riots by His Supporters,” NPR, January 10, 2023, npr.org/2023/01/09/1147842978/brazil-arrests-brasilia-riots-bolsonaro-hospital .

411 as many as a hundred buses Kahn and Leff, “Bolsonaro Lays Low in Florida as Brazil Cracks Down on Riots by His Supporters”; and Elizabeth Dwoskin, “Come to the ‘War Cry Party’: How Social Media Helped Drive Mayhem in Brazil,” Washington Post , January 9, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/08/brazil-bolsanaro-twitter-facebook/ .

411 “patriots” . . . “Liberty Caravans” to the nation’s capital Elizabeth Dwoskin of the Washington Post referred to organizers who posted about “liberty caravans” on Telegram. Quoted in Dwoskin, “Come to the ‘War Cry Party’: How Social Media Helped Drive Mayhem in Brazil,” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/08/brazil-bolsanaro-twitter-facebook/ .

411 discussed all week long . . . “Festa de Selma” Dwoskin, “Come to the ‘War Cry Party’: How Social Media Helped Drive Mayhem in Brazil,” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/08/brazil-bolsanaro-twitter-facebook/ .

411 as a war cry Dwoskin, “Come to the ‘War Cry Party’: How Social Media Helped Drive Mayhem in Brazil,” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/08/brazil-bolsanaro-twitter-facebook/ .

411 about 200 people to more than 4,000 Andreza Matais, “More Than 100 Buses Arrive in Brasília and the Government Promises to Take Tougher Action Against Extremists,” O Estado de S. Paulo, January 7, 2023, www.estadao.com.br/politica/mas-de-100-onibus-chegam-a-brasilia-neste-sabado-e-governo-promete-endurecer-contra-extremistas/ , via Google Translate; and Alan Yuhas, “What We Know About the Investigations into the Brazil Protests,” New York Times , January 9, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/09/world/americas/brazil-protests-investigation.html .

411 marched from the Army Headquarters toward the Three Powers Plaza Katie Polglase et al., “‘Command Your Troops, Damn It!’: How a Series of Security Failures Opened a Path to Insurrection in Brazil,” CNN, January 14, 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/01/14/americas/brazil-congress-riots-timeline-intl-latam ; and Naiara Galarraga Gortázar, “Bolsonaro Supporters Storm Brazil’s Congress,” El País English , January 8, 2023, english.elpais.com/international/2023-01-08/bolsonaro-supporters-storm-brazils-congress.html .

411 The seat of Brazil’s federal government . . . Polglase et al., “‘Command Your Troops, Damn It!’: How a Series of Security Failures Opened a Path to Insurrection in Brazil,” www.cnn.com/2023/01/14/americas/brazil-congress-riots-timeline-intl-latam .

411 was out of town . . . not in session . . . not meeting AQ Editors, “Reaction: Brazil’s Capital Invasion: What’s Next?” Americas Quarterly , January 9, 2023, americasquarterly.org/article/reaction-brazils-capital-lives-its-january-invasion/ ; and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Twitter, January 3, 2023, 4:06 p.m., x.com/LulaOficial/status/1612194109938360320 .

411 arrived at the Three Powers Plaza Polglase et al., “‘Command Your Troops, Damn It!’: How a Series of Security Failures Opened a Path to Insurrection in Brazil,” www.cnn.com/2023/01/14/americas/brazil-congress-riots-timeline-intl-latam ; and Gortázar, “Bolsonaro Supporters Storm Brazil’s Congress,” english.elpais.com/international/2023-01-08/bolsonaro-supporters-storm-brazils-congress.html .

411 quickly overran the police barriers . . . Polglase et al., “‘Command Your Troops, Damn It!’: How a Series of Security Failures Opened a Path to Insurrection in Brazil,” www.cnn.com/2023/01/14/americas/brazil-congress-riots-timeline-intl-latam .

411 invade El Salvador’s legislative chamber Víctor Peña and Carlos Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” El Faro , February 10,” elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm .

411 Only twenty-two of the eighty-four lawmakers Anna-Catherine Brigida and Mary Beth Sheridan, “Showdown in El Salvador Shows Growing Role of Military in Latin American Democracies,” Washington Post , February 11, 2020, wapo.st/3S6jh3r .

411 take up positions around . . . the Blue Room Peña and Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm ; and Scott Neuman, “Troops Occupy El Salvador’s Legislature To Back President’s Crime Package,” NPR, February 10, 2020, www.npr.org/2020/02/10/804407503/troops-occupy-el-salvadors-legislature-to-back-president-s-crime-package .

411 named for the blue-walled meeting venue . . . between 1906 and 1974 “The National Palace has reopened its doors and this is what its interior looks like,” El Mundo, August 3, 2024, diario.elmundo.sv/nacionales/el-palacio-nacional-reabrio-sus-puertas-y-asi-luce-su-interior , via Google Translate. To see a photo of the original Blue Room, visit, “The National Palace of El Salvador,” Historical Marker Database, last updated October 3, 2022, accessed December 5, 2025, www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=95011 .

411 Berlin on March 23, 1933 Ian Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008), 281-282. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821 .

411–412 surrounded Germany’s parliament . . .whipped up enough votes for the Enabling Act Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 281–282. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821 .

412 “I want to ask you to allow me . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

412 “Do you allow me?” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

412 “Yes!” Crowd quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

412 “God bless you, Salvadoran people” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

412 “Please wait for me here . . . ” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

Chapter 111: Stay Peaceful

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:14 GMT

413 mob on the western edge Marshall Cohen and Avery Lotz, “The January 6 Insurrection: Minute-by-Minute,” CNN, July 29, 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/07/10/politics/jan-6-us-capitol-riot-timeline .

413 More and more people marched down . . . U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Final Report , www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf , 577; and Kat Lonsdorf et al., “A Timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack—Including When and How Trump Responded,” NPR, updated January 5, 2024, www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when .

413 “fight like hell” “Trump’s Full Speech at D.C. Rally on Jan. 6,” Wall Street Journal , February 7, 2021, video, www.wsj.com/video/trump-full-speech-at-dc-rally-on-jan-6/E4E7BBBF-23B1-4401-ADCE-7D4432D07030 , 69:37–69:42.

413 overwhelmed the much smaller battalion . . . reinforced by . . . Lonsdorf et al., “A Timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack—Including When and How Trump Responded,” www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when ; and U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Final Report , www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf , 6.

413 sprayed the officers with chemical weapons Dustin Jones and Carrie Johnson, “Jan. 6 Rioter who Assaulted Capitol Officer Sicknick Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison,” NPR, January 27, 2023, www.npr.org/2023/01/27/1152111889/khater-sentenced-prison-pepper-spraying-officers-jan-6 ; and U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Final Report , www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf , 662.

413 beat up the officers with bats, pipes—even flagpoles Tom Dreisbach and Tim Mak, “Yes, Capitol Rioters Were Armed: Here Are The Weapons Prosecuters Say They Used,” NPR, March 19, 2021, www.npr.org/2021/03/19/977879589/yes-capitol-rioters-were-armed-here-are-the-weapons-prosecutors-say-they-used ; and U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Final Report , www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf , 642.

413 crushed and trampled the officers to push their way . . . Gary Grumbach and Ryan J. Reilly, “D.C. Officer Daniel Hodges Testifies Against Capitol Rioter Who ‘Crushed’ Him with Shield,” NBC News, August 30, 2022, www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/dc-officer-daniel-hodges-testifies-capitol-rioter-crushed-shield-rcna45533 ; and Martha Mendoza and Juliet Linderman, “Officers Maced, Trampled: Docs Expose Depth of Jan. 6 Chaos,” Associated Press (AP) News, March 10, 2021, apnews.com/article/docs-expose-depth-january-6-capitol-siege-chaos-fd3204574c11e453be8fb4e3c81258c3 .

413 assaulted more than 140 police officers U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Final Report , www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf , 101.

413 sprayed in the face . . . died after a series of strokes the next day Daniel Barnes and Sarah Mimms, “Man Sentenced to over 6 Years in the Jan. 6 Assault on Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick,” NBC News, January 27, 2023, www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/man-sentenced-6-years-jan-6-assault-brian-sicknick-rcna67892 ; and Pete Williams, “Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick Died of Natural Causes After Riot, Medical Examiner Says,” NBC News, April 19, 2021, www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-died-natural-causes-after-riot-n1264562 .

413 Four . . . later died by suicide Jan Wolfe, “Four Officers Who Responded to U.S. Capitol Attack Have Died by Suicide,” Reuters, August 2, 2021, www.reuters.com/world/us/officer-who-responded-us-capitol-attack-is-third-die-by-suicide-2021-08-02/ .

413 shattered windows and invaded Lonsdorf et al., “A Timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack—Including When and How Trump Responded,” www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when .

413 flew . . . for the first time in the building Jordan Brasher, “The Confederate Battle Flag, Which Rioters Flew Inside the US Capitol, Has Long Been a Symbol of White Insurrection,” The Conversation , January 14, 2021, theconversation.com/the-confederate-battle-flag-which-rioters-flew-inside-the-us-capitol-has-long-been-a-symbol-of-white-insurrection-153071 . See also Eliott C. McLaughlin, “Before January 6, Insurgents Waving Confederate Flags Hadn’t Been Within 6 miles of the US Capitol,” CNN, January 7, 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/01/07/us/capitol-confederate-flag-fort-stevens .

413 Some took smiling pictures with them Louise Hall, “Police Officer Filmed Posing for Selfie with Pro-Trump Rioter Inside US Capitol,” The Independent , January 7, 2021, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/police-officer-selfie-rioter-us-capitol-trump-b1783760.html ; and Bryan Lowry, “Records: Capitol Police Officers Took Selfies with Jan. 6 Rioters,” Officer.com, September 15, 2021, www.officer.com/investigations/research/news/21238339/records-capitol-police-officers-took-selfies-with-jan-6-rioters .

413 fled for their lives U.S. Congress, Senate, Congressional Record , 117th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 167, no. 26 (February 11, 2021), www.congress.gov/117/crec/2021/02/11/CREC-2021-02-11-pt1-PgS645-2.pdf , S655, S661, S653; and U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Final Report , www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf , 664–666.

413 barricaded themselves inside . . . Lonsdorf et al., “A Timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack—Including When and How Trump Responded,” www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when ; U.S. Congress, Senate, Congressional Record , 117th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 167, no. 26 (February 11, 2021), www.congress.gov/117/crec/2021/02/11/CREC-2021-02-11-pt1-PgS645-2.pdf , S655.

413 to break down doors and seize them Mary Clare Jalonick, “‘We Were Trapped’: Trauma of Jan. 6 Lingers for Lawmakers,” AP News, January 5, 2022, apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-elections-riots-presidential-elections-house-elections-aba4e7e0660d9c34f5d4a7e03826a39c; “‘We Were Surrounded’: Congressman Jason Crow Trapped in The U.S. House As Rioters Attempt to Break Down Doors,” CBS News, January 6, 2021, www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/we-were-surrounded-congressman-jason-crow-trapped-in-the-u-s-house-as-rioters-attempt-to-break-down-doors ; U.S. Congress, Senate, Congressional Record , 117th Cong., 1st sess., vol. 167, no. 26 (February 11, 2021), www.congress.gov/117/crec/2021/02/11/CREC-2021-02-11-pt1-PgS645-2.pdf , S655; and Paul D. Shinkman, “Prosecutors: Capitol Rioters Intended to ‘Capture and Assassinate’ Elected Officials,” U.S. News & World Report , January 15, 2021, www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2021-01-15/prosecutors-capitol-rioters-intended-to-capture-and-assassinate-elected-officials .

413–414 “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage . . .” Trump’s tweets from January 6, 2021, have since been removed from Twitter but have been preserved by the American Presidency Project at UCSB. Trump quoted in Lonsdorf et al., “Timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack—Including When and How Trump Responded,” www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when . See also “Donald J. Trump (1st Term), Tweets of January 6, 2021,” in Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, January 6, 2021, 7:24:22 p.m., www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021 .

413–414 “traitor” According to reports, the crowd at the Capitol chanted “Traitor Pence!” after Trump tweeted that Pence was not protecting the country. See Libby Cathey, “What Is Known About Mike Pence’s ‘Contemporaneous Notes’ on Trump in Jan. 6 Case,” ABC News, August 8, 2023, abcnews.go.com/Politics/mike-pences-contemporaneous-notes-jan-6/story?id=102072659 .

414 “Hang Mike Pence!” “Rioters Chant ‘Hang Mike Pence’ on Jan. 6, 2021,” Washington Post , video, June 16, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/rioters-chant-hang-mike-pence-on-jan-6-2021/2022/06/16/3cc093f1-0eb7-427d-8073-b5874ca27e80_video.html , 0:46–0:58.

414 “There will come a time when the people . . .” Santiago Abascal quoted in Sam Jones, “Vox Leader’s ‘Strung Up’ Remark About Spain PM Referred to Public Prosecutor,” The Guardian , December 12, 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/13/far-right-vox-leader-strung-up-remark-spain-santiago-abascal-pedro-sanchez .

414 ransacked it, looted it, urinated on it, vandalized it Wilson Wong, “Shattered Glass, Ransacked Offices: Images of Damage at U.S. Capitol Left by Pro-Trump Mob,” NBC News, January 7, 2021, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/shattered-glass-ransacked-offices-images-damage-u-s-capitol-left-n1253302 ; and Rachel Treisman, “Poop on Pelosi’s desk, a Neo-Nazi Tiki Torch: Mysterious Statues Are Popping Up in D.C.” NPR, October 1, 2024, www.npr.org/2024/10/29/nx-s1-5169978/poop-desk-statue-tiki-torch-national-mall .

414 second-ever invasion of the U.S. Capitol The first time was in 1814, during the War of 1812, when British troops breached and set the building on fire. Amanda Holpuch, “US Capitol’s Last Breach Was More Than 200 Years Ago," The Guardian , January 6, 2021, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/06/us-capitol-building-washington-history-breach .

414 watched . . . on television Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan, “Trump Watched Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Riot Unfold on TV, Ignored Pleas to Call for Peace,” Reuters, July 22, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/us/us-capitol-probes-season-finale-focus-trump-supporters-three-hour-rage-2022-07-21/ .

414 pressured him to strongly condemn the attack Zengerle and Cowan, “Trump Watched Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Riot Unfold on TV, Ignored Pleas to Call for Peace,” www.reuters.com/world/us/us-capitol-probes-season-finale-focus-trump-supporters-three-hour-rage-2022-07-21/ .

414 He refused Zengerle and Cowan, “Trump Watched Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Riot Unfold on TV, Ignored Pleas to Call for Peace,” www.reuters.com/world/us/us-capitol-probes-season-finale-focus-trump-supporters-three-hour-rage-2022-07-21/ .

414 “stay peaceful” “Donald J. Trump (1st Term), Tweets of January 6, 2021,” Peters and Woolley, The American Presidency Project, January 6, 2021, 7:38:58 p.m., www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021 .

414 “go home” “Donald J. Trump (1st Term), Tweets of January 6, 2021,” Peters and Woolley, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, January 6, 2021, 11:01:04 p.m., www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021 .

414 “love” . . . “patriots” . . . “have been badly & unfairly treated for so long” “Donald J. Trump (1 ^st Term), Tweets of January 6, 2021,” Peters and Woolley, The American Presidency Project, January 6, 2021, 11:01:04 p.m., www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/tweets-january-6-2021 .

414 Four Trump supporters died Chris Cameron, “These Are the People Who Died in Connection with the Capitol Riot,” New York Times , January 5, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/01/05/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-deaths.html .

414 wait more than three hours . . . Alana Wise, “DOD Took Hours To Approve National Guard Request During Capitol Riot, Commander Says,” NPR, March 3, 2021, www.npr.org/2021/03/03/973292523/dod-took-hours-to-approve-national-guard-request-during-capitol-riot-commander-s .

414 until around 6 P.M. Lonsdorf et al., “A Timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack—Including When and How Trump Responded,” www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when .

414 Practically none . . . arrested on site “The Metropolitan Police Department arrested 68 people [on January 6] and early [January 7], primarily for violating a curfew imposed by the city’s mayor.” The Capitol Police arrested just 14 people during the insurrection. Graham Kates and Erin Donaghue, “Police Release Photos of People Sought for Rioting in the Capitol,” CBS News, January 7, 2021, www.cbsnews.com/news/us-capitol-riot-police-trump-supporter-photos/ .

414 arrest and charge more than a thousand . . . “48 Months Since the Jan. 6 Attack on U.S. Capitol,” U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia, U.S. Department of Justice, January 6, 2025, accessed via Wayback Machine, January 6, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20250106172147/www.justice.gov/usao-dc/48-months-jan-6-attack-us-capitol .

414 pardoned them Donald J. Trump, “Granting Pardons and Commutation of Sentences for Certain Offenses Relating to the Events at or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” The White House, January 20, 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/granting-pardons-and-commutation-of-sentences-for-certain-offenses-relating-to-the-events-at-or-near-the-united-states-capitol-on-january-6-2021/ ; and Carrie Johnson et al., “Trump Gave Pardons to Hundreds of Violent Jan. 6 Rioters: Here’s What They Did,” All Things Considered , NPR, January 21,2025, www.npr.org/2025/01/21/nx-s1-5268919/trump-issues-jan-6-pardons-attack-capitol-clemency .

415 certified Joe Biden’s victory Lonsdorf et al., “A Timeline of the Jan. 6 Capitol Attack—Including When and How Trump Responded,” www.npr.org/2022/01/05/1069977469/a-timeline-of-how-the-jan-6-attack-unfolded-including-who-said-what-and-when .

Chapter 112: Martial Law

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:12 GMT

416 about two hundred . . . invaded North Macedonia’s capitol building Valerie Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” The Atlantic , April 28, 2017, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

416 espouses “antiquization” Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

416 the myth that . . . like Alexander the Great Anastas Vangeli, “Nation-Building Ancient Macedonian Atyle: The Origins and the Effects of the So-Called Antiquization in Macedonia,” Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity , 39, no. 1 (January 2011), researchgate.net/publication/232817792_Nationbuilding_ancient_Macedonian_style_the_origins_and_the_effects_of_the_so-called_antiquization_in_Macedonia , 13–14, 22, 25–26.

416 being replaced . . . by the country’s largest minority group, ethnic Albanians At the time, ethnic Albanians “comprise[d] between one-quarter and one-third of Macedonia’s population.” Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

416 fled to Hungary . . . political asylum . . . corruption conviction “Gruevski No Longer Honorary President of VMRO-DPMNE,” European Western Balkans, July 22, 2020, europeanwesternbalkans.com/2020/07/22/gruevski-no-longer-honorary-president-of-vmro-dpmne/ .

416 had been prime minister of North Macedonia “Nikola Gruevski: Mystery over How Macedonia Ex-PM Escaped,” BBC News, November 16, 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46223909 ; and “Macedonian PM to resign,” Deutsche Welle (DW), January 15, 2016, www.dw.com/en/macedonia-prime-minister-gruevski-agrees-to-step-down/a-18981614 .

416 held the office . . . protesters forced his resignation in 2016 “Nikola Gruevski: Mystery over How Macedonia ex-PM escaped, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46223909 ;” “Macedonian PM to resign,” www.dw.com/en/macedonia-prime-minister-gruevski-agrees-to-step-down/a-18981614 ; and Helena Smith, “Disgraced Former Macedonia PM ‘Helped by Hungary to Avoid Jail,’” The Guardian , November 16, 2018, www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/16/former-macedonia-pm-nikola-gruevski-helped-by-hungary-to-avoid-jail-claim .

416 refused to cede power to the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

416        denied the election results Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

416–417 “people have to stand up and defend . . .” Gruevski quoted in Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

417 invaded North Macedonia’s parliament Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

417 was the day that . . . the first ethnic Albanian to be elected speaker . . . Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 . See also “Macedonian Parliament’s New Ethnic Albanian Speaker Enters Office,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 3, 2017, www.rferl.org/a/macedonia-parliament-speaker-xhaferi-enters-office/28466113.html .

417 framed Xhaferi’s election . . . replacing ethnic Macedonians in power Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

417 failed to stop the power handover Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 ; and “Macedonian Parliament’s New Ethnic Albanian Speaker Enters Office,” www.rferl.org/a/macedonia-parliament-speaker-xhaferi-enters-office/28466113.html .

417 Around one hundred people . . . including nine members of parliament Hopkins, “What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/#constitution1 .

417 raging against vaccine mandates, invaded the Bulgarian parliament “Anti-Vaccine Protesters Try to Storm Bulgaria's Parliament,” Reuters, January 12, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/europe/anti-vaccine-protesters-try-storm-bulgarias-parliament-2022-01-12/ .

417 A third . . .were vaccinated Alexandar Detev, “Why Bulgaria Struggles to Fight COVID,” DW, January 21, 2022, www.dw.com/en/bulgaria-fighting-a-losing-battle-against-covid/a-60486611 .

417 tried to open the doors . . . before police repelled the insurrection Detev, “Why Bulgaria struggles to fight COVID,” www.dw.com/en/bulgaria-fighting-a-losing-battle-against-covid/a-60486611 .

417 The insurrection in South Korea Choe Sang-Hun et al., “Jubilation in South Korea After President Who Declared Martial Law Is Ousted,” New York Times , April 3, 2025, www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04/03/world/south-korea-yoon .

417 attempted to enter . . . on the evening of December 3, 2024 Yoonjung Seo et al., “Martial Law Reversed in South Korea After President’s Surprise Decree Sent Shockwaves,” CNN, December 3, 2024, edition.cnn.com/2024/12/03/asia/south-korea-martial-law-intl/index.html .

417 declared martial law for the first time since . . . Choe Sang-Hun et al., “South Korea President Declares Martial Law, Then Backs Down,” New York Times , December 3, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-martial-law.html ; and Oh Seok-min, “Full Text of Martial Law Decree,” Yonhap News Agency, December 4, 2024, en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241204001100320?section=national/politics .

417 issued by . . . banned all political actions of parties, workers, and citizens Oh, “Full Text of Martial Law Decree,” Yonhap News Agency, December 4, 2024, en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241204001100320?section=national/politics ; and Sang-Hun et al., “South Korea President Declares Martial Law, Then Backs Down,” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-martial-law.htm .

417        “fake news” Oh, “Full Text of Martial Law Decree,”,” en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241204001100320?section=national/politics ; and Seo et al., “Martial Law Reversed in South Korea After President’s Surprise Decree Sent Shockwaves,” edition.cnn.com/2024/12/03/asia/south-korea-martial-law-intl/index.html .

417 allowed police . . . without warrants Seo et al., “Martial Law Reversed in South Korea After President’s Surprise Decree Sent Shockwaves,” edition.cnn.com/2024/12/03/asia/south-korea-martial-law-intl/index.html .

417 justified . . . to protect the freedom and safety of South Koreans Oh, “Full text of Martial Law Decree,” en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20241204001100320?section=national/politics

417        “People who assure you that you . . .” Timothy D. Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (New York: Crown, 2017), 100. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/968309193 .

417 of sympathizing with North Korean “communists” According to Alan Yuhas of the New York Times , members of Yoon’s party called the opposition “pro-North Korean communists" and Yoon said in his declaration of martial law that it was “to protect a free South Korea from the North Korean communist forces.” Quoted in Alan Yuhas, “How Polarized Politics Led South Korea to a Plunge into Martial Law,” New York Times , December 3, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-yoon-martial-law.html . See also Seo et al., “Law Reversed in South Korea After President’s Surprise Decree Sent Shockwaves,” edition.cnn.com/2024/12/03/asia/south-korea-martial-law-intl/index.html .

417 of election fraud Foster Klug and Kim Tong-Hyung, “South Koreans Are Still Puzzling over Why Their Leader Declared Martial Law,” AP News, April 4, 2025, apnews.com/article/south-korea-president-removal-martial-law-elections-c93ec852157c2b861779ee0388d99d20 .

417 of turning “the National Assembly into a den of criminals” Yoon martial law declaration quoted in Seo et al., “Martial Law Reversed in South Korea After President’s Surprise Decree Sent Shockwaves,” edition.cnn.com/2024/12/03/asia/south-korea-martial-law-intl/index.html .

417        claimed election fraud . . . widespread Klug and Tong-Hyung, “South Koreans Are Still Puzzling over Why Their Leader Declared Martial Law,” apnews.com/article/south-korea-president-removal-martial-law-elections-c93ec852157c2b861779ee0388d99d20 ; and Ju-min Park, “South Korea Election Official Rejects Impeached President’s Fraud Claims,” Reuters, February 11, 2025, www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/south-korea-election-official-rejects-impeached-presidents-fraud-claims-2025-02-11/ .

417–418 blaming them for . . . lowest birth rate in the world Yoon Suk Yeoul said, “Some say feminism is too politically exploited [to the point] it prevents healthy relationships between men and women . . . From a social standpoint, the conditions are ill-suited for having and raising children. This is not a problem that can be solved by giving out government subsidies.” Yoon quoted in Elizabeth Shim, “South Korean Presidential Candidate’s Feminism Remarks Generate Controversy,” UPI, August 2, 2021, www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/08/02/skorea-South-Korean-Yoon-Seokyoul-feminism-comments/6541627927142 . On birth rate, see Elizabeth Shim, “South Korea Ranks Last for Birthrate in U.N. Report,” UPI, April 14, 2021, www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2021/04/14/skorea-South-Korea-lowest-birth-rate-UN/6021618422597/ .

418 the high costs of raising children Julian Ryall, “South Korea Most Expensive country in World to Raise Kids,” DW, May 18, 2023, www.dw.com/en/south-korea-most-expensive-country-in-world-to-raise-children/a-65669257 ; and Sojung Lim, “The Necessary Paradigm Shift for South Korea’s Ultra-Low Fertility,” Georgetown Journal of International Affairs , September 24, 2024, gjia.georgetown.edu/2024/09/24/the-necessary-paradigm-shift-for-south-koreas-ultra-low-fertility/ .

418 unfriendliness of work environments to families Lim, “The Necessary Paradigm Shift for South Korea’s Ultra-Low Fertility,” gjia.georgetown.edu/2024/09/24/the-necessary-paradigm-shift-for-south-koreas-ultra-low-fertility/ .

418 the highest among OECD members in 2022 Timothy S. Rich et al., “How Do South Koreans View Gender Discrimination,” The Diplomat , October 27, 2023, thediplomat.com/2023/10/how-do-south-koreans-view-gender-discrimination/ .

418 still today Choi Jeong-yoon, “Korean Women Earn 29% Less Than Men,” Korea Herald , August 29, 2025, www.koreaherald.com/article/10564875 .

418 argued sexism didn’t exist in South Korea Rich et al., “How Do South Koreans View Gender Discrimination,” thediplomat.com/2023/10/how-do-south-koreans-view-gender-discrimination/ .

418 pledged to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality Yuhas, “How Polarized Politics Led South Korea to a Plunge Into Martial Law,” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-yoon-martial-law.html ; and “Save Gender Equality Ministry in South Korea,” Amnesty International, accessed May 23, 2025, www.amnesty.org/en/petition/save-gender-equality-ministry-in-south-korea/ .

418 “potential sex criminals” Yoon Suk Yeoul quoted in Amy Gunia, “How South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol Capitalized on Anti-Feminist Backlash to Win the Presidency,” Time , March 10, 2022, time.com/6156537/south-korea-president-yoon-suk-yeol-sexism/ .

418 the narrowest presidential victory in South Korean history Yuhas, “How Polarized Politics Led South Korea to a Plunge Into Martial Law,” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-yoon-martial-law.html ; and Mitch Shin, “Yoon Suk-yeol Becomes South Korea’s President-Elect,” The Diplomat , March 10, 2022, thediplomat.com/2022/03/yoon-suk-yeol-becomes-south-koreas-president-elect .

418 repeatedly rebuffed . . . and impeached . . . Yuhas, “How Polarized Politics Led South Korea to a Plunge Into Martial Law,” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-yoon-martial-law.html .

418 rejected his budgets Yuhas, “How Polarized Politics Led South Korea to a Plunge Into Martial Law,” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-yoon-martial-law.html .

418 even from his own People Power Party Sang-Hun et al., “South Korea President Declares Martial Law, Then Backs Down,” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-martial-law.htm .

418 quickly voted to overturn Sang-Hun et al., “South Korea President Declares Martial Law, Then Backs Down,” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-martial-law.htm .

418 reversed course within hours and withdrew troops Sang-Hun et al., “South Korea President Declares Martial Law, Then Backs Down,” www.nytimes.com/2024/12/03/world/asia/south-korea-martial-law.htm .

418 was impeached and removed from office Jin Yu Young, “What to Know About the Removal of South Korea’s President,” New York Times , April 4, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/world/asia/yoon-south-korea-impeachment-ruling.html .

418 forced their way into the National Congress . . . Jack Nicas and André Spigariol, “Bolsonaro Supporters Lay Siege to Brazil’s Capital,” New York Times , January 8, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/world/americas/brazil-election-protests-bolsonaro.html .

418 wore green and yellow Nicas and Spigariol, “Bolsonaro Supporters Lay Siege to Brazil’s Capital,” www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/world/americas/brazil-election-protests-bolsonaro.html .

418 carried the Brazilian flag Nicas and Spigariol, “Bolsonaro Supporters Lay Siege to Brazil’s Capital,” www.nytimes.com/2023/01/08/world/americas/brazil-election-protests-bolsonaro.html .

418 pulled an officer off a horse and severely beat him Bevan Hurley, “Dramatic Videos Show Mounted Police Being Attacked and Rioters Inside Presidential Palace,” The Independent , January 8, 2023, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/brazil-riots-2023-video-planalto-palace-b2258291.html .

418 shattered windows in the three buildings Diana Roy and Sabine Baumgartner, “Images Show the Extent of Brazil’s Capitol Riots,” Council on Foreign Relations, January 12, 2023, www.cfr.org/photo-essay/images-show-extent-brazils-capitol-riots ; and “Bolsonaro Supporters Storm Key Government Buildings in Brazil,” Al Jazeera, January 8, 2023, www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/8/bolsonaro-supporters-storm-government-buildings-in-brazil/ .

418 ransacked and looted and urinated in and vandalized Roy and Baumgartner, “Images Show the Extent of Brazil’s Capitol Riots,” www.cfr.org/photo-essay/images-show-extent-brazils-capitol-riots .

418 set fires and destroyed fire hydrants R oy and Baumgartner, “Images Show the Extent of Brazil’s Capitol Riots,” www.cfr.org/photo-essay/images-show-extent-brazils-capitol-riots ; and Carlie Porterfield, “Brazilian Rioters Damaged a $1.5 Million Painting in Jan 6-Style Attack, Brazil’s Government Says,” Forbes , January 9, 2023, www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2023/01/09/brazilian-rioters-damaged-a-15-million-painting-in-jan-6-style-attack-brazils-government-says/ .

418 smashed computers and printers David Biller, “Authorities Probe Who Was Behind Uprising in Brazil Capital,” AP News, January 9, 2023, apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-jair-bolsonaro-politics-brazil-government-8766c0ad2fcc4ae7c8bf1aa7f9aaa0ec .

418 Just like in the U.S. Capitol attack Nora McGreevy, “Curators Seek $25,000 to Repair Artworks Damaged in U.S. Capitol Attack,” Smithsonian Magazine , February 26, 2021, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/smithsonian-curators-discuss-artworks-damaged-violent-capitol-attacks-180977103/ .

418 damaged or destroyed precious works of art Porterfield, “Brazilian Rioters Damaged a $1.5 Million Painting in Jan 6-Style Attack, Brazil’s Government Says,” www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2023/01/09/brazilian-rioters-damaged-a-15-million-painting-in-jan-6-style-attack-brazils-government-says/ .

418 Paintings. Sculptures. Vases. A clock. A table. Even a stained-glass window Porterfield, “Brazilian Rioters Damaged a $1.5 Million Painting in Jan 6-Style Attack, Brazil’s Government Says,” www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2023/01/09/brazilian-rioters-damaged-a-15-million-painting-in-jan-6-style-attack-brazils-government-says/ ; Aicha El Hammar Castano, “Pro-Bolsonaro Protesters Storm Brazilian Capital over Refusal to Accept Presidential Election Results,” ABC News, January 8, 2023, abcnews.go.com/International/pro-bolsonaro-protesters-storm-brazilian-capital-refusal-accept/story?id=96299887 ; and Gustavo Zeitel, “Riot in Brasilia: Damages Include Mural by Di Cavalcanti,” Folha de S.Paulo , January 9, 2023, www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/culture/2023/01/riot-in-brasilia-damages-include-mural-by-di-cavalcanti.shtml .

419 overturned the famous U-shaped table . . . Biller, “Authorities Probe Who Was Behind Uprising in Brazil Capital,” apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-jair-bolsonaro-politics-brazil-government-8766c0ad2fcc4ae7c8bf1aa7f9aaa0ec .

419 climbed . . . and unfurled their banner: “Intervention” Banner pictured in Roy and Baumgartner, “Images Show the Extent of Brazil’s Capitol Riots,” www.cfr.org/photo-essay/images-show-extent-brazils-capitol-riots .

419 calling on the military to intervene David Biller, “Authorities Probe Who Was Behind Uprising in Brazil Capital,” apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-jair-bolsonaro-politics-brazil-government-8766c0ad2fcc4ae7c8bf1aa7f9aaa0ec .

419 military intervened to stop the insurrection Biller, “Authorities Probe Who Was Behind Uprising in Brazil Capital,” apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-jair-bolsonaro-politics-brazil-government-8766c0ad2fcc4ae7c8bf1aa7f9aaa0ec .

419 arrested more than a thousand . . . “More than a thousand people were arrested on the day of the Jan. 8 riot.” “Brazil Presents Charges Against Jan. 8 Pro-Bolsonaro Riot Participants,” NBC News, January 18, 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/brazil-presents-charges-jan-8-bolsonaro-riot-participants-rcna66320 .

419 boosted the electoral prospects of politicians In October 2024 municipal elections, candidates who were supported by Bolsonaro performed better than candidates supported by Lula. Bolsonaro has also experienced continuing support despite his ban from presidential candidacy. Yasmeen Serhan, “What Brazil’s Failed Coup Means for the Future of Its Democracy,” Time , January 9, 2023, time.com/6245795/brazil-bolsonaro-lula-trump-insurrection/ ; Leonardo Benassatto et al., “Brazil’s Bolsonaro Gathers Supporters in Show of Strength Amid coup Probe,” Reuters, February 26, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-bolsonaro-gathers-supporters-show-strength-amid-coup-probe-2024-02-25/ ; and Ranier Bragon and Danielle Brant, “Bolsonaro’s Candidates Hold a Wide Lead over Lula’s in Brazil’s Largest Cities,” Folha De S.Paulo , October 7, 2024, www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2024/10/bolsonaros-candidates-hold-a-wide-lead-over-lulas-in-brazils-largest-cities.shtml .

Chapter 113: Great Again

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:11 GMT

420 this political outsider . . . all his publicity stunts Sociologist Lorena Soler writes, “Cubas is the new thing in politics on the right, like Milei and Nayib Bukele. He is the perfect synthesis: he hates the political class and the institutions of democracy with a nationalism dressed in fascist black. Without a party structure and with a self-managed campaign, he represented change for an important portion of voters who were living through post-pandemic social discontent but also with the death of democracy.” Cubas “was elected as senator in 2018 but was removed from his post the following year after assaulting a police officer and calling for the death of Brazilians living in Paraguay, among other infamous stunts. He then made a show of selling hamburgers on the street to survive, a move that went viral and generated great public support. He later sold hamburgers again to finance his campaign.” Lorena Soler, “The Metamorphosis of the Paraguayan Right,” NACLA Report on the Americas 56 (2024), ri.conicet.gov.ar/bitstream/handle/11336/237248/CONICET_Digital_Nro.aa152cff-0a5b-48ae-983f-043be5a169bd_B.pdf , 76.

420 shocked . . . 23 percent of the vote Jorge Sáenz and Daniel Politi, “Paraguay: Populist Candidate Fires Up Protesters After Vote,” Associated Press (AP) News, May 2, 2023, apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguay-election-pena-alegre-fraud-37c5a7b7e40037ff9dae0af1568fe55f .

420 refused to accept his third-place defeat Daniel Politi, “Paraguay Far-Right Populist Presidential Candidate Arrested,” AP News, May 5, 2023, apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguayo-paraguay-crusade-a7e4db52d27fc14355571a0abcc0dd96 .

420 falsely cried voter fraud Esteban Caballero, “Payo Cubas Phenomenon in Paraguay,” Latinoamérica21, May 12, 2023, latinoamerica21.com/en/payo-cubas-phenomenon-in-paraguay/ ; Politi, “Paraguay Far-Right Populist Presidential Candidate Arrested,” apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguayo-paraguay-crusade-a7e4db52d27fc14355571a0abcc0dd96 .

420 declared that the election had been stolen Cristian Delgado, a leading member of Cubas’s party, commented that “the people” felt that “the true president of the republic was robbed from them. Delgado quoted in Jorge Sáenz and Daniel Politi, “Paraguay: Populist Candidate Fires Up Protesters After Vote,” AP News, May 2, 2023, apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguay-election-pena-alegre-fraud-37c5a7b7e40037ff9dae0af1568fe55f .

420 encouraged his supporters to protest the election Politi, “Paraguay Far-Right Populist Presidential Candidate Arrested,” apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguayo-paraguay-crusade-a7e4db52d27fc14355571a0abcc0dd96 .

420 arrested Cubas for breaching the peace Politi, “Paraguay Far-Right Populist Presidential Candidate Arrested,” apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguayo-paraguay-crusade-a7e4db52d27fc14355571a0abcc0dd96 .

420 “All the criminals in this country . . .” Cubas livestream quoted in Politi, “Paraguay Far-Right Populist Presidential Candidate Arrested,” apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguayo-paraguay-crusade-a7e4db52d27fc14355571a0abcc0dd96 .

420 rulers from . . .Colorado Party Politi, “Far-Right Populist Presidential Candidate Arrested,” apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguayo-paraguay-crusade-a7e4db52d27fc14355571a0abcc0dd96 ; and Caballero, “Payo Cubas Phenomenon in Paraguay,” apnews.com/article/cubas-paraguayo-paraguay-crusade-a7e4db52d27fc14355571a0abcc0dd96 .

420 governed Paraguay since 1947 except for . . . 2008 to 2013 Joel E. Correia, “Despite Conservative Victory, Paraguay’s Presidential Elections Signal Growing Discontent,” North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), May 31, 2023, nacla.org/despite-conservative-victory-paraguays-presidential-elections-signal-growing .

420 channeled “the underlying anger” . . . widespread poverty and inequality Caballero, “Payo Cubas Phenomenon in Paraguay,” latinoamerica21.com/en/payo-cubas-phenomenon-in-paraguay/ .

420 “seduces, but he leads nowhere” Caballero, “Payo Cubas Phenomenon in Paraguay,” latinoamerica21.com/en/payo-cubas-phenomenon-in-paraguay/ .

420 another surprising election result . . . elected Javier Milei . . . Vanessa Buschschlüter, “Javier Milei: Argentina’s Far-Right Outsider Wins Presidential Election,” BBC News, November 20, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-67470549 .

420–421 economist and former tantric sex coach Uki Goñi, “Far-Right Outsider Takes Shock Lead in Argentina Primary Election,” The Guardian , August 14, 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/14/argentina-far-right-populist-javier-milei-shock-lead-primary-presidential-elections .

421 “Donald Trump–like character” Goñi, “Far-Right Outsider Takes Shock Lead in Argentina Primary Election,” www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/14/argentina-far-right-populist-javier-milei-shock-lead-primary-presidential-elections .

421 “daytime television buffoon” Goñi, “Far-Right Outsider Takes Shock Lead in Argentina Primary Election,” www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/14/argentina-far-right-populist-javier-milei-shock-lead-primary-presidential-elections .

421 wore merchandise . . . “Make Argentina Great Again” Eric Lagatta, “What to Know About Javier Milei: Why People Are Talking about Argentina’s New President,” USA Today , December 11, 2023, www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/12/11/javier-milei-argentina-president/71878610007/ .

421 restricted . . . the freedom to protest power José Pablo Criales, “Javier Milei’s Government Announces Plan to Crack Down on Argentina Protests,” El País English , December 15, 2023, english.elpais.com/international/2023-12-15/javier-mileis-government-announces-plan-to-crack-down-on-argentina-protests.html ; Uki Goñi, “‘Prison or Bullet’: New Argentina Government Promises Harsh Response to Protest,” The Guardian , December 17, 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/17/argentina-president-javier-milei-security-guidelines-protests-currency-devaluation ; and Débora Rey and Almudena Calatrava, “Argentina’s President Announces Economy Deregulation as Thousands Protest Against Austerity,” AP News, December 20, 2023, apnews.com/article/argentina-javier-milei-protests-economy-social-groups-c1b7d6506769f1331c37db6e16fe29a1 .

421 faced economic turmoil Neyran Elden and Henry Austin, “President Recep Erdoğan Re-elected for Unprecedented Third Term as Turkey’s President,” NBC News, May 28, 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-election-president-recep-erdogan-runoff-kemal-kilicdaroglu-nato-rcna86052 .

421 blamed . . . Syrian refugees   Elden and Austin, “President Recep Erdoğan Re-elected for Unprecedented Third Term as Turkey’s President,” www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-election-president-recep-erdogan-runoff-kemal-kilicdaroglu-nato-rcna86052 .

421 more refugees . . . than any other country “UNHCR: Total Number of Syrian Refugees Exceeds Four Million for First Time,” United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, press release, July 9, 2015, www.unhcr.org/us/news/news-releases/unhcr-total-number-syrian-refugees-exceeds-four-million-first-time .

421 A firehose of disinformation spread that . . . Merve Tahiroğlu, “Snapshot—Immigration Politics: Refugees in Turkey and the 2023 Elections,” Middle East Democracy Center, August 16, 2022, mideastdc.org/publication/snapshot-immigration-politics-refugees-in-turkey-and-the-2023-elections/ .

421 established . . .Victory Party Ümit Özdağ, Twitter, August 24, 2021, 3:00 a.m., x.com/umitozdag/status/1430062331510370324 , archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/tx76T ; and Ahmet Ceylan et al., “Immigration Debates in Recent Turkish Politics and the Victory Party as an Example of an Anti-Immigrant Niche Party,” Recent Period Turkish Studies 47 (2025), dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4096893 , 58.

421 resisting the “invasions” of immigrants The word “invasion” appeared five times in the party’s founding manifesto. “Victory Party officials define the migration movements faced by Türkiye as ‘covered invasion.’” Ceylan et al., “Immigration Debates in Recent Turkish Politics and the Victory Party as an Example of an Anti-Immigrant Niche Party,” dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4096893 , 58–59, 62.

421        compelled . . . by more forcefully declaring and executing their plans . . . Ceylan et al., “Immigration Debates in Recent Turkish Politics and the Victory Party as an Example of an Anti-Immigrant Niche Party,” dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4096893 , 61–62.

421 Since 2019 . . . occupied towns . . .“safe zones,” built housing “Erdogan: Safe Zones in Syria Will Allow Refugees to Return Home,” Al Jazeera, January 28, 2019, www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/1/28/erdogan-safe-zones-in-syria-will-allow-refugees-to-return-home ; “Erdogan Reiterates Vow to Return 1m Syrian Refugees, Revealing Half a Million Already Returned,” Middle East Monitor, October 3, 2022, www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221003-erdogan-reiterates-vow-to-return-1m-syrian-refugees-revealing-half-a-million-already-returned/ ; Human Rights Watch, “‘Everything Is by the Power of the Weapon’: Abuses and Impunity in Turkish-Occupied Northern Syria,” February 29, 2024, www.hrw.org/report/2024/02/29/everything-power-weapon/abuses-and-impunity-turkish-occupied-northern-syria .

421 relocated roughly half of million Between 2017 and March 2025 885,642 Syrian refugees returned to Syria. The Turkish foreign minister reported that more than 346,000 of those remigrations had occurred by August 2019, the month the “safe zones” officially launched. “Over 880,000 Syrians Have Returned Home Voluntarily Since 2017: Turkish Vice President,” Middle East Monitor, March 18, 2025, www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250318-over-880000-syrians-have-returned-home-voluntarily-since-2017-turkish-vice-president/ ; “Over 340,000 Syrians Returned Home from Turkey: Çavuşoğlu,” Hürriyet Daily News , August 23, 2019, www.hurriyetdailynews.com/over-340-000-syrians-returned-home-from-turkey-cavusoglu-145997 ; and “Turkey, US Agree to Launch First Phase of Syria Safe-Zone Plan,” Al Jazeera, August 22, 2019, www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/8/22/turkey-us-agree-to-launch-first-phase-of-syria-safe-zone-plan .

421 then secured the support of . . . Elden and Austin, “President Recep Erdoğan Re-elected for Unprecedented Third Term as Turkey’s President,” www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-election-president-recep-erdogan-runoff-kemal-kilicdaroglu-nato-rcna86052 .

421        pledged to consider . . . “by force if necessary” Sinan Oğan quoted in Suzan Fraser, “As Key Votes Loom, Turkish Parties Vow to Send Migrants Home,” AP News, May 9, 2023, apnews.com/article/turkey-presidential-parliamentary-election-syrian-refugees-d8ddc022f5285cb2440df58a206b4bfc .

421        defeated Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, of the “center-left”. . . Elden and Austin, “President Recep Erdoğan Re-elected for Unprecedented Third Term as Turkey’s President,” www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-election-president-recep-erdogan-runoff-kemal-kilicdaroglu-nato-rcna86052 .

421        pledged to remigrate all Syrian refugees if elected Kılıçdaroğlu “had previously said he intended to repatriate refugees within two years by creating favorable conditions for their return, but he subsequently vowed to send all refugees home if he were elected president.” Elden and Austin, “President Recep Erdoğan Re-elected for Unprecedented Third Term as Turkey’s President,” www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-election-president-recep-erdogan-runoff-kemal-kilicdaroglu-nato-rcna86052 .

421 endorsed by Ümit Özdağ Antionette Redford, “Turkish Elections: Anti-Immigrant Leader Endorses Erdogan Challenger,” BBC News, May 24, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65693118 .

421 won reelection to a third term as president Elden and Austin, “President Recep Erdoğan Re-elected for Unprecedented Third Term as Turkey’s President,” www.nbcnews.com/news/world/turkey-election-president-recep-erdogan-runoff-kemal-kilicdaroglu-nato-rcna86052 .

421 prohibits a fourth term . . . has entertained changing . . . “Fresh Term for Turkey’s Erdogan ‘On Our Agenda,’ Ruling Party Spokesman Says,” Reuters, January 13, 2025, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/fresh-term-turkeys-erdogan-on-our-agenda-ruling-party-spokesman-says-2025-01-13/ ; and Paul Kirby, “Erdogan Denies Bid to Change Turkey’s Constitution Means He'll Run as President Again,” BBC News, May 22 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce80zg9d76lo .

422 all campaigned on abolishing the Māori Heath Authority Tom Kitchin, “Will a National-Act-NZ First Government Scrap the Māori Heath Authority?” The New Zealand Herald , November 5, 2023, www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/will-a-national-act-nz-first-government-scrap-the-maori-health-authority/ODQTKGOHLVEIRI6N6M5LXOGUZI/ .

422       formed a governing coalition Renju Jose and Lucy Craymer, “New Zealand’s National Party clinches Deal to Form Government,” Reuters, November 23, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealands-national-party-reaches-deal-form-government-2023-11-23/ .

422 had created the Māori Health Authority to . . . as well as to manage . . . Rowan Quinn, “Major Health Sector Shake-Up: DHBs Scrapped and New Māori Health Authority Announced,” Radio New Zealand (RNZ), April 21, 2021, www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/440903/major-health-sector-shake-up-dhbs-scrapped-and-new-maori-health-authority-announced .

422 Māori leader . . . Winston Peters Lucy Craymer, “New Zealand’s Swing Right on Māori Issues Reveals New Fault Lines,” Reuters, December 10, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealands-swing-right-maori-issues-reveals-new-fault-lines-2023-12-10/ .

422 “race-based initiatives” In the New Zealand First platform for the 2023 election, the party promised to “Return New Zealand to a single health system for all based on need not race,” and that they would abolish the Māori Heath Authority and “other race-based initiatives.” ACT leader David Seymour claimed that “the public service is meant to serve all New Zealanders, but even administration and service delivery has become focused on race. This isn’t a true focus on equity, serving citizens based on their measured need rather than their ancestry,” claiming that abolishing the health authority was not racist. During the first reading of the bill to disestablish the health authority, members of all three parties pushed for health that was based on “needs, not race.” “New Zealand First 2023 Policies,” New Zealand First, accessed June 5, 2025, www.nzfirst.nz/2023_policies . See also Lucy Craymer, “Race Issues Emerge in New Zealand’s Election,” Reuters, October 3, 2023 www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/race-issues-emerge-new-zealands-election-2023-10-03/ ; and “Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Heath Authority) Amendment Bill—First Reading,” New Zealand Parliament, February 27, 2024, www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20240227_20240227_32 .

422 living longer than Māori people in New Zealand Quinn, “Health Sector Shake-Up: DHBs Scrapped and New Māori Health Authority Announced,” www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/440903/major-health-sector-shake-up-dhbs-scrapped-and-new-maori-health-authority-announced .

422 “non-Indigenous citizens are losing out . . .” Craymer, “Race Issues Emerge in New Zealand’s Election,” www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/race-issues-emerge-new-zealands-election-2023-10-03/ .

422 won the most seats Bastian Benrath, Bloomberg, “Switzerland’s Right-Wing Party Soars on Immigration Concerns,” Japan Times , October 23, 2023, www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/10/23/world/politics/switzerland-rightwing-party-immigration/ .

422 did the same in the Netherlands Paul Kirby and Anna Holligan, “Dutch Election: Anti-Islam Populist Geert Wilders Wins Dramatic Victory,” BBC, November 23, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67504272 .

422 “We have problems with migration . . .” Marco Chiesa quoted in Benrath, “Switzerland’s Right-Wing Party Soars on Immigration Concerns,” www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/10/23/world/politics/switzerland-rightwing-party-immigration/ .

422 the second-most seats in parliament International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Election Guide, “Finnish Parliament 2023 General,” April 2, 2023, last updated January 4, 2024, accessed November 8, 2024, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/4031/ .

422 former leader, Jussi Halla-aho “Halla-aho Bio Reveals Exhaustion, Depression Led to Resignation as Finns Party Leader,” Yle, August 20, 2025, yle.fi/a/74-20178533 .

422 became speaker of the parliament of Finland Robert Sundman, “Jussi Halla-aho Became Speaker of the Parliament, Risikko and Filatov Became Vice-Speakers,” Helsingin Sanomat ( HS ), June 21, 2023, www.hs.fi/politiikka/art-2000009663011.html , via Google Translate.

422 its largest number of seats since 2004 In 2004, ADR won five seats in the election. In 2009, that number reduced to four seats. In 2013 the party won three seats. In 2018 the party again won four seats. In 2023 the party won five seats. IFES Election Guide, “Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies 2004 General,” June 13, 2004, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed June 5, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/1388/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies 2009 General,” June 7, 2009, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed June 5, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/1533/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies 2013 General,” October 20, 2013, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed June 5, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/1674/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies 2018 General,” October 14, 2018, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed June 5, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/2633/ , IFES Election Guide,“Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies 2023 General,” October 8, 2023, last updated October 11, 2023, accessed June 5, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/4062/ .

422 withdrew . . . and downplaying the Holocaust Tom Rüdell, “ADR Candidate Withdraws Over Controversial Facebook Posts,” Luxembourg Times , July 25, 2023, www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/adr-candidate-withdraws-over-controversial-facebook-posts/2231361.html .

422 Wealthy businessman . . . in 2023 Carolina Mella, “Jan Topic, the Millionaire Businessman Vying to Emulate Bukele in Ecuador to the Sound of ‘Top Gun,’” El País English , June 19, 2023, english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-19/jan-topic-the-millionaire-businessman-vying-to-emulate-bukele-in-ecuador-to-the-sound-of-top-gun.html .

422 campaigned as Ecuador’s Bukele Mella, “Jan Topic the Millionaire Businessman Vying to Emulate Bukele in Ecuador to the Sound of ‘Top Gun,’” english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-19/jan-topic-the-millionaire-businessman-vying-to-emulate-bukele-in-ecuador-to-the-sound-of-top-gun.html .

422 “But they are alive, aren’t they?” Jan Topic quoted in Mella, “Jan Topic, the Millionaire Businessman Vying to Emulate Bukele in Ecuador to the Sound of ‘Top Gun,’” english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-19/jan-topic-the-millionaire-businessman-vying-to-emulate-bukele-in-ecuador-to-the-sound-of-top-gun.html .

422 eliminated in the first round . . . close to 15 percent IFES Election Guide, “Ecuadorian Presidency 2023 General,” August 20, 2023, last updated August 25, 2023, accessed November 3, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/4143/ .

422 signed the Madrid Charter Disenso Foundation, “Madrid Charter: In Defense of Freedom and Democracy in the Iberosphere,” Madrid Forum, October 26, 2020, fundaciondisenso.org/carta-de-madrid-en-defensa-de-la-libertad-y-la-democracia-en-la-iberosfera/ .

422–423 admirer of Bukele Inés Santaeulalia, “The Colombian ‘Bukeles’ Want Power,” El País English , May 17, 2023, english.elpais.com/international/2023-05-17/the-colombian-bukeles-want-power.html .

422–423 55 percent . . . wanted a president like Bukele Santaeulalia, “The Colombian ‘Bukeles’ Want power,” english.elpais.com/international/2023-05-17/the-colombian-bukeles-want-power.htm .

423 Two-thirds . . . “the mega-prison that . . .” Survey quoted Santaeulalia, “The Colombian ‘Bukeles’ Want power,” english.elpais.com/international/2023-05-17/the-colombian-bukeles-want-power.htm .

423 mimicked Bukele Associated Press (AP), “Guatemala’s Presidential Hopefuls Channel Heavy-Handed Tactics of El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, El País English, June 5, 2023, english.elpais.com/international/2023-06-05/guatemalas-presidential-hopefuls-channel-heavy-handed-tactics-of-el-salvadors-nayib-bukele.html .

423 won the presidency Simon Romero and Jody García, “Anticorruption Crusader Wins in Guatemala, in Rebuke to Establishment,” New York Times , August 20, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/08/20/world/americas/arevalo-wins-election-guatemala.html ; and Rory Sullivan, “Can Guatemala’s New President Turn the Tide on Years of Corruption?” The Guardian, January 11, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/11/guatemala-president-bernardo-arevalo-change-hope .

423 launched a campaign to overturn the election Rich Brown, “Timeline: Guatemala’s 2023 Election Crisis,” Americas Quarterly , April 22, 2025, americasquarterly.org/article/timeline-guatemalas-2023-election-crisis/ .

423 that the election had been stolen AP, “Progressive Arévalo Moves to Decisive Lead in Guatemala’s Presidential Election,” NPR, August 20, 2023, www.npr.org/2023/08/20/1194911732/guatemala-presidential-election-2023-sandra-torres-bernardo-arevalo . See also “Guatemala Prosecutors Threaten to Annul Victory of President-Elect Arevalo,” Al Jazeera, December 8, 2023, www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/8/guatemala-prosecutors-threaten-to-annul-victory-of-president-elect-arevalo .

423 brought bogus cases to annul . . . Brown, “Timeline: Guatemala’s 2023 Election Crisis,” americasquarterly.org/article/timeline-guatemalas-2023-election-crisis/ .

423 attempted to suspend Arévalo’s political party Gerardo Berthin, “Guatemala: When Hope and Reality Collide,” Freedom House, January 16, 2025, freedomhouse.org/article/guatemala-when-hope-and-reality-collide .

423 seized and investigated paper ballots Brown, “Timeline: Guatemala’s 2023 Election Crisis,” americasquarterly.org/article/timeline-guatemalas-2023-election-crisis/ .

423 “pact of the corrupt” “Pacto de Corruptos,” or the pact of the corrupt, is a euphemistic phrase used to refer to the “entrenched network of criminal enterprises and political and business elites that expanded their use of state power,” as Freedom House has written. They have infiltrated many levels of the Guatemalan political system. Berthin, “Guatemala: When Hope and Reality Collide,” freedomhouse.org/article/guatemala-when-hope-and-reality-collide . See also Steven Dudley et al., “Perpetuating Corruption: The System Undermining the 2023 Guatemala Elections,” Insight Crime, June 21, 2023, insightcrime.org/investigations/perpetuating-corruption-undermining-2023-guatemala-elections// .

423        organized a national strike to protect democracy Brown, “Timeline: Guatemala’s 2023 Election Crisis,” americasquarterly.org/article/timeline-guatemalas-2023-election-crisis/ .

423 assumed office on January 15, 2024 Brown, “Timeline: Guatemala’s 2023 Election Crisis,” americasquarterly.org/article/timeline-guatemalas-2023-election-crisis/ .

Chapter 114: Real Traitors

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:10 GMT

424 appeared at a Turning Point USA event at . . . Terry Spencer et al., “Bolsonaro Ponders Election Defeat, as Crowd Chants ‘Fraud,’” Associated Press (AP) News, February 3, 2023, apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-politics-united-states-government-brazil-florida-state-d76610dcae6f4a2490ae596f2136728d .

424 was Charlie Kirk Spencer et al., “Bolsonaro Ponders Election Defeat, as Crowd Chants ‘Fraud,’” apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-politics-united-states-government-brazil-florida-state-d76610dcae6f4a2490ae596f2136728d .

424 did not “understand” how he lost the election Jair Bolsonaro’s statement, in Portuguese, appears at Turning Point USA, “TPUSA Presents the Power of the People Event Live Featuring Charlie Kirk & Jair Bolsonaro,” YouTube, February 3, 2023, www.youtube.com/live/jgS6ydhGALw?si=JVN-ylRJs-bxDJAJ , 31:55–32:05, via Google Translate. A translator working for Bolsonaro said to the crowd in English, “Brazil is doing very well, but we can’t understand the reasons why the left won.” Turning Point USA, “TPUSA Presents the Power of the People Event Live Featuring Charlie Kirk & Jair Bolsonaro,” www.youtube.com/live/jgS6ydhGALw?si=JVN-ylRJs-bxDJAJ , 32:17–37:23. Bolsonaro’s statement is translated as “I cannot understand the reasons why (the election) decided to go to the left” in Spencer et al., “Bolsonaro Ponders Election Defeat, as Crowd Chants ‘Fraud,’” apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-politics-united-states-government-brazil-florida-state-d76610dcae6f4a2490ae596f2136728d .

424 “Fraud! Fraud! Fraud!” Turning Point USA, “TPUSA Presents the Power of the People Event Live Featuring Charlie Kirk & Jair Bolsonaro,” www.youtube.com/live/jgS6ydhGALw?si=JVN-ylRJs-bxDJAJ , 32:05–32:30. See also Spencer et al., “Bolsonaro Ponders Election Defeat, as Crowd Chants ‘Fraud,’” apnews.com/article/jair-bolsonaro-politics-united-states-government-brazil-florida-state-d76610dcae6f4a2490ae596f2136728d .

424 “little old women and little old men . . .” Bolsonaro quoted in Jack Nicas, “Brazil Bars Bolsonaro from Office for Election-Fraud Claims,” New York Times , June 30, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/06/30/world/americas/bolsonaro-brazil-banned-office.html .

424 denied that he’d lost the 2020 election Brett Samuels, “Trump’s 2020 Election Claims Back in Spotlight in Closing Weeks of Campaign,” The Hill , October 8, 2024, thehill.com/h.omenews/campaign/4920303-trump-refusal-election-loss/ .

424 downplayed the insurrection Michelle L. Price et al., “Trump Downplays Jan. 6 on the Anniversary of the Capitol Siege and Calls Jailed Rioters ‘Hostages,’” AP News, January 6, 2024, apnews.com/article/trump-iowa-caucuses-young-conservatives-campaign-2ca7441852577795123845811b06bc06 .

424 framed the insurrectionists as patriots . . . For a study on the ways that the concept of “patriot” has been used in the context of the two insurrections and in right-wing media, see Joao V. S. Ozawa et al., “Brazilian Capitol Attack: The Interaction Between Bolsonaro’s Supporters’ Content, WhatsApp, Twitter, and News Media,” Misinformation Review 5, no. 2 (April 2024), Harvard Kennedy School, misinforeview.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ozawa_brazil_capitol_attack_20240409.pdf , 1-14.

424 cast . . . as subjects of political persecution Tal Axelrod, “How Trump Has Responded to the Jan. 6 Committee,” ABC News, December 19, 2022, abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-responded-jan-6-committee/story?id=95323334 ; Luciana Novaes Magalhaes et al., “Reuters Exclusive Interview with Jair Bolsonaro,” Reuters, July 18, 2025, www.reuters.com/world/reuters-interview-with-former-brazilian-president-jair-bolsonaro-2025-07-18/ ; Brian Osgood, “Why Does Donald Trump Want to Pardon the Rioters from the January 6 Attack?” Al Jazeera, January 6, 2025, www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/6/why-does-donald-trump-want-to-pardon-the-rioters-from-the-january-6-attack .

424 “to arouse the passions of a fanatical mob” . . . “the civilized world” . . . Jubal Early, A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States of America (Lynchburg, VA: Charles W. Button, 1867), www.google.com/books/edition/A_Memoir_of_the_Last_Year_of_the_War_for/3R1CAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR1&printsec=frontcover , vii-viii.

424 “inferior race” . . . “as happy and contented as any in the world” Early, A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States of America , www.google.com/books/edition/A_Memoir_of_the_Last_Year_of_the_War_for/3R1CAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR1&printsec=frontcover , viii.

424–425 “duty” . . .“ defend” . . . “against invasion” . . . “real traitors who . . .” “established . . .” Early, A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States of America , www.google.com/books/edition/A_Memoir_of_the_Last_Year_of_the_War_for/3R1CAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR1&printsec=frontcover , iii-iv.

425 not for “the institution of slavery, but for . . .” Early, A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States of America , www.google.com/books/edition/A_Memoir_of_the_Last_Year_of_the_War_for/3R1CAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PR1&printsec=frontcover , iii-iv, viii-ix.

425 “negroes have neither the intelligence nor . . .” Robert E. Lee, “White Sulphur Manifesto,” 1868, in The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader: The ‘Great Truth’ About the ‘Lost Cause’ , ed. James W. Loewen and Edward H. Sebesta (Jackson MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2010), 256. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/671655130 .

425 “relief from oppressive misrule” . . . “the right of self-government" Lee, “White Sulphur Manifesto,” 254. Find The Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader , in which Lee’s “Manifesto” appears, search.worldcat.org/title/671655130 .

425 argued . . . “sovereignty” over the Southern states Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government , vol. 1 (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1881), archive.org/details/risefallofconfed01daviuoft/page/98/mode/2up , 99.

425 “declared to be guilty of insurrection” Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government , archive.org/details/risefallofconfed01daviuoft/page/324/mode/2up , 1:325.

425 discussed video footage . . . provided by . . . Kevin McCarthy “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, March 6, 2023, accessed via Internet Archive, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20230307_010000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/420/end/480 ; and Lisa Mascaro et al., “Tucker Carlson amplifies Jan. 6 lies with GOP-provided video,” AP News, March 7, 2023, apnews.com/article/jan-6-tucker-carlson-capitol-riot-mccarthy-adc245e22f50b076925eb72948062808 .

425 showed small groups wandering . . . and taking photos “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, March 6, 2023, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20230307_010000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/420/end/480 , 0:28–1:00.

425 “The footage does not show . . .” “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, March 6, 2023, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20230307_010000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/300/end/360 , 0:40–0:45.

425 “The video record does not support the claim . . .” “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, March 6, 2023, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20230307_010000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/360/end/420 , 0:27–0:32.

425 “the overwhelming majority” . . . “peaceful . . . orderly and meek . . .” “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Fox News, March 6, 2023, archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20230307_010000_Tucker_Carlson_Tonight/start/420/end/480 , 0:26–0:34.

425 “normal tourist visit” Andrew Clyde quoted in Grace Segers, “‘Normal Tourist Visit’: Some Republicans Downplay January 6 Riot Amid Democratic Objections,” CBS News, May 13, 2021, www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-riot-january-6-hearing-lawmakers-clash/ .

425 “with love in their heart” “Read: Transcript of CNN’s Town Hall with Former President Donald Trump,” CNN, May 11, 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/05/11/politics/transcript-cnn-town-hall-trump/index.html .

425 swung . . . and tackled him on January 6 Eduardo Medina and Remy Tumin, “Ex-N.Y.P.D. Officer Gets 10 Years for Jan. 6 Attack, Longest Sentence to Date,” New York Times , September 1, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/us/jan-6-nypd-officer-sentenced.html .

425 “I felt like I was the cop and he was the protester” Thomas Webster quoted in Medina and Tumin, “Ex-N.Y.P.D. Officer Gets 10 Years for Jan. 6 Attack, Longest Sentence to Date,” www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/us/jan-6-nypd-officer-sentenced.html .

425 the first insurrectionist to present a self-defense argument at trial Medina and Tumin, “Ex-N.Y.P.D. Officer Gets 10 Years for Jan. 6 Attack, Longest Sentence to Date,” www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/us/jan-6-nypd-officer-sentenced.html .

425 sentenced to ten years in prison Medina and Tumin, “Ex-N.Y.P.D. Officer Gets 10 Years for Jan. 6 Attack, Longest Sentence to Date,” www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/us/jan-6-nypd-officer-sentenced.html .

425 “probably do hate the American founders . . .” Garrett Ziegler quoted in Stephen Collinson, “Trump’s Latest Actions Present Urgent New Questions for a GOP That Has Refused to Constrain Him,” CNN, July 21, 2022, www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/politics/trump-steal-2020-election-jan-6-committee/index.html .

425 “a Bolshevistic anti-White campaign” Ziegler quoted in Collinson, “Trump’s Latest Actions Present Urgent New Questions for a GOP That Has Refused to Constrain Him,” www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/politics/trump-steal-2020-election-jan-6-committee/index.html .

425 used to describe anti-Nazi campaigns Much of Nazi propaganda centered around what they called “Jewish-Bolshevisim” or Soviet Bolshevisim. For example, see: Harold Callendar, “Nazis Trying to Play on Old Fears of Russia; New Propaganda Line Seems to Aim at Winning Assent to Negotiated Peace,” New York Times , February 7, 1943, www.nytimes.com/1943/02/07/archives/nazis-trying-to-play-on-old-fears-of-russia-new-propaganda-line.html ; “Field Marshall Walter Von Reichenau Orders for Conduct in the East: Crushing the Jewish-Bolshevist System,” October 10, 1941, in The Third Reich Sourcebook , ed. Anson Rabinbach, et al. (Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2013), 740-741. For research on Bolshevism in Nazi propaganda, see Lorna L. Waddington, “The Anti-Komintern and Nazi Anti-Bolshevik Propaganda in the 1930s,” Journal of Contemporary History 42, no. 4, (October 2007), doi.org/10.1177/0022009407081488 , 573–594. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/849787041 to find The Third Reich Sourcebook at a library.

426 54 percent . . . “people participated in a legitimate public discourse” The Economist /YouGov Poll, “March 11–14, 2023—1500 U.S. Adult Citizens,” docs.cdn.yougov.com/kqdsel6n6j/econTabReport.pdf , 68.

426 27 percent, “strongly or somewhat” approved The Economist /YouGov Poll, “March 11–14, 2023—1500 U.S. Adult Citizens,” docs.cdn.yougov.com/kqdsel6n6j/econTabReport.pdf , 69.

426 nearly a quarter . . . “because things have gotten so far off track . . .” “Threats to American Democracy Ahead of an Unprecedented Presidential Election,” Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), October 25, 2023, prri.org/research/threats-to-american-democracy-ahead-of-an-unprecedented-presidential-election/ .

426 an increase from 15 percent in 2021 “Threats to American Democracy Ahead of an Unprecedented Presidential Election,” prri.org/research/threats-to-american-democracy-ahead-of-an-unprecedented-presidential-election/ .

426 in 2023, 41 percent of believers in “replacement theory” . . . necessary David Smith, “Nearly One in Four Americans Believe Political Violence Justified to ‘Save’ US,” The Guardian , October 25, 2023, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/25/us-political-violence-justified-survey .

426 A third of Republicans Smith, “Nearly One in Four Americans Believe Political Violence Justified to ‘Save’ US,” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/25/us-political-violence-justified-survey .

426 three times more likely than . . . to hold this viewpoint “Threats to American Democracy Ahead of an Unprecedented Presidential Election,” prri.org/research/threats-to-american-democracy-ahead-of-an-unprecedented-presidential-election/ .

426 Nearly a third of U.S. veterans . . . nearly a fifth . . . Steve Beynon, “Nearly 1 in 3 Veterans Agree with Racist Great Replacement Theory, Rand Study Finds,” Military.com, May 23, 2023, www.military.com/daily-news/2023/05/23/study-finds-fewer-vets-back-qanon-many-accept-racist-conspiracy-theory.html .

426 even more Republican respondents (29 percent) . . . “true American patriots may have to resort . . .” “Challenges to Democracy: The 2024 Election in Focus; Findings from the 2024 American Values Survey,” PRRI, October 11, 2024, www.prri.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/PRRI-Oct-2024-AVS-Draft_B.pdf , 4, 39.

Chapter 115: Political Speech

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:08 GMT

427 Flanking him . . . gun-toting soldiers and police Víctor Peña and Carlos Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” El Faro , February 10,” elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm . For the scenic details mentioned in this chapter, see El Salvador 2020, “Histórico.!!! Feb. 9/20 Concentración del Pueblo en Asamblea. Discurso Completo Presidente Bukele,” YouTube, February 15, 2020, youtu.be/i3-8ZXqqH4g?si=ck8AbRzr2NIyvsPv , 41:00–51:35.

427 to a band playing “Marcha Granadera” Carlos Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” El Faro , February 10, 2020, elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

427 customary when Bukele arrives at official functions “‘La Granadera’ is a ceremonial march used in Guatemala to honor the flag and also as a presidential march or an honor march for high-ranking officials. Over time, it was also adopted by the presidents of El Salvador.” Jhoel Díaz, “The Origins of El Salvador's Presidential March: ‘La Granadera,’” El Mundo , May 31, 2024, diario.elmundo.sv/escena/los-origenes-de-la-marcha-presidencial-de-el-salvador-la-granadera , via Google Translate.

427 where . . . normally sits Peña and Barrera, “The Day the Commander-in-Chief Militarized the Legislative Assembly,” elfaro.net/es/202002/ef_foto/24005/El-d%C3%ADa-que-el-comandante-en-jefe-militariz%C3%B3-la-Asamblea-Legislativa.htm ; Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

427 “Welcome to this legislative chamber” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

427 “We are going to begin the session” . . .“in accordance” . . . “the constitution” . . . “the internal regulations . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

427 “constitutional contempt” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

427 “Now I think it is very clear . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

427 “decision we are going to make now . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

427 closes his eyes . . . prays in silence for two minutes. Only the sounds of. . . See El Salvador 2020, “Histórico.!!! Feb. 9/20 Concentración del Pueblo en Asamblea. Discurso Completo Presidente Bukele,” youtu.be/i3-8ZXqqH4g?si=ck8AbRzr2NIyvsPv , 46:05–48:06.

428 “as dictated by God” Isabel Rikkers and Noelle Brigden, “Christian Zionism in Bukele’s El Salvador,” North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), October 9, 2024, nacla.org/christian-zionism-bukeles-el-salvador .

428 “they became satanic” . . . “They started doing satanic rituals” Tucker Carlson, “President Nayib Bukele: Seeking God’s Wisdom, Taking Down MS-13, and His Advice to Donald Trump,” YouTube, June 5, 2024, youtu.be/U5n8R9lq8SI?si=i_6LaLTXtRkszfty , 12:33–12:37; and Rikkers and Brigden, “Christian Zionism in Bukele’s El Salvador,” nacla.org/christian-zionism-bukeles-el-salvador .

428 “the good people” Bukele, X, October 8, 2023, 11:21 p.m., x.com/nayibbukele/status/1711220281820278875 , archived at archive.today, December 3, 2025 capture, archive.ph/HxRl5 ; and Rikkers and Brigden, “Christian Zionism in Bukele’s El Salvador,” nacla.org/christian-zionism-bukeles-el-salvador .

428 “between good and evil” Nayib Bukele, Facebook, May 2, 2022, 6:00 p.m., www.facebook.com/nayibbukele/posts/563948755089932 , via Google Translate, archived at archive.today, June 27, 2023 capture, archive.ph/Yyb4t .

428 “There is a spiritual war and there is a physical war” Tucker Carlson, “President Nayib Bukele: Seeking God’s Wisdom, Taking Down MS-13, and His Advice to Donald Trump,” youtu.be/U5n8R9lq8SI?si=i_6LaLTXtRkszfty , 15:45–15:48.

428 “If you win the spiritual war . . .” Tucker Carlson, “President Nayib Bukele: Seeking God’s Wisdom, Taking Down MS-13, and His Advice to Donald Trump,” youtu.be/U5n8R9lq8SI?si=i_6LaLTXtRkszfty , 15:56–16:00.

428 5,000 supporters Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

428 his trolls in the nearby house in San Salvador Sarah Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” Reuters, November 29, 2022, www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

428 posted to Facebook . . . ban all Muslims from entering the United States Donald J. Trump, “Statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration,” Facebook, December 7, 2015, 5:33 p.m., www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/posts/statement-on-preventing-muslim-immigration/10156386906600725 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/Ca5Xf .

428 identified the video as hate speech, a violation of . . . Elizabeth Dwoskin et al., “Zuckerberg Once Wanted to Sanction Trump. Then Facebook Wrote Rules That Accommodated Him,” Washington Post , June 28, 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/28/facebook-zuckerberg-trump-hate/ .

428 “a carveout for political speech” Dwoskin et al., “Zuckerberg Once Wanted to Sanction Trump. Then Facebook Wrote Rules That Accommodated Him,” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/28/facebook-zuckerberg-trump-hate/ .

428 got the most engagement For studies on the ways right-wing and hateful social media posts drive engagement, see: Jordi Pérez Colomé, “‘Right-wing bias’: A Macro Study Confirms That Facebook Disinformation Is Consumed by Conservatives,” El País English , July 27, 2023, english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-07-27/right-wing-bias-a-macro-study-confirms-that-facebook-disinformation-is-consumed-by-conservatives.html ; and Sandra González-Bailón et al, “Asymmetric Ideological Segregation in Exposure to Political News on Facebook,” Science 381, no. 6656 (July 27, 2023), www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade7138 ; Laura Edelsonet al., “Far-Right News Sources on Facebook More Engaging,” Medium, March 3, 2021, medium.com/cybersecurity-for-democracy/far-right-news-sources-on-facebook-more-engaging-e04a01efae90 .

428 ran ads when users searched for racist groups “Facebook Profits from White Supremacist Groups,” Tech Transparency Project, August 10, 2022, www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/facebook-profits-white-supremacist-groups .

428 profited from searches for racist content “Facebook Profits from White Supremacist Groups,” www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/facebook-profits-white-supremacist-groups .

428 “Facebook’s algorithmic tools” . . . “white supremacist pages to . . .” “Facebook Profits from White Supremacist Groups,” www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/facebook-profits-white-supremacist-groups .

428 So too has Instagram, owned by Meta “Facebook Profits from White Supremacist Groups,” www.techtransparencyproject.org/articles/facebook-profits-white-supremacist-groups ”; and “Malgorithm: How Instagram’s Algorithm Publishes Misinformation and Hate to Millions During a Pandemic,” Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), March 9, 2021, counterhate.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/210309-Malgorithm-Report.pdf , 4.

428 So too has YouTube Muhammad Haroon et al., “Auditing YouTube’s Recommendation System for Ideologically Congenial, Extreme, and Problematic Recommendations,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ) 120, no. 50 (December 5, 2023), doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213020120 .

428 “moderate” . . . “encounter more right-leaning than . . .” Haroon et al, “Auditing YouTube’s Recommendation System for Ideologically Congenial, Extreme, and Problematic Recommendations,” doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2213020120 .

429 collected a sample of 1,030 videos . . . “that were used to . . .” Ciarán O’Connor, “Hatescape: An In-Depth Analysis of Extremism and Hate Speech on TikTok,” Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), 2021, www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/HateScape_v5.pdf , 2.

429 “by far the largest category of content” O’Connor, “Hatescape: An In-Depth Analysis of Extremism and Hate Speech on TikTok,” www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/HateScape_v5.pdf , 13.

429 “support for the Great Replacement and white genocide conspiracy theories” O’Connor, “Hatescape: An In-Depth Analysis of Extremism and Hate Speech on TikTok,” www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/HateScape_v5.pdf , 5

29 “that used thousands of inauthentic assets . . .” Sophie Zhang memo quoted in Craig Silverman et al., “‘I Have Blood on My Hands’: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation,” BuzzFeed News, September 14, 2020, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-ignore-political-manipulation-whistleblower-memo . For more on Zhang and the information she provided about Facebook and foreign governments manipulating the platform for political goals, see Julia Carrie Wong, “How Facebook Let Fake Engagement Distort Global Politics: A Whistleblower’s Account,” The Guardian , April 12, 2021, www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/12/facebook-fake-engagement-whistleblower-sophie-zhang ; and Eloise Barry, “Another Facebook Whistleblower Just Testified in British Parliament. Here’s What to Know About Her Allegations,” Time , October 18, 2021, time.com/6107835/sophie-zhang-facebook-testimony/ .

429 finally acted in July 2020 Silverman et al, “‘I Have Blood on My Hands’: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation,” www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-ignore-political-manipulation-whistleblower-memo .

429 two weeks after . . . emerged like weeds Silverman et al., “‘I Have Blood on My Hands’: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation.,” www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-ignore-political-manipulation-whistleblower-memo .

429 confirmed that the company . . . in the United States and Western Europe Silverman et al., “‘I Have Blood on My Hands’: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation,” www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-ignore-political-manipulation-whistleblower-memo .

429 criminalized, jailed, and reportedly disappeared critics Jeff Abbott, “The Other Americans: Honduran Election Bucks Authoritarianism,” The Progressive , November 30, 2021, progressive.org/latest/honduran-election-bucks-authoritarianism-abbott-211130/ ; Jared Olson, “Hondurans Cheer a Rare Win over Their Corrupt Politicians, Far from Home,” Al Jazeera, March 11, 2024, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/11/hondurans-cheer-a-rare-win-over-their-corrupt-politicians-far-from-home ; and “Honduras: Indigenous Human Rights Activists Missing,” Amnesty International, July 23, 2020, www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr37/2780/2020/en .

429 used . . . as an excuse to bolster the authoritarian power . . . “The outgoing congress also voted to enshrine Honduras’s military police in the constitution. The MP program, created in September 2013 and featured prominently in Hernández’s “law and order” campaign ads, puts thousands of soldiers on the streets. Although their alleged purpose is to crack down on gang activity, MP units have already raided the home of a prominent resistance activist, and human rights defenders and activists fear that efforts to criminalize and repress Honduras’s social movements will only grow.” Alexander Main, “Honduras: The Deep Roots of Resistance,” Dissent Magazine (Spring 2014), www.dissentmagazine.org/article/honduras-the-deep-roots-of-resistance/ . “In his first term, he controversially deployed the military to the streets under the pretext of fighting gangs, part of a militarized, iron-fist security policy Hernández touted as having reduced violence. In fact, an apparent drop in the murder rate had more to do with a cynical change in how homicides were registered, while harsh crackdowns also meant the police and military became as feared and distrusted as the gangs.” Jared Olson, “What Happens After a U.S.-Enabled Narco-Dictatorship Ends?” New Republic , December 2, 2021, newrepublic.com/article/164589/honduras-election-juan-orlando-hernandez .

429 allowed him to run . . . despite a constitutional ban “Honduras elections: Security Key Issue as Hernández Runs Again,” BBC News, November 24, 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-42080257 .

429 claimed victory that year in an election marred by fraud Abbott, “The Other Americans: Honduran Election Bucks Authoritarianism,” progressive.org/latest/honduran-election-bucks-authoritarianism-abbott-211130/ .

429 his Facebook troll farm, which Zhang discovered Silverman et al. “‘I Have Blood on My Hands’: A Whistleblower Says Facebook Ignored Global Political Manipulation,” www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/facebook-ignore-political-manipulation-whistleblower-memo .

429 after Honduran Women’s Day . . . existing prohibition of abortion and same-sex marriage Suyapa Portillo, “In Honduras, the Right Is Permanently Locking In Its Abortion Ban,” Jacobin , March 1, 2023, jacobin.com/2021/03/honduras-abortion-ban-constitutional-amendment .

429–430 both signed asylum agreements with the United States . . . Colleen Long, Associated Press, and Elliot Spagat, Associated Press, “U.S. Signs Asylum Agreement with Honduras,” PBS, September 25, 2019, www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-signs-asylum-agreement-with-honduras ; and Colleen Long, Associated Press, and Astrid Galvan, Associated Press, “Watch: U.S. and El Salvador Sign Asylum Deal,” PBS News, September 20, 2019, www.pbs.org/newshour/world/u-s-and-el-salvador-expected-to-sign-asylum-deal .

430 “drug trafficking, gangs . . .” . . . “creates forced and . . .” Juan Orlando Hernández quoted in Long and Spagat, “U.S. Signs Asylum Agreement with Honduras,” www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/u-s-signs-asylum-agreement-with-honduras .

430 sentenced to forty-five years in a U.S. prison Colin Moynihan, “Former President of Honduras Sentenced to 45 Years in Sweeping Drug Case,” New York Times , June 26, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/06/26/nyregion/honduras-juan-olando-hernando-sentenced-drug-case.html .

430 had received millions . . . in exchange for protecting them from prosecution Luc Cohen, “Ex-Honduras President Bribed by Prominent Family, U.S. prosecutors say,” Reuters, February 10, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/americas/ex-honduras-president-bribed-by-prominent-family-us-prosecutors-say-2023-02-10/ .

430 announced a pardon Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, November 28, 2025, 4:18 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115629406693931908 , archived at Wayback Machine, February 5, 2026 capture, web.archive.org/web/20260205085745/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115629406693931908 .

430 “deprioritized content moderation” Nora Benavidez, “Big Tech Backslide: How Social-Media Rollbacks Endanger Democracy Ahead of the 2024 Elections,” Free Press, December 2023, www.freepress.net/sites/default/files/2023-12/free_press_report_big_tech_backslide.pdf , 3.

430 stricter platforms . . . moderated out . . . after the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections Yini Zhang et al., “Trump, Twitter, and Truth Social: How Trump Used Both Mainstream and Alt-Tech Social Media to Drive News Media Attention,” Journal of Information Technology & Politics 22, no. 5 (March 2024), doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2024.2328156 , 1.

430 left or were forced to leave Zhang et al., “Trump, Twitter, and Truth Social,” doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2024.2328156 , 1.

430 gravitated to wholly unmoderated platforms such as . . . Zhang et al., “Trump, Twitter, and Truth Social,” doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2024.2328156 , 1; Megan Butler, “Alternative Social Media Sites Seen as Haven for Right-Wing Users,” Courthouse News Service, October 6, 2022, www.courthousenews.com/alternative-social-media-sites-seen-as-haven-for-right-wing-users/ ; “Russia’s Zuckerberg Launches Telegram, a New Instant Messenger Service,” Reuters, August 30, 2013, www.reuters.com/article/idUS74722569420130830/ ; Shreenita Ghosh and Galen Stocking, “Key Facts About Rumble,” Pew Research Center, December 21, 2022, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/12/21/key-facts-about-rumble/ ; Emily Tomasik and Galen Stocking, “Key facts about BitChute,” Pew Research Center, February 17, 2023, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/17/key-facts-about-bitchute/ ; Carrie Blazina and Galen Stocking, “Key facts about Parler,” Pew Research Center, October 20, 2022, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/10/20/fast-facts-about-parler-as-kanye-west-reportedly-plans-acquisition-of-site/ ; Sarah Naseer and Galen Stocking, “Key facts about Gettr,” Pew Research Center, February 1, 2023, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/01/key-facts-about-gettr/ .

430 banned Trump from their platforms Melina Delkic, “Trump’s Banishment from Facebook and Twitter: A Timeline,” New York Times , May 10, 2022, last updated May 13, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/technology/trump-social-media-ban-timeline.html ; and “What We Know About Truth Social, Donald Trump’s Social Media Platform,” Associated Press (AP) News, March 27, 2024, apnews.com/article/truth-social-donald-trump-djt-ipo-digital-world-7437d5dcc491a1459a078195ae547987 .

430 launched his own social media platform “ What We Know About Truth Social, Donald Trump’s Social Media Platform,” apnews.com/article/truth-social-donald-trump-djt-ipo-digital-world-7437d5dcc491a1459a078195ae547987 .

430 started exclusively posting on his new “Truth Social” “As a part of the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) ‘Social Media Exclusivity Term,’” Trump “agreed to wait six hours before posting the same content from Truth Social on any other sites, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.” But Trump was allowed “to make posts from his personal account related to ‘political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the vote efforts’ at ‘any time’ on any social media site.” Madeline Halpert, “Trump Agrees to Post on Truth Social Before Any Other Sites—With Some Caveats,” Forbes , March 16, 2022, www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/05/16/trump-agrees-to-post-on-truth-social-before-any-other-sites-with-some-caveats/ . Trump returned to Facebook on March 17, 2023, and X (formerly Twitter) on August 24, 2023. Donald J. Trump, “I’M BACK!” Facebook, March 17, 2023, www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/videos/im-back/735182501447195/ ; “Trump Returns to Facebook,” Reuters, March 17, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-returns-facebook-2023-03-17/ ; Donald J. Trump, X, August 24, 2023, 9:38 p.m., x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1694886846050771321 ; and Helen Coster and Sheila Dang, “Trump Returns to X, Formerly Twitter, with Mug Shot and Appeal for Donations,” Reuters, August 25, 2023, www.reuters.com/technology/trump-returns-social-media-site-x-formerly-twitter-with-mug-shot-post-2023-08-25/ .

430 launched in February 2022 Nell Clark, “Trump’s Social Media Site Hits the App Store a Year After He Was Banned from Twitter,” NPR, February 22, 2022, www.npr.org/2022/02/22/1082243094/trumps-social-media-app-launches-year-after-twitter-ban .

430 purchased . . . social media platform Kate Conger and Lauren Hirsch, “Elon Musk Completes $44 Billion Deal to Own Twitter,” New York Times , October 27, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/technology/elon-musk-twitter-deal-complete.html .

Chapter 116: X

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:07 GMT

431 The world’s richest man . . . purchased Twitter on October 27, 2022 Kate Conger and Lauren Hirsch, “Elon Musk Completes $44 Billion Deal to Own Twitter,” New York Times , October 27, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/technology/elon-musk-twitter-deal-complete.html .

431 renamed the platform X Ryan Mac and Tiffany Hsu, “From Twitter to X: Elon Musk Begins Erasing an Iconic Internet Brand,” New York Times , July 24, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/07/24/technology/twitter-x-elon-musk.html .

431        fired the company’s entire moderation staff in Brazil Elizabeth Dwoskin, “Come to the ‘War Cry Party’: How Social Media Helped Drive Mayhem in Brazil,” Washington Post , January 9, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/08/brazil-bolsanaro-twitter-facebook/ .

431 opened the door . . . to swarm Brazilian users with lies that . . . had been stolen from him Dwoskin, “Come to the ‘War Cry Party’: How Social Media Helped Drive Mayhem in Brazil,” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/01/08/brazil-bolsanaro-twitter-facebook/ .

431 eliminated these teams around the world Samuel Stolton et al., “Elon Musk Triggers Twitter Chaos with Mass Firings Worldwide,” Politico , November 4, 2022, www.politico.eu/article/twitter-fires-employs-worldwide/ .

431 reinstated several banned . . . including Trump Reinstated previously banned accounts include Donald Trump, Andrew Anglin, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Project Veritas, Patrick Casey, and Alex Jones. Others include Andrew Tate, James Lindsay, and Kanye West. For more details on the reinstatement of these accounts, see: Mrinmay Dey and Jyoti Narayan, “Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Reinstated on X After Musk Poll,” Reuters, December 10, 2023, www.reuters.com/technology/musk-poll-shows-x-users-want-us-conspiracy-theorist-jones-account-back-2023-12-10/ ; Damien Leloup and William Audureau, “Conspiracy Theorists, Homophobes, Neo-Nazis: Ten Accounts That Embody Twitter’s Change Under Musk,” Le Monde , December 19, 2022, updated April 27, 2023, www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2022/12/19/conspiracy-theorists-homophobes-neo-nazis-ten-accounts-that-embody-twitter-s-change-under-elon-musk_6008352_8.html .

431 “unprecedented” increase in . . . “Before Elon Musk bought Twitter, slurs against Black Americans showed up on the social media service an average of 1,282 times a day. After the billionaire became Twitter’s owner, they jumped to 3,876 times a day. Slurs against gay men appeared on Twitter 2,506 times a day on average before Mr. Musk took over. Afterward, their use rose to 3,964 times a day. And antisemitic posts referring to Jews or Judaism soared more than 61 percent in the two weeks after Mr. Musk acquired the site.” Sheera Frenkel and Kate Conger, “Hate Speech’s Rise on Twitter Is Unprecedented, Researchers Find,” New York Times , December 2, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/12/02/technology/twitter-hate-speech.html .

431 eliminated fact-checking Bruna Horvath et al., “Meta Is Ending Its Fact-Checking Program in Favor of a ‘Community Notes’ Section Similar to X’s” NBC News, January 7, 2025, www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/meta-ends-fact-checking-program-community-notes-x-rcna186468 .

431 created a show on X, where he interviewed great replacement politicians Bharat Gautom and Yana Gaur, “Former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Kicks Off New show on Twitter,” Reuters, June 6, 2023, www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/former-fox-news-host-tucker-carlson-kicks-off-new-show-twitter-2023-06-07/ ; Tucker Calrson, X, August 23, 2023, 8:55 p.m., x.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1694513603251241143 , archived at archive.today, November 1, 2025 capture, archive.ph/d3hl6 (interview with Trump); Tucker Carlson, X, August 29, 2023, 6:00PM, x.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1696643892253466712 , archived at archive.today, November 1, 2025 capture, archive.ph/mozrE (interview with Orbán); Tucker Carlson, X, February 8, 2024, 6:25 p.m., x.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1755734526678925682 , archived at archive.today, November 1, 2025 capture, archive.ph/fLmc1 (interview with Putin).

431 his approximately 150 million followers Elon Musk X profile accessed via Wayback Machine, July 24, 2023 capture, web.archive.org/web/20230724033754/https://twitter.com/elonmusk .

431 the inactive ones that were possibly bots Matt Binder, “Elon Musk’s X Follower Count Bloated by Millions of New, Inactive Accounts,” Mashable, August 18, 2023, mashable.com/article/elon-musk-x-twitter-follower-data .

431 “They are openly pushing for genocide of . . .” Elon Musk, X, July 31, 2023, 11:35 a.m., x.com/elonmusk/status/1686037774510497792 , archived at archive.today, February 11, 2025 capture, archive.ph/Y1KeX .

431 pinned . . . a misleading graph purporting to prove . . . Elon Musk, X, December 30, 2023, 8:25 a.m., x.com/elonmusk/status/1741087997410660402 , archived at archive.today, January 1, 2024 capture, archive.ph/3mwSi ; and Philip Bump, “The Political Exploitation of Immigration Data,” Washington Post, January 4, 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/04/immigration-republicans-speaker-johnson/ .

431 “Almost no one seems to be aware . . .” Elon Musk, Twitter, December 30, 2023, x.com/elonmusk/status/1741087997410660402 , archived at archive.ph/3mwSi

432 “the biggest problem that humanity faces . . .” Elon Musk, Twitter, January 2, 2024, 7:04 p.m., x.com/elonmusk/status/1742336125111345235 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/Z9bma .

432 commonly debunk Bump, “The Political Exploitation of Immigration Data,” www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/04/immigration-republicans-speaker-johnson/ ; and Miles Klee, ”Elon Musk All but Endorses the Great Replacement Conspiracy Theory,” Rolling Stone , January 5, 2024, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/elon-musk-great-replacement-conspiracy-theory-1234941337/ .

432 “The biggest problem we face today @elonmusk . . .” Geert Wilders, X, January 3, 2024, 12:19 p.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1742596599631446238 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/56qlY.

432 “due to open borders, mass immigration . . .” Geert Wilders, X, January 3, 2024, x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1742596599631446238 , archived at archive.ph/wip/56qlY .

432 “agreed” Elon Musk, X, January 4, 2024, 3:32 a.m., x.com/elonmusk/status/1742826319849684997 , archived at archive.today, January 10, 2024 capture, archive.ph/1PKpf .

432 “actively facilitating illegal immigration” Elon Musk, X, January 4, 2024, 12:21 p.m., x.com/elonmusk/status/1742959346936381840 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/fj8bu .

432 “They view them as future Dem voters” Elon Musk, Twitter, January 4, 2024, 12:30 p.m., x.com/elonmusk/status/1742961741061935233 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/reCa6 .

432 “The great replacement theory is a neo-Nazi trope” Don Lemon, “Elon Musk on Racism, Bailing Out Trump, Hate Speech, and More—The Don Lemon Show (Full Interview),” YouTube, March 18, 2024, youtu.be/hhsfjBpKiTw?si=NwOFg2K5xVisyaco&t=1399 , 29:12–29:16.

432        denied that he subscribed Lemon, “Elon Musk on Racism, Bailing Out Trump, Hate Speech, and More—The Don Lemon Show (Full Interview),” youtu.be/hhsfjBpKiTw?si=NwOFg2K5xVisyaco&t=1399 , 23:42–23:48.

432 canceled Lemon’s show David Hamilton, “Musk Abruptly Cancels ‘The Don Lemon Show’ on X After He Sits for the Program’s First Interview,” Associated Press (AP) News, March 13, 2024, apnews.com/article/elon-musk-don-lemon-cancellation-bdbed1da86c3640daa63e384c734f5db .

432 “If birth rates continue to plummet . . .” Elon Musk, X, April 28, 2024, 10:15 p.m., x.com/elonmusk/status/1784768522645889111 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/6vRKR .

432 at least fourteen children Wall Street Journal , “Elon Musk has had at least 14 children with four women . . .” Facebook, April 17, 2025, www.facebook.com/WSJ/videos/elon-musk-has-had-at-least-14-children-with-four-women-wsjs-dana-mattioli-report/2102719496868236/ .

432 embedded in the post a video from the first ever . . . his compound in Austin Musk, X, April 28, 2024, x.com/elonmusk/status/1784768522645889111 , archived at archive.ph/wip/6vRKR ; and Jason Wilson, “US Natalist Conference to Host Race-Science Promoters and Eugenicists,” The Guardian , March 3, 2025, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/natal-conference-austin-texas-eugenics ; and Jason Wilson, “Revealed: US Pro-Birth Conference’s Links to Far-Right Eugenicists,” The Guardian , September 4, 2023, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/04/natal-conference-austin-texas-eugenics .

432 Attendees of “Natal Con” identified as “pronatalists” Wilson, “US Pro-Birth Conference’s Links to Far-Right Eugenicists,” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/natal-conference-austin-texas-eugenics ; and Lisa Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” NPR, April 25, 2025, www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

432 “to remember” Brenton Tarrant, “The Great Replacement,” manifesto, March 15, 2019.

432 “birth rates must change” Tarrant, “The Great Replacement.”

432 surprised . . . encouraging them to have four children, like him Erdoğan told one couple, “One is awkward; two is competitive; with three, there is balance; four means prosperity.” Kaya Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” The Dial , January 25, 2023, www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology .

432 “Birth control is treason” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan quoted in Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology .

432        dries “out our breed” Erdoğan quoted in Genç, “Erdoğan’s Great Replacement Theory,” www.thedial.world/articles/news/issue-1/turkey-erdogan-far-right-abortion-surveillance-technology .

432 three-time U.S. presidential candidate Ben Jacobs, “Pat Buchanan Gets the Last Laugh,” Politico , September 5, 2025, www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2025/09/05/pat-buchanan-gets-the-last-laugh-00434342 .

432 “Western women are terminating their pregnancies . . .” Patrick J. Buchanan, The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization (New York. St. Martin’s Press, 2002), 24. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/48123033 .

433 Speaking . . . was Kevin Dolan, the organizer of Natal Con Musk, X, April 28, 2024, x.com/elonmusk/status/1784768522645889111 , archived at archive.ph/wip/6vRKR ; and Wilson, “US Natalist Conference to Host Race-Science Promoters and Eugenicists,” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/natal-conference-austin-texas-eugenics .

433 previously worked . . . posting the racist ideas of Charles A. Murray . . . persists due . . . Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference ; and “Kevin Michael Dolan Exposed As Racist, Antisemitic, Homophobic DezNat,” DezNat Exposed , blog, August 1, 2021, exposedeznat.noblogs.org/kevin-michael-dolan-exposed-racist-antisemitic-homophobic-deznat-mormon /.

433 exposed Dolan The original blog post that revealed Dolan’s identity is “Kevin Michael Dolan Exposed As Racist, Antisemitic, Homophobic DezNat,” exposedeznat.noblogs.org/kevin-michael-dolan-exposed-racist-antisemitic-homophobic-deznat-mormon .

433 left his job . . . sharing his views on his podcast Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433 . . . “relationship between superior and inferior” Kevin Dolan quoted in Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433 “about the existence of these hierarchies” Dolan quoted in Hagen, “Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433 “rehabilitate hierarchies of nature” . . . Dolan quoted in Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433        “And that brings us back to where we started . . .” Dolan quoted in Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433 to assemble an “aristocratic class” . . . “breeding system” Dolan quoted in Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433 Another speaker . . . Charles Haywood . . . from Indiana Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference ; and Jason Wilson, “US Businessman Is Wannabe ‘Warlord’ of Secretive Far-Right Men’s Network,” The Guardian , www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/22/charles-haywood-claremont-institute-sacr-far-right .

433 “Generally, women should not have careers” Natal Conference, “2023 Natalism Conference—Charles Haywood,” YouTube, April 30, 2024, youtu.be/OYSIpX61n_k?si=-IJfYzPy561MQfl8 , 21:12–21:14; and Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433        “They should be socially stigmatized if they have careers” Natal Conference, “2023 Natalism Conference—Charles Haywood,” YouTube, youtu.be/OYSIpX61n_k?si=-IJfYzPy561MQfl8 , 21:14–21:17; and Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433        “The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its progeny . . .” Natal Conference, “2023 Natalism Conference—Charles Haywood,” youtu.be/OYSIpX61n_k?si=-IJfYzPy561MQfl8 , 21:53–22:02; and Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433 audience applauded Natal Conference, “2023 Natalism Conference—Charles Haywood,” youtu.be/OYSIpX61n_k?si=-IJfYzPy561MQfl8 , 22:03–22:07.

433 sponsored but did not address . . . in March 2025 Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433 Two hundred people attended, doubling the size of the first Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433        “To the enemies of civilization . . .” Natal Conference, “NatalCon 2025: Jack Posobiec,” YouTube, May 21, 2025, youtu.be/TiOSJsxnNag?si=svb7n8OPWQRV8P3V , 4:22–4:38; and Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433 “ The topic of demographic decline clearly matters to . . .” Natal Conference, “NatalCon 2025: Kevin Dolan,” YouTube, April 18, 2025, youtu.be/D9wOD6Vh-Zc?si=pOgJ0ihSKjTMUorM , 0:45–0:51; and Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

433–434 “Which means that the great ideas . . .” Natal Conference, “NatalCon 2025: Kevin Dolan,” youtu.be/D9wOD6Vh-Zc?si=pOgJ0ihSKjTMUorM , 0:52–0:56; and Hagen, “They Say They Want Americans to Have More Babies: What's Beneath the Surface?” www.npr.org/2025/04/25/nx-s1-5371718/pronatalist-birth-rate-musk-natal-conference .

434       “What’s the biggest thing for you . . .” Fox News, “Elon Musk: We Must Make Sure America Will Be Strong for a Long Time,” YouTube, March 28, 2025, youtu.be/YgRMZouYRhU?si=TUVEK2JapPPorBXf , 9:37–9:41.

434 “The birth rate is very low in almost every country” Fox News, “Elon Musk: We Must Make Sure America Will Be Strong for a Long Time,” youtu.be/YgRMZouYRhU?si=TUVEK2JapPPorBXf , 10:00–10:03.

434 “And unless that changes . . .” Fox News, “Elon Musk: We Must Make Sure America Will Be Strong for a Long Time,” youtu.be/YgRMZouYRhU?si=TUVEK2JapPPorBXf , 10:04–10:25.

434 outpaced the number of human deaths in the world “During January 2025, 4.2 births and 2.0 deaths are expected worldwide every second.” Diana M. Rodriguez, “U.S. Population Projected to Reach 341,145,670 at Midnight EST on January 1,” U.S. Census Bureau, December 30, 2024, www.census.gov/library/stories/2024/12/new-year-population.html .

434 In 2024 . . . had the lowest fertility rates in the world See 2024 data in “Total Fertility Rate 2025,” World Population Review, accessed October 2, 2025, worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/total-fertility-rate .

434 The fifteen countries . . . were all in sub-Saharan Africa 2024 data in “Total Fertility Rate 2025,” World Population Review, accessed October 2, 2025, worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/total-fertility-rate .

434 Minnesota-born maternal grandfather . . . grew up in Saskatchewan Jill Lepore, “The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather,” New Yorker , September 19, 2023, www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-world-according-to-elon-musks-grandfather .

434 national chairman of . . . named Social Credit “National Council of S.C. to Meet,” Edmonton Journal , October 9, 1946, www.newspapers.com/article/edmonton-journal/131831238/?locale=en-US ; Lepore, “The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather,” www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-world-according-to-elon-musks-grandfather ; and Joshua Benton, “Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather,” The Atlantic , September 20, 2023, www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/joshua-haldeman-elon-musk-grandfather-apartheid-antisemitism/675396/ .

434 printed copies of . . . Protocols of the Elders of Zion Benton, “Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather,” www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/joshua-haldeman-elon-musk-grandfather-apartheid-antisemitism/675396/ .

434 ran for office in Canada and lost Lepore, “The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather,” www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-world-according-to-elon-musks-grandfather

434 had codified apartheid in South Africa Lepore, “The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather,” www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-world-according-to-elon-musks-grandfather .

434 By 1950, he had moved his family to South Africa . . . Lepore, “The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather,” www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-world-according-to-elon-musks-grandfather ; and Benton, “Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather,” www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/joshua-haldeman-elon-musk-grandfather-apartheid-antisemitism/675396/ .

434 married Errol Musk . . . in 1970 Kirsten Grind and John Eligon, “Elon Musk’s Father Accused of Child Sexual Abuse,” New York Times , September 23, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/world/africa/elon-musk-father-errol-child-abuse.html

435 divorced by the decade’s end Grind and John Eligon, “Elon Musk’s Father Accused of Child Sexual Abuse,” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/world/africa/elon-musk-father-errol-child-abuse.html .

435 outspoken defense of South African apartheid in the 1960s Lepore, “The World According to Elon Musk’s Grandfather,” www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-world-according-to-elon-musks-grandfather ; and Benton, “Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather,” www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/joshua-haldeman-elon-musk-grandfather-apartheid-antisemitism/675396/ .

435 “International Conspiracy” . . . “hordes of Coloured people” . . . J. N. Haldeman, The International Conspiracy to Establish a World Dictatorship and the Menace to South Africa , May 1960, quoted in Benton, “Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather,” www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/joshua-haldeman-elon-musk-grandfather-apartheid-antisemitism/675396/ .

435 “the leader of White Christian Civilization” Haldeman, The International Conspiracy to Establish a World Dictatorship and the Menace to South Africa , quoted in Benton, “Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather,” www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/joshua-haldeman-elon-musk-grandfather-apartheid-antisemitism/675396/ .

435 “becoming more and more the focal point . . .” Haldeman, The International Conspiracy to Establish a World Dictatorship and the Menace to South Africa , quoted in Benton, “Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather,” www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/joshua-haldeman-elon-musk-grandfather-apartheid-antisemitism/675396/ .

435 Bukele positions himself as . . . Carlos Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” El Faro , February 10, 2020, elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

Chapter 117: Pulverized

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:05 GMT

436 “If we wanted to push the button” . . . ”we just push the button” Bukele quoted in Carlos Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” El Faro , February 10, 2020, elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm . To watch Bukele’s return to the crowd, see El Salvador 2020, “Histórico.!!! Feb. 9/20 Concentración del Pueblo en Asamblea. Discurso Completo Presidente Bukele,” YouTube, February 15, 2020, youtu.be/i3-8ZXqqH4g?si=ck8AbRzr2NIyvsPv , 51:35–57:25.

436 “But I asked God and God told me . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

436 “Patience!” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

436 “On February 28 all these scoundrels . . .” Bukele quoted in Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm .

436 scheduled for a year later, on February 28, 2021 “Voters Go to the Polls in El Salvador,” Al Jazeera, February 28, 2021, www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/28/voters-go-to-the-polls-el-salvador-elections .

436 censured Bukele Anna-Catherine Brigida and Mary Beth Sheridan, “Showdown in El Salvador Shows Growing Role of Military in Latin American Democracies,” Washington Post , February 11, 2020,” wapo.st/3S6jh3r .

436 ruled . . . neither use the military . . nor call for . . . Marcos Alemán, “El Salvador’s Bukele Says He’ll Obey High Court on Military,” Associated Press (AP) News, February 11, 2020, apnews.com/general-news-c0374df359b03835ea0ce07d0a47d973 .

436 “obey the order” Nayib Bukele statement quoted in Alemán, “El Salvador’s Bukele Says He’ll Obey High Court on Military,” apnews.com/general-news-c0374df359b03835ea0ce07d0a47d973 .

437 activated to brand . . . as the defender of Salvadorans against the gangs Bukele made this accusation during his speech before the 2020 uprising. He also accused the opposition of a false flag operation when a shooter killed attendees of an FMLN rally in January 2021. Martínez, “‘Now I Think It’s Very Clear Who’s in Control of the Situation,’” elfaro.net/es/202002/el_salvador/24006/“Ahora-creo-que-está-muy-claro-quién-tiene-el-control-de-la-situación”.htm ; Tim Muth, “Political Violence Erupts in San Salvador,” El Salvador Perspectives, January 31, 2021, www.elsalvadorperspectives.com/2021/01/political-violence-erupts-in-san.html . On Bukele’s social media strategy, see Sarah Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” Reuters, November 29, 2022, www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ ; and Jane Esberg, “All the President’s Trolls: Real and Fake Twitter Fights in El Salvador,” commentary, International Crisis Group, July 13, 2020, www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/el-salvador/all-presidents-trolls-real-and-fake-twitter-fights-el-salvador .

437 accumulated fifty-four out of eighty-four seats “US Concerned over Removal of Top Salvadorean Judges,” BBC, May 3, 2021, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56970026 .

437 approved the $109 million loan Latin America News, “El Salvador’s Parliament Approves Controversial Loan for Security Plan,” Rio Times , May 12, 2021, www.riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/mercosur/central-america/el-salvadors-parliament-approves-controversial-loan-for-security-plan/ .

437 removed the attorney general, who had been investigating . . . “US Concerned over Removal of Top Salvadorean Judges, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56970026 ; and Christopher Sherman, “U.S. Treasury: El Salvador Government Negotiated with Gangs,” AP News, December 8, 2021, apnews.com/article/nayib-bukele-el-salvador-gangs-c378285a36d55c18f741c3f65892f801 .

437 ejected all five Supreme Court judges “US Concerned over Removal of Top Salvadorean Judges,” www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56970026 .

437 appointed loyalists “US Concerned over Removal of Top Salvadorean Judges,” www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56970026 .

437 killed sixty-two Salvadorans Human Rights Watch, “El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights,” April 8, 2022, www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/08/el-salvador-sweeping-new-laws-endanger-rights .

437 declared a national “state of emergency” Human Rights Watch, “El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights,” www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/08/el-salvador-sweeping-new-laws-endanger-rights .

437 reproducing or transmitting . . . by gangs that could “generate a state . . .” El Salvador law passed April 5, 2022, quoted in “El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights,” www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/08/el-salvador-sweeping-new-laws-endanger-rights .

437 imprisonment for up to fifteen years El Salvador law passed March 30, 2022, quoted in “El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights,” www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/08/el-salvador-sweeping-new-laws-endanger-rights .

437 prescribed heavier punishments . . . “terrorist group,” as broadly defined . . . “El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights,” www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/08/el-salvador-sweeping-new-laws-endanger-rights .

437 suspended Salvadorans’ constitutional rights to . . . Human Rights Watch, “El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights,” www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/08/el-salvador-sweeping-new-laws-endanger-rights .

437 largest prison in Latin America . . . confine more than a hundred . . . in a single cell Marcos Alemán and Salvador Meléndez, “El Salvador Bets Safety on Incarceration; Unveils New Prison,” AP News, February 3, 2023, apnews.com/article/politics-crime-caribbean-nayib-bukele-el-salvador-7bcd686097e9e22a0fbf0e3abe2e3e13 .

437 By 2024 . . . one in every fifty-seven Salvadoran citizens Vera Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” Time, August 29, 2024, time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

437 the highest incarceration rate in the world Zack Beauchamp, “Meet the MAGA Movement’s New Favorite Autocrat,” Vox , April 8, 2023, www.vox.com/2023/4/8/23653324/nayib-bukele-trump-american-right-crime ; Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

437 unmistakably targeted everyone not powering . . . “El Salvador: Sweeping New Laws Endanger Rights,” www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/08/el-salvador-sweeping-new-laws-endanger-rights .

438 “gang members’ partners” Nayib Bukele, Twitter, April 3, 2022, 8:22 p.m., x.com/nayibbukele/status/1510774785227296786 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/g4XFq , via Google Translate.

438 had literally partnered with the gangs By December 2021, there was audio evidence of Bukele’s administration negotiating with gangs (with financial benefits and privileges for imprisoned leaders) in order to decrease the country’s homicide rates and to get political support from the gangs ahead of elections. Sherman, “U.S. Treasury: El Salvador Government Negotiated with Gangs,” apnews.com/article/nayib-bukele-el-salvador-gangs-c378285a36d55c18f741c3f65892f801 .

438 fled El Salvador Megan Janetsky, Associated Press, “New Wave of Political Exiles Say El Salvador’s History Is Repeating Itself,” PBS, July 23, 2025, www.pbs.org/newshour/world/new-wave-of-political-exiles-say-el-salvadors-history-is-repeating-itself .

438 one journalist was expelled Paulina Villegas, “El Salvador Expels Prominent Mexican Journalist, Draws Sharp Criticism from Human Rights Groups,” Washington Post , July 9, 2021 www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/09/bukele-expels-editor-from-el-faro/ .

438 have been harassed Janetsky, “New Wave of Political Exiles Say El Salvador’s History Is Repeating Itself,” www.pbs.org/newshour/world/new-wave-of-political-exiles-say-el-salvadors-history-is-repeating-itself .

438 hacked with spyware technology purchased from Israel Isabel Rikkers and Noelle Brigden, “Christian Zionism in Bukele’s El Salvador,” North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), October 9, 2024, nacla.org/christian-zionism-bukeles-el-salvador ; and Jimmy Alvarado, “The Government Bought $2.2 Million in Spy Equipment from a Company Belonging to Bukele’s Israeli Friend,” El Faro , January 30, 2023, elfaro.net/es/202301/el_salvador/26687/Gobierno-compr%C3%B3-$22-millones-en-equipo-de-espionaje-a-empresa-de-amigo-israel%C3%AD-de-Bukele.htm , via Google Translate.

438 have seen drones fly over their homes Villegas, “El Salvador Expels Prominent Mexican Journalist, Draws Sharp Criticism from Human Rights Groups,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/09/bukele-expels-editor-from-el-faro/ .

438 Nearly two-thirds . . . fear negative consequences if they publicly express . . . Bergengruen, “How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador,” time.com/7015598/nayib-bukeles-iron-fist-el-salvador/ .

438 “pulverized” organized opposition to his rule Nayib Bukele quoted in Megan Janetsky, “El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele Takes Aim at Critics in Looking Ahead to 2nd Presidential Term,” AP News, February 5, 2024, apnews.com/article/el-salvador-nayib-bukele-president-reelection-ef04e20d901908099f4f787b841aca89 . See also Vera Bergengruen, “Read the Full Transcript of President Nayib Bukele’s Interview With Time,” Time , August 29, 2024, time.com/7015636/president-nayib-bukele-interview/ .

438 “mercenaries” Nayib Bukele, Twitter, September 27, 2020, 1:27 a.m., x.com/nayibbukele/status/1310088770381918210?s=2 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/Sj2Z2 , via Google Translate.

438 “fake news” Nayib Bukele, Twitter, May 3, 2020, 7:49 p.m., x.com/nayibbukele/status/1257094989391245320 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/bw94v .

438 caused . . . to distrust news organizations Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

438 after Bukele’s legislators passed a law eliminating their tax exemptions for . . . “2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: El Salvador,” U.S. Department of State, April 12, 2022, www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/313615_EL-SALVADOR-2021-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf , 14; and AFP, “El Salvador Congress Removes Tax Break for Newspapers,” Radio France Internationale (RFI), May 5, 2021, www.rfi.fr/en/business-and-tech/20210505-el-salvador-congress-removes-tax-break-for-newspapers .

438 funneled public funds to state-run propaganda firms . . . Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ ; and “The Nuevas Ideas-Infested Newspaper Received $7.4 million in Public Funds,” El Salvador Now, July 29, 2023, www.elsalvadornow.org/2023/07/29/the-nuevas-ideas-infested-newspaper-received-7-4-million-in-public-funds-el-diario-infestado-de-nuevas-ideas-recibio-7-4-millones-de-dinero-publico , via Google Translate.

438 started trusting these state-run mouthpieces “2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: El Salvador,” U.S. Department of State, www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/313615_EL-SALVADOR-2021-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf , 14-15; Kinosian, “Trolls, Propaganda and Fear Stoke Bukele’s Media Machine in El Salvador,” www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/el-salvador-politics-media/ .

438 explicitly barred presidents from running for reelection “El Salvador Confirms Bukele’s Supermajority After Opposition Calls to Void Election Results,” Reuters, February 19, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-opposition-requests-repeat-election-congress-after-irregularities-2024-02-19/ .

438 ruled he could run for reelection Beauchamp , “Meet the MAGA Movement’s New Favorite Autocrat,” www.vox.com/2023/4/8/23653324/nayib-bukele-trump-american-right-crime ; and “El Salvador Confirms Bukele’s Supermajority After Opposition Calls to Void Election Results,” www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-opposition-requests-repeat-election-congress-after-irregularities-2024-02-19/ .

438 the longest-serving electoral dictator in Europe “Putin Describes Russia-El Salvador Ties as Successful,” Prensa Latina, February 13, 2024, www.plenglish.com/news/2024/02/13/putin-describes-russia-el-salvador-ties-as-successful/ .

Chapter 118: State of the Federation

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:03 GMT

441 first seized power on December 31, 1999 “Statement by Boris Yeltsin,” President of Russia, Kremlin, December 31, 1999, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/24080 ; and Celestine Bohlen, “Yeltsin Resigns, Naming Putin as Acting President to Run in March Election,” New York Times , January 1, 2000, www.nytimes.com/2000/01/01/world/yeltsin-resigns-overview-yeltsin-resigns-naming-putin-acting-president-run-march.html .

441 his nineteenth Presidential Address Holly Ellyatt, “Putin Warns of Nuclear War if NATO Sends Troops into Ukraine,” CNBC, February 29, 2024, www.cnbc.com/2024/02/29/putins-state-of-the-union-focuses-on-sovereignty-the-west-and-ukraine.html .

441 Roughly a thousand . . . Ellyatt, “Putin Warns of Nuclear War if NATO Sends Troops into Ukraine,” www.cnbc.com/2024/02/29/putins-state-of-the-union-focuses-on-sovereignty-the-west-and-ukraine.html ; and “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, Kremlin, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

441 the most militarized European state “In purchasing power parity (PPP), Russian total military expenditure reached $462bn in 2024, exceeding the total for Europe in USD at market exchange rates.” Fenella McGerty and Karl Dewey, “Global Defence Spending Soars to New High,” Military Balance Blog , International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), February 12, 2025, www.iiss.org/online-analysis/military-balance/2025/02/global-defence-spending-soars-to-new-high/ .

442 Ivan III . . . the second-longest reign in Russian history Dominic Lieven et al., “Russia: Leaders of Russia from 1276,” Encyclopedia Britannica , last updated April 10, 2025, www.britannica.com/place/Russia/Leaders-of-Russia-from-1276 .

442 first incorporated . . . into Russian state heraldry “The Modern Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary,” The State Duma, November 30, 2018, duma.gov.ru/en/news/28991/ .

442 aimed . . . imitating Roman emperors “The Modern Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary,” duma.gov.ru/en/news/28991/ .

442 “President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin” On Demand News, “Live: Russian President Vladimir Putin Gives State of Nation Address,” YouTube, February 29, 2024, www.youtube.com/live/aaFNrNReuaA?si=xppywzwRdpyw54r8 , 16:01–16:08, via Google Translate.

442 “ Thank you” . . . “Please be seated ” Sky News, “President Vladimir Putin Delivers His Annual State of the Nation address,“ YouTube, February 29, 2024, www.youtube.com/live/g6G7TWaCX0g?si=0SZIVZlH-cxTtYNT , 0:10–0:13.

442 “We supported our brothers and sisters . . .” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

442 “and this year marks the tenth anniversary . . .” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

Chapter 119: Crimea

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:31:01 GMT

443 . . . demonstrations among Russian speakers . . . Jeffrey Mankoff, “Russia’s War in Ukraine: Identity, History, and Conflict,” Center for Strategic & International Studies, April 22, 2022, https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-war-ukraine-identity-history-and-conflict ; and Timothy Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” New Republic , March 17, 2014, newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea .

443 supported pro-Russian Ukrainian President . . . forced out of office for violently . . . Scott Neuman and L. Carol Ritchie, “Ukrainian President Voted Out; Opposition Leader Freed,” The Two-Way , NPR, February 22, 2014, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/02/22/281083380/unkrainian-protesters-uneasy-president-reportedly-leaves-kiev ; and Mankoff, “Russia’s War in Ukraine,” https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-war-ukraine-identity-history-and-conflict .

443 were being persecuted. And Russia was obliged to protect them In his speech on March 18, 2014, announcing Russia’s annexation of Crimea, “we expected Ukraine to remain our good neighbour, we hoped that Russian citizens and Russian speakers in Ukraine, especially its southeast and Crimea, would live in a friendly, democratic and civilised state that would protect their rights in line with the norms of international law. However, this is not how the situation developed. Time and time again attempts were made to deprive Russians of their historical memory, even of their language and to subject them to forced assimilation.” Putin framed the Ukrainian parliament’s vote to remove Viktor Yanukovych from office as a “coup," and alleged, “Those who opposed the coup were immediately threatened with repression. Naturally, the first in line here was Crimea, the Russian-speaking Crimea. In view of this, the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol turned to Russia for help in defending their rights and lives . . . Naturally, we could not leave this plea unheeded.” “Address by President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, Kremlin, March 18, 2014, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/20603 . See also Dominique Arel, “Language, Status, and State Loyalty in Ukraine,” Harvard Ukrainian Studies 35, no. 1–4 (2017–2018), www.husj.harvard.edu/articles/language-status-and-state-loyalty-in-ukraine .

443 ordered the people of Crimea to vote. . . Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea .

443 with Russian guns in their streets, with Russian disinformation . . . Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea .

443 with neo-Nazis sent in by Russia as “observers” Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea .

443 like Béla Kovács from Jobbik Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea .

443 more extreme than Orbán’s Fidesz For details on Jobbik’s great replacement history, as well as the party’s attempts to orchestrate distance and rebrand as a “modern conservative party” (in the words of then-Jobbik president Gabor Vona in 2016), see Nick Thorpe, “Is Hungary’s Jobbik Leader Really Ditching Far-Right Past?” BBC News, November 15, 2016, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37976687. For a direct comparison with Orbán’s Fidesz, see Cas Mudde, “Is Hungary Run by the Radical Right?” Washington Post , August 10, 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/08/10/is-hungary-run-by-the-radical-right/ . Mudde wrote, “Although Jobbik is campaigning with a more moderate image than Fidesz, there is no doubt that Jobbik would implement some fundamentally different policies in key areas. Jobbik would almost certainly make Hungary leave, rather than just criticize the European Union, and would align the country more openly with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. It also would seriously undermine the rights of minorities in Hungary, most notably Jews and Roma.”

443 served as treasurer of the Alliance of European National Movements Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea .

443 depicted . . . as a defense against Jewish world domination Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea .

443 “more than 82 percent” . . . “over 96 percent” . . . “Address by President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, March 18, 2014, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/20603 .

444 showed that an overwhelming majority . . . opposed Russia’s annexation . . . Historian Timothy Snyder wrote in 2014 after the referendum, “We know from years of surveys that a majority of Crimeans did not favor incorporation by Russia. One large survey showed 33 percent support for this idea in 2011, down to 23 percent in 2013.” Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea .

444 stuck to Adolf Hitler’s playbook for . . . Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2021), 68. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1233267123 .

444 weeks before Germany’s occupation of the Sudetenland region In late September 1938, Britain, France, and Italy agreed to allow Germany to annex the Sudetenland in exchange for a German promise of peace. The agreement is known as the Munich Pact. “Czechoslovakia,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed April 11, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/czechoslovakia .

444 “the misery of the Sudeten Germans” as defying description Adolf Hitler, Address to Nazi Party Congress, September 12, 1938, in Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations , Volume 2: The Years 1934 to 1938 , ed. Max Domarus (Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 1992), 1154. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1110405952 .

444 “If these tortured creatures can find neither justice nor help by themselves, then they will receive both from us” Hitler, Address to Nazi Party Congress, 1155. Find Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1110405952 .

444 Nazi-controlled German newspapers ran fabricated stories . . . being oppressed See “The Invasion of Poland” in “1939–1945: Domestic Propaganda in Wartime,” State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed April 11, 2025, exhibitions.ushmm.org/propaganda/1939-1945-war/war-and-genocide .

444 “give a propagandistic cause for starting the war . . .” Adolf Hitler, “Speech to the Military Commanders, on the Goal of the Invasion of Poland and the Attitude Required for Victory against Poland and the Western Powers,” August 22, 1939, Nuremberg Trials Project, Harvard Law School Library, nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/documents/452263-speech-to-the-military .

444 “The victor shall not be asked, later on . . .” Hitler, “Speech to the Military Commanders, on the Goal of the Invasion of Poland and the Attitude Required for Victory against Poland and the Western Powers,” nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/documents/452263-speech-to-the-military .

444 “As in other German territories of the East . . .” “British War Bluebook No. 106: Speech by Herr Hitler to the Reichstag on September 1, 1939,” The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/blbk106.asp .

444 “No great Power can with honour long stand by . . .” “British War Bluebook No. 106: Speech by Herr Hitler to the Reichstag on September 1, 1939.” avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/blbk106.asp .

Chapter 120: Privilege Over Power

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:59 GMT

445 have more rights in Ukraine Timothy Snyder, “Far-Right Forces Are Influencing Russia's Actions in Crimea,” New Republic , March 17, 2014, newrepublic.com/article/117048/far-right-forces-are-influencing-russias-actions-crimea . Basic rights afforded to Ukrainian citizens (including ethnically Russian Ukrainians) were broader than in Russia. These freedoms included the right to fair elections, the right to protest, the right to fair trials, and the right to free speech (especially in regards to journalists and media, which was more tightly restricted in Russia at the time according to human rights reports). Instances of human rights violations in Ukraine in the 2013 and 2014 U.S. State Department reports were largely carried out by pro-Russian forces. See U.S. State Department, “Ukraine 2013 Human Rights Report,” 2014, 2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/220554.pdf ; U.S. State Department, “Russia 2013 Human Rights Report,” 2014, 2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/220536.pdf ; U.S. State Department, “Ukraine 2014 Human Rights Report,” 2015, 2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/236800.pdf; and U.S. State Department, “Russia 2014 Human Rights Report,” 2015, 2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/236782.pdf .

445 teach “patriotic” classes or face penalties, including jail time Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025, freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 ; and Mary Ilyushina, “To Please Putin, Universities Purge Liberals and Embrace Patriots,” Washington Post , May 7, 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/07/russia-universities-education-putin-overhaul/ . A Washington Post analysis found that such “educational reforms accelerated in the aftermath of Crimea’s annexation in 2014.” Eugenia Nazrullaeva et al., “The Invasion of Ukraine Has Upended Russian Education,” Washington Post , September 14, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/14/russia-patriotic-education-reform/ .

445 restrict freedom of movement Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

445 restrict people from choosing where they want to live “Some regional authorities impose registration rules that limit the right of citizens to choose their place of residence, typically targeting members of ethnic minorities and migrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia.” Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

445 acquired vast holdings through limiting the ability . . . Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

445 hundreds of millions of rubles and give collectively billions . . . United Russia Russian Railways contractors accounted for “about half" of United Russia’s donations from legal entities in 2020. On Russian Railways and other government contractors’ donations to United Russia, see “The Party’s Gold: How United Russia Misappropriates Russian Railways’ Money Under the Guise of ‘Donations,’” The Insider , October 15, 2021, theins.ru/en/corruption/245701; and “Who Funds United Russia?” Russian Election Monitor, November 2024, www.russian-election-monitor.org/who-funds-united-russia.html .

445 3 percent of Russians owned 89 percent . . . Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2021), 157. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1233267123 .

445 are extorted by the state Claire Bigg and Kevin O’Flynn, “Russian Entrepreneurs on Edge over Spiraling Police ‘Repression,’” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, July 8, 2010, www.rferl.org/a/Russian_Entrepreneurs_On_Edge_Over_Spiraling_Police_Repression/2094706.html ; and Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

445 spent his birthday . . . raided the office. . . covered his surveillance cameras . . . if he paid a hefty sum Bigg and O’Flynn, “Russian Entrepreneurs on Edge over Spiraling Police ‘Repression,’” www.rferl.org/a/Russian_Entrepreneurs_On_Edge_Over_Spiraling_Police_Repression/2094706.html .

445 Romanov refused. The police turned to his wife . . . telling her she’d . . . prison . . . Bigg and O’Flynn, “Russian Entrepreneurs on Edge over Spiraling Police ‘Repression,’” www.rferl.org/a/Russian_Entrepreneurs_On_Edge_Over_Spiraling_Police_Repression/2094706.html .

445 until she handed over $400,000. She did Bigg and O’Flynn, “Russian Entrepreneurs on Edge over Spiraling Police ‘Repression,’” www.rferl.org/a/Russian_Entrepreneurs_On_Edge_Over_Spiraling_Police_Repression/2094706.html .

445 demanded another $500,000 to not bring more charges Bigg and O’Flynn, “Russian Entrepreneurs on Edge over Spiraling Police ‘Repression,’” www.rferl.org/a/Russian_Entrepreneurs_On_Edge_Over_Spiraling_Police_Repression/2094706.html .

446 Religious freedom “The Russian Orthodox Church has a privileged position, working closely with the government on foreign and domestic policy priorities. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were declared an extremist organization in 2017, leading to a protracted campaign against worshippers marked by surveillance, property seizures, arrests, and torture . . . Many Muslims have been detained in recent years for alleged membership in banned Islamist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir. Religious leaders have been pressured to support the war in Ukraine, and those who publicly oppose it have faced dismissal and prosecution.” Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

446 trade unions “While trade union rights are legally protected, they are limited in practice. Strikes and worker protests have occurred in prominent industries, including automobile manufacturing, but antiunion discrimination and reprisals are common. Employers often ignore collective bargaining rights.” Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

446 abortion services “ In recent years, the government has encouraged women to have more children and has taken steps to limit access to abortion. The Health Ministry reportedly developed guidelines for medical workers to advise patients against having abortions, and announced plans to limit the availability of abortion pills and emergency contraceptives. Regional governments have also pressured private clinics to stop offering abortion services. As of September 2024, a special prescription is required to access emergency contraceptives.” Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

446 $19,546 per year, about two-thirds of the . . . average of $30,490 OECD describes “Household net adjusted disposable income” as “the amount of money that a household earns each year after taxes and transfers. It represents the money available to a household for spending on goods or services.” “Russian Federation,” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Better Life Index, accessed via WayBack Machine, October 21, 2022 capture, web.archive.org/web/20221021194613/https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/russian-federation/ .

446 seventy-three years in 2022, eight years lower “Russian Federation,” OECD Better Life Index, web.archive.org/web/20221021194613/https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/russian-federation/ .

446 express a lower rate of satisfaction with life . . . the OECD average “When asked to rate their general satisfaction with life on a scale from 0 to 10, Russians gave it a 5.5 grade on average, lower than the OECD average of 6.7.” “Russian Federation,” OECD Better Life Index, web.archive.org/web/20221021194613/https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/russian-federation/ .

446 can brutalize and kill Russians with impunity “Police officers have broad authority to break into homes and vehicles and search personal belongings without a warrant . . . Use of excessive force by police is widespread, and rights groups have reported that law enforcement agents who carry out such abuses have deliberately employed electric shocks, suffocation, and the stretching of a detainee’s body to avoid leaving visible injuries. According to an October 2024 report by the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Russia, detained individuals are at risk of death due to the systematic use of torture and ill treatment by authorities.” “ Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

446 the indigenous ethnic group . . . by the fifteenth century Alex Gendler, “A Look at History of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine,” Voice of America (VOA), December 9, 2023, www.voanews.com/a/a-look-at-history-of-crimean-tatars-in-ukraine-/7391631.html ; and The Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, “Recent Developments in Crimea and the Crimean Tatars,” Briefing Note, December 2014, unpo.org/downloads/1145.pdf , 2.

446 to ethnically cleanse the Tatars from Crimea “In 1783, Catherine II annexed the entire peninsula as the Taurida Oblast of the Russian Empire, violating Russia’s treaty guaranteeing Crimean independence. Russian rule was not kind to the Tatars. The tsarist governments considered them a disloyal population, and over the next century, each new war in the region brought fresh waves of persecution. Hundreds of thousands of Tatars were expelled or pressured to leave, with their lands confiscated and Russians resettled in their stead, while Tatar language and culture were suppressed.” Gendler, “A Look at History of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine,” www.voanews.com/a/a-look-at-history-of-crimean-tatars-in-ukraine-/7391631.html .

446 ordered the removal of all Tatars to . . . more than 80 percent . . . to Uzbekistan “Nearly 180,014 Crimean Tatars were deported from the peninsula . . . Over 151,000 Crimean Tatar deportees were sent to Uzbekistan; the rest of the population was conveyed to regions of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), mostly in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, the Ural region, the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and for some, to the region of Moscow.” “At the same moment, most of the Crimean Tatar men who were fighting in the ranks of the Red Army were demobilized and sent into labor camps in Siberia and in the Ural mountain region. The demobilized soldiers were released after Stalin’s death in 1953 and allowed to return to their families in their place of exile.” Campana Aurélie, “Sürgün: The Crimean Tatars’ Deportation and Exile,” Violence de masse et Résistance , SciencesPo, June 16, 2018, www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/suerguen-crimean-tatars-deportation-and-exile.html .

446 made their way back to Crimea Gendler, “A Look at History of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine,” www.voanews.com/a/a-look-at-history-of-crimean-tatars-in-ukraine-/7391631.html .

446 found the mutilated body . . . the day before the “referendum” Thirty-nine-year-old Reshat Ametov was “reportedly abducted and tortured for protesting against the Russian annexation of the peninsula.” “Slain Crimean Tatar Laid to Rest,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 19, 2014, www.rferl.org/a/murdered-crimean-tatar-laid-to-rest-in-crimea/25302237.html ; and “Abductions, Torture, ‘Hybrid Deportation’: Crimean Tatar Activist Describes Six Years Under Russian Rule,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 17, 2020, www.rferl.org/a/abductions-torture-hybrid-deportation-crimean-tatar-activist-describes-six-years-under-russian-rule/30493504.html .

446 have the privilege to love as they choose, to marry . . . Same-sex Russian couples “lack, and probably never will receive, those rights accorded to heterosexual couples. They won’t be allowed to refuse to testify against their partner in court, they won’t automatically inherit from each other, and they can’t see each other in hospitals that only allow visits by family members.” “Russian Constitution Change Ends Hopes for Same-Sex Marriage,” Associated Press (AP) News, July 13, 2020, apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-constitutional-amendments-st-petersburg-international-news-marriage-74065448f5f264390496dba86b4d111c .

446 to adopt kids “Russia’s Putin Signs Law Banning Gay Adoptions,” Reuters, July 3, 2013, www.reuters.com/article/world/russias-putin-signs-law-banning-gay-adoptions-idUSBRE96210N/ .

446 to organize politically “In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the ‘international LGBT public movement’ was an extremist organization, effectively banning any advocacy on behalf of this community and opening LGBT+ individuals and allies to prosecution.” Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

446 to visit each other in hospitals “Russian Constitution Change Ends Hopes for Same-Sex Marriage,” apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-constitutional-amendments-st-petersburg-international-news-marriage-74065448f5f264390496dba86b4d111c .

446 endured the erosion of their already limited rights . . . Anti-Discrimination Centre (ADC) Memorial and Center for Civil Liberties, Violation of LGBTI Rights in Crimea and Donbass: The Problem of Homophobia in Territories Beyond Ukraine’s Control , June 2016, available at adcmemorial.org/en/publications/violation-of-lgbti-rights-in-crimea-and-donbass-the-problem-of-homophobia-in-territories-beyond-ukraine-s-control , 6–34; “How LGBT People Are Treated in Russia-Occupied Territories,” hromadske, June 28, 2019, hromadske.ua/en/posts/how-lgbt-people-are-treated-in-russia-occupied-territories ; and RFE/RFL, “Crimea Does Not Need Gay People, Says Top Official,” The Guardian , September 2, 2014, www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/crimea-not-need-gay-people-top-official .

447 outlawed as “LGBT propaganda” any expression or demonstration . . . Legislation quoted in “Russian Parliament Passes Law Banning ‘LGBT Propaganda’ Among Adults,” Reuters, November 24, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/russias-parliament-passes-law-banning-lgbt-propaganda-among-adults-2022-11-24/ .

447 had already banned . . . anywhere where children could be present Andrew E. Kramer, “Russia Passes Bill Targeting Some Discussions of Homosexuality,” New York Times , June 11, 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/world/europe/russia-passes-bill-targeting-some-discussions-of-homosexuality.html ; and Andrew Roth, “New Russian Legislation Could Ban Holding Hands in Public if You’re Gay,” Washington Post , January 14, 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/01/14/new-russian-legislation-could-ban-holding-hands-in-public-if-youre-gay/ .

447 “destroy our traditional values” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, Kremlin, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 . Scholar Emil Edenborg characterizes this quote from Putin as being in line with Russia’s weaponization of “traditional values” against LGBTQ rights, multiculturalism, and feminism. Emil Edenborg, “Putin’s Anti-Gay War on Ukraine,” Boston Review , March 14, 2022, www.bostonreview.net/articles/putins-anti-gay-war-on-ukraine/ .

447 have both railed against the “gay lobby” or “LGBT lobby” Kast condemned the “gay lobby” and Meloni denounced the “LGBT lobby.” José Antonio Kast quoted in “Far-Right Candidate Takes All the Flak at Last TV debate Among Chilean presidential hopefuls,” MercoPress, November 16, 2021, en.mercopress.com/2021/11/16/far-right-candidate-takes-all-the-flak-at-last-tv-debate-among-chilean-presidential-hopefuls ; and Giorgia Meloni quoted in “Giorgia Meloni: ‘Yes to the Natural Family, No to the LGBT Lobby and Gender’. Zan: ‘Criminal’—Video,” Gay.it, June 14, 2022, www.gay.it/giorgia-meloni-spagna-famiglia-naturale-lobby-lgbt-gender , via Google Translate.

447 “the LGBT imposition, which has become . . .” and “another threat that tries . . .” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speech at the opening ceremony of the 38th meeting of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, November 28, 2022, quoted in “Erdoğan: LGBT Is a Tool of Global Dictatorship,” Her Taraf , November 28, 2022, hertaraf.com/haber-erdogan-lbgt-kuresel-bir-dikta-aracidir-10619 .

447 “attitudes” . . . “been aggressively imposing on their countries . . .” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

447 “traditional” . . . ”values” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 ; and Edenborg, “Putin’s Anti-Gay War on Ukraine,” www.bostonreview.net/articles/putins-anti-gay-war-on-ukraine/ .

447 “is not going to happen” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

447 “No one has ever succeeded in doing this . . .” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

447 wanted the public to believe Pollsters and sociologists have questioned the reliability of the state-run Public Opinion Research Center. For example, in 2019, the Public Opinion Research Center adapted its methodology to boost Putin’s trust rating, after an earlier poll from the agency “showed trust in President Vladimir Putin had fallen to the lowest level in nearly 20 years.” Dmitry Rogozin, a researcher at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, said, “‘When indicators change so much after criticism, it all looks quite doubtful.’” “Russian State-Funded Pollster Changes Survey Questions—And Putin’s Ratings Soar,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, May 31, 2019, www.rferl.org/a/russian-state-funded-pollster-changes-survey-questions---and-putin-s-ratings-soar/29974840.html .

447 about two-thirds . . . “in the existence of an organization . . . “spiritual values" 63 percent of surveyed Russians expressed this belief. Russian Public Opinion Research Center quoted in Alex Cooper, “Majority of Russians Believe Gays conspiring to Destroy Country’s Values, Poll Finds,” NBC News, August 30, 2018, www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/majority-russians-believe-gays-conspiring-destroy-country-s-values-poll-n905196 . The original poll can be found at Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM), “Conspiracy Theory Against Russia,” August 20, 2018, wciom.ru/analytical-reviews/analiticheskii-obzor/teoriya-zagovora-protiv-rossii- , via Google Translate.

447 state-run Public Opinion Research Center Cooper, “Majority of Russians Believe Gays conspiring to Destroy Country’s Values, Poll Finds,” www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/majority-russians-believe-gays-conspiring-destroy-country-s-values-poll-n905196 .

447 about a quarter . . . “people who advocate for the rights of . . .” Russian Public Opinion Research Center quoted in Cooper, “Majority of Russians Believe Gays conspiring to Destroy Country’s Values, Poll Finds,” www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/majority-russians-believe-gays-conspiring-destroy-country-s-values-poll-n905196 . See also VTsIOM, “Conspiracy Theory Against Russia,” wciom.ru/analytical-reviews/analiticheskii-obzor/teoriya-zagovora-protiv-rossii- .

447–448 having their children excluded . . . or segregated . . . “Gypsy classes” . . . ADC Memorial and International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia, Alternative Report on Russian Federation’s Implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, For the 109th sessions of the UN CERD, April 11-28, 2023 , available at adcmemorial.org/en/news/breaking-news/racism-in-russia-report-of-adc-memorial-and-international-committee-of-the-indigenous-peoples-of-russia-to-the-un-cerd/ , 7.

448 less likely to be forced into the military and die on battlefields than . . . “ The BBC found that six of the 10 Russian regions with the highest mortality rates in Ukraine are located in Siberia and the far east.” Nick Schifrin and Sarah Cutler, “Russia’s Ethnic Minorities Disproportionately Die in the War in Ukraine,” PBS News Hour, December 11, 2023, www.pbs.org/newshour/show/russias-ethnic-minorities-disproportionately-conscripted-to-fight-the-war-in-ukraine . See also Leyla Latypova, “Ethnic Minorities Hit Hardest By Russia’s Mobilization, Activists Say,” Moscow Times , September 27, 2022, www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/09/27/ethnic-minorities-hit-hardest-by-russias-mobilization-activists-say-a78879 ; Leyla Latypova, “2 Years Into Ukraine War, Russia’s Ethnic Minorities Disproportionately Killed in Battle,” Moscow Times , February 24, 2024, www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/02/24/2-years-into-ukraine-war-russias-ethnic-minorities-disproportionately-killed-in-battle-a84170; Bruce Pannier, “Central Asia in Focus: Russia Continues Sending Central Asians to Ukraine,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, July 2, 2024, about.rferl.org/article/central-asia-in-focus-russia-continues-sending-central-asians-to-ukraine/ ; and Freedom House, “Russia," Freedom in the World 2025 , freedomhouse.org/country/russia/freedom-world/2025 .

448 privileged access to better jobs, housing, schools, and health care U.S. State Department, “Russia 2023 Human Rights Report,” 2024, www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/528267_RUSSIA-2023-HUMAN-RIGHTS-REPORT.pdf , 80–82; Laura Gozzi, “Moscow Attack: Central Asian Migrants Hit by backlash in Russia,” BBC News, March 27, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68665896 ; and Lauren Woodard, “‘As If I Were an Illegal’: Racial Passing in Immigrant Russia,” Cultural Anthropology 37, no. 4 (November 2022), journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/article/view/5097/807 .

448 “who do not have Slavic . . .” “humiliation and violence” . . . mostly “comes from . . .” Valentina Chupik quoted in Gozzi, “Moscow Attack: Central Asian Migrants Hit by Backlash in Russia,” www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68665896 .

448 the power to raid homes, workplaces . . . Gozzi, “Moscow Attack: Central Asian Migrants Hit by Backlash in Russia,” www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68665896 ; and Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial and International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia, Alternative Report on Russian Federation’s Implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination , adcmemorial.org/en/news/breaking-news/racism-in-russia-report-of-adc-memorial-and-international-committee-of-the-indigenous-peoples-of-russia-to-the-un-cerd/ , 14.

448 can round them up. Brutalize them. Incarcerate them. Deport them Gozzi, “Moscow Attack: Central Asian Migrants Hit by Backlash in Russia,” www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68665896 ; and Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial and International Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Russia, Alternative Report on Russian Federation’s Implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination , adcmemorial.org/en/news/breaking-news/racism-in-russia-report-of-adc-memorial-and-international-committee-of-the-indigenous-peoples-of-russia-to-the-un-cerd/ , 14.

448 “In Russia, the world’s fourth-largest . . .” Woodard, “‘As If I Were an Illegal,’” journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/article/view/5097/807 .

448 “from Central Asia, as well . . .” are “racialized as ‘black’” Woodard, “‘As If I Were an Illegal,’” journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/article/view/5097/807 .

Chapter 121: Siege

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:58 GMT

450 was born in Leningrad . . . on October 7, 1952 “Vladimir Putin Fast Facts,” CNN, June 19, 2024, www.cnn.com/2013/01/03/europe/vladimir-putin-fast-facts/index.html .

450 cooked for Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin “Putin Says Grandfather Cooked for Stalin and Lenin,” Reuters, March 11, 2018, www.reuters.com/article/world/putin-says-grandfather-cooked-for-stalin-and-lenin-idUSKCN1GN0P6/ .

450 led the October Revolution in 1917, which overthrew . . . Alexander Rabinovich, The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1976), xvii–xxxiii, 202–304. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/2318388 .

450 established a one-party communist state PBS, “Vladimir Lenin,” Commanding Heights , accessed April 15, 2025, www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/prof_vladimirlenin.html ; and “The Russian Revolution—Part 1: From Idealism to Terror,” CBC Radio, November 3, 2017, www.cbc.ca/radio/sunday/the-sunday-edition-november-5-2017-1.4384859/the-russian-revolution-part-1-from-idealism-to-terror-1.4384899 .

450 heading . . . until his death in 1924 Thomas A. Baylis, Governing By Committee: Collegial Leadership in Advanced Societies (Albany, NY: State University New York Press, 1989), 93–95. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/17981143 to find this book at a library near you.

450 succeeded Lenin. By the 1930s . . . established a conventional dictatorship See Oleg V. Khlevniuk “Stalin as Dictator: the Personalisation of Power,” in Stalin: A New History , eds. Sarah Davies and James Harris (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 109–116. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/60320249 .

450 was the cook’s son Richard Sakwa, Putin: Russia’s Choice , 2nd ed. (Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2008), 2. Find this book at a local library at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

450 worked in a factory Sakwa, Putin , 2. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

450 passed away before turning one. His second brother . . . died from diphtheria in 1942 Sakwa, Putin , 2; and Gemma Aldridge, “Vladimir Putin Lost Own Brother in War-Torn City as He Is Blamed for Killing Hundreds of Syrian Children,” Mirror , October 9, 2016, www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putin-lost-brother-wartorn-9009408 . Find Sakwa’s Putin at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

450 bombarded or starved . . . more than one million Russians . . . 872-day siege Journalist and historian Anna Reid estimates that “about three quarters of a million civilians—between a quarter and a third of the pre-siege population” of Leningrad died from starvation. Anna Reid, “Myth and Tragedy at the Siege of Leningrad—Gallery,” The Guardian , September 15, 2011, www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2011/sep/15/siege-leningrad-history-anna-reid ; and Irina Titova, “Leningrad siege survivors recall their ordeal after 75 years,” Associated Press (AP) News, January 26, 2019, apnews.com/general-news-868ae25703c44a35aa23c061ab583ec2 .

450 the deadliest in human history Reid, “Myth and Tragedy at the Siege of Leningrad—Gallery,” www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2011/sep/15/siege-leningrad-history-anna-reid ; and David M. Glantz, The Siege of Leningrad, 1941–1944: 900 Days of Terror (London: Cassell, 2004), 97. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/61301373 .

450 lost five of his six brothers in the war Alexey Timofeychev, “Vladimir Putin Reveals His Family’s WWII Ordeals in Magazine Article,” Russia Beyond, May 7, 2015, www.rbth.com/politics/2015/05/07/vladimir_putin_reveals_his_familys_wwii_ordeals_in_magazine_article_43003 . Russia Beyond is operated under the umbrella of a state media agency. “About Us,” Beyond Russia, accessed April 15, 2025, www.rbth.com/about .

450 died on the Eastern Front Sakwa, Putin , 2. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

450 occupying the Tver region . . . killed Putin’s grandmother Sakwa, Putin , 2. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

450 survived off military food rations . . . when she visited him in the hospital Sakwa, Putin , 3; and Vladimir Putin with Nataliya Gevorkyan et al., First Person: An Astonishingly Frank Self-Portrait by Russia's President Vladimir Putin , trans. Catherine A. Fitzpatrick (New York: PublicAffairs, 2000), 8–9. Find Sakwa’s Putin at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 and First Person at search.worldcat.org/title/44013067 .

450–451 working in the Soviet navy . . . prompted . . . joined the Soviet Union’s secret police Sakwa, Putin , 2; and “Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, June 11, 2021, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/invasion-of-the-soviet-union-june-1941 . Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

451 with a lifelong limp Sakwa, Putin , 3; and Putin with Gevorkyan et al., First Person , 7–9. Find Sakwa’s Putin at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 and First Person at search.worldcat.org/title/44013067 .

451 controlling . . . including its new puppet state, East Germany “The Soviet Union and Europe after 1945,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed April 18, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-soviet-union-and-europe-after-1945 ; and “The End of WWII and the Division of Europe,” University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for European Studies, accessed via Wayback Machine, April 16, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20250416071311/europe.unc.edu/the-end-of-wwii-and-the-division-of-europe/ .

451 studied German in middle and high school Putin with Gevorkyan et al., First Person , 16–17, 21. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/44013067 .

451 enrolled in law school . . . He finished in 1975 Putin with Gevorkyan et al., First Person , 23; and Philip Short, “The Extraordinary Story of Putin’s Early Life,” The Times , June 25, 2022, www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/the-extraordinary-story-of-putins-early-life-ng7x3kf2f . Find First Person at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/44013067 .

451 worked at the Committee for State Security Putin with Gevorkyan et al., First Person , 40–43; and Sakwa, Putin , 8. Find First Person at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/44013067 and Sakwa’s Putin at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

451 succeeded his father’s NKVD “The KGB (which is the Russian acronym for ‘Committee for State Security’) is the name under which the powerful Soviet ‘secret police’ organization was known between 1954 and 1995. Among its previous names were ‘Cheka’ and ‘NKVD’, while presently it is known as the Federal Security Service.” PBS, “KGB Deep Background: Reference Detail,” Red Files: Secret Victories of the KGB , accessed April 18, 2025, www.pbs.org/redfiles/kgb/deep/kgb_deep_ref_detail.htm .

451 Through planting disinformation In the 1980s, in what historian Douglas Selvage calls “one of [the KGB’s] most successful propaganda efforts during the Cold War” the KGB launched a disinformation operation “and then worked to spread the thesis internationally that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, had originated in U.S. government experiments to develop a new biological weapon. According to this thesis, the AIDS virus had been created for deployment in a future war or against various unwanted groups and minorities inside and outside the United States.” Douglas Selvage, “Operation ‘Denver’: The East German Ministry of State Security and the KGB’s AIDS Disinformation Campaign, 1985–1986 (Part 1),” Journal of Cold War Studies 21, no. 4 (Fall 2019), doi.org/10.1162/jcws_a_00907 , 73. For other examples of Soviet disinformation at this time, see U.S. State Department, “Soviet ‘Active Measures’: Forgery, Disinformation, Political Operations,” Special Report N o. 88, October 1981, www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP84B00274R000100040004-8.pdf , 1, 2, 3.

451 Through front groups that sowed chaos U.S. State Department, “Soviet ‘Active Measures,’” www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP84B00274R000100040004-8.pdf , 1, 2, 3; and Catherine Belton, “Did Vladimir Putin Support Anti-Western Terrorists as a Young KGB Officer?” Politico , June 20, 2020, www.politico.eu/article/did-vladimir-putin-support-anti-western-terrorists-as-a-young-kgb-officer .

451 engaged in assassinations See Belton, “Did Vladimir Putin Support Anti-Western Terrorists as a Young KGB Officer?” www.politico.eu/article/did-vladimir-putin-support-anti-western-terrorists-as-a-young-kgb-officer on the connections between the KGB and the terrorist activities of the Red Army Faction in West Germany. See also Craig R. Whitney, “Ex-Official Links to K.G.B. to a Killing,” New York Times , June 13, 1991, www.nytimes.com/1991/06/13/world/ex-official-links-kgb-to-a-killing.html ; and Richard Nelsson, comp., “The Poison-Tipped Umbrella: The Death of Georgi Markov in 1978—Archive,” The Guardian , September 9, 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/from-the-archive-blog/2020/sep/09/georgi-markov-killed-poisoned-umbrella-london-1978 .

451 returned home Sakwa, Putin , 10–11. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

451 after sixteen years . . . he resigned . . . for the first elected mayor of Leningrad Sakwa, Putin , 10–11; and Celestine Bohlen, “A.A. Sobchak Dead at 62; Mentor to Putin,” New York Times , February 21, 2000, www.nytimes.com/2000/02/21/world/aa-sobchak-dead-at-62-mentor-to-putin.html . Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

451 moved to Moscow to work in the administration . . . Sakwa, Putin , 13–14. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

451 climbed up the ranks Sakwa, Putin , 13–14. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

451 appointed Putin the director . . . or FSB Sakwa, Putin , 14; and PBS, “KGB Deep Background,” www.pbs.org/redfiles/kgb/deep/kgb_deep_ref_detail.htm . Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/370520258?oclcNum=370520258 .

451 shocked the world . . . “Statement by Boris Yeltsin,” www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/24080 .

451 named . . . acting president Bohlen, “Yeltsin Resigns, Naming Putin as Acting President To Run in March Election,” www.nytimes.com/2000/01/01/world/yeltsin-resigns-overview-yeltsin-resigns-naming-putin-acting-president-run-march.html .

Chapter 122: Sanction Inflation

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:57 GMT

452 “And today, when our Motherland is defending . . .” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, Kremlin, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

452 occupies nearly a fifth of the country Center for Preventative Action (CPA), “War in Ukraine,” Global Conflict Tracker, Council on Foreign Relations, March 4, 2024, accessed via Wayback Machine, March 5, 2024 capture, web.archive.org/web/20240305112835/https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukraine .

452 Roughly half a million . . . CPA, “War in Ukraine,” web.archive.org/web/20240305112835/https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukraine .

452 Approximately eleven million . . . CPA, “War in Ukraine,” web.archive.org/web/20240305112835/https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/conflict-ukraine .

452 held steady in the second decade of the twenty-first century Jongrim Ha et al., “What Explains Global Inflation,” MPRA [Munich Personal RePEc Archive] Paper No. 119645 (January 13, 2024), mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/119645/1/MPRA_paper_119645.pdf , 2.

452 dropped oil prices and global demand . . . dropping inflation rates Ha et al., “What Explains Global Inflation,” mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/119645/1/MPRA_paper_119645.pdf , 2.

452 rebounded while disruptions in supply spread Kevin M. Camp et al., “From the Barrel to the Pump: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Prices for Petroleum Products,” Monthly Labor Review , U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 2020, www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2020/article/from-the-barrel-to-the-pump.htm ; and Ha et al., “What Explains Global Inflation,” mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/119645/1/MPRA_paper_119645.pdf , 2.

452 Greater demand and less supply Businesses increased their prices in reaction to these factors. See Ryan Hogg, “17,000 Company-Strong Study of COVID Greedflation Shows Most U.K. Firms Profited from Historic Cost-of-Living Crisis,” Fortune , May 17, 2024, fortune.com/europe/2024/05/17/greedflation-british-firms-profit-margins-cost-of-living-crisis-17000-firms/ ; Unite the Union, Profiteering Is breaking the Economy (May 2024), available at www.unitetheunion.org/what-we-do/unite-investigates/profit-margins-up-30-across-the-board , 7–10; and Carsten Jung and Chris Hayes, Inflation, Profits and Market Power: Towards a New Research and Policy Agenda (London: Institute for Public Policy Research and Common Wealth, December 2023), ippr-org.files.svdcdn.com/production/Downloads/1701878131_inflation-profits-and-market-power-dec-23.pdf?dm=1703078253 , 3, 5, 7–14.

452 rise significantly around the world in 2021 The global inflation rate as measured by consumer prices was 1.9% in 2020 and 3.5% in 2021. World Bank Group, “Inflation, Consumer Prices (Annual %),” accessed April 22, 2025, data.worldbank.org/indicator/FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG .

452 blocked Ukraine from using . . . to export . . . “Ukraine is the world's largest exporter of sunflower oil (50% of world exports), the third largest one of barley (18%), the fourth largest one of maize (16%) and the fifth largest one of wheat (12%).” European Council, “How the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Has Further Aggravated the Global Food Crisis,” last reviewed January 31, 2025, www.consilium.europa.eu/en/infographics/how-the-russian-invasion-of-ukraine-has-further-aggravated-the-global-food-crisis/ .

452 slapped sanctions on Russia, refusing to import Russian oil and coal European Council, “Timeline—EU Sanctions Against Russia,” last reviewed March 14, 2025, www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/sanctions-against-russia/timeline-sanctions-against-russia/ . For a complete list of embargoed products, see European Council, “EU Sanctions Against Russia Explained,” last reviewed March 31, 2025, www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/sanctions-against-russia-explained/#sanctions .

452–453 With . . . prices soared Christophe Blot et al., “The Direct and Indirect Impacts of the War on Inflation,” Monetary Dialogue Papers , European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) (March 2023), www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2023/741487/IPOL_IDA(2023)741487_EN.pdf , 9.

453 dictate the prices of other goods and services Blot et al., “The Direct and Indirect Impacts of the War on Inflation,” www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2023/741487/IPOL_IDA(2023)741487_EN.pdf , 9; and Philip Barrett, “How Food and Energy Are Driving the Global Inflation Surge,” IMF Blog, September 12, 2022, www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2022/09/09/cotw-how-food-and-energy-are-driving-the-global-inflation-surge .

453 rose in 2022 . . . unreached since the 1990s Ha et al., “What Explains Global Inflation,” mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/119645/1/MPRA_paper_119645.pdf , 2.

453 started to cool . . . not rising as quickly, but remained high Stan Choe and Alex Veiga, “How the Markets and the Economy Surprised Investors and Economists in 2023, by the Numbers,” Associated Press (AP) News, December 20, 2023, apnews.com/article/markets-interest-rates-inflation-housing-economy-bitcoin-7750b85cfeb2f90080483a3358c7237a .

453 struggled to make ends meet See Mahima Kapoor, “Inflation, COVID Plunge 68 Million into Poverty in Asia,” Deutsche Welle (DW), August 24, 2023, www.dw.com/en/inflation-covid-plunge-68-million-into-poverty-in-asia/a-66617462 ; Débora Rey, “Rising Poverty Grips Argentina as Runaway Inflation Takes Its Toll,” AP News, September 27, 2023, apnews.com/article/argentina-poverty-inflation-massa-milei-d515d077f61147b203149d9e2a6a164c ; Darya Korsunskaya et al., “Putin Grows War Economy but Incomes Suffer ‘Lost Decade,’” Reuters, March 14, 2024, www.reuters.com/markets/europe/putin-grows-war-economy-incomes-suffer-lost-decade-2024-03-14/ ; Pascal Hansens and Attila Kálmán, “‘People Buy Spectacularly Less’: Inflation-Hit Europe Weighs Costs Ahead of Elections,” Investigate Europe, May 16, 2024, www.investigate-europe.eu/posts/inflation-prices-greedflation-europe-eu-elections-2024 ; Alicia Wallace, “High Inflation Made Finances Worse for 65% of Americans Last Year,” CNN, May 21, 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/05/21/economy/economic-wellbeing-2023-inflation/index.html ; and Medora Lee, “Inflation-Shocked Low- and Middle-Income Americans May Not Spend Normally for Years,” USA Today , October 25, 2024, www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2024/10/25/inflation-low-middle-income-lasting-impact/75796197007/ .

453 denied his invasion . . . “Putin Attacks ‘Reckless and Insane' Western Sanctions and Denies Russia Stoking Inflation,” Euronews, June 17, 2022, www.euronews.com/2022/06/17/putin-attacks-reckless-and-insane-western-sanctions-and-denies-russia-stoking-inflation ; and “Putin: West’s Russia Sanctions Triggering Global Economic Crisis,” Al Jazeera, May 12, 2022, www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/5/12/putin-wests-russia-sanctions-triggering-global-economic-crisis .

453 blamed the sanctions “Putin attacks 'reckless and insane' Western sanctions and denies Russia stoking inflation,” www.euronews.com/2022/06/17/putin-attacks-reckless-and-insane-western-sanctions-and-denies-russia-stoking-inflation ; and Reuters, “Putin: West’s Russia sanctions triggering global economic crisis,” www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/5/12/putin-wests-russia-sanctions-triggering-global-economic-crisis .

453 of fifty-seven “inflation shocks” since 1970 Max Zahn, “ Inflation Has Helped Decide Elections Worldwide: Here’s What That Means for the Midterms,” ABC News, November 8, 2022, abcnews.go.com/Business/inflation-helped-decide-elections-worldwide-means-midterms/story?id=92808587 .

453 about three out of four times . . . within two years Zahn, “ Inflation Has Helped Decide Elections Worldwide: Here’s What That Means for the Midterms,” abcnews.go.com/Business/inflation-helped-decide-elections-worldwide-means-midterms/story?id=92808587 .

453 “voters who perceive the economy as [the] most important . . ." Take Sipma and Carl C. Berning, “Economic Conditions and Populist Radical Right Voting: The Role of Issue Salience,” Electoral Studies 74 (December 2021), www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379421001281 .

453 “The wealthier a country, the less people consider . . .” Sipma and Berning, “Economic Conditions and Populist Radical Right Voting,” www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379421001281 .

453 “relatively popular” in wealthier countries Sipma and Berning, “Economic Conditions and Populist Radical Right Voting,” www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379421001281 .

453 “populist radical right” . . . “they can successfully link it to other issues . . .” Sipma and Berning, “Economic Conditions and Populist Radical Right Voting,” www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379421001281 .

453 repeatedly connected immigration to inflation See ABC Action News, “(Full Speech) Former President Trump announces 2024 presidential bid,” YouTube, November 15, 2022, youtu.be/8tSYwJ1_htE?si=8NcGuleAalxKS7kg , 38:39–39:57; and Jeanna Smialek et al., “Trump Blames Immigrant Surge for Housing Crisis: Most Economists Disagree.” New York Times , October 11, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/10/11/business/economy/trump-housing-crisis-deportations.html .

454 “Just a few short years ago under my presidency . . .” NBC Chicago, “Donald Trump’s Full Speech at 2024 RNC,” YouTube, July 19, 2024, youtu.be/dLUK_MEJP_M?si=nAYKJgITEQ3w8DIp , 39:24–40:02.

454 “Today, our cities are flooded with illegal aliens . . .” NBC Chicago, “Donald Trump’s Full Speech at 2024 RNC,” 40:56–41:04 (“our cities are flooded”), youtu.be/dLUK_MEJP_M?si=nAYKJgITEQ3w8DIp , 41:44–41:51 (“inflation has wiped”).

454 “Alongside migration, which is gradually becoming . . .” “Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ‘State of the Nation’ Address,” Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, February 18, 2023, miniszterelnok.hu/en/prime-minister-viktor-orbans-state-of-the-nation-address-2023-02-18/ .

454 “It is easy to talk about ‘diversity’ and ‘cosmopolitanism’ . . .” Alice Weidel, Twitter, June 9, 2022, 4:56 a.m., x.com/AfD/status/1534821795634855938 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/Iaoum .

454 “inflation continues” as “millions” . . . “must pay even more into . . .” AfD, X, January 17, 2024, 4:51 a.m., x.com/AfD/status/1747557314335240653 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/M4Ytt .

454 a photo of a doctor examining a Black man AfD, X, January 17, 2024, x.com/AfD/status/1747557314335240653 , archived at archive.ph/wip/M4Ytt .

454 “25 BILLION EURO COSTS FOR 'REFUGEES” AfD, X, January 17, 2024, x.com/AfD/status/1747557314335240653 , archived at archive.ph/wip/M4Ytt .

454 about seven in ten . . . “abandoned by politicians in this crisis” More in Common, “Future, Democracy, Togetherness: What Concerns German Society After a Year of Price Crisis,” August 2023, www.moreincommon.de/publikationen/zukunft-demokratie-miteinander-preiskrise/#jump_block_bcb6e7f45404f5bc4f898c17a66d7717 , via Google Translate.

454 “a clear shift to the right” . . . and a clear rise in AfD’s popularity Klaus Hurrelmann quoted in Hertie School, “Study Shows Young People in Germany Are Worried About Their Future,” press release, April 23, 2024, www.hertie-school.org/en/news/news/detail/content/study-shows-young-people-in-germany-are-worried-about-their-future .

454 won its first state election in party history in 2024 . . . “Germany: Far-Right AfD Wins First State vote Since WWII,” DW, September 1, 2024, updated September 2, 2024, www.dw.com/en/far-right-german-party-wins-first-state-election-since-wwii/live-70102882 .

454 came within 1.4 percentage points of winning . . . “Germany: Far-Right AfD Wins First State vote Since WWII,” www.dw.com/en/far-right-german-party-wins-first-state-election-since-wwii/live-70102882 .

454 more than half . . . “expensive housing” “65% of respondents are currently worried about inflation, 54% are concerned about expensive housing, and 48% are afraid of poverty in old age. When it comes to social cohesion, 49% of young people fear social division and 41% are concerned about the reception of refugees.” Hertie School, “Study Shows Young People in Germany Are Worried About Their Future,” www.hertie-school.org/en/news/news/detail/content/study-shows-young-people-in-germany-are-worried-about-their-future .

454 significantly increased support . . . among lower-income Germans Tarik Abou-Chadi et al., “Rental Market Risk and Radical Right Support,” Comparative Political Studies 58, no. 13 (December 2024), journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00104140241306963 .

454–455 “higher rents constitute a significant threat . . .” Abou-Chadi et al., “Rental Market Risk and Radical Right Support,” journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00104140241306963 .

455 “Far-right parties prosper when . . .” Balakrishnan Rajagopal quoted in Jon Henley, “Fix Europe’s Housing Crisis or Risk Fuelling the Far-Right, UN Expert Warns,” The Guardian , May 6, 2024, www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/may/06/fix-europe-housing-crisis-risk-fuelling-far-right-un-expert-warns .

455 “That’s the situation many EU countries are now in . . .” Rajagopal quoted in Henley, “Fix Europe’s Housing Crisis or Risk Fuelling the Far-Right, UN Expert Warns,” www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/may/06/fix-europe-housing-crisis-risk-fuelling-far-right-un-expert-warns .

455 blamed immigrants for worsening . . . in the Netherlands On May 10, 2022, Wilders wrote on Twitter, “Huge housing shortage, significantly more expensive groceries, sky-high petrol and diesel prices, ten percent inflation, rising immigration, declining purchasing power, impoverished healthcare. In any other country, the cabinet would be tarred and feathered and chased out of the country.” Geert Wilders, Twitter, May 10, 2022, 2:24 a.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1523911747794571264 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/bKfbI .

455 “Groceries €1500 more expensive, €6500 for energy costs . . .” Geert Wilders, Twitter, August 10, 2022, 3:33 a.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1557268862994944003 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/XlljG .

455 “And in the meantime”. . . “are throwing away billions of euros on asylum . . .” Wilders, Twitter, August 10, 2022, x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1557268862994944003 , archived at archive.ph/wip/XlljG .

455 “public service deprivation . . . an important role” . . . for “far-right” parties Simone Cremaschi et al., “Geographies of Discontent: Public Service Deprivation and the Rise of the Far Right in Italy,” Harvard Business School Working Paper 24-024 (November 1, 2023), www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/24-024_da5e436e-b4e8-4215-b788-f6043dbc7d1f.pdf , 1.

455 The more voters suffer, the more they support . . . In the case of the 2010 reform considered in the aforementioned study, “the reform was decided and implemented by a right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.” Cremaschi et al., “Geographies of Discontent,” www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/24-024_da5e436e-b4e8-4215-b788-f6043dbc7d1f.pdf , 16.

Chapter 123: Patriots for Europe

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:56 GMT

456 emerged as the top issues for voters . . . in 2024 “Rising prices and the cost of living (42%) and the economic situation (41%) are the main topics that motivated European citizens to vote in the last European elections in June this year.” European Union, “EU Post-Electoral Survey 2024,” October 2024, europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/3292 .

456 boosted the great replacement parties Anna Desmarais, “Russiagate to Portal Kombat: The Foreign Misinformation Campaigns Shifting the European Elections,” Euronews, June 6, 2024, www.euronews.com/next/2024/06/06/russiagate-to-portal-kombat-the-foreign-misinformation-campaigns-shifting-the-european-ele ; John Irish, “European Election: How the EU Says Russia Is Spreading Disinformation,” Reuters, June 3, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/european-election-how-eu-says-russia-is-spreading-disinformation-2024-06-03/ ; Catherine Belton and Souad Mekhennet, “Russia Co-Opts Far-Right Politicians in Europe with Cash, Officials Say,” Washington Post , June 3, 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/03/russia-europe-far-right-espionage/ ; Lisa O’Carroll, “Disinformation Crisis Unit on Rapid Alert Around European Elections,” The Guardian , June 4, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/04/disinformation-crisis-unit-european-parliamentary-elections .

456 all won the most seats for their respective nations European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: France—Official Results,” accessed April 23, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/france/2024-2029/ ; European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Italy—Official Results,” accessed April 23, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/italy/2024-2029/ ; European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Hungry—Official Results,” accessed April 23, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/hungary/2024-2029/ ; and European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Austria—Official Results,” accessed April 23, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/austria/2024-2029/ .

456 won the most votes and tied with two other parties for the most seats “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Belgium—Official Results,” accessed October 3, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/belgium/2024-2029/ .

456 finished third European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Spain—Official Results,” accessed April 23, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/spain/2024-2029/ .

456 best EU election performance to date Vox first entered the European Parliament after the 2019 election, in which the party finished fifth. “EU Election: Surge for Greens, Losses for Centrist Blocs,” Deutsche Welle (DW), May 26, 2019, www.dw.com/en/eu-election-surge-for-greens-and-euroskeptics-losses-for-centrist-blocs/a-48883806 ; “European Elections 2019: Power Blocs Lose Grip on Parliament,” BBC News, May 27, 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48417744 .

456 seized their first seats in the European Parliament Bruno G. Santos, “Who Were the Winner and Losers in the European Elections?” Portugal News , June 11, 2024, www.theportugalnews.com/news/2024-06-11/who-were-the-winner-and-losers-in-the-european-elections/89733 ; and Haneyl Jacob and John Monaghan, “ADR Wins EU Parliament Seat at Expense of DP,” Luxembourg Times , June 10, 2024, www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/adr-wins-eu-parliament-seat-at-expense-of-dp/13755101.html .

456 finished second European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Netherlands—Official Results,” accessed April 23, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/netherlands/2024-2029/ ; and European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Romania—Official Results,” accessed April 23, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/romania/2024-2029/ .

456 dissolved. Rising in its place . . . Pablo Gutiérrez et al., “European Election Results 2024 in Full: Explore the New Parliament,” The Guardian , July 18, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/jun/09/european-elections-results-2024-europe-eu-parliament .

456 announced the new group . . . on June 30, 2024 “‘Patriots for Europe’: Hungary’s Orban Announces New EU Parliament Alliance,” Al Jazeera, June 30, 2024, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/30/patriots-for-europe-hungarys-orban-announces-new-eu-parliament-alliance .

456 solicited . . . to join “‘Patriots for Europe’: Hungary’s Orban Announces New EU Parliament Alliance,” www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/30/patriots-for-europe-hungarys-orban-announces-new-eu-parliament-alliance ; and Francois Murphy, “Austrian Far-Right, Hungary’s Orban Form New EU Alliance,” Reuters, June 30, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/austrian-fpo-parties-orban-babis-announce-new-political-alliance-2024-06-30/ .

456 later adopted . . . “Make Europe Great Again” “‘Patriots for Europe’: Hungary’s Orban Announces New EU Parliament Alliance,” www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/30/patriots-for-europe-hungarys-orban-announces-new-eu-parliament-alliance ; “Speech by Viktor Orbán at the General Assembly of the Patriots for Europe,” Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, November 16, 2024, miniszterelnok.hu/en/speech-by-viktor-orban-at-the-general-assembly-of-the-patriots-for-europe/ ; Max Griera, “Orbán, Le Pen to Hold ‘Make Europe Great Again’ Rally in Madrid,” Politico , January 27, 2025, www.politico.eu/article/hungary-viktor-orban-france-marine-le-pen-make-america-great-again-trump-rally-madrid/ .

456 joined Patriots for Europe Geert Wilders, X, July 5, 2024, 12:55 p.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1809269979457417639 , archived at archive.today, July 6, 2024 capture, archive.ph/MoNbq .

456–457 “We protect our Judeo-Christian heritage” Geert Wilders, X, July 5, 2024, x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1809269979457417639 , archived at archive.ph/MoNbq .

457 signed on Jennifer Rankin and Angela Giuffrida, “Le Pen and Orbán Join Forces in European Parliament Far-Right Alliance,” The Guardian , July 8, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/08/le-pen-and-orban-join-forces-in-european-parliament-far-right-alliance .

457 became the president of Patriots for Europe “France's National Rally Elects Bardella, 27, as Le Pen’s Successor,” France 24, November 5, 2022, www.france24.com/en/europe/20221105-france-s-national-raly-pick-bardella-27-as-le-pen-s-successor ; and Rankin and Giuffrida, “Le Pen and Orbán Join Forces in European Parliament Far-Right Alliance,” www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/08/le-pen-and-orban-join-forces-in-european-parliament-far-right-alliance .

457 took second in command Rankin and Giuffrida, “Le Pen Orbán Join Forces in European Parliament Far-Right Alliance,” www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/08/le-pen-and-orban-join-forces-in-european-parliament-far-right-alliance .

457 Joining as well were . . . European Parliament, “ Advanced Search: Political Groups: Patriots for Europe Group,” accessed April 24, 2025, www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/search/advanced?euPoliticalGroupBodyRefNum=7150 .

457 control eighty-four seats . . . the third-largest group behind the . . . European Parliament, “European Parliament 2024–2029: Constitutive Session,” accessed April 24, 2025, results.elections.europa.eu/en/european-results/2024-2029/ .

457 kept her Brothers of Italy in the European Conservatives and Reformists group European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Italy—Official Results,” results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/italy/2024-2029/ .

457 six fewer seats than the Patriots for Europe European Parliament, “European Parliament 2024–2029: Constitutive Session,” results.elections.europa.eu/en/european-results/2024-2029/ .

457 seventy-eight seats . . . the fourth-largest group European Parliament, “European Parliament 2024–2029: Constitutive Session,” results.elections.europa.eu/en/european-results/2024-2029/ .

457 staunch support of NATO and Ukraine distinguished . . . Rankin and Giuffrida, “Le Pen and Orbán Join Forces in European Parliament Far-Right Alliance,” www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/08/le-pen-and-orban-join-forces-in-european-parliament-far-right-alliance ; and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), “The European Project Can Only Succeed with a Strong NATO,” April 3, 2024, ecrgroup.eu/article/the_european_project_can_only_succeed_with_a_strong_nato .

457 closer ties to Vladimir Putin Rankin and Giuffrida, “Le Pen and Orbán Join Forces in European Parliament Far-Right Alliance,” www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/08/le-pen-and-orban-join-forces-in-european-parliament-far-right-alliance ; and ECR, “The European Project Can Only Succeed with a Strong NATO,” ecrgroup.eu/article/the_european_project_can_only_succeed_with_a_strong_nato .

457 “I will never say that anyone who wore an SS uniform . . .” Maximilian Krah, La Repubblica, May 18, 2024, quoted in “Germany’s AfD Bans Top candidate from EU Poll Events over Nazi Comments,” Al Jazeera, May 22, 2024, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/22/germanys-afd-bans-top-candidate-from-eu-poll-events-over-nazi-comments .

457 the main operators of Nazi extermination camps “SS and the Holocaust,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, December 8, 2020, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss-and-the-holocaust ; and “Heinrich Himmler,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed April 24, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/heinrich-himmler .

457 who joined the Nazi Party on May 1, 1937 David Gebhard et al., “How Oblivious to History Is the AfD?” ZDFheute, April 20, 2024, accessed via Wayback Machine, March 8, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20250308042615/www.zdf.de/nachrichten/politik/deutschland/afd-geschichtsvergessen-100.html , via Google Translate.

457 arrested . . . suspecting him of espionage for China “German Far-Right Lawmaker Whose Assistant Was Arrested for Spying for China Keeps Up Election Bid,” Associated Press (AP) News, April 24, 2024, apnews.com/article/germany-china-spying-far-right-afd-krah-37d21734c87d3879371dbbae7e028fec .

457 charged a former parliamentary researcher . . . with the same offense Sylvia Hui, “UK Prosecutors Charge 2 men with Spying for China, Including a Parliamentary Researcher,” AP News, April 22, 2024, apnews.com/article/uk-britain-china-spying-883477e073cc8e2b5623385c3a118d64 .

457 investigating . . . for being a paid informant for China and Russia Belton and Mekhennet, “Russia Co-Opts Far-Right Politicians in Europe with Cash, Officials Say,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/03/russia-europe-far-right-espionage/ .

458 gained four seats in the European Parliament European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Germany—Official Results,” accessed April 24, 2024, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/germany/2024-2029// ; and European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2019–2024: Germany—Official Results,” accessed April 24, 2024, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/germany/2019-2024/constitutive-session/ .

458 fifteen seats were the second most of any party European Parliament, “Results by national party – 2024-2029: Germany– official results,” results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/germany/2024-2029//

458 “It’s time to make a clean break . . .” Le Pen quoted in Jon Henley, “Europe’s Far Right in Disarray as Germany’s AfD Candidate Resigns,” The Guardian, May 22, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/22/germany-afd-lead-election-candidate-resigns-ss-remark .

458 announced the formation of . . . Europe of Sovereign Nations Jennifer Rankin, “Germany’s AfD and Extremist Allies Set Up Second EU Parliament Far-Right Group,” The Guardian , July 11, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/11/germany-afd-extremist-allies-set-up-second-eu-parliament-far-right-group ; and Thomas Escritt, “Germany’s Spurned AfD Creates Third Far-Right EU Parliament Group,” Reuters, July 10, 202’ www.reuters.com/world/europe/germanys-spurned-afd-creates-third-far-right-eu-parliament-group-2024-07-10/ .

458 founded the group with . . . in Czechia Tomio Okamura, X, July 10, 2024, 3:42 a.m., x.com/tomio_cz/status/1810942682228756520 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/dgd5l ; and Rankin, “Germany’s AfD and Extremist Allies Set Up Second EU Parliament Far-Right Group,” www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/11/germany-afd-extremist-allies-set-up-second-eu-parliament-far-right-group .

458 “We will fight against the Green Deal, migration . . .” Okamura, X, July 10, 2024, x.com/tomio_cz/status/1810942682228756520 , archived at archive.ph/wip/dgd5l .

458 came aboard Rankin, “Germany’s AfD and Extremist Allies Set Up Second EU Parliament Far-Right Group,” www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/11/germany-afd-extremist-allies-set-up-second-eu-parliament-far-right-group .

458 a few other fringe parties See “Advanced Search: MEPs: Europe of Sovereign Nations Group,” European Parliament, accessed November 4, 2025, www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/search/advanced?euPoliticalGroupBodyRefNum=7151 .

458 “no antisemites” Alice Weidel quoted in Kjeld Neubert, “German AfD Launches Third Far-Right Group ‘Europe of Sovereign Nations,’” Euractiv, July 10, 2024, www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/german-afd-launches-third-far-right-group-europe-of-sovereign-nations/ .

458 “globalists” The “Political Declaration” of Europe of Sovereign Nations states, “European civilisation is in peril. Misguided policies, globalist agendas, wokeist ideologies, and passivity towards the intrusion of political Islam are destined to deprive the peoples of Europe of the only place in the world they have to call home.” Europe of Sovereign Nations, “Political Declaration,” accessed November 4, 2025, esn-group.eu/what-we-stand-for .

458 the second-largest group in the European Parliament, one seat shy of . . . If Le Pen’s Patriots for Europe (84 seats), Weidel’s Europe of Sovereign Nations (25 seats), and Meloni’s ECR (78 seats) combined into one supergroup, they would have 187 seats. The European People’s Party currently has 188 seats. European Parliament, “European Parliament 2024–2029: Constitutive Session,” results.elections.europa.eu/en/european-results/2024-2029/ .

458 one founded by Nazis “Austrian Far-Right Freedom Party Dogged by Nazi Past,” France 24, September 25, 2019, www.france24.com/en/20190925-austrian-far-right-freedom-party-dogged-by-nazi-past .

Chapter 124: Pretty Savvy

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:55 GMT

459 won . . . fifty-seven seats, a twenty-six-seat increase International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Election Guide, “Austrian National Council 2024 General,” September 29, 2024, last updated December 6, 2024, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/4296/ .

459 “how far we’ve come” Herbert Kickl quoted in Francois Murphy and Dave Graham, “Far Right Wins Austria Election, Boosting European Right-Wing Surge,” Reuters, September 29, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/austria-holds-tight-election-with-far-right-bidding-historic-win-2024-09-28/ .

459 founded by former Nazis in 1956 and dismissed for years, to renovating . . . “Austrian Far-Right Freedom Party Dogged by Nazi Past,” France 24, September 25, 2019, www.france24.com/en/20190925-austrian-far-right-freedom-party-dogged-by-nazi-past .

459 regained control of . . . presidency and parliament Konstantin Testorides, “North Macedonia Elects First Woman President as Center-Left Incumbents Suffer Historic Losses,” Associate Press (AP) News, May 8, 2024, apnews.com/article/north-macedonia-election-corruption-european-union-bulgaria-ac12182171ed7d46f160feeb469c7aa4 .

459 seven years after . . . the invasion of parliament Valerie Hopkins,” What Happened in Macedonia, and Why,” The Atlantic , April 28, 2017, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/macedonia-parliament-zaev-nationalist-violence-eu-europe/524733/ .

459 all won the largest number of seats in parliamentary elections On Chega’s performance, see Miguel Macias, “In Portugal, an Election Results in Uncertainty and the Rise of the Far Right,” NPR, March 14, 2024, www.npr.org/2024/03/14/1238226873/portugal-election-uncertainty-far-right . On Flemish Interest’s performance, see IFES Election Guide, “Belgian Chamber of Representatives 2007 General,” June 10, 2007, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/399/ ; , IFES Election Guide, “Belgian Chamber of Representatives 2010 General,” June 13, 2010, last updated August 2, 2023, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/984/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Belgian Chamber of Representatives 2014 General,” May 25, 2014, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/2404/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Belgian Chamber of Representatives 2019 General,” May 26, 2019, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3150/ ; and IFES Election Guide, “Belgian Chamber of Representatives, 2024 General,” June 9, 2024, last updated November 18, 2024 accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/4200/ . On the Revival party’s performance, see IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2017 General,” March 26, 2017, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/2499/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2021 General April,” April 4, 2021, last updated August 23, 2023, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3595/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2021 General July,” July 11, 2021, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3742/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2021 General November,” November 14, 2021, last updated August 16, 2023, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3960/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2022 General,” October 2, 2022, last updated August 23, 2023, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/3966/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2023 General,” April 2, 2023, last updated August 15, 2023, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/4085/ ; IFES Election Guide, “Bulgarian National Assembly 2024 General,” June 9, 2024, last updated June 11, 2024, accessed April 24, 2025, www.electionguide.org/elections/id/4440/.

459 made some electoral gains . . . especially at the local level Natalia A. Ramos Miranda and Fabian Cambero, “Chile’s Right Gains Against Boric Government in Less Polarizing Regional Vote,” Reuters, October 28, 2024, . www.reuters.com/world/americas/chiles-right-gains-against-boric-government-less-polarizing-regional-vote-2024-10-28/ .

459 not eligible to run for reelection “Chile does not permit immediate re-election, but a president is welcome to seek office again after a period of four years.” Jan Martínez Ahrens and Rocío Montes, “Gabriel Boric, President of Chile: ‘The Left in Latin America Has had a Tendency Not to Take Responsibility for Its Own Mistakes,’” El País English , March 12, 2024, english.elpais.com/international/2024-03-12/gabriel-boric-president-of-chile-the-left-in-latin-america-has-had-a-tendency-not-to-take-responsibility-for-its-own-mistakes.html .

459 For all of 2024 . . . led in the polls CADEM, Cadem Public Square, Survey No. 570, Second Week of December, 2024 , accessed via Wayback Machine, December 16, 2024 capture, web.archive.org/web/20241216013801/cadem.cl/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Track-PP-570-Diciembre-S2-VF.pdf , 18, via Google Translate.

459 Second to Matthei in the polls Kast tied with former president and Socialist Party member Michelle Bachelet for second in August 2024 and trailed Bachelet in September and October of that year, after Bachelet had announced she would not run in 2025. CADEM, Cadem Public Square, web.archive.org/web/20241216013801/cadem.cl/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Track-PP-570-Diciembre-S2-VF.pdf, 18; and José Navarrete, “Michelle Bachelet Rules Out Intention to Run for La Moneda in 2025: ‘I Am Not a Candidate,’” La Tercera , August 19, 2024, www.latercera.com/politica/noticia/michelle-bachelet-yo-no-soy-candidata/VEOBLSUKKZD2VIKGS2Q3X3RTOI , via Google Translate.

460 linked . . . accusing them of providing preferential treatment . . . YP Rajesh and Rupam Jain, “India’s Modi Calls Rivals Pro-Muslim as Election Campaign Changes Tack,” Reuters, April 23, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-modi-calls-rivals-pro-muslim-election-campaign-changes-tack-2024-04-23/ .

460 won an outright majority . . . since it seized power in 2014 Krutika Pathi et al., “Modi Claims Victory in India’s Election but Drop in Support Forces Him to Rely on Coalition Partners,” AP News, June 4, 2024, apnews.com/article/india-election-results-2024-lok-sabha-modi-bjp-7893efecc83fa8225a611f174e6420ee .

460 Not this time Pathi et al., “Modi Claims Victory in India’s Election but Drop in Support Forces Him to Rely on Coalition Partners,” apnews.com/article/india-election-results-2024-lok-sabha-modi-bjp-7893efecc83fa8225a611f174e6420ee .

460 did obtain the most votes, ensuring . . . Modi is “only the second Indian prime minister to win a third consecutive term.” Joshua Keating, “India’s Election Shows the World’s Largest Democracy Is Still a Democracy,” Vox , June 4, 2024, www.vox.com/world-politics/353785/india-election-2024-modi-bjp .

460 more than double. . . called snap legislative elections Sylvie Corbet, Associated Press, “Macron Dissolves France’s National Assembly, Calls Snap Election After Defeat in EU Vote,” PBS News, June 9, 2024, www.pbs.org/newshour/world/macron-dissolves-frances-national-assembly-calls-snap-election-after-defeat-in-eu-vote .

460 earned the most votes Roger Cohen, “French Far Right Wins Big in First Round of Voting,” New York Times , June 30, 2024, last updated July 7, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/06/30/world/europe/france-elections.html .

460 united and rallied . . . dropping her political bloc to third John Leicester, Associated Press, “How French Voters Formed a ‘Republican Front’ to block the Far-Right’s Path to Victory,” PBS News, July 8, 2024, www.pbs.org/newshour/world/how-french-voters-formed-a-republican-front-to-block-the-far-rights-path-to-victory .

460      appeared poised . . . in 2027 Alice Tidey, “Far-Right Loses France’s Snap Elections but Sets Sight on 2027 Presidential Vote,” Euronews, July 8, 2024, www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/07/08/far-right-loses-frances-snap-elections-but-sets-sight-on-2027-presidential-vote ; and James Regan, “Le Pen Leads Poll Ahead of France’s 2027 Presidential Election,” Bloomberg , September 12, 2024, www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-12/le-pen-leads-poll-ahead-of-france-s-2027-presidential-election .

460 shut out of the European Parliament . . . only six local seats in 2024 Cormac McQuinn, “Political Parties with Far-Right Views on Immigration Form Alliance to Maximise Election Chances,” Irish Times , October 12, 2024, www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/10/12/political-parties-with-far-right-views-on-immigration-form-alliance-to-maximise-election-chances/ ; Stephen McDermott, “Over 100 Far-Right Candidates Stood in This Year’s Elections: Could They Become a Political Force?” The Journal , June 15, 2024, www.thejournal.ie/ireland-far-right-local-elections-analysis-6404693-Jun2024/ ; and European Parliament, “Results by National Party—2024–2029: Ireland—Official Results,” accessed April 24, 2024, results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/ireland/2024-2029/ . On these parties’ and candidates’ lackluster electoral performance prior to 2024, see Fintan O’Toole, “A Far-Right Rabble Won’t Overthrow Ireland’s Democracy—but We Shouldn’t Be Complacent,” The Guardian , December 11, 2023, www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2023/sep/25/far-right-ireland-parliament .

460 united . . . to form the National Alliance McQuinn, “Political parties with far-right views on immigration form alliance to maximise election chances,” www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/10/12/political-parties-with-far-right-views-on-immigration-form-alliance-to-maximise-election-chances/ .

460 wanted to improve their chances . . . McQuinn, “Political Parties with Far-Right Views on Immigration Form Alliance to Maximise Election Chances,” www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/10/12/political-parties-with-far-right-views-on-immigration-form-alliance-to-maximise-election-chances/ .

460 “shared principles” . . . “Ireland belongs to the Irish” . . . “house the Irish not the world” National Alliance website, October 2024, quoted in McQuinn, “Political Parties with Far-Right Views on Immigration Form Alliance to Maximise Election Chances,” www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/10/12/political-parties-with-far-right-views-on-immigration-form-alliance-to-maximise-election-chances/ .

460 None of its candidates . . . Conor Gallagher, “Far-Right Candidates Fail to Break Through, Defying Global Trends,” Irish Times , December 1, 2024, www.irishtimes.com/politics/2024/12/01/far-right-candidates-fail-to-break-through-defying-global-trends/ .

460 the alliance dissolved The National Party, X, February 23, 2025, 5:53 a.m., x.com/NationalPartyIE/status/1893615278300209380 , archived at archive.today, April 3, 2025 capture, archive.ph/XfvsU .

460 grew their vote share in the national election Ethan Rooney, “Ireland’s Far-Right Problem,” Tribune magazine , September 30, 2025, tribunemag.co.uk/2025/09/irelands-far-right-problem .

460 Two of their candidates . . . elected to local councils These candidates belonged to the National Party and the Irish Freedom Party, respectively. As mentioned above, the National Party was part of the National Alliance. Shane Raymond, “Profiled: Meet Ireland’s New Far-Right Councillors,” The Journal , June 13, 2024, www.thejournal.ie/far-right-candidates-ireland-local-councils-6403594-Jun2024/ . To learn more about Irish Freedom Party’s great replacement ideas, see Kirsten Bokenkamp, “Confronting Ireland’s Growing Far Right Ideology,” Irish Echo , March 16, 2023, www.irishecho.com/2023/3/confronting-ireland-s-growing-far-right-ideology .

460 “the first-ever members of registered far-right parties to hold office in Ireland” Raymond, “Profiled: Meet Ireland’s New Far-Right Councillors,” www.thejournal.ie/far-right-candidates-ireland-local-councils-6403594-Jun2024 .

460–461 “. . . which he described as plantations, an Irish version of . . .” Raymond, “Profiled: Ireland’s New Far-Right Councillors,” www.thejournal.ie/far-right-candidates-ireland-local-councils-6403594-Jun2024 .

461 losing his previous seven elections to be MP Matt Mathers, “The Seven Times Farage Tried and Failed to Become an MP,” The Independent , June 5, 2024, www.the-independent.com/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-seven-times-mp-candidate-b2557054.html .

461 “Rishi CAN’T stop the boats. Starmer WON’T stop the boats . . . .” Nigel Farage, X, June 25, 2024, 6:37 a.m., x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1805550798018928789 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/QADrl .

461 scolded the Conservative Party for blaming inflation on . . . On May 16, 2022, Farage tweeted, “Andrew Bailey [Conservative-appointed Governor of the Bank of England] is hopeless. Inflation was well set way before Ukraine.” Nigel Farage, Twitter, May 16, 2022, 12:19 p.m., x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1526236014871728130 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/6eyBK . Two days later, Farage tweeted, “The Retail Price Index has hit 11%. The Bank of England and No 10 want to blame Ukraine but inflation was already here. We are being led by incompetents.” Nigel Farage, Twitter, May 18, 2022, 4:35 a.m., x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1526844033934716928 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/iKuJ4 .

461       boosted by Russian trolls and bots Marianna Spring, “Bot or Not: Are Fake Accounts Swaying Voters Towards Reform UK?” BBC News, June 14, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1335nj316lo ; Michael Workman and Kevin Nguyen, “UK Conservatives Say ABC Analysis That Points to Foreign Interference Operation ‘Highly Alarming,’” ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News, June 29, 2024, www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-29/uk-election-pro-russian-facebook-pages-coordinating/104038246 ; Faye Brown, “‘Gravely Concerning’ Claims of Russian Interference in General Election to Spread Support for Farage’s Reform,” Sky News, June 30, 2024, news.sky.com/story/amp/gravely-concerning-claims-of-russian-interference-in-general-election-to-spread-support-for-farages-reform-13161235 ; and Peter Jukes, “From Russia With Likes: Nigel Farage Dominates Social Media During General Election—Boosted by Bots Stoking Racism,” Byline Times , July 3, 2023, bylinetimes.com/2024/07/03/nigel-farage-bots-general-election-2024 .

461 elected him . . . for the first time on July 4, 2024 “Nigel Farage Wins Seat in UK Parliament,” Reuters, July 4, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/uk/nigel-farage-wins-seat-uk-parliament-2024-07-05/ .

461 snatching 411 out of 650 seats Richard Cracknell and Carl Baker, “General Election 2024: Results and Analysis,” House of Commons Library, September 24, 2024, researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10009/CBP-10009.pdf , 9, 10, 11.

461       replaced . . . as prime minister Jennifer McKiernan and Brian Wheeler, “Rishi Sunak Apologises After Historic Tory Defeat,” BBC News, July 5, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd1xnzlzz99o .

461 lost 251 seats Cracknell and Baker, “General Election 2024,” researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10009/CBP-10009.pdf , 13.

461       only 5 seats Cracknell and Baker, “General Election 2024,” researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-10009/CBP-10009.pdf , 9, 18.

461 putting . . . alongside a new great replacement financier Ben Quinn, “Nigel Farage Stirs Tensions in Reform UK as He Ousts Deputies,” The Guardian , July 11, 2024, www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/11/nigel-farage-stirs-tensions-in-reform-uk-as-he-ousts-deputies .

461 the largest donation to Reform UK Chris Mason and Sam Francis, “Muslim Millionaire Gives Major Donation to Reform UK,” BBC News, June 19, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11xxn833yo .

461 had arrived in the UK from Sri Lanka forty years earlier Mason and Francis, “Muslim Millionaire Gives Major Donation to Reform UK,” www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd11xxn833yo ; and Zia Yusuf, “Nigel Farage Is No Islamophobe: He Loves Britons of All Races and Religions,” The Telegraph , June 27, 2024, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/27/nigel-farage-is-no-islamaphobe-he-loves-britons-of-all-race/ .

461 when immigration levels were low . . . “could assimilate comfortably” Yusuf, “Nigel Farage Is No Islamophobe: He Loves Britons of All Races and Religions,” www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/27/nigel-farage-is-no-islamaphobe-he-loves-britons-of-all-race/ .

461 “we have lost control of our borders” Yusuf, “Nigel Farage Is No Islamophobe: He Loves Britons of All Races and Religions,” www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/27/nigel-farage-is-no-islamaphobe-he-loves-britons-of-all-race/ .

461       “Unlike most who assail Farage, I am a Muslim . . .” Yusuf, “Nigel Farage Is No Islamophobe: He Loves Britons of All Races and Religions,” www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/27/nigel-farage-is-no-islamaphobe-he-loves-britons-of-all-race/ .

461       expressed his goal . . . in 2029 Eleni Courea, “Reform’s New Chair Zia Yusuf: A Man Intent on Making Nigel Farage PM,” The Guardian , August 5, 2024, www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/05/reforms-new-chair-zia-yusuf-a-man-intent-on-making-nigel-farage-pm .

461 “build a mass national movement over . . .” Nigel Farage quoted in “Nigel Farage Wins Seat in UK Parliament,” Reuters, July 4, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/uk/nigel-farage-wins-seat-uk-parliament-2024-07-05/ .

461 naming their first Black woman party leader . . . Mark Landler and Stephen Castle, “Kemi Badenoch Becomes First Black Woman to Lead Britain’s Conservative Party,” New York Times , November 2, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/11/02/world/europe/kemi-badenoch-uk-tory-leadership-election-2024.html .

461–462 the daughter of immigrants Jill Lawless, “Who Is Kemi Badenoch, the First Black Woman to Lead Britain’s Conservative Party?” Associated Press (AP) News, November 2, 2024, apnews.com/article/uk-conservative-leader-kemi-badenoch-profile-bd73343d5508fc7aa936471629f5730b ; and Sunder Katwala, “From a Childhood in Nigeria to Tory Leader: The Remarkable Rise of Kemi Badenoch,” The Guardian , November 2, 2024, www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/nov/02/from-a-childhood-in-nigeria-to-tory-leader-the-remarkable-rise-of-kemi-badenoch .

461–462 “numbers matter but culture matters more” Kemi Badenoch quoted in Landler and Castle, “Kemi Badenoch Becomes First Black Woman to Lead Britain’s Conservative Party,” www.nytimes.com/2024/11/02/world/europe/kemi-badenoch-uk-tory-leadership-election-2024.html ; and “Badenoch Hits Back at Jenrick’s ‘Disrespectful’ Jibe,” BBC News, October 22, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/creje1w5nn0o .

462 welcomed “culture warrior” as a label “I Love the ‘Culture Warrior’ Label—Kemi Badenoch,” Vanguard , December 6, 2024, www.vanguardngr.com/2024/12/i-love-the-culture-warrior-label-kemi-badenoch .

462 “If we don’t defend our culture, who will?” Kemi Badenoch quoted in “I Love the ‘Culture Warrior’ Label—Kemi Badenoch,” www.vanguardngr.com/2024/12/i-love-the-culture-warrior-label-kemi-badenoch .

462 secretly spent at least $300 million . . . “Russia has covertly given at least $300 million to political parties, officials and politicians in more than two dozen countries since 2014.” Edward Wong, “Russia Secretly Gave $300 Million to Political Parties and Officials Worldwide, U.S. Says,” New York Times , September 13, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/09/13/us/politics/russia-election-interference.html .

462 loans to . . . National Rally Gabriel Gatehouse, “Marine Le Pen: Who’s Funding France’s Far Right?” BBC News, April 3, 2017, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39478066 ; Cynthia Kroet, “Marine Le Pen Asked to Repay €9 Million Bank Loan: Reports,” Politico , January 4, 2017, www.politico.eu/article/marine-le-pen-asked-to-repay-e9-million-bank-loan-reports-czech-russian/ ; and Paul Sonne, “A Russian Bank Gave Marine Le Pen’s Party a Loan: Then Weird Things Began Happening.” Washington Post , December 27, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-russian-bank-gave-marine-le-pens-party-a-loan-then-weird-things-began-happening/2018/12/27/960c7906-d320-11e8-a275-81c671a50422_story.html .

462 “We don’t rely on American banks. . .” James Dodson quoted a conversation with Eric Trump about the funding behind the National Golf Club Charlotte in Bill Littlefield, “A Day (and a Cheeseburger) With President Trump,” WBUR, May 11, 2017, www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2017/05/05/james-dodson-donald-trump-golf . The Trump Organization developed the National Golf Club Charlotte. Deon Roberts, “Trump Organization Finalizes $3M Purchase of The Point Lake and Golf Club,” Mecklenburg Times , April 5, 2012, mecktimes.com/news/2012/04/05/trump-finalizes-purchase-of-the-point/ . Sources often mistakenly date this conversation in 2014, but WBUR, the original source for the quote, confirmed that it occurred in 2013. Benjamin Swasey and Martin Kessler, “Eric Trump Denies Telling a Sportswriter the Trumps Got Golf Course Funding from Russia,” WBUR, May 10, 2017, www.wbur.org/onlyagame/2017/05/08/eric-trump-russia-golf-course-funding . See also Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2021), 159. Find the book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1233267123 .

462 two years before . . . Trump announced his run on June 16, 2015. “Here’s Donald Trump’s Presidential Announcement Speech,” Time , June 16, 2015, time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/ .

462 “genius” “Full Interview: President Trump with C&B from Mar-a-Lago,” The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show , February 22, 2022, www.clayandbuck.com/president-trump-with-cb-from-mar-a-lago , 02:26–2:50.

462 “We are in solidarity with Russia” Jair Bolsonaro quoted in Terrence McCoy, “Brazil’s Bolsonaro Embraced the U.S. Under Trump: Now He’s in ‘Solidarity’ with Russia,” Washington Post , February 16, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/16/bolsonaro-putin-brazil-russia-ukraine/ .

462 “closest ally among European Union leaders” “Putin and Orbán Reaffirm Russian-Hungarian Ties Amid International Strains,” Reuters, October 17, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-putin-holds-talks-with-hungarys-orban-china-2023-10-17/ .

462 the world leader he most admired Press Association, “Nigel Farage: I Admire Vladimir Putin,” The Guardian , March 31, 2014, www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/31/farage-i-admire-putin ; and Political TV, “The Panorama Interviews with Nick Robinson: Nigel Farage, Reform UK | 21st June 2024 (Day 30),” June 23, 2024, youtu.be/-ZB97WuToMQ?si=kCDHWWtOzV3ZmvFC , 4:10–4:28.

462 “Russia is our friend . . .” Great replacement soldiers quoted in Susan Svrluga, “‘We Will Keep Coming Back’: Richard Spencer Leads Another Torchlight March in Charlottesville,” Washington Post , October 9, 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/10/07/richard-spencer-leads-another-torchlight-march-in-charlottesville/ .

462 increased India’s imports . . . in response to . . . “Rather than cutting economic ties with the Kremlin, India has undermined Western sanctions by increasing its purchases of Russian oil, coal and fertilizer—giving Putin a vital financial lifeline.” Rhea Mogul, “India’s Words Are Anti-War, but New Delhi’s Actions Are Propping Up Putin’s Regime,” CNN, October 4, 2022, edition.cnn.com/2022/10/03/india/india-russia-war-putin-modi-intl-hnk/index.html .

463 “In Ukraine, pro-Russians hold elections . . . Nayib Bukele, Twitter, May 11, 2014, 11:52 p.m., x.com/nayibbukele/status/465700978394529792 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/F8fRj .

463 visited Russia to observe rigged elections Erika Solomon, “Far Right’s Ties to Russia Sow Rising Alarm in Germany,” New York Times , April 15, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/04/15/world/europe/germany-afd-russia.html .

463 opposed sending weapons . . . and placing sanctions . . . Solomon, “Far Right’s Ties to Russia Sow Rising Alarm in Germany,” www.nytimes.com/2024/04/15/world/europe/germany-afd-russia.html .

463 " takes a country that was an empire . . .” Éric Zemmour, 2018, quoted in Elisabeth Zerofsky, “France’s Far Right Turn,” New York Times , March 31, 2022, updated April 22, 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/magazine/new-french-right.html .

463 “Ukraine does not exist” Éric Zemmour, Un quinquennat pour rien (Paris: Albin Michel, 2016), quoted in Zerofsky, “France’s Far Right Turn,” www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/magazine/new-french-right.html . Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/958058274 .

463 “an alliance between . . . against Islamists” Marine Le Pen quoted in Vivienne Walt, “Why France’s Marine Le Pen Is Doubling Down on Russia Support,” Time , January 9, 2017, time.com/4627780/russia-national-front-marine-le-pen-putin/ .

463 support for . . . but opposed sending . . . or placing energy sanctions . . . Marc Bassets, “Marine Le Pen: ‘If Russia Wins the War, It Will Be Catastrophic . . . if Ukraine Wins, It Will Mean WWIII Has Been Unleashed,’” El País English , April 13, 2023, english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-13/marine-le-pen-if-russia-wins-the-war-it-will-be-catastrophic-if-ukraine-wins-it-will-mean-wwiii-has-been-unleashed.html .

463 fawned over Putin as a leader up until the invasion of Ukraine On Meloni, see James Crisp et al., “Why Europe Is listening to Meloni,” The Telegraph , June 8, 2024, www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/06/08/why-europe-is-listening-to-giorgia-meloni-italy-eu . During a 2018 interview with RT, a Russian state-controlled television station, Wilders said, “Vladimir Putin is a leader, whatever you think of him. I criticize a lot of his policies. But I applaud him as I applaud Mr. Trump for being leaders, who are standing there on behalf of the Russian and the American people . . . We lack that kind of leadership in Europe. “Wilders: I Criticize Putin’s Policies, but Applaud the Way He Stands for Russian People,” RT, March 3, 2018, www.rt.com/news/420348-geert-wilders-exclusive-interview/ . During a 2023 parliamentary debate that occurred in the context of forming a cabinet, Wilders told lawmakers who called out his closeness with Putin and Russia, “I completely distance myself from everything Putin has done.” Geert Wilders quoted in “Wilders Criticized for Past Remarks and Russia Stance in First Parliamentary Debate,” NL Times , December 13, 2023, nltimes.nl/2023/12/13/wilders-criticized-past-remarks-russia-stance-first-parliamentary-debate . Wilders opposes allowing Ukraine to join NATO but has called the invasion “illegal and barbaric.” Wilders, September 30, 2022, 11:16 a.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1575867269770448896 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/GzsJi ; and Wilders quoted in “Dutch Election Winner Wilders Willing to Consider More Ukraine Aid,” Reuters, February 24, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/dutch-election-winner-wilders-willing-consider-more-ukraine-aid-2024-02-24/ .

Chapter 125: Genocide

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:53 GMT

464 “the eastward expansion of NATO” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, Kremlin, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

464 reeled off NATO’s use . . . conveying that Russia . . . Putin mentions operations in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. He warns, “the North Atlantic alliance continued to expand despite our protests and concerns. Its military machine is moving and . . . is approaching our very border.” Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

464 “territories adjacent to Russia . . .” Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

464 was a historical and cultural illusion, like . . . See also “Article by Vladimir Putin ‘On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,’” President of Russia, Kremlin, July 12, 2021, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181 .

464 waged a war against their colonizers. Ukrainians declared independence “Ukraine in the Flames: ‘1917 in Kyiv’ by Serhii Plokhii,” Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, September 18, 2017, www.huri.harvard.edu/news/ukraine-flames-1917-kyiv-serhii-plokhii ; and Arkadii Zhukovsky, “Ukrainian–Soviet War, 1917–21,” Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine , Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (University of Alberta/University of Toronto), accessed April 28, 2025, www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/previous.asp?bottomMenuDisplay=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm&KidNumer=17250 .

464–465 recolonized the land “Ukraine in the Flames of the 1917 Revolution,” Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, September 13, 2017, www.huri.harvard.edu/news/ukraine-flames-1917-revolution ; Zhukovsky, “Ukrainian–Soviet War, 1917–21,” www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/previous.asp?bottomMenuDisplay=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainians.htm&KidNumer=17250 .

464–465 proclaimed it . . . incorporated it . . . in 1922 Vasyl Markus and Ihor Stebelsky, “Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic,” Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine , accessed April 28, 2025, www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainianSovietSocialistRepublic.htm .

465 did not declare their independence again until . . . Markus and Stebelsky, “Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic,” www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CU%5CK%5CUkrainianSovietSocialistRepublic.htm .

465 “genocide of the millions of people who live” "Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

465 “far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

465 “the leading NATO countries are supporting” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

465 “will undoubtedly . . . kill innocent people . . .” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

465 initially viewed . . . as liberators from Soviet colonizers Karel C. Berkhoff, Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine Under Nazi Rule (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 2, 20, 114; Ondřej Bělíček, “How Ukraine’s Far Right Pushed Its Myths About World War II: An interview with Marta Havryshko,” Jacobin , December 31, 2024, jacobin.com/2024/12/ukraine-myths-wwii-nationalism-nazis ; and Jason Dawsey, “Remembrance of the Great Patriotic War and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), March 18, 2022, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/great-patriotic-war-russia-invasion-ukraine . Find Harvest of Despair at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/53021619 .

465 profiled Soviet colonizers as Jews . . . more than willing to collaborate Bělíček, “How Ukraine’s Far Right Pushed Its Myths About World War II: An interview with Marta Havryshko,” jacobin.com/2024/12/ukraine-myths-wwii-nationalism-nazis

465 raised . . . through collaborating with Ukrainian nationalists . . . Bělíček, “How Ukraine’s Far Right Pushed Its Myths About World War II,” jacobin.com/2024/12/ukraine-myths-wwii-nationalism-nazis ; and Dawsey, “Remembrance of the Great Patriotic War and Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/great-patriotic-war-russia-invasion-ukraine .

465 the new force quashing . . . On June 30, 1941, a Ukrainian battalion under German command “entered Nazi-occupied Lviv . . . Local people greeted them and expressed their satisfaction. Right after entering Lviv, the Ukrainian independent state was proclaimed. But the Germans didn’t want to establish such a state. That’s why many leaders, including [Stepan] Bandera, were imprisoned. They spent most of the war in different concentration camps.” Bělíček, “How Ukraine’s Far Right Pushed Its Myths About World War II,” jacobin.com/2024/12/ukraine-myths-wwii-nationalism-nazis .

465 Ukrainian and Russian Jews . . . Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war Historian Jennifer Popowycz writes, "Based on present-day borders, one in every four Jewish victims of the Holocaust was murdered in Ukraine.” Jennifer Popowycz, The ‘Holocaust by Bullets’ in Ukraine,” National WWII Museum, January 24, 2022, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/ukraine-holocaust ; “Einsatzgruppen: An Overview,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed April 29, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/einsatzgruppen ; and “Nazi Persecution of Soviet Prisoners of War,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed April 29, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-persecution-of-soviet-prisoners-of-war .

465 aimed to clear lands . . . for extra “living space” . . . while enslaving . . . “What Was Operation 'Barbarossa'?” Imperial War Museums, accessed April 29, 2025, www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-operation-barbarossa ; “The German Army and the Racial Nature of the War Against the Soviet Union,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed April 29, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-german-army-and-the-racial-nature-of-the-war-against-the-soviet-union ; and “Lebensraum,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed April 29, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lebensraum .

465–466 About twenty-seven million About one million Soviet Jews were among the dead. Mark Harrison, “Counting the Soviet Union’s War Dead: Still 26–27 Million,” Europe–Asia Studies 71, no. 6 (July 2019), www.jstor.org/stable/26757422 , 1036–1037, 1046; and “Estimated Jewish Losses In The Holocaust,” Yad Vashem, accessed April 29, 2025, https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/about/o207 .

466 heralded . . . as a war of annihilation Keith Huxen, “The Words of War,” National WWII Museum, March 13, 2018, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/words-war-10 ; and “Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/invasion-of-the-soviet-union-june-1941 .

466 “to save European civilization and culture” Adolf Hitler, proclamation to troops, June 22, 1941, quoted in Jeffrey Herf, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2006), 100. To find this book at a library near you, visit search.worldcat.org/title/433613587 .

466 “in Russian Bolshevism . . .” Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf , trans. Ralph Manheim (1943; Boston, MA: Mariner Books, 1999), archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/660/mode/2up , 661.

466 “NATO countries” . . . “taken Ukraine hostage and are trying . . .” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

Chapter 126: Our Tasks

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:52 GMT

467 "for over ten years Jewish Bolshevist rulers . . .” Associated Press, “Text of Reichsfuehrer Hitler’s Proclamation That Revealed Germany’s War Against Soviet Union,” New York Times , June 23, 1941, nyti.ms/44JrstN , 6.

467 “The purpose of this operation is to protect . . .” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, Kremlin, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

467 “to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

467 wanted to destroy . . . of a national and cultural identity See Kate Tsurkan, “Putin Has Forced Ukrainians to View Russian Culture as a Weapon of War,” Atlantic Council, August 8, 2022, www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/putin-has-forced-ukrainians-to-view-russian-culture-as-a-weapon-of-war/ ; Charlie Smart, “How the Russian Media Spread False Claims About Ukrainian Nazis,” New York Times , July 2, 2022, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/02/world/europe/ukraine-nazis-russia-media.html ; and Yevhenii Monastyrskyi and John Vsetecka, “Russia is destroying monuments as part of war on Ukrainian identity,” Atlantic Council, August 6, 2024, www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russia-is-destroying-monuments-as-part-of-war-on-ukrainian-identity/ .

467 “Denazification will inevitably include de-Ukrainization . . .” Timofey Sergeytsev, “What should Russia do with Ukraine?” in Mariia Kravchenko, “What Should Russia Do with Ukraine? [Translation of a propaganda article by a Russian publication],” Medium, April 4, 2022, medium.com/@kravchenko_mm/what-should-russia-do-with-ukraine-translation-of-a-propaganda-article-by-a-russian-journalist-a3e92e3cb64 .

467 sent high-ranking Russian officials . . . Our Tasks Mansur Mirovalev, “Are Putin’s Views Fascist?” Al Jazeera, October 26, 2022, www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/how-fascist-are-putins-views .

467 contained . . . on a post-communist Russia Mirovalev, “Are Putin’s Views Fascist?” www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/how-fascist-are-putins-views .

467 exiled Ilyin . . . on Lenin’s orders Lesley Chamberlain, Lenin’s Private War: The Voyage of the Philosophy Steamer, and the Exile of the Intelligentsia (New York: Picador, 2006), 1–7. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/123912624 .

467–468 visited . . . studied Mussolini’s fascism, and grieved . . . Mirovalev, “Are Putin’s Views Fascist?” www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/how-fascist-are-putins-views ; and Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America (New York: Crown, 2018), 19. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1029484935 .

468 “concentration of state-protective forces” Ivan Alexandrovich Ilyin, “On Fascism,” 1948, Orthodox Electronic Library of the Odintsovo Deanery, www.odinblago.ru/nashi_zadachi_1/37 , via Google Translate.

468 “. . . will always concentrate in a protective-dictatorial direction . . .” Ilyin, “On Fascism,” www.odinblago.ru/nashi_zadachi_1/37 ,

468 “fascism was right since it proceeded from . . . ” Ilyin, “On Fascism,” www.odinblago.ru/nashi_zadachi_1/37 ,

468 greeted Hitler’s ascension Mirovalev, “Are Putin’s Views Fascist?” www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/how-fascist-are-putins-views ; and Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom , 19–20. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1029484935 .

468 did not stop believing fascism . . . Mirovalev, “Are Putin’s Views Fascist?” www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/how-fascist-are-putins-views ; and Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom, 33. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1029484935 .

468 has repeatedly quoted Ilyin in his speeches, including . . . Putin closed “with the words of a true patriot Ivan Ilyin: ‘If I consider Russia my Motherland, that means that I love as a Russian, contemplate and think, sing and speak as a Russian; that I believe in the spiritual strength of the Russian people. Its spirit is my spirit; its destiny is my destiny; its suffering is my grief; and its prosperity is my joy.’” Mirovalev, “Are Putin’s Views Fascist?” www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/how-fascist-are-putins-views ; and “Signing of Treaties on Accession of Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions to Russia,” President of Russia, Kremlin, September 30, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/69465 .

468 opposed Ukraine’s right to exist Mirovalev, “Are Putin’s Views Fascist?” www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/26/how-fascist-are-putins-views ; and Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom , ix, 23. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1029484935 .

468 Seventeen minutes after See the timeline of events in Tim Lister et al., “Here’s What We Know About How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Unfolded,” CNN, February 24, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-russia-attack-timeline-intl . The times provided in this article are in local Ukrainian time, which is one hour behind Moscow time in February.

468 “we do not intend to impose anything . . .” “Address by the President of the Russian Federation,” President of Russia, February 24, 2022, en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/67843 .

468 struck near Lister et al., “Here’s What We Know About How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Unfolded,” www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-russia-attack-timeline-intl/index.html .

468 rained down on Kharkiv Lister et al., “Here’s What We Know About How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Unfolded,” www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-russia-attack-timeline-intl/index.html .

468 rocked other cities. Russian military vehicles . . . Lister et al., “Here’s What We Know About How Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Unfolded,” www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/europe/ukraine-russia-attack-timeline-intl/index.html ; “Ukraine Conflict: What We Know About the Invasion,” BBC News, February 24, 2022, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-60504334 ; and Emma Graham-Harrison et al., “Airstrikes at Dawn as Russia Begins ‘War of Aggression’ with Ukraine,” The Guardian , February 24, 2022, www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/24/airstrikes-dawn-russia-begins-war-aggression-with-ukraine-vladimir-putin .

468 On the day . . . more than 2,500 articles about Ukraine . . . continuing . . . Smart, “How the Russian Media Spread False Claims About Ukrainian Nazis,” www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/02/world/europe/ukraine-nazis-russia-media.html .

469 ordered . . . on the basis of Israel’s right to defend itself See Prime Minister of Israel, X, October 7, 2023, 5:09 a.m., x.com/IsraeliPM/status/1710583005230575705 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/6NTJv ; Prime Minister of Israel, X, October 7, 2023, 10:14 a.m., x.com/IsraeliPM/status/1710659993874190610 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/bItIC ; “Promising Merciless War on Hamas, Netanyahu Says Israel Will ‘Avenge This Black Day,’” Times of Israel , October 8, 2023, www.timesofisrael.com/promising-merciless-war-on-hamas-netanyahu-says-israel-will-avenge-this-black-day/ .

469 the deadliest and ghastliest attack . . . Prasanta Kumar Dutta, “Protests Sweep Around the Globe as Israel’s War in Gaza Grinds On,” Reuters, November 13, 2023, www.reuters.com/graphics/ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/MAPS/movajdladpa/2023-11-13/protests-sweep-around-the-globe-as-israels-war-in-gaza-grinds-on/ .

469 murdered about 1,200 . . . took 251 people as hostages “What Is Hamas and Why Is It Fighting with Israel in Gaza?” BBC News, January 21, 2025, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67039975 ; and AFP, “Foreigners Killed, Abducted or Missing After Hamas Attack,” France 24, October 18, 2023, updated October 23, 2023, www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231018-foreigners-killed-abducted-or-missing-after-hamas-attack

469 bringing some back to . . . Adolfo Arranz et al., “Inside the Tunnels of Gaza,” Reuters, December 21, 2023, www.reuters.com/graphics/ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/GAZA-TUNNELS/gkvldmzorvb/ ; and Matt Gutman, “60 Feet Underground in a 3-Foot-Wide Tomb: Freed Israeli Hostage Details Conditions of Hamas Captivity: Reporter’s Notebook,” ABC News, March 17, 2025, abcnews.go.com/International/freed-israeli-hostage-conditions-hamas-captivity-tunnels-gaza/story?id=119753496 .

469 to exercise restraint . . . “limited and targeted operation” . . . while not harming . . . Ruth Michaelson, “Condemnation and Calls for Restraint After Hamas Attack on Israel,” The Guardian , October 7, 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/07/condemnation-and-calls-for-restraint-after-hamas-attack-on-israel ; United Nations, “‘Even War Has Rules’, Secretary-General Tells Security Council, Demanding All Parties in Middle East Uphold International Humanitarian Law, Unrestricted Aid for Gaza,” press release, October 24, 2023, press.un.org/en/2023/sgsm22003.doc.htm ; and Yasmeen Abutaleb, “U.S. Cites Intelligence, Offers Israel Supplies to Limit Rafah Operation,” Washington Post , May 11, 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/11/us-israel-rafah-invasion-palestinians-evacuation/ .

469 accused Hamas of hiding behind civilians . . . bombed it all Human Rights Watch, “‘Hopeless, Starving, and Besieged’: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in Gaza,” November 14, 2024, www.hrw.org/report/2024/11/14/hopeless-starving-and-besieged/israels-forced-displacement-palestinians-gaza ; “Israel Accuses Hamas of Hiding Weapons Depots Near Civilian Buildings,” Reuters, July 27, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-accuses-hamas-hiding-weapons-depots-near-civilian-buildings-2022-07-27/ ; “How Gaza’s Refugee Camps Became Targets in Israel’s War with Hamas,” CBC News, November 4, 2023, www.cbc.ca/news/world/gaza-refugee-camps-israel-hamas-war-1.7018274 ; “Israel Ramps Up attacks in Gaza, Striking Schools, Hospitals and Mosques,” Al Jazeera, November 4, 2023, www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/4/israeli-strikes-target-schools-hospitals-mosques-on-gaza ; Mohamad El Chamaa, “Gazans Mourn Loss of Their Libraries: Cultural Beacons and Communal Spaces,” Washington Post , December 1, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/30/gaza-library-palestinian-culture/ ; and Reha Kansara and Ahmed Nour, “Israel–Gaza war: Counting the Destruction of Religious Sites,” BBC News, January 29, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67983018 .

469 at least 67,869 Palestinians, about half of whom were women and children 20,179 children were among the dead as of October 7, 2025. “As the ceasefire begins, a look at the Gaza war by the numbers,” NPR, October 13, 2025, www.npr.org/2025/10/13/g-s1-92205/ceasefire-gaza-war-key-figures ; and Wafaa Shurafa et al., “Palestinian death toll in Gaza passes 64,000, officials say, after ceasefire talks break down,” PBS, September 4, 2025, www.pbs.org/newshour/world/palestinian-death-toll-in-gaza-passes-64000-officials-say-after-ceasefire-talks-break-down .

469 displaced nearly all of the strip’s 2.2 million people Estimates published in January 2025 indicate that 1.9 million of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million inhabitants (86%) have been displaced. “Gaza Strip in Maps: How 15 Months of War Have Drastically Changed Life in the Territory,” BBC News, January 16, 2025, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20415675 . Sources vary on the pre-war population of Gaza, but the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics states “about 2.2 million.” Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, “Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) Presents the Conditions of the Palestinian Population on the Occasion of the World Population Day, 11/07/2024,” July 11, 2024, www.pcbs.gov.ps/post.aspx?lang=en&ItemID=5791 .

469 “up to 186,000 or even more” . . . Rasha Khatib et al., “Counting the Dead in Gaza: Difficult but Essential,” The Lancet 404, no, 10449 (July 2024), www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext .

469 as many as 8 percent of the entire population . . . Khatib et al., “Counting the Dead in Gaza: Difficult but Essential,” www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext .

469 according to genocide scholars On August 31, 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) passed a resolution which stated, "since the horrific Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023, which itself constitutes international crimes, the government of Israel has engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide." IAGS, "IAGS Resolution on the Situation in Gaza," August 31, 2025, genocidescholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IAGS-Resolution-on-Gaza-FINAL.pdf , 3.

469 largely portrayed . . . not supplying . . . not sanctioning Russia Jean-Pierre Filiu, “Why Israel Still Refuses to Give Military Aid to Ukraine,” Le Monde , May 15, 2023, www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/05/15/why-israel-still-refuses-to-give-military-aid-to-ukraine_6026664_4.html ; and Steven Erlanger and Adam Sella, “Israel Faces Tough Balancing Act on Russia and the West,” New York Times , March 19, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/world/europe/israel-russia-us-ukraine.html .

469 outspoken in his condemnation Erlanger and Sella, “Israel Faces Tough Balancing Act on Russia and the West,” www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/world/europe/israel-russia-us-ukraine.html .

469–470 “constituencies across the Middle East and even beyond . . .” Hanna Notte quoted in Andrew Osborn, “Russia’s Putin Tries to Use Gaza War to His Geopolitical Advantage,” Reuters, November 17, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/russias-putin-sees-political-economic-upside-israels-war-with-hamas-2023-11-17/ .

Chapter 127: Human Animals

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:50 GMT

471 “Now we all have one common goal . . .” Nissim Vaturi, X, October 7, 2023, 12:33 p.m., x.com/nissimv/status/1710694866009596169 , archived at archive.today, May 23, 2025 capture, archive.ph/CewKG .

471 “Who’s left in Gaza? Are there citizens?” Nissim Vaturi quoted in Ariella Marsden, “Likud MK Calls to ‘Burn Gaza’ in Latest Controversy,” Jerusalem Post , November 20, 2023, www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-774213 .

471 “There are only tunnels, Hamas . . .” Vaturi quoted in Marsden, “Likud MK Calls to ‘Burn Gaza’ in Latest Controversy,” www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-774213 .

471 “a complete siege on the Gaza Strip” Yoav Gallant quoted in Emanuel Fabian, “Defense Minister Announces ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza: No Power, Food or Fuel,” The Times of Israel , October 9, 2023, www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/defense-minister-announces-complete-siege-of-gaza-no-power-food-or-fuel/ .

471 “There will be no electricity, no food . . .” Gallant quoted in Fabian, “Defense Minister Announces ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza: No Power, Food or Fuel,” www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/defense-minister-announces-complete-siege-of-gaza-no-power-food-or-fuel/ .

471 “We are fighting human animals . . .” Gallant quoted in Fabian, “Defense Minister Announces ‘Complete Siege’ of Gaza: No Power, Food or Fuel,” www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/defense-minister-announces-complete-siege-of-gaza-no-power-food-or-fuel/ .

471 “What happens to a Russian . . . does not interest me in the slightest” “Excerpt from Himmler’s Speech to the SS-Gruppenführer at Posen (October 4, 1943),” German History in Documents and Images , ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1513 .

471 “We Germans . . . towards these human animals” “Excerpt from Himmler’s Speech to the SS-Gruppenführer at Posen (October 4, 1943),” ghdi.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=1513 .

471 “no non-combatants” in Gaza Amihai Eliyahu quoted in Sébastian Seibt, “From Outrage to Hate: In the Wake of October 7, Israel’s Far Right Seeks to Extend Its Influence,” France 24, November 8, 2023, www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20231108-from-outrage-to-hate-in-the-wake-of-october-7-israel-s-far-right-seeks-to-extend-its-influence .

471 “. . . more painful than death” Amihai Eliyahu quoted in “Israel Minister Calls for ‘Ways More Painful Than Death’ for Palestinians,” Middle East Monitor, January 6, 2024, www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240106-israel-minister-calls-for-ways-more-painful-than-death-for-palestinians/ .

471–472 “eviscerated” and . . . “into a parking lot” “Max Miller: I Will Not Tolerate Hate or Antisemitism in the Halls of Congress,” Fox News, October 10, 2023, www.foxnews.com/video/6338813818112 ,0:51–1:01.

472 “between the civilian population in other places . . .” Eliyahu Mali quoted in Natalie Merzougui and Maria Rashed, “Has Israel Taken Enough Action to Prevent Alleged Incitement to Genocide?” BBC News, August 26, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5w2wd4x0o .

472 without evidence . . . “95 to 98 percent are interested in our demise” Mali quoted in Merzougui and Rashed, “Has Israel Taken Enough Action to Prevent Alleged Incitement to Genocide?” www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5w2wd4x0o .

472 “According to the scriptures . . .” Mali quoted in Merzougui and Rashed, “Has Israel Taken Enough Action to Prevent Alleged Incitement to Genocide?” www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5w2wd4x0o .

472 “If you don’t kill them, they will kill you” Mali quoted in Merzougui and Rashed, “Has Israel Taken Enough Action to Prevent Alleged Incitement to Genocide?” www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze5w2wd4x0o .

472 “You must remember what Amalek has done . . .” Sky News, “Israel–Hamas War: ‘We Will Fight and We Will Win,’ Says Benjamin Netanyahu,” YouTube, October 28, 2023, youtu.be/P5LmB6uup3o?si=xWV-xdpdgcmtqXbk , 1:51–1:56; and Noah Lanard, “The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric,” Mother Jones , November 3, 2023, www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/ .

472 commanded . . .to kill every Amalekite. Saul disobeyed but did execute Agag 1 Samuel 15: 1–9 (JPS, 1985), Sefaria Library, accessed May 2, 2025, www.sefaria.org/I_Samuel.15 ; and Lanard, “The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric,” www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/ .

472 nearly exterminated the ancient Israelites living under Persian rule The William Davidson Talmud , Megillah 13a; Esther 3 (JPS, 1985), Sefaria Library, accessed May 2, 2025, www.sefaria.org/Esther.3 ; Esther 7 (JPS, 1985), Sefaria Library, accessed May 2, 2025, www.sefaria.org/Esther.7 ; and Lanard, “The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric,” www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/ .

472 referenced . . . in “Genocide: A Commandment of the Torah” . . . Lanard, “The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric,” www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/ .

472 identified Palestinians as modern-day Amalekites Lanard, “The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric,” www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/ .

472–473 massacred twenty-nine Palestinians . . . Lanard, “The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric,” www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/ .

473 a portrait . . . in his living room Lanard, “The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric,” www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/ .

473 “Jews murdered in the West Bank are more important . . .” Simcha Rothman quoted in Seibt, “From Outrage to Hate,” www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20231108-from-outrage-to-hate-in-the-wake-of-october-7-israel-s-far-right-seeks-to-extend-its-influence .

473 “The main reason we have reached this situation” is “the crimes of the left . . .” In addition to “the crimes of the left,” Shai Galili also cites “the crimes of Oslo.” Galili quoted in David Wertheim, “Likud Critic on Channel 14: ‘The Leftist Cancer Is to Blame for the War,’” Walla, October 10, 2023, b.walla.co.il/item/3614935 , via Google Translate.

473 “In any other country in the world . . .” Galili quoted in Wertheim, “Likud Critic on Channel 14,” b.walla.co.il/item/3614935 ,

473 aimed at altering . . . for judicial appointments A proposed plan would have empowered the government “to appoint a majority of the members of the panel that selects new judges, upending the current system in which government appointees form only a minority of panel members.” Patrick Kingsley, “Netanyahu Surges Ahead with Judicial Overhaul, Prompting Fury in Israel,” New York Times, January 12, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/world/middleeast/netanyahu-israel-judicial-reform.html .

473 curtailing . . . to review (and block) . . . Under this plan, “a simple majority of lawmakers could override almost any revocation of parliamentary legislation by the Supreme Court, which can currently block laws on constitutional grounds. The court would only be able to prevent itself from being overruled by Parliament if all of its 15 judges unanimously agreed about the need to block a law.” Kingsley, “Netanyahu Surges Ahead with Judicial Overhaul, Prompting Fury in Israel,” www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/world/middleeast/netanyahu-israel-judicial-reform.html .

473 poured into the streets to protest and hold strikes “Netanyahu Delays Judicial Overhaul Plan, Backtracking After Unprecedented Strikes and Protests,” Washington Post , March 27, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/27/israel-judicial-reform-protests-live-updates/ .

473 passed a bill abolishing . . . which the Supreme Court later struck down Bethan McKernan, “Israeli Parliament Votes In Netanyahu’s Controversial Supreme Court Changes,” The Guardian , July 24, 2023, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/24/israeli-parliament-votes-in-netanyahu-controversial-supreme-court-changes ; and Josef Federman and Melanie Lidman, “Israel’s Supreme Court Overturns a Key Component of Netanyahu’s Polarizing Judicial Overhaul,” Associated Press (AP) News, January 1, 2024, apnews.com/article/israel-supreme-court-judicial-overhaul-78733a94428b8b9f2c311ee6779eba23 .

473–474 secret troll farm, funded . . . $2 million and executed by a political marketing firm Sheera Frenkel, “Israel Secretly Targets U.S. Lawmakers with Influence Campaign on Gaza War,” New York Times , June 5, 2024, updated June 6, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/technology/israel-campaign-gaza-social-media.html .

474 Hundreds . . . “digital soldiers” . . . on X, Facebook, and Instagram Frenkel, “Israel Secretly Targets U.S. Lawmakers with Influence Campaign on Gaza War,” www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/technology/israel-campaign-gaza-social-media.html .

474 posted their support for the Israeli war in Gaza Frenkel, “Israel Secretly Targets U.S. Lawmakers with Influence Campaign on Gaza War,” www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/technology/israel-campaign-gaza-social-media.html .

474 focusing . . . to urge them to keep funding . . . the Israeli military Frenkel, “Israel Secretly Targets U.S. Lawmakers with Influence Campaign on Gaza War,” www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/technology/israel-campaign-gaza-social-media.html .

Chapter 128: Middle of an Ocean

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:48 GMT

475 “The response of Israel must be tough” Geert Wilders, X, October 8, 2023, 12:45 a.m., x.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1710879011113447738 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/yuMG9 .

475 “European patriots” . . . “it shows us how vital it is for a people to . . .” Geert Wilders, “Why European Patriots Should Support Israel,” Breitbart, October 3, 2024, www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/10/03/geert-wilders-for-breitbart-why-european-patriots-should-support-israel/ .

475 “See how Israel resisted alone and for so long . . .” Renaud Camus, Le Grand Remplacement (Paris: Reinharc, 2011), trans. Grace Ashton (unpublished translation), 68. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/es/title/Le-grand-remplacement/oclc/767578742 .

475 advised both Viktor Orbán and Benjamin Netanyahu . . . Nick Thorpe, “The Man Who Helped Orban and Netanyahu Rise to Power,” BBC News, July 1, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66065550 .

475 started bombing Gaza Clothilde Mraffko, “In Gaza, Entire Families Destroyed by Israeli Bombing: ‘My Son, My Niece and Another Child Are Still Under the Rubble,'” Le Monde , October 12, 2023, www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/10/12/in-gaza-entire-families-destroyed-by-israeli-bombing-my-son-my-niece-and-another-child-are-still-under-the-rubble_6167251_4.html .

475 “sympathy rallies supporting the terrorists” Viktor Orbán quoted in “Hungary to Ban Rallies Supporting ‘Terrorist Organisations,’ Orban says,” Reuters, October 13, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungary-ban-rallies-supporting-terrorist-organisations-pm-orban-2023-10-13/ .

475 “. . . That is what Muslim immigration has done to Denmark” Anders Vistisen, X, November 9, 2023, 5:24 a.m., x.com/AndersVistisen/status/1722560691016495398 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/fRmii , via Google Translate; and Rosie Birchard, “Where Does Europe’s Far Right Stand on the Israel–Hamas War?” Deutsche Welle (DW), November 18, 2023, www.dw.com/en/where-do-europes-far-right-parties-stand-on-the-israel-hamas-conflict/a-67465217 .

475 head of the party’s youth group “Anders Primdahl Vistisen,” Politico , accessed October 3, 2025, www.politico.eu/person/anders-vistisen/ .

475 the chief whip for the Patriots for Europe Gerardo Fortuna, “Showdown for Far-Right Patriots in Quest for Third-Biggest Group,” Euronews, July 8, 2024, www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/07/08/showdown-for-far-right-patriots-in-quest-for-third-biggest-group .

475 backed Israel, orchestrating distance . . . Andreas Noll, “France: Far-right Le Pen to Join March Against Antisemitism,” DW, November 11, 2023, www.dw.com/en/france-far-right-le-pen-to-join-march-against-antisemitism/a-67372410 .

475–476 “Our compatriots of the Jewish faith . . .” Marine Le Pen quoted in Noll, “France: Far-right Le Pen to Join March Against Antisemitism," www.dw.com/en/france-far-right-le-pen-to-join-march-against-antisemitism/a-67372410 .

476 “Those savage beasts [Hamas] do not represent . . .” Nayib Bukele, X, October 8, 2023, 11:21 p.m., x.com/nayibbukele/status/1711220281820278875 , archived at archive.today, December 3, 2025 capture, archive.ph/HxRl5 .

476 “get rid of those animals and let the good people thrive” Nayib Bukele, X, October 8, 2023, x.com/nayibbukele/status/1711220281820278875 , archived at archive.ph/HxRl5 .

476 first convened in 1897 “The Zionist Congress,” National Library of Israel, accessed May 6, 2025, www.nli.org.il/en/discover/israel/zionism/zionism-history/zionist-congress .

476 “Hitler didn’t want to exterminate . . .” “ PM Netanyahu’s Speech at the 37th Zionist Congress,” Prime Minister’s Office, gov.il, October 20, 2015, www.gov.il/en/pages/speechcongress201015 .

476 “And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler . . .” “ PM Netanyahu’s Speech at the 37th Zionist Congress,” www.gov.il/en/pages/speechcongress201015 ; and Jodi Rudoren, “Netanyahu Denounced for Saying Palestinian Inspired Holocaust,” New York Times , October 21, 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/world/middleeast/netanyahu-saying-palestinian-mufti-inspired-holocaust-draws-broad-criticism.html .

476 A Palestinian nationalist . . . oversaw Islamic courts, education, and holy sites . . . “Hajj Amin al-Husayni: Arab Nationalist and Muslim Leader,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed May 6, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hajj-amin-al-husayni-arab-nationalist-and-muslim-leader .

476 “So what should I do with them?” . . . “Burn them” “ PM Netanyahu’s Speech at the 37th Zionist Congress,” www.gov.il/en/pages/speechcongress201015 .

476 did want to burn up . . . for a Jewish homeland in Palestine “Hajj Amin al-Husayni: The Mufti of Jerusalem,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed October 3, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hajj-amin-al-husayni-the-mufti-of-jerusalem .

476 receive funding from Nazi Germany . . . “Hajj Amin al-Husayni: The Mufti of Jerusalem,” encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hajj-amin-al-husayni-the-mufti-of-jerusalem .

476 urge Muslims to engage in a holy war . . . “Hajj Amin al-Husayni: Key Dates,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed October 3, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hajj-amin-al-husayni-key-dates .

476 express Hitler’s antisemitic lie . . . “ Hajj Amin al-Husayni: Key Dates,” encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hajj-amin-al-husayni-key-dates .

476 “never have a better or more loyal ally than the Greater German Reich” Amin Al-Hussein quoted in “Hajj Amin al-Husayni: Key Dates,” encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hajj-amin-al-husayni-key-dates .

476 did pursue remigration See Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham, “Jewish Emigration and Deportations April 1940–September 1941 and the ‘Madagascar Plan,’” in Nazism 1919–1945: A Documentary Reader , Volume 3: Foreign Policy, War and Racial Extermination , eds. Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham (Liverpool, UK: Liverpool University Press, 2014), 468; and Ian Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), 578 on Hitler’s approval of the Madagascar Plan. Find Nazism, 1919–1945 at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1295440404 and Hitler: A Biography at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821 .

477 well before meeting with al-Husseini The Nazis’ systematic, mass murder of Jews began with the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. See “‘Final Solution’: Overview,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , December 8, 2020, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/final-solution-overview ; and Rudoren, “Netanyahu Denounced for Saying Palestinian Inspired Holocaust,” www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/world/middleeast/netanyahu-saying-palestinian-mufti-inspired-holocaust-draws-broad-criticism.html .

477 One million Jews . . . Rudoren, “Netanyahu Denounced for Saying Palestinian Inspired Holocaust,” www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/world/middleeast/netanyahu-saying-palestinian-mufti-inspired-holocaust-draws-broad-criticism.html .

477 rejected al-Husseini’s request to publicly state . . . “Ha j j Amin al-Husayni: The Mufti of Jerusalem,” encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hajj-amin-al-husayni-the-mufti-of-jerusalem ; and “ Hajj Amin al-Husayni: Key Dates,” encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hajj-amin-al-husayni-key-dates .

477 “a disgrace” and “a lie” Meir Litvak quoted in Rudoren, “Netanyahu Denounced for Saying Palestinian Inspired Holocaust,” www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/world/middleeast/netanyahu-saying-palestinian-mufti-inspired-holocaust-draws-broad-criticism.html .

477 “the Palestinians for the Holocaust” . . . “completely” . . . “Adolf Hitler’s heinous . . .” Saeb Erekat quoted in Rudoren, “Netanyahu Denounced for Saying Palestinian Inspired Holocaust.” www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/world/middleeast/netanyahu-saying-palestinian-mufti-inspired-holocaust-draws-broad-criticism.html .

477 described . . . as a Holocaust denier for moving “the responsibility . . .” Moshe Zimmermann said of Netanyahu’s speech, “With this, Netanyahu joins a long line of people that we would call Holocaust deniers.” Moshe Zimmermann quoted in Rudoren, “Netanyahu Denounced for Saying Palestinian Inspired Holocaust,” www.nytimes.com/2015/10/22/world/middleeast/netanyahu-saying-palestinian-mufti-inspired-holocaust-draws-broad-criticism.html .

477 “This is a struggle between the children of light and . . .” “Excerpt from PM Netanyahu’s Remarks at the Opening of the Winter Assembly of the 25th Knesset’s Second Session,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gov.il, October 16, 2023, www.gov.il/en/pages/excerpt-from-pm-netanyahu-s-remarks-at-the-opening-of-the-knesset-s-winter-assembly-16-oct-2023 .

477 “Many people around the world now understand . . ." “Excerpt from PM Netanyahu's Remarks at the Opening of the Winter Assembly of the 25th Knesset’s Second Session,” www.gov.il/en/pages/excerpt-from-pm-netanyahu-s-remarks-at-the-opening-of-the-knesset-s-winter-assembly-16-oct-2023 .

477 has routinely likened Muslim militants to Nazis For additional examples, see Sarah Fortinsky, "Netanyahu labels Hamas 'the new Nazis' alongside Germany's Sholz," The Hill , October 17, 2023, thehill.com/policy/international/4261308-netanyahu-labels-hamas-the-new-nazis-alongside-germanys-scholz/ ; Zena Al Tahhan, "How Israel has repeatedly rejected Hamas truce offers," Al Jazeera, January 22, 2024, www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/1/22/how-israel-has-repeatedly-rejected-hamas-truce-offers ; and Felix Tamsut, "Israel's Netanyahu calls Hamas 'Nazis' at Holocaust Memorial," DW, April 25, 2025, www.dw.com/en/israels-netanyahu-calls-hamas-nazis-at-holocaust-memorial/a-72330450 .

477 with ties to Netanyahu Nathan Guttman, “Sheldon Adelson Is a Philanthropist Like No Other,” Forward , November 3, 2014, forward.com/israel/208220/sheldon-adelson-is-a-philanthropist-like-no-other/ .

477 “followers and admirers . . . can mainly be found in the Muslim world" Manfred Gerstenfeld, “Holocaust Inversion: The Portraying of Israel and Jews as Nazis,” Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, April 1, 2007, jcfa.org/article/holocaust-inversion-the-portraying-of-israel-and-jews-as-nazis /.

477 “portrayal of Israel, Israelis, and Jews as Nazis” . . . “anti-Semitic” Gerstenfeld, “Holocaust Inversion: The Portraying of Israel and Jews as Nazis,” jcfa.org/article/holocaust-inversion-the-portraying-of-israel-and-jews-as-nazis /.

478 “Russophobia" “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, Kremlin, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

478 “just like any other ideology promoting racism . . . Russophobia is . . .” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

478 “the definition of Russophobia blossomed to include . . .” Konstantin Pakhalyuk, “What Does the Kremlin Mean by ‘Russophobia?’” Moscow Times , October 11, 2024, www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/10/11/what-does-the-kremlin-mean-by-russophobia-a86664 .

479 is to disparage Jews See Tia Goldenberg, “Netanyahu Frequently Makes Claims of Antisemitism: Critics Say He’s Deflecting from His Own Problems,” Associated Press (AP) News, May 29, 2024, apnews.com/article/israel-netanyahu-antisemitism-campus-05ebd71bec931a62f58e7d5f9e93fa19 .

479 “Nation-State Law” . . . “the right to exercise . . .” “unique to the Jewish people” Raoul Wootliff, “Final Text of Jewish Nation-State Law, Approved by the Knesset Early on July 19,” Times of Israel , July 18, 2018, www.timesofisrael.com/final-text-of-jewish-nation-state-bill-set-to-become-law/ .

479 “Jewish settlement” . . . “as a national value” Wootliff, “Final Text of Jewish Nation-State Law, Approved by the Knesset Early on July 19,” www.timesofisrael.com/final-text-of-jewish-nation-state-bill-set-to-become-law/ . The International Court of Justice of the UN has ruled this occupation illegal. See Raffi Berg, “UN Top Court Says Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territories Is Illegal,” BBC News, July 19, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjerjzxlpvdo .

480 came across . . . more than a year prior to October 7 Ronen Bergman and Adam Goldman, “Israel Knew Hamas’s Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago,” New York Times , November 30, 2023, updated December 2, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-attack-intelligence.html .

480 did not move to prevent “Report: Weeks Before Oct. 7, Shin Bet and IDF Chiefs Warned Netanyahu of Looming Attack,” Times of Israel , December 13, 2024, www.timesofisrael.com/pm-said-warned-while-hospitalized-months-before-oct-7-of-israels-exposure-to-attack/ ; and “Netanyahu’s Office Admits Staff Didn’t Pass On Alert Hours Before Oct. 7 Attack,” Times of Israel , March 2, 2025, www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahus-office-admits-pms-staff-got-didnt-pass-on-alert-hours-before-oct-7-attack/ .

480 tipped off the Kremlin in advance . . . Shane Harris, “U.S. Told Russia That Crocus City Hall Was Possible Target of Attack,” Washington Post , April 2, 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/02/us-warning-russia-isis-crocus/ .

480 four men from Tajikistan “What We Know About Attack on a Moscow Concert Hall,” BBC News, April 9, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68645755 .

480 directed by ISIL “The preparation, financing, the actual attack and the attempted flight of the gunmen were coordinated over the internet by Islamic State Khorasan, the Afghan branch of the militant group” ISIL. “Russian Spy Chief Says More Than 20 Arrested over Deadly Concert Attack,” Reuters, May 24, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-spy-chief-says-ukraine-was-directly-involved-moscow-concert-hall-attack-2024-05-24/ .

480 set . . . ablaze and killed 149 Russian concertgoers, mostly by gunfire “Trial Begins for Suspects in 2024 Moscow Concert Hall Attack That Killed 149 People,” AP News, August 4, 2025, apnews.com/article/russia-moscow-concert-hall-attack-trial-de1befa242d8ba10ec108927140105da ; and “What We Know About Attack on a Moscow Concert Hall,” www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68645755 .

480 charged . . . “outright blackmail and an intention to intimidate and destabilize” Vladimir Putin to FSB chiefs quoted in “Putin Vows Harsh Retribution After ‘Barbaric Terrorist Attack’ in Moscow,” Le Monde , March 23, 2024, updated March 24, 2024, www.lemonde.fr/en/russia/article/2024/03/23/putin-vows-harsh-retribution-after-barbaric-terrorist-attack-in-moscow_6647668_140.html .

480 connected the gunmen . . . to justify his war Guy Faulconbridge et al., “Putin Vows to Punish Those Behind Russia Concert Massacre,” Reuters, March 24, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/two-suspects-moscow-attack-detained-after-car-chase-lawmaker-2024-03-23/ ; “Russia’s Putin Says ‘Radical Islamists’ Behind Moscow Concert Hall Attack,” Al Jazeera, March 25, 2024, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/25/russias-putin-says-radical-islamists-behind-moscow-concert-hall-attack ; and Associated Press, “Russia Keeps Blaming Ukraine for Concert Attack Despite Islamic State Claiming Responsibility,” PBS News, March 26, 2024, www.pbs.org/newshour/world/russia-keeps-blaming-ukraine-for-concert-attack-despite-islamic-state-claiming-responsibility .

480 “I am grateful to the parliamentary parties . . .” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

Chapter 129: Imminent Plans

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:47 GMT

481 his first presidential election . . . about 53 percent Katharine Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” Moscow Times , March 18, 2024, www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

481 exiled, imprisoned, or bent to Putin’s will Alexey Kovalev, “In Putin’s Russia, the Hollowed-Out Media Mirrors the State,” The Guardian , March 24, 2017, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/24/putin-russia-media-state-government-control .

481 approve a law that required . . . two million signatures, doubling . . . exempting . . . The law, adopted by the Duma on December 24, 2022, went into effect on January 10, 2003. Parties “that had secured seats in the preceding Duma election were to be allowed to nominate presidential candidates without collecting the signatures that would otherwise have been necessary.” Russian Federation, “Federal Law on the Election of the President of the Russian Federation (2003) (English),” Legislationline, OSCE/ODHIR, accessed May 8, 2025, legislationline.org/taxonomy/term/12319 ; and Steven White, “Russia: The Authoritarian Adaptation of an Electoral System,” in The Politics of Electoral Systems , eds. Michael Gallagher and Paul Mitchell (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), doi.org/10.1093/0199257566.003.0015 (chapter link), 317.

481 took out . . . Yushenkov Steve Gutterman, “The List Is Long: Russians Who Have Died After Running Afoul of the Kremlin,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, February 16, 2024, www.rferl.org/a/enemies-kremlin-deaths-prigozhin-list/32562583.html .

481 investigating the role . . . in the 1999 apartment bombings Gutterman, “The List Is Long,” www.rferl.org/a/enemies-kremlin-deaths-prigozhin-list/32562583.html .

481       more than three hundred Russians “The total death toll reached 307.” Denis Leven, “Moscow Attack: How Putin Could Use the Concert Hall Massacre to His Advantage,” Politico , March 25, 2024, www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-moscow-attack-use-the-crocus-massacre-to-his-advantage .

481 blamed . . . on Chechens and used them as a pretext for . . . Leven, “Moscow Attack,” Politico , www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-moscow-attack-use-the-crocus-massacre-to-his-advantage/ .

481 investigating the FSB’s role . . . turned up dead in 2003 Dasha Litvinova and Emma Burrows, “Nerve Agents, Poison and Window Falls: Kremlin Foes Have Been Attacked or Killed over the Years,” Associated Press (AP) News, February 16, 2024, apnews.com/article/russia-kremlin-enemy-navalny-prigozhin-litvinenko-skripal-958c2ed6b8d60ecc4f64092fc1f9ceb5 .

481 forced to cast public ballots Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Russian Federation, Presidential Election, 11 March 2004 , OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Report (Warsaw, Poland: OSCE ODIHR, June 2, 2004), www.osce.org/files/f/documents/7/b/33100.pdf , 2, 21–22.

481 “problematic” counting and tabulations of ballots OSCE ODIHR, Russian Federation, Presidential Election, 11 March 2004 , www.osce.org/files/f/documents/7/b/33100.pdf , 2, 23–25.

481       rigged reelection with 71.31 percent of the vote Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 . OSCE ODIHR stated in their report, based on their observations of the election, “the process overall did not adequately reflect principles necessary for a healthy democratic election. The election process failed to meet important commitments concerning treatment of candidates by the State-controlled media on a non-discriminatory basis, equal opportunities for all candidates and secrecy of the ballot.” OSCE ODIHR, Russian Federation, Presidential Election, 11 March 2004 , www.osce.org/files/f/documents/7/b/33100.pdf , 1.

481 continued to be assassinated On October 7, 2006, Anna Politkovskaya, “one of Russia's most prominent journalists and a persistent chronicler of rights abuses in Chechnya,” was “shot dead in her apartment building, in an execution-style killing.” The following month, on November 23, “former Russian security agent” Aleksandr Litvinenko died “in London after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210. Litvinenko had fled to Britain in 2000 after accusing the FSB of plotting to kill oligarch Boris Berezovsky. He later co-authored a book blaming the agency for the 1999 apartment-building bombings.” Gutterman, “The List Is Long," www.rferl.org/a/enemies-kremlin-deaths-prigozhin-list/32562583.html .

481 barred . . . for a third consecutive term Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

481–482 handpicked . . . who won . . . rigged presidential election in 2008 Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 became the prime minister of Russia Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 dominated by . . . United Russia, amended the constitution to extend . . . six years “The amendments sailed easily through both houses of the national parliament, which is dominated by United Russia, a pro-Kremlin political party whose chairman is Putin.” Agence France-Presse (AFP), “Medvedev Approves Presidential Terms of Six Years,” France 24, December 30, 2008, updated December 31, 2008, www.france24.com/en/20081230-medvedev-approves-presidential-terms-six-years- . See also Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 as tightly rigged . . . as the presidential elections OSCE ODIHR observers reported that the 2011 State Duma election was “slanted in favour of the ruling party" and lacked “the necessary conditions for fair electoral competition.” OSCE ODIHR, Russian Federation, Elections to the State Duma, 4 December 2011 , OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report (Warsaw, Poland: OSCE ODIHR, January 12, 2012) www.osce.org/files/f/documents/f/5/86959.pdf , 1. “Demonstrations in the immediate aftermath of the election saw more than 1,000 arrests, mostly in Moscow.” “Russian Election: Biggest Protests Since Fall of USSR,” BBC News, December 10, 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-16122524 .

482 huge demonstrations . . . “For Fair Elections” Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 won . . . with nearly 64 percent of the vote Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 reports of ballot stuffing and carousel voting OSCE ODIHR, Russian Federation, Presidential Election, 4 March 2012 , OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission Final Report (Warsaw, Poland: OSCE ODIHR, May 11, 2012), www.osce.org/files/f/documents/2/c/90461.pdf , 19, 18; and Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 paying busloads of voters . . . to vote multiple times for Putin Thomas Grove, “Russia’s Election ‘Carousel’–a Tale of Alleged Fraud,” Reuters, March 5, 2012, www.reuters.com/article/world/russias-election-carousel-a-tale-of-alleged-fraud-idUSDEE824084/ ; and Maria Vassilieva, “Russian Elections: Hunting the ‘Carousel’ Voters,” BBC News, March 6, 2012, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17256116 .

482 no fewer than 20,000 people Ellen Barry and Michael Schwirtz, “Arrests and Violence at Overflowing Rally in Moscow,” New York Times , May 6, 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/world/europe/at-moscow-rally-arrests-and-violence.html ; and Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 with nightsticks, arrests, and jail sentences “Police in full riot gear charged into the crowd, dragging out people they suspected of pelting them with bottles and chunks of asphalt, and beating some brutally with nightsticks . . . Among more than 400 protesters in custody on [the night of the protest] were most of the event’s organizers.” Barry and Schwirtz, “Arrests and Violence at Overflowing Rally in Moscow,” www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/world/europe/at-moscow-rally-arrests-and-violence.html .

482 got slapped with four years in prison “Russian Protesters Sentenced,” Deutsche Welle (DW), February 24, 2014, www.dw.com/en/russian-court-hands-prison-sentences-to-seven-anti-putin-protesters/a-17453175 ; and Dasha Litvinova, “How Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Became the Hallmark of the Russian Leader’s 24 Years in Power,” AP News, March 6, 2024, apnews.com/article/russia-putin-crackdown-opposition-dissent-prison-532705369591610a94e9e86340233380 .

482 fifteen days in prison, becoming . . . Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 barred seventeen candidates from running, including Navalny Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

482 won . . . with nearly 77 percent of the vote Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 ; and “Russia Election: Vladimir Putin Wins by Big Margin,” BBC News, March 19, 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43452449 .

482 used the pretext . . . to outright ban demonstrations and protests Litvinova, “How Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Became the Hallmark of the Russian Leader’s 24 Years in Power,” apnews.com/article/russia-putin-crackdown-opposition-dissent-prison-532705369591610a94e9e86340233380 .

482 poisoned . . . likely by FSB operatives Pjotr Sauer, “Twenty Years of Ruthlessness: How Russia Has Silenced Putin’s Opponents,” The Guardian, August 27, 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/27/history-killing-how-russia-has-silenced-putins-opponents .

482 treated him and he recovered Mstyslav Chernov and Jim Heintz, “Kremlin Critic Navalny Detained After Landing in Moscow,” AP News, January 17, 2021, apnews.com/article/alexei-navalny-putin-russia-detained-74a87b440567673e55ea527980e472e1 .

482      detained him, charging him with a parole violation Chernov and Heintz, “Kremlin Critic Navalny Detained After Landing in Moscow,” apnews.com/article/alexei-navalny-putin-russia-detained-74a87b440567673e55ea527980e472e1 .

482 prompted mass demonstrations across Russia “Chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin, tens of thousands took to the streets [on January 31] across Russia to demand the release of” Navalny. Jim Heintz and Vladimir Isachenkov, “Over 5,100 Arrested at Pro-Navalny Protests Across Russia,” AP News, January 31, 2021, apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-moscow-coronavirus-pandemic-arrests-russia-085b16035e9c89ffb9919e4d94a2309c .

483 quelled months later The final major protests occurred on April 21, 2021. See Svetlana Erpyleva and Oleg Zhuravlev, "What's new about Russia's new protests?" openDemocracy, June 3, 2021, www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/whats-new-in-russia-protests-2021-navalny ; and OVD-Info, "Suppression of the April 21 protests," June 7, 2021, ovd.info/en/suppression-april-21-protests#13 .

483 outlawed “discrediting” . . . or circulating “false information” . . . “Federal Law of 04.03.2022 No. 32-FZ ‘On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Articles 31 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation,’” March 4, 2022, Official Internet Portal of Legal Information of the Russian Federation, actual.pravo.gov.ru/content/content.html#pnum=0001202203040007 .

483 between ten and fifteen years in prison “Federal Law of 04.03.2022 No. 32-FZ ‘On Amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and Articles 31 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation,’” actual.pravo.gov.ru/content/content.html#pnum=0001202203040007 .

483 used the law to ban dozens . . . Yuras Karmanau and Dasha Litvinova, “A Timeline of Restrictive Laws That Authorities Have Used to Crack Down on Dissent in Putin’s Russia,” AP News, March 6, 2024, apnews.com/article/russia-election-repressive-laws-dissent-5927d8932736636a9339fdcbaebd2331 .

483 arrested almost 20,000 . . . in the first two years According to Russian human rights group OVD-Info, 19,850 people were arrested and detained for their “anti-war stance” between February 24, 2022, and January 22, 2024. OVD-Info, “Persecution of the Anti-War Movement Report: Two Years of Russia’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine, February 2024,” February 28, 2024, ovd.info/en/persecution-anti-war-mo .

483 sentenced an artist in Saint Petersburg to seven years in jail for . . . Litvinova, “How Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Became the Hallmark of the Russian Leader’s 24 Years in Power,” apnews.com/article/russia-putin-crackdown-opposition-dissent-prison-532705369591610a94e9e86340233380 ; and Andrew Osborn, “Russian Artist Who Staged Anti-War Protest in Supermarket Jailed for Seven Years,” Reuters, November 16, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-artist-who-used-supermarket-price-tags-criticise-ukraine-war-faces-2023-11-16/ .

483 sentenced to five and a half years in prison for . . . Litvinova, “How Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Became the Hallmark of the Russian Leader’s 24 Years in Power,” apnews.com/article/russia-putin-crackdown-opposition-dissent-prison-532705369591610a94e9e86340233380 .

483 sentenced Navalny, who opposed Putin’s Ukraine invasion, to nineteen years Litvinova, “How Putin’s Crackdown on Dissent Became the Hallmark of the Russian Leader’s 24 Years in Power,” apnews.com/article/russia-putin-crackdown-opposition-dissent-prison-532705369591610a94e9e86340233380 .

483 died in prison . . . There is evidence to suggest that Navalny was poisoned. Csongor Körömi, “Navalny May Have Been Killed by Poisoning, Documents Suggest: Report,” Politico , September 30, 2024, www.politico.eu/article/alexei-navalny-killed-possible-poison-russia-vladimir-putin/ . For a news report from the day of Navalny’s death, see Paul Kirby, “Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Dies in Arctic Circle Jail, Says Russia,” BBC News, February 16, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68315943 .

483 almost certainly assassinated Körömi, “Navalny May Have Been Killed by Poisoning, Documents Suggest: Report,” Politico , September 30, 2024, www.politico.eu/article/alexei-navalny-killed-possible-poison-russia-vladimir-putin/ ; and Dasha Litvinova, “Western Officials and Kremlin Critics Blame Putin and His Government for Navalny’s Death in Prison,” AP News, February 16, 2024, apnews.com/article/russia-navalny-death-global-reactions-putin-19e7fd6318763627f6917a92678cd190 .

483 the “first lady” of the opposition, vowed to carry on her husband’s work Francesca Ebel, “What to Know About Yulia Navalnaya as She Vows to Take on Vladimir Putin,” Washington Post , February 20, 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/20/yulia-navalnaya-alexei-navalny-wife/ . Navalnaya’s “First Lady” nickname dates to 2013. Alexey Strelnikov, “Can Yulia Navalnaya Unite the Russian Opposition?” DW, June 5, 2024, www.dw.com/en/can-yulia-navalnaya-unite-the-russian-opposition/a-68342338 .

483 Outside of Russia Yulia Navalnaya “left Russia after her husband’s arrest in 2021” and has been “reportedly living in Germany.” Ebel, “What to Know About Yulia Navalnaya as She Vows to Take on Vladimir Putin,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/20/yulia-navalnaya-alexei-navalny-wife .

Chapter 130: Strong Leader

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:44 GMT

484 only 57 percent . . . considered democracy to be their preferred . . . Open Society Foundations, Open Society Barometer: Can Democracy Deliver? September 2023, www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/e6cd5a09-cd19-4587-aa06-368d3fc78917/open-society-barometer-can-democracy-deliver-20230911.pdf , 6, 19.

484 About a third . . . “having the army rule or a leader ‘who does not bother’ . . .” Open Society Foundations, Open Society Barometer , www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/e6cd5a09-cd19-4587-aa06-368d3fc78917/open-society-barometer-can-democracy-deliver-20230911.pdf , 17.

484 “mass migration, wokeism . . .” FPÖ youth wing, promotional video, quoted in Agence France-Presse, “Alarm over Austria Far-Right Party Video as Its Support Soars,” France 24, September 1, 2023, www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230901-alarm-over-austria-far-right-party-video-as-its-support-soars .

484 “a positive approach to . . .” Herbert Kickl quoted in “Alarm over Austria Far-Right Party Video as Its Support Soars,” www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230901-alarm-over-austria-far-right-party-video-as-its-support-soars .

484 below . . . gave his homecoming speech “Alarm over Austria Far-Right Party Video as Its Support Soars,” ww.france24.com/en/live-news/20230901-alarm-over-austria-far-right-party-video-as-its-support-soars .

484 exhibited images of . . . Pierre Drieu la Rochelle and . . . António Salazar “Alarm over Austria Far-Right Party Video as Its Support Soars,” ww.france24.com/en/live-news/20230901-alarm-over-austria-far-right-party-video-as-its-support-soars .

484 “Men need violence. Men need competition” James Pogue quoted in Ezra Klein, “Opinion: The Ezra Klein Show: MAGA’s Big Tech Divide,” New York Times , January 28, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-james-pogue.html .

484–485 “If men don’t have a project to go to war . . .” Pogue quoted in Klein, “Opinion: The Ezra Klein Show: MAGA’s Big Tech Divide,” www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-james-pogue.html .

485 more likely . . . to get their news on social media platforms Emily Tomasik and Katerina Eva Matsa, “1 in 5 Americans Now Regularly Get News on TikTok, Up Sharply from 2020,” Pew Research Center, September 25, 2025, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/09/25/1-in-5-americans-now-regularly-get-news-on-tiktok-up-sharply-from-2020/ ; Channel 4, Gen Z Trends, Truth and Trust , January 2025, assets-corporate.channel4.com/_flysystem/s3/2025-01/Gen%20Z%20Trends%20Truth%20and%20Trust_0.pdf , 12, 13, 29; Cameron Hickey, “TikTok Played a Key Role in MAGA Radicalization,” Wired , March 3, 2021, www.wired.com/story/opinion-tiktok-played-a-key-role-in-maga-radicalization/ ; David Gilbert, “TikTok Pushed Young German Voters Toward Far-Right Party,” Wired , July 16, 2024, www.wired.com/story/tiktok-german-voters-afd/ .

485 the least likely to have lived through . . . dictatorships In Latin America, studies have shown that “generations that have lived under authoritarian regimes tend to support democracy more than those that have only lived under democracy. The explanation for this difference is the vivid memory the older generations still have of living under repressive authoritarian regimes.” Mario Fuks et al., “Socialization and Political Regimes: The Impact of Generation on Support for Democracy in Latin America,” Brazilian Political Science Review 12, no. 1 (2018), www.scielo.br/j/bpsr/a/XkTHBvKbkKRgwTLmhpFLcsQ/ .

485 71 percent . . . preferred democracy as their form of government Open Society Foundations, Open Society Barometer , www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/e6cd5a09-cd19-4587-aa06-368d3fc78917/open-society-barometer-can-democracy-deliver-20230911.pdf , 19.

485 “the most important challenge facing their country” Open Society Foundations, Open Society Barometer , www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/e6cd5a09-cd19-4587-aa06-368d3fc78917/open-society-barometer-can-democracy-deliver-20230911.pdf , 7.

485 ahead of climate change, inequality . . . Open Society Foundations, Open Society Barometer, www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/e6cd5a09-cd19-4587-aa06-368d3fc78917/open-society-barometer-can-democracy-deliver-20230911.pdf , 7.

485      “people who believed corruption to be . . .” Open Society Foundations, Open Society Barometer , www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/e6cd5a09-cd19-4587-aa06-368d3fc78917/open-society-barometer-can-democracy-deliver-20230911.pdf , 32.

485 skewed younger Open Society Foundations, Open Society Barometer , www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/e6cd5a09-cd19-4587-aa06-368d3fc78917/open-society-barometer-can-democracy-deliver-20230911.pdf , 32.

485 30 percent or lower Such countries include Italy, the U.S., Russia, Germany, Mexico, the UK, Brazil, Ukraine, Poland, France, Colombia, and Argentina. Open Society Foundations, Open Society Barometer , www.opensocietyfoundations.org/uploads/e6cd5a09-cd19-4587-aa06-368d3fc78917/open-society-barometer-can-democracy-deliver-20230911.pdf , 31.

485 “ethnic antagonism” . . . “concerns about the political power and claims on . . .” Larry M. Bartels, “Ethnic Antagonism Erodes Republicans’ Commitment to Democracy,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ( PNAS ) 117, no. 37 (September 2020), www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2007747117 , 22752.

485 “strongest predictor” of “antidemocratic attitudes” Bartels, “Ethnic Antagonism Erodes Republicans’ Commitment to Democracy,” www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2007747117 , 22752.

486 “the most typical antidemocrats were . . .” Bartels, “Ethnic Antagonism Erodes Republicans’ Commitment to Democracy,” www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.1073/pnas.2007747117 , 22754.

486 “the coolest dictator in the world” Nayib Bukele, Twitter bio, quoted in “Fears for Democracy in El Salvador After President Claims to be ‘Coolest Dictator,’” The Guardian , September 21, 2021, www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/21/fears-for-democracy-in-el-salvador-after-president-claims-to-be-coolest-dictator .

486 vowed to be a dictator on “day one” Fox News, Sean Hannity interview with Donald Trump at Davenport, Iowa, town hall, December 5, 2023, accessed on Rev.com, video, www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/n-yXIR0AGefvvPNGoCTG1y2NKaY1usX00MMaeuK4y5PtSs7rBV5fBbbvAu81HCAIAHvaaSGNmPMQ8mzrK7Ccx3oaJXQ , 19:09–19:13.

486 “After that, I’m not a dictator. Okay?” Fox News, Hannity interview with Trump at Davenport, Iowa town hall, www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/n-yXIR0AGefvvPNGoCTG1y2NKaY1usX00MMaeuK4y5PtSs7rBV5fBbbvAu81HCAIAHvaaSGNmPMQ8mzrK7Ccx3oaJXQ , 19:16–19:18.

486 three-fourths . . . “good” for the country if . . . “dictator for a day” Philip Bump, “Three-Quarters of Republicans Back Trump Being ‘Dictator for a Day,’” Washington Post , February 7, 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/07/trump-dictator-authoritarian-democracy/ .

486 “Sometimes in life we all need . . .” The Young Turks, “This Trump Supporter Is Really Into Paddles and What People Do with Them,” YouTube, December 24, 2023, youtu.be/Urm-giuYbOs?si=ks_6bP6zmTc_zzwE , 0:10–0:19.

486 “And this country does need a little bit of that . . .” The Young Turks, “This Trump Supporter Is Really Into Paddles and What People Do with Them,” youtu.be/Urm-giuYbOs?si=ks_6bP6zmTc_zzwE , 0:20–0:24.

486 44 percent . . . as “a strong leader who should be given the power . . .” “Democracy at a Crossroads: How Americans View Trump’s First 100 Days in Office,” Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), April 23, 2025, prri.org/research/democracy-at-a-crossroads-how-americans-view-trumps-first-100-days-in-office .

486      81 percent “Democracy at a Crossroads: How Americans View Trump’s First 100 Days in Office,” prri.org/research/democracy-at-a-crossroads-how-americans-view-trumps-first-100-days-in-office .

486 “It is necessary to dismantle . . .” Vox, “Agenda Spain, 2023,” quoted in Max Griera, “Meet Far-Right party VOX’s ‘Patriotic’ Vision for Spain,” Euractiv, June 23, 2023, www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/meet-far-right-party-voxs-patriotic-vision-for-spain/ . See also Vox, Agenda España , 2023, available at www.voxespana.es/agenda-espana , 19.

486 signed a law that cut . . . from 262 to 44, on the pretext of . . . “El Salvador Consolidates Local governments, Opposition Warns of Power Grab,” Reuters, June 14, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-consolidates-local-governments-opposition-warns-power-grab-2023-06-14/ .

486      dominated by Bukele’s party, cut . . . from 84 to 60 “El Salvador Consolidates Local governments, Opposition Warns of Power Grab,” www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-consolidates-local-governments-opposition-warns-power-grab-2023-06-14/ ; and Nelson Renteria, “El Salvador Slashes Size of Congress Ahead of Elections,” Reuters, June 8, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-slashes-size-congress-ahead-elections-2023-06-07/ .

486      cut the number of ministries in half Valen Iricibar, “Milei’s Reduced Cabinet Sworn in Without Press Present,” Buenos Aires Herald , December 10, 2023, buenosairesherald.com/politics/mileis-reduced-cabinet-sworn-in-without-press-present .

486–487 dissolved . . . the Ministry of Women, Genders, and . . . Noël James, “Women This Week: Milei Administration Dissolves Argentina’s Ministry of Women,” Council on Foreign Relations, June 14, 2024, www.cfr.org/blog/women-week-milei-administration-dissolves-argentinas-ministry-women ; and Daniel Cholakian, “Cultural Resistance in the Face of Javier Milei’s Policies,” North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), February 23, 2024, nacla.org/cultural-resistance-in-the-face-of-javier-milei .

487 pared down . . . and combined them . . . into the new Ministry of Human Capital Associated Press, “The Inauguration of Javier Milei Has Argentina Wondering What President It Will Get,” NPR, December 10, 2023, www.npr.org/2023/12/10/1218430385/the-inauguration-of-javier-milei-has-argentina-wondering ; Iricibar, “Milei’s reduced cabinet sworn in without press present,” buenosairesherald.com/politics/mileis-reduced-cabinet-sworn-in-without-press-present .

487      More than 40,000 . . . lost their jobs “Milei Has Cut 48,000 Public-Sector Jobs Since Taking Office,” Buenos Aires Times , May 28, 2025, www.batimes.com.ar/news/economy/milei-has-cut-48000-public-sector-jobs-since-taking-office.phtml .

487 rocketed . . . up to 53 percent . . . up from about 42 percent Almudena Calatrava, “Argentina’s Poverty Rate Spikes in First 6 months of President Milei’s Shock Therapy,” AP News, September 26, 2024, apnews.com/article/argentina-poverty-milei-economy-crisis-f766deb9302aa4ddde1bb9ae26aaf7af .

487 closely followed . . . meeting with President Milei multiple times Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, “Argentina’s Milei Is a VIP at Mar-a-Lago as Trump, Musk Embrace His Attacks on Government Spending,” Money Report , NBC 5 Chicago in partnership with CNBC, November 15, 2024, www.nbcchicago.com/news/business/money-report/argentinas-milei-is-a-vip-at-mar-a-lago-as-trump-musk-embrace-his-attacks-on-government-spending/3601675 ; and Jesus Mesa, “The Man Who ‘Chainsawed’ His Federal Bureaucracy Has Advice for Elon Musk,” Newsweek , November 20, 2024, last updated, November 22, 2024, www.newsweek.com/javier-milei-elon-musk-doge-efficiency-lex-fridman-1988947 .

487 on these “deep chainsaw” cuts Elon Musk, X, January 25, 2025, 8:46 a.m., x.com/elonmusk/status/1883149407551717476 , archived at archive.today, January 26, 2025 capture, archive.ph/2Mt6w .

487 “This is awesome” Musk, X, January 25, 2025, x.com/elonmusk/status/1883149407551717476 , archived at archive.ph/2Mt6w .

487 established . . . the “Department of Government Efficiency” Donald J. Trump, “Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’” The White House, January 20, 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/establishing-and-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency/ .

487      tasked . . . through maximizing “governmental efficiency and productivity” Trump, “Establishing and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’” www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/establishing-and-implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency/ .

487 until a falling out with Trump Lois Beckett, “Elon Musk Announces Exit from US Government Role After Breaking with Trump on Tax Bill,” The Guardian , May 28, 2025, www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/29/elon-musk-announces-exit-from-us-government-role-after-breaking-with-trump-on-tax-bill .

487      eliminated . . . triggering mass layoffs of federal workers Jennifer Clarke, “What Is Doge and Why Has Musk Left?” BBC News, May 30, 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vkd57471o .

487 nowhere close to DOGE’s stated goals Clarke, “What Is Doge and Why Has Musk Left?” www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vkd57471o .

487 significantly reduced the aid work of . . . Christopher Flavelle et al., “Musk Targeted FEMA: Storm-Battered Communities Are Paying a Price.” New York Times , March 27, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/musk-fema-immigrations-doge-freeze-aid.html ; and Amy Schoenfeld Walker et al., “What Remains of U.S.A.I.D.?” New York Times , June 22, 2025, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/22/us/politics/usaid-foreign-aid-trump.html .

487      gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Chris Megerian, “Nearly 90% of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Cut as Trump’s Government Downsizing Continues,” Associated Press (AP) News, April 17, 2025, apnews.com/article/donald-trump-doge-cfpb-elon-musk-456b747c367fccbcf3b74d2893cd1a35 .

487 closed the federal agency that mediates labor disputes Michael Sainato, “Doge Shutters Federal Workplace Mediator Agency After Trump Order,” The Guardian , March 26, 2025, theguardian.com/business/2025/mar/26/doge-labor-agency-fmcs-trump-order .

487      sought to eliminate the Department of Education Laura Meckler et al., “Trump Preps Order to Dismantle Education Dept. as DOGE Probes Data,” Washington Post , February 3, 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/02/03/trump-education-department-dismantling-executive-order-draft ; and Annie Nova, “How Elon Musk’s DOGE Took Over the Education Department, One Office at a Time,” CNBC, February 12, 2025, www.cnbc.com/2025/02/12/trump-doge-education-elon-musk-cuts.html .

487      similar efforts around the world See “DOGE Is Going Global: Elon Musk Is Inspiring Right-Wing Efforts Abroad to Gut Government Programs,” Democracy Now! , April 30, 2025, www.democracynow.org/2025/4/30/elon_musk_doge_paris_marx .

Chapter 131: Servitude

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:30:42 GMT

488 “ We were not the ones who started the war in Donbass” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, Kremlin, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

488 “but, as I have already said many times . . .” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

488 during the same session . . . the colony’s first comprehensive “Slave Code” See “An Act Concerning Servants and Slaves,” in The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia , from the First session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619, ed. William Waller Hening, vol. 3 (Philadelphia: Thomas Desilver, 1823), books.google.com/books?id=4i3OAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA447#v=onepage&q&f=false , 447–462. Historian Edward B. Rugemer explains, “The laws of slavery in Virginia evolved in piecemeal fashion until 1705, when the Virginia Assembly passed its first comprehensive slave code, eighty-six years after enslaved Africans arrived in the colony.” Edward B. Rugemer, “The Development of Mastery and Race in the Comprehensive Slave Codes of the Greater Caribbean during the Seventeenth Century,” William and Mary Quarterly 70, no. 3 (July 2013), doi.org/10.5309/willmaryquar.70.3.0429 , note 6 at 432.

488 “all [White] male persons whatsoever . . .” to serve in the militia “An act for settling the Militia” exempted “any servant by importation, or any slave” from service. “An act for settling the Militia,” in The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia , ed. Hening, books.google.com/books?id=4i3OAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA447#v=onepage&q&f=false , 3:335, 336. Free Black men were also effectively banned. Historian Kathleen Brown explains that Virginia lawmakers “worded laws in such a way that local authorities could exclude them from participation in the county militia. It was not until 1723 that the legislature finally made explicit the exclusion of free black men from militias.” Kathleen M. Brown, Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs: Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 182. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/861793500 .

488–489 among the earliest military-related laws in U.S. history See American Military History, vol. 1: The United States Army and the Founding of a Nation, 1775–1917 , ed. Richard W. Stewart, 2nd ed. (Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History, 2009), history.army.mil/portals/143/Images/Publications/catalog/30-21.pdf , 107–116.

488–489 “each and every free able-bodied white male . . .” “be enrolled in the Militia” “An Act more effectually to provide for the National Defence, by establishing an uniform Militia throughout the United States,” May 8, 1792, in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Second Congress, First Session , ed. Joseph Gales (Washington, DC: Gales and Seaton, 1849), digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29467/m1/692/ , 1392, accessed via University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library. Congress established presidential power over state militias in the event of an “invasion by a foreign nation or Indian tribe” or “insurrection in any State.” “An Act to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, to suppress insurrections, and repel invasions,” May 2, 1792, Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Second Congress, First Session , ed. Gales, digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29467/m1/681/ , 1370, accessed via University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library.

489 majority of White Southerners . . . not enslavers “In 1860 approximately 1,918,175 southern whites (or 24 percent) were members of slaveholding families, and 6,120,825 (76 percent) were not.” John B. Boles, Black Southerners , 1619–1869 (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1984), 75. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/900344791 .

489 passed bills . . . allowing rich men . . . while drafting . . . In April 1862, the Confederate Congress passed the “twenty-slave law,” which was “the first national draft act in American history.” The law “automatically excused” from conscription men who enslaved twenty or more people and was thus “perhaps the most widely hated act ever imposed by the Confederacy and was especially reviled by poor soldiers already in the ranks.” David Williams, Rich Man’s War: Class, Caste, and Confederate Defeat in the Lower Chattahoochee Valley (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1998), 4. For reference, “only 12 percent of all slaveholders” enslaved twenty or more people in 1860. Boles, Black Southerners , 75. Find Rich Man’s Wa r ( search.worldcat.org/title/714822189 ) and Black Southerners ( search.worldcat.org/title/900344791 ) at a library near you.

489 a “rich man’s war” Confederate army private Sam Watkins recalled that the twenty-slave law “gave us the blues . . . there was raised the howl of ‘rich man’s war, poor man’s fight.’ . . . From this time on till the end of the war, a soldier was simply a machine. We cursed the war . . . we cursed the Southern Confederacy. All our pride and valor had gone.” Sam Watkins quoted in Williams, Rich Man’s War , 4. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/714822189 .

489 Conscripted Italian soldiers were part . . . in the early 1940s On the use of draftees in Italy’s failed invasion of Egypt in 1940, see Ian W. Walker, Iron Hulls, Iron Hearts: Mussolini's Elite Armoured Divisions in North Africa (Marlborough, UK: Crowood Press, 2003), 60–61. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/852756227 .

489 forced hundreds of thousands of White men . . . between the mid-1950s and the early 1960s France sent roughly 1.5 million conscripts to Algeria during the war for independence between 1954 and 1962. Assiya Hamza and Stéphanie Trouillard, “Sixty Years On, Algerian and French Nationals Share Stories of the Algerian War,” France 24, March 16, 2022, www.france24.com/en/africa/20220316-sixty-years-on-algerian-and-french-nationals-share-stories-of-the-algerian-war ; and Sylvie Kauffmann, “Opinion: France Lifts the Lid on Its Algeria War,” New York Times , October 4, 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/opinion/france-torture-algeria-war.html .

489 keeping many beyond . . . or calling them up . . . multiple times Soraya Laribi, “Conscripts in the Algerian War,” Chemins de Mémoire , Ministère des Armées (French Ministry of Armed Forces), accessed via Wayback Machine, July 5, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20250705123159/www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/conscripts-algerian-war ; and Frédéric Médard, “The Military Aspects of the Algerian War,” Chemins de Mémoire , accessed via Wayback Machine, March 22, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20250322025710/www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/index.php/en/military-aspects-algerian-war .

489 conscripted impoverished Algerians In addition to the “French of European Origin” conscripts, France drafted men who were “French of North African Origin.” Laribi, “Conscripts in the Algerian War,” web.archive.org/web/20250705123159/www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/conscripts-algerian-war. Upwards of 250,000 men of North African descent “were recruited during the conflict” through voluntary enlistment or conscription. Abderahmen Moumen, “The harkis, from Algeria to France,” Chemins de Mémoire , accessed via Wayback Machine, May 13, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20250522161917/www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/harkis-algeria-france . “Between 1956 and 1962, some 400 000 to 470 000 conscripts were permanently stationed in Algeria.” Laribi, “Conscripts in the Algerian War,” web.archive.org/web/20250705123159/www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/conscripts-algerian-war . French historian Pierre Daum says of the Algerian Harkis who joined the French forces, “To understand the commitment of the Harkis to France, we need to take into account the fact that the Algerian rural population was living under extreme poverty when the revolution started in 1954. The conditions of living were harsh, especially in Algeria’s countryside, due to more than 130 years of colonisation and occupation. Besides, the standard of living worsened during the liberation war. In that context, some young Algerians went to the French military barracks to beg for a job in order to support their families.” Pierre Daum quoted in Djamila Ould Khettab, “Q&A: What Really Happened to Algeria’s Harkis,” Al Jazeera, August 22, 2015, www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/8/22/qa-what-really-happened-to-algerias-harkis .

489 required White men . . . to serve nine months in the military “Military Service Becomes Compulsory for White South African Men, 9 June 1967,” South African History Online , March 16, 2011, updated June 5, 2020, accessed May 13, 2025, www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/military-service-becomes-compulsory-white-south-african-men ; and Jacklyn Cock, “Conscription in South Africa: A Study in the Politics of Coercion,” South African Sociological Review 2, no. 1 (October 1989), www.jstor.org/stable/44461143 , 2.

489 largely drafted men from low-income families . . . avoided the draft “Under Pinochet, conscripts and low-level troops guarded detainees and delivered them to detention centres where many were then tortured and often killed. Young men aged between 16 and 20 from largely poor and low-income families were systematically drafted for a minimum of one year, while wealthy families with political connections could often avoid the draft.” Kyle G. Brown, “Chile's Pinochet-Era Dictatorship: Were Soldiers Victims, Too?” Christian Science Monitor , December 9, 2013, www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2013/1207/Chile-s-Pinochet-era-dictatorship-Were-soldiers-victims-too .

489 has required most able-bodied citizens . . . There have been exemptions Jewish men and women have always been required to serve in the military. Druze and Circassian men entered the draft system in the 1950s. Israel, Knesset, “Defence Service Law,” 1949, main.knesset.gov.il/EN/About/History/Documents/kns1_defense_eng.pdf , 112; and Randy Geller, “The Recruitment and Conscription of the Circassian Community into the Israel Defence Forces, 1948–58,” Middle Eastern Studies 48, no. 3 (May 2012), www.jstor.org/stable/23217362 , 393. Druze and Circassian women, as well as Arab Israelis, are not conscripted, though they can volunteer. “‘Not Only Equal in Battle’: Druze, Circassians Launch Protests Against Discrimination,” Times of Israel , June 30, 2024, www.timesofisrael.com/not-only-equal-in-battle-druze-circassians-launch-protests-against-discrimination/ ; and U.S. Department of State, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Israel, West Bank and Gaza , accessed May 14, 2025, www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/israel-west-bank-and-gaza/ . Additional exemptions include “religious women, married individuals, and those deemed unfit medically or mentally.” “Men are expected to serve for a minimum of 32 months and women are expected to serve for a minimum of 24 months.” Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), “Our Soldiers,” accessed May 14, 2025, www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/our-soldiers .

489 have often been jailed Israelis “who refuse to enlist on political grounds are typically sentenced to up to 10 days in prison, after which they are sent back to jail multiple times if they continue to refuse.” Brishti Basu, “Israeli Teen Jailed for Refusing to Serve in IDF over Opposition to War in Gaza,” CBC News, December 29, 2023, www.cbc.ca/news/world/israeli-teen-arrested-refusing-idf-gaza-1.7070628 . See also Michael Segalov, “‘More Killing Won’t Bring Back Lost Lives’: Tal Mitnick, 18, on Going to Prison Instead of Joining IDF,” The Guardian , January 23, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/23/israel-man-jailed-refuse-serve-idf-military-tal-mitnick-interview .

489 as have conscripts into the Russian Army . . . Neil MacFarquhar, “They Refused to Fight for Russia: The Law Did Not Treat Them Kindly.” New York Times , April 30, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/04/30/world/europe/russia-military-deserters-ukraine.html .

489 issued an arrest warrant . . . charging him with war crimes in Ukraine International Criminal Court (ICC), “Situation in Ukraine: ICC Judges Issue Arrest Warrants Against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova,” press release, March 17, 2023, www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and .

489 “outrageous and unacceptable” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov quoted in “Kremlin: ICC Warrants Outrageous and Unacceptable, but Null and Void for us,” Reuters, March 17, 2023, www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-warrant-against-putin-meaningless-russia-does-not-belong-icc-2023-03-17/ .

489 issued arrest warrants for . . . ICC, “Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I Rejects the State of Israel’s Challenges to Jurisdiction and Issues Warrants of Arrest for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant,” press release, November 21, 2024, www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges ; and ICC, “Situation in the State of Palestine: ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I Issues Warrant of Arrest for Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri (Deif),” press release, November 21, 2024, www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-issues-warrant-arrest-mohammed-diab-ibrahim .

489 withdrawn upon confirmation of his death ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I, “Decision Terminating Proceedings Against Mr Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al Masri (Deif),” ICC-01/18, February 26, 2025, www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/CourtRecords/0902ebd180ad67a3.pdf , 4, 5.

489 “There is nothing more just . . .” Prime Minister’s Office (Israel) statement quoted in Molly Quell, “Top War-Crimes court Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and Others in Israel-Hamas Fighting,” Associated Press (AP) News, November 21, 2024, www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/top-war-crimes-court-issues-arrest-warrants-for-netanyahu-and-others-in-israel-hamas-fighting/ .

490 may have prolonged the war in Ukraine to . . . See Huileng Tan, “Putin Needs to Keep Russia in a ‘Permanent’ State of War to Stay in Power,” Business Insider , February 27, 2024, www.businessinsider.com/putin-paranoid-keep-russia-permanent-war-stay-in-power-2024-2 .

490 “prolonged the war in Gaza to stay in power” Patrick Kingsley et al., “How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power,” New York Times Magazine , July 11, 2025, last updated July 23, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/magazine/benjamin-netanyahu-gaza-war.html .

490 needed . . . to remain out of jail Kingsley et al., “How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power,” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/magazine/benjamin-netanyahu-gaza-war.html .

490 like Trump in 2024 See Sarah Smith, “Is Trump Running for President Mostly to Avoid Prison?” BBC News, August 3, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66402180 ; and Mike Wendling and James FitzGerald, “Trump Would Have Been Convicted if Not elected, DoJ Report Says,” BBC News, January 14, 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqld79pxeqo .

490 has managed to stall his corruption trial, which began in 2020 Kingsley et al., “How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power,” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/magazine/benjamin-netanyahu-gaza-war.html .

490 attempted to have the attorney general . . . removed “Israeli Government Votes to Dismiss Attorney General, Escalating Standoff with Judiciary,” AP News, August 4, 2025, apnews.com/article/israel-politics-judiciary-netanyahu-trial-attorney-general-ba212da3ff08269ec42af09859ebdca2 ; and “Israel Court Halts Gov’t Firing of Attorney General Investigating Netanyahu,” Al Jazeera, August 4, 2025, www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/4/israeli-court-halts-governments-firing-of-attorney-general .

490 want to prolong the war, fully occupy Gaza Mick Krever et al., “Israel’s Far-Right Wants to Move Palestinians Out of Gaza: Its ideas Are Gaining Attention,” CNN, January 17, 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/01/17/middleeast/israel-far-right-gaza-settler-movement-cmd-intl ; Jeremy Sharon, “‘It Is doable’: 10 Likud MKs to Attend Conference Calling for ‘Resettling Gaza,’” Times of Israel, October 16, 2024, www.timesofisrael.com/it-is-doable-10-likud-mks-to-attend-conference-calling-for-resettling-gaza/ ; and Kingsley et al., “How Netanyahu Prolonged the War in Gaza to Stay in Power,” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/magazine/benjamin-netanyahu-gaza-war.html .

490 encouraging “voluntary emigration” . . . new Israeli settlements Netanyahu quoted in Lazar Berman “Netanyahu discusses plan for ‘voluntary emigration’ of Gazans starting next month,” Times of Israel , September 12, 2025, www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-discusses-plan-for-voluntary-emigration-of-gazans-starting-next-month/ ; and Sharon, “ ‘It is doable’: 10 Likud MKs to attend conference calling for ‘resettling Gaza,’” www.timesofisrael.com/it-is-doable-10-likud-mks-to-attend-conference-calling-for-resettling-gaza/ .

490 Hitler had similar plans “What Was Operation 'Barbarossa'?” Imperial War Museums, accessed April 29, 2025, www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-was-operation-barbarossa ; “The German Army and the Racial Nature of the War Against the Soviet Union,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed April 29, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-german-army-and-the-racial-nature-of-the-war-against-the-soviet-union ; and "Lebensraum,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed April 29, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/lebensraum .

490 “directly depends on our soldiers, officers . . .” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

490 “faith in our victories, successes . . .” “Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly,” President of Russia, February 29, 2024, www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/73585 .

490 another victory in another rigged presidential election “Independent election watchdog Golos . . . called Russia’s March 15-17 presidential election an ‘imitation,’ with widespread reports of vote tampering, restrictions on monitors and pressure on voters.” “Russian Presidential Vote an ‘Imitation,’ Election Watchdog Golos Says,” Moscow Times , March 18, 2024, www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/russian-presidential-vote-an-imitation-election-watchdog-golos-says-a84511 . Russia declined to invite OSCE ODIHR’s independent election observers. OSCE ODIHR, “Russian Federation Flouts International Commitments Once Again with Decision Not to Invite OSCE Observers to Presidential Election,” press release, January 29, 2024, www.osce.org/odihr/elections/russia/562065 .

490 highest percentage ever: more than 87 percent Katharine Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence,” Moscow Times , March 18, 2024, www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 ; and Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn, “Putin Wins Russia Election in Landslide with No Serious Competition,” Reuters, March 18, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-presidential-vote-starts-final-day-with-accusations-kyiv-sabotage-2024-03-17/ .

490 dead, incarcerated, silenced, or in exile Khamhaengwong, “Timeline: Russia’s Presidential Elections Since Independence," www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/03/18/timeline-russias-presidential-elections-since-independence-a84429 .

490 identified all sorts of failures Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) et al., “Irregularities in the Salvadoran Electoral Process Cannot be Ignored,” February 8, 2024, www.wola.org/2024/02/irregularities-in-the-salvadoran-electoral-process-cannot-be-ignored/ ; WOLA et al. to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, February 29, 2024, back.dplf.org/sites/default/files/20240229_-_letter_from_human_rights_organizations_to_us_secretary_of_state_antony_blinken_expressing_concerns_about_the_2024_elections_in_el_salvador_annex.pdf ; and “Post-Election Process Was Deficient, and Disorganized,” El Salvador Now, February 23, 2024, www.elsalvadornow.org/2024/02/23/oas-post-election-process-was-deficient-slow-and-disorganized-oea-el-proceso-postelectoral-fue-deficiente-lento-y-desorganizado , via Google Translate.

490 duplicated or tripled WOLA et al. to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, back.dplf.org/sites/default/files/20240229_-_letter_from_human_rights_organizations_to_us_secretary_of_state_antony_blinken_expressing_concerns_about_the_2024_elections_in_el_salvador_annex.pdf , 3.

490 in certain voting centers were not processed WOLA et al. to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, back.dplf.org/sites/default/files/20240229_-_letter_from_human_rights_organizations_to_us_secretary_of_state_antony_blinken_expressing_concerns_about_the_2024_elections_in_el_salvador_annex.pdf , 3.

490 arrived with broken seals WOLA et al. to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, back.dplf.org/sites/default/files/20240229_-_letter_from_human_rights_organizations_to_us_secretary_of_state_antony_blinken_expressing_concerns_about_the_2024_elections_in_el_salvador_annex.pdf , 3.

491 demanded a hand count “El Salvador Begins Hand Counting Ballots After Election Irregularities,” Reuters, February 7, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-begins-hand-counting-ballots-after-election-irregularities-2024-02-08/ .

491 “dozens” . . . participated in the hand count “Supreme Electoral Tribunal Hired Nuevas Ideas Affiliates for Vote Counting,” El Salvador Now, February 23, 2024, www.elsalvadornow.org/2024/02/23/supreme-electoral-tribunal-hired-nuevas-ideas-affiliates-for-vote-counting-tse-contrato-a-afiliados-de-nuevas-ideas-para-conteo-de-votos , via Google Translate. See also Roman Gressier and Gabriel Labrador, “Chaos in El Salvador Legislative Recount Fuels Opposition Accusations of Fraud,” El Faro , February 15, 2024, elfaro.net/en/202402/el_salvador/27251/chaos-in-el-salvador-legislative-recount-fuels-opposition-accusations-of-fraud .

491 demanded the voiding of . . . “El Salvador Confirms Bukele’s Supermajority After Opposition Calls to Void Election Results,” Reuters, February 19, 2024, www.reuters.com/world/americas/el-salvador-opposition-requests-repeat-election-congress-after-irregularities-2024-02-19/ .

491 “in the entire history of democracy” . . .“with more than 85% of the votes” Nayib Bukele, X, February 4, 2024, 7:56 p.m., x.com/nayibbukele/status/1754307883586494722 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/tmqu7 .

491 secured fifty-four out of the sixty seats Marcos Alemán and Megan Janetsky, “El Salvador’s Bukele Wins Supermajority in Congress After Painstaking Vote Count,” AP News, February 19, 2024, apnews.com/article/el-salvador-nayib-bukele-election-8637667ca3b9f35c9ffd2baf805a9ade .

491 wished Bukele good health . . . “activity will contribute to expanding . . .” Vladimir Putin via Russian Foreign Ministry’s Telegram channel, quoted in “Putin Describes Russia–El Salvador Ties as Successful,” Prensa Latina, February 13, 2024, www.plenglish.com/news/2024/02/13/putin-describes-russia-el-salvador-ties-as-successful/ .

491 Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr. Ian Ward, “MAGA’s El Salvador Field Trip,” Politico Nightly , June 3, 2024, www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2024/06/03/magas-el-salvador-field-trip-00161345 .

491 forbade . . . three consecutive terms Article 81, Point 3 of the Russian Constitution states, “One and the same person may not be elected President of the Russian Federation for more than two terms running,” or consecutively. Russian Federation, “Constitution of the Russian Federation (1993, as Amended 2001) (Excerpts Related to Elections) (English),” Legislationline, accessed May 14, 2025, legislationline.org/taxonomy/term/12312 .

491 amend . . . and reset his term-limit clock to zero Matthew S. Schwartz and Scott Neuman, “Russian Parliament Allows Putin 2 More Terms as President,” NPR, March 10, 2020, www.npr.org/2020/03/10/814090121/putin-could-stay-president-until-2036-under-new-proposal ; and “Putin Signs Constitutional Changes That Allow Him to Rule Until 2036,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 5, 2021, www.rferl.org/a/putin-signs-law-to-rule-until-2036/31187934.html. Independent election observers reported “unprecedented fraud” in the July 2020 referendum in which nearly 78% of votes approved a package of amendments that included the amendment concerning presidential term limits. Patrick Reevell, “Election Monitors Allege Putin Referendum Saw Unprecedented Ballot Fraud,” ABC News, July 5, 2020, abcnews.go.com/International/election-monitors-allege-putin-referendum-unprecedented-ballot-fraud/story?id=71609348 . The constitutional amendment stated that the constitution's presidential term limits would be “applied to the person having held or holding the post of the President of the Russian Federation without taking into account the number of terms th[at] he (she) had held or is holding this post by the time of coming into force of the amendment,” effectively resetting Putin’s term-limit clock. See Article 81, Point 3 ¹ in Russian Federation, “The Constitution of the Russian Federation, Adopted by Popular Vote on 12 December 1993, with Amendments Approved by All-Russian Vote on 1 July 2020,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, mid.ru/upload/medialibrary/fa3/xwhwumdwunawy9iprvhcxdqds1lzxqdx/CONSTITUTION-Eng.pdf .

491 has prohibited . . . from having a third term The 22nd Amendment states, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” Twenty-Second Amendment, Constitution of the United States, constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-22/ . For background on the amendment’s origins and an explanation of its function, see Scott Bomboy, “The 22nd Amendment and Presidential Service Beyond Two Terms,” Constitution Daily Blog , National Constitution Center, November 11, 2024, constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-22nd-amendment-and-presidential-service-beyond-two-terms .

491 “A lot of people would like me to” . . . “There are methods which you could do it” Kristen Welker and Megan Lebowitz, “Trump won’t rule out seeking a third term in the White House, tells NBC News ‘there are methods’ for doing so,” NBC News, March 30, 2025, www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-third-term-white-house-methods-rcna198752 .

Epilogue

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 13:55:00 GMT

493 “discovered that thousand-year-old villages . . .” Renaud Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! (Plieux, France: Renaud Camus, 2018), 19. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

493 a party founded by Nazis AFP, “Austrian Far-Right Freedom Party Dogged by Nazi Past,” France 24, September 25, 2019, www.france24.com/en/20190925-austrian-far-right-freedom-party-dogged-by-nazi-past .

493      became the most popular party Associated Press (AP), “Austria’s Freedom Party Secures First Far-Right National Election Win Since World War II,” CNN, September 30, 2024, edition.cnn.com/2024/09/29/europe/austria-election-results-freedom-party-intl-hnk .

493      pushed remigration as the “solution” Agence France-Presse, “Martin Sellner, Austrian Far-Right Activist Facing Trouble Abroad,” France 24, March 20, 2024, www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240320-martin-sellner-austrian-far-right-activist-facing-trouble-abroad .

493 lived in Vienna “Adolf Hitler: Early Years, 1889–1921,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, March 25, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/adolf-hitler-early-years-1889-1921 .

493 capital of Austria-Hungary “Vienna was the capital of a large multi-national empire under the German-speaking Habsburg dynasty for five centuries.” “Vienna,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , accessed May 15, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/vienna .

493 hailed from German-speaking Austrians “Adolf Hitler: Early Years, 1889–1921,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/adolf-hitler-early-years-1889-1921 .

493 for centuries . . . imposed their power, language, and culture . . . dozen . . . William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (1960; New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), 21. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 . These impositions were part of the Habsburgs’ efforts to centralize their empire. Historian Pieter M. Judson writes, “a centralized Habsburg state emerged in the second half of the eighteenth century out of various territories acquired by the Habsburg dynasty since the thirteenth century . . . In the 1780s. . .the Habsburgs held territories that are today located in twelve different European countries and that in the late eighteenth century included speakers of languages known today as Croatian, Czech, Flemish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Ladin, Polish, Romanian, Serb, Slovak, Slovene, Ukrainian, and Yiddish.” Joseph II (1741–1790) pushed for German to be the official administrative language “because of its new status as a literary and scientific language in the eighteenth century.” Joseph’s decree came at a time when “regional patriots” in Bohemia and Hungary were attempting to revitalize the Hungarian and Czech languages, sparking resistance against the emperor’s perceived attempt to “Germanize” his subjects. See Pieter M. Judson, The Habsburg Empire: A New History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016), 18–19, 79–81. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/945736098 . See also Martin Mutschlechner, “Holding the Monarchy Together: The German-Austrians as the Guarantors of Habsburg Statehood,” trans. Peter John Nicholson, The First World War and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy , accessed May 15, 2025, ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/holding-monarchy-together-german-austrians-guarantors-habsburg-statehood .

493 liberated themselves, namely the Italians and Hungarians Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 21; and Judson, The Habsburg Empire , 162, 205, 220, 233–234, 250, 259–262, 263. Find The Rise and Fall library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 . Find The Habsburg Empire library book at search.worldcat.org/title/945736098 .

493 were demanding their liberations Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 21. Slavic nationalists had been active in the Habsburg Empire since the nineteenth century. In 1848, “Slav nationalists organized a Congress of Slavs” in Prague. During World War I, “having lost Russia to peace-demanding bolshevism, and increasingly pessimistic about the possibility of negotiating a separate peace with Austria-Hungary, the western allies now began to consider the possibility of a future breakup of the Habsburg Empire. Exiled nationalist politicians from Austria-Hungary . . . who had been unsuccessfully trying to make a case for such a breakup . . . suddenly gained more willing ears for their arguments.” “In the summer of 1918 the British, French, and Americans finally, if reluctantly, agreed to the dissolution of the empire and the creation of the new states of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia.” See Judson, The Habsburg Empire , 207, 407, 430–431; and Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 21. Find The Rise and Fall library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 . Find The Habsburg Empire library book at search.worldcat.org/title/945736098 .

493–494 acquired universal male suffrage, after a general strike for . . . Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 21. See also Judson, The Habsburg Empire , 370–375. Find The Rise and Fall library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 . Find The Habsburg Empire library book at search.worldcat.org/title/945736098 .

494 “democratic nonsense” Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 22. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 .

494 “visual instruction of the Vienna streets” Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, trans. Ralph Manheim (1943; Boston, MA: Mariner Books, 1999), archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/54/mode/2up , 55.

494 “Once, as I was strolling . . .” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/56/mode/2up , 56.

494 “Is this a Jew? was my first thought” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/56/mode/2up , 56.

494 Is she Black? At the 2024 convention of the National Association of Black Journalists, Donald Trump said of Kamala Harris, “I’ve known her a long time indirectly . . . and she was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?” Associated Press (AP), “Trump Questions Kamala Harris’ Race During NABJ Convention,” YouTube, July 31, 2024, youtu.be/Pxj1R-RRkW8?si=l8k3HVwVDHsbs-eO , 0:45-1:05. Trump added, “she was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person.” AP, “Trump Questions Kamala Harris’ Race During NABJ Convention,” youtu.be/Pxj1R-RRkW8?si=l8k3HVwVDHsbs-eO , 1:12-1:18.

494 Is this an American? Good Morning America on March 17, 2011, correspondent Ashleigh Banfield asked Trump if he believed Obama was born in the United States. Roll Call Factbase Videos, “Interview: Ashleigh Banfield Interviews Donald Trump on Good Morning America —March 17, 2011,” YouTube, September 27, 2020, youtu.be/Ol7oyiLzBBY?si=Nyc9gzO9kh6T3Y-n , 3:47–3:52. Trump replied, “Everybody that even gives any hint of being a birther, a word you didn’t use, ever a little bit of a hint, like, ‘gee, you know, maybe just this much of a chance,’ they label them as an idiot. Let me tell you, I’m a really smart guy. I was a really good student at the best school in the country. The reason I have a little doubt, just a little, is because he grew up and nobody knew him. When you interview people, if I ever got the nomination, if I ever decide to run, you may go back and interview people from my kindergarten. They’ll remember me. Nobody ever comes forward, nobody knows who he is until later in his life. It’s very strange. The whole thing is very strange.” Roll Call Factbase Videos, “Interview: Ashleigh Banfield Interviews Donald Trump on Good Morning America ,” youtu.be/Ol7oyiLzBBY?si=Nyc9gzO9kh6T3Y-n , 3:52–4:31. Trump’s official launch into birtherism began six days later, during a March 23, 2011, appearance on The View to promote The Celebrity Apprentice . Host Joy Behar asked Trump about his comments from his March 17 Good Morning America appearance, reading his comments aloud. For the full exchange between Trump and The View hosts, see The View Archive, “Donald Trump (Aired: 03/23/2011),” YouTube, January 20, 2023, youtu.be/KMvYxMgD0pw?si=BAaVdspD-NL6HzVq , 22:01–24:52.

494 depicted an orthodox Jewish man likely from . . . “In the roughly seven decades preceding the outbreak of the First World War, the nature of Jewish immigration to the Austrian capital changed considerably. Until the 1870s Jews came mostly from the Bohemian crownlands of Bohemia, Moravia, and Austrian Silesia. Having already adopted the German language, even before 1848, and being well educated, they had little difficulty adjusting to life in the Austrian metropolis. The same, for the most part, could be said of the second wave of immigrants, which came from Hungary. After 1867 the geographic origins of Jewish immigrants to Vienna began to change drastically. Immigrants from Galicia, usually non-German-speaking and often Orthodox, now started to outnumber Jewish immigrants from the Bohemian crownlands and Hungary. As early as 1880, 18 percent of Vienna’s Jews were from this Polish and Ukrainian province; that figure grew to 23 percent in 1910. The growth in the absolute number of Galician-born Jews was even more impressive: 13,180 in 1880 and 30,325 thirty years later.” Bruce F. Pauley, From Prejudice to Persecution: A History of Austrian Anti-Semitism (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1992), 24. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/45730734 .

494 massacres . . . prompted tens of thousands to flee . . . The emigration of Galician Jews “after 1881 from what had once been Poland was additionally propelled by pogroms organized by the Russian minister of the interior, Nicholas Ignatiev. The Russian Empire thus became the first country in Europe to have officially sponsored pogroms. The tsar’s regime was also skillful at playing off Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and Cossacks against the Jews. The pogroms of Ignatiev spread to over one hundred locations and lasted nearly a year (1881–82); they were followed by a mass of anti-Jewish legislation designed, according to the government, to restrict the antisocial activities of the Jews and to calm popular indignation against them. Austria was scarcely the only country to be affected by these new Jewish immigrants, nor the only country to react negatively. A massive wave of terrified Jews fled from Russia to urban centers in Western Europe. In England, the Jewish population of 65,000 in 1881 quadrupled during the next thirty years fueling demands by Conservative politicians and trade union leaders like for immigration controls. Another 20,000 Russian Jews fled to Paris between 1881 and the outbreak of the First World War.” Pauley, From Prejudice to Persecution , 24–25. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/45730734 .

494 cast them as invaders “The refugees also increased anti-Jewish feelings in Germany just two years after the Hamburg anarchist pamphleteer, Wilhelm Marr, had introduced the term anti-Semitism and had founded an Anti-Semitic League.” Pauley, From Prejudice to Persecution , 25. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/45730734 .

494 popularized the term “antisemitism” “It may not be true, as many historians claim, that Marr invented the term, but he gave it the meaning for which it is known . . . In the term’s first known usage, Moritz Steinschneider, a Bohemian scholar of Jewish history, used the term in 1860 to describe and criticize the racial thinking of classicist and orientalist Ernest Renan. The term was next used five years later, when orientalist Gustaf Weil employed the term quite idiosyncratically in an article on ‘Semitic Peoples’ for the third edition of the Rotteck-Welckerschen State Dictionary. Specifically, Weil used the term to describe the birth of the ‘Kingdom of Jews,’ reflecting his view that the monarchy was inconsistent with a republican Jewish constitutional tradition. The term then disappeared until 1879, when Marr, the first gentile known to use the word, gave it its current meaning . . . based on his belief that Jews were destroying the German people.” Kenneth L. Marcus, The Definition of Anti-Semitism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 57–58. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/898273687 .

494 “the end of Germany” In 1879, Wilhelm Marr declared, “Finis Germaniae,” Latin for “the end of Germany.” Wilhelm Marr, The Victory of Judaism over Germanism: Viewed from a Nonreligious Point of View , 8th ed., trans. Gerhard Rohringer (1879; Gerhard Rohringer, 2009), archive.org/details/marr-wilhelm-the-victory-of-judaism-over-germanism_202012/page/33/mode/2up , 33–34, via Google Translate.

494 “slaves” Marr, The Victory Of Judaism Over Germanism , archive.org/details/marr-wilhelm-the-victory-of-judaism-over-germanism_202012/page/33/mode/2up , 33.

494 after a long race war against Jews Marr, The Victory Of Judaism Over Germanism , archive.org/details/marr-wilhelm-the-victory-of-judaism-over-germanism_202012/page/27/mode/2up , 27.

495 justified the Holocaust as preventing . . . On January 1, 1940, Adolf Hitler claimed, “The Jewish-capitalist world enemy that confronts us has only one goal: to exterminate Germany and the German people.” Hitler quoted in Jeffrey Herf, The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocaust (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press), 64. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/ko/title/The-Jewish-enemy-:-Nazi-propaganda-during-World-War-II-and-the-Holocaust/oclc/62128067 . Two years later, Hitler said, “the war can only end when either the Aryan peoples are exterminated or the Jews disappear from Europe.” Adolf Hitler quoted in Robert Gellately, Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 148. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/48533508 .

495 “The Great Replacement is a genocide by substitution” Renaud Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 134. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

495 Hearing Russian artillery Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 1127. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 .

495 Knowing Russian troops were coming Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 1122. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 .

495 Marrying his long-time girlfriend Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 1123. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 .

495 with a wedding breakfast Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 1123. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 .

495 Lecturing the guests . . . “Fraulein Manzialy, Hitler’s vegetarian cook, was invited, along with his secretaries, the remaining generals, [Hans] Krebs and [Wilhelm] Burgdorf, [Martin] Bormann and [Joseph] and [Magda] Goebbels, to share in the wedding celebration . . . As was his custom, even to the very last, the bridegroom talked on and on, reviewing the high points in his dramatic life. Now it was ended, he said, and so was National Socialism. It would be a release for him to die, since he had been betrayed by his oldest friends and supporters.” Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 1123. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 .

495 Tears welling up “The wedding party was plunged into gloom and some of the guests stole away in tears.” Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 1123. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 .

495 . . . his final “Political Testament” to the world Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , 1123, 1124. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1333912673 .

495 “out of the ruins of our cities . . .” Adolf Hitler, “Political Testament,” April 29, 1945, in The Third Reich Sourcebook, eds. Anson Rabinbach and Sander L. Gilman (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2013), 872. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/849787041 .

495 “there will come . . .” Hitler, “Political Testament,” 873. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/849787041 .

496 the third-youngest vice president Michael C. Bender, “JD Vance, Trump’s MAGA Successor, Will Be One of America’s Youngest Vice Presidents,” New York Times , November 6, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/us/politics/jd-vance-wins-vp.html .

496 grand political struggle . . . races or ethnicities or religions Traditional commentary would also state the grand political struggle is between capital and labor, or the capitalist class and the working class. And there is truth to this analysis, if and only if it also accounts for the horizontal struggles between capitalist classes who support democracy versus autocracy—and the vertical struggles between the privileged working classes and the disadvantaged working classes. This book attempted to present these horizontal and vertical political struggles between capitalist and working classes in the twenty-first century. This book shows how authoritarian capitalists are deploying great replacement theory to manipulate privileged working classes into supporting them—to maximize their exploitation and domination. These authoritarian capitalists have taken advantage of the contradictions between capitalism and democracy, and the conditions of socio-economic insecurity these contradictions have wrought. To distract from their policymaking role in these conditions, to distract from their increasing exploitation and domination in late-stage capitalism, authoritarian capitalists are leading privileged working classes to engage in political struggles with disadvantaged working classes and capitalists who tout a commitment to democracy. W.E.B. Du Bois termed this situation a “post-Marxian phenomenon” as early as 1933. See W.E.B. Du Bois, “Marxism and the Negro Problem,” The Crisis , May 1933, books.google.com/books?id=xVcEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA103&dq=Du%20Bois%2C%20%E2%80%9CMarxism%20and%20the%20Negro%20Problem%2C%E2%80%9D%20The%20Crisis%2C%20May%201933%2C&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q&f=false , 103-104. Du Bois would go on to write in 1940, “Instead of a horizontal division of classes, there was a vertical fissure, a complete separation of classes by race, cutting square across the economic layers.” In the twenty-first century, the main racist theory serving as a vertical separator of classes by race (and ethnicity and religion) is great replacement theory. For the “horizontal division of classes” quote, see W.E.B. Du Bois, Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward An Autobiography of a Race Concept (1940; New York: Schocken Press, 1970), archive.org/details/duskofdawnessayt00dubo/page/204/mode/2up , 205.

496–497 banded together in the second-round runoff Laura Gozzi, “Who Are the Left-Wing Alliance That Won France’s Election?” BBC News, July 8, 2024, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpd910je22no ; and Jon Henley, “ French PM Says Efforts to Prevent Far-Right Majority Can Succeed,” The Guardian , July 3, 2024, www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/03/france-prevent-far-right-majority-national-rally-gabriel-attal-marine-le-pen .

497 fifty-seven out of sixty lawmakers abolished . . . Le Monde with AFP, “El Salvador Abolishes Presidential Term Limits, Allowing Bukele to Run Again,” Le Monde , August 1, 2025, last updated September 18, 2025, www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/08/01/el-salvador-abolishes-presidential-term-limits-allowing-bukele-to-run-again_6743973_4.html .

497 controlled by Nayib Bukele’s Nuevas Ideas party Le Monde with AFP, “El Salvador Abolishes Presidential Term Limits, Allowing Bukele to Run Again,” www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/08/01/el-salvador-abolishes-presidential-term-limits-allowing-bukele-to-run-again_6743973_4.html

497      the “right-wing” Alianza Republicana Nacionalista Chase Harrison, “In El Salvador, a Chastened Opposition Looks to Find Its Way,” Americas Quarterly , May 31, 2022, www.americasquarterly.org/article/in-el-salvador-a-chastened-opposition-looks-to-find-its-way/ .

497 “Today, democracy has died in El Salvador” Marcela Villatoro quoted in Le Monde with AFP, “El Salvador Abolishes Presidential Term Limits, Allowing Bukele to Run Again,” www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/08/01/el-salvador-abolishes-presidential-term-limits-allowing-bukele-to-run-again_6743973_4.html .

497 took seven months Molly Quell, “Dutch King Swears in a New Government 7 Months After Far-Right Party Won Elections,” Associated Press (AP) News, July 2, 2024, apnews.com/article/netherlands-government-king-farright-wilders-890478be1f3233c92ea645f334e74745 .

497 demanded . . . send the army to the border, bar all asylum seekers . . . Jon Henley, “Why Geert Wilders’ Plan to Become Netherlands PM May Well Backfire,” The Guardian , June 4, 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/04/geert-wilders-plan-netherlands-leader-may-well-backfire .

497 out of the so-called “right-wing” coalition Henley, “Why Geert Wilders’ Plan to Become Netherlands PM May Well Backfire,” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/04/geert-wilders-plan-netherlands-leader-may-well-backfire .

497 “I signed up for the toughest asylum policy . . .” Geert Wilders quoted in Henley, “Why Geert Wilders’ Plan to Become Netherlands PM May Well Backfire,” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/04/geert-wilders-plan-netherlands-leader-may-well-backfire .

497 “I intend to become the next prime minister” Wilders quoted in Henley, “Why Geert Wilders’ Plan to Become Netherlands PM May Well Backfire,” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/04/geert-wilders-plan-netherlands-leader-may-well-backfire .

498 fabricated an invasion of Black and Brown immigrants to blame the Democratic Party Christian Paz, "The Clever Politics of Republicans’ Anti-Immigrant Pitch,” Vox, July 17, 2024, www.vox.com/2024-elections/361155/rnc-2024-republican-immigration-border-biden-policy-invasion-legal-gop ; Azi Paybarah et al., “Republicans Flood TV with Misleading Ads About Immigration, Border,” Washington Post , August 18, 2024, www.washingtonpost.com/elections/interactive/2024/republican-campaign-ads-immigration-border-security/ ; and “Trump Blames ‘Extremist Open-Border Democrats’ for Persistent Immigration Issues,” CBS News, June 21, 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-holds-cabinet-meeting-while-lawmakers-consider-immigration-plan-live-stream/ ; Sahil Kapur and Kate Santaliz, “Senate Republicans Block Border Security Bill as They Campaign on Border Chaos,” NBC News, May 23, 2024, www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-block-border-security-bill-campaign-border-chaos-rcna153607 ; and “2024 Republican Party Platform,” in Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, July 8, 2024, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform .

498 “Stop the boats” to blame . . . for the boats Though the Conservatives had been in power since 2010, Farage said of immigration during the 2024 election, “Labour opened the door in a way that had never been seen in history. The Conservatives accelerated it. Frankly, right now, I cannot spot the difference between them.” “Nigel Farage: ‘People Who Say They Will Vote Labour Won’t—When They See I’m Here,’” Channel 4, June 3, 2024, www.channel4.com/news/nigel-farage-people-who-say-they-will-vote-labour-wont-when-they-see-im-here . See also Nigel Farage, “I Warned About Illegal Migration When It Was a Trickle—Years of Failure Have Turned It Into a flood,” The Telegraph , May 27, 2024, www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/27/nigel-farage-illegal-migration-channel-flood/ ; and Nigel Farage, X, June 25, 2024, 6:37 a.m., x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1805550798018928789 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/QADrl .

498 campaigned on “border security” Sahil Kapur, “Kamala Harris’ Tough-on-Migration Pitch at the Border Points to a Shifting National Mood,” NBC News, September 27, 2024, www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/kamala-harris-tough-migration-pitch-border-points-shifting-national-mo-rcna172850 ; Labour Party, “Strong Foundations,” June 13, 2024, accessed May 22, 2025, labour.org.uk/change/strong-foundations/ ; and CNN-News-18, “UK News Live | Rishi Sunak Present Its Manifesto Live | UK Election 2024 | UK News Today Live | N18L,” YouTube, June 11, 2024, www.youtube.com/live/7hv6ZA33pDA?si=Lmdlkwln1SHLg6ps , 29:05–29:15.

498 the “mirroring” . . . “on immigration backfired for . . .” Johannes Hillje, “Mirroring the Far Right on Immigration Backfired for Germany’s Political Centre,” The Guardian , opinion, February 28, 2025, www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/migration-german-election-political-centre .

498 their worst and second-worst result . . . since the Nazi age Hillje, “Mirroring the Far Right on Immigration Backfired for Germany’s Political Centre,” www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/migration-german-election-political-centre .

498 the best result in its history Hillje, “Mirroring the Far Right on Immigration Backfired for Germany’s Political Centre,” www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/migration-german-election-political-centre .

498 nearly doubling its vote share Kristin Zeier and Gianna-Carina Grün, “German Election Results Explained in Graphics,” Deutsche Welle (DW), February 27, 2025, www.dw.com/en/german-election-results-explained-in-graphics/a-71724186 .

498 keep the AfD out of their ruling coalition Hillje, “Mirroring the Far Right on Immigration Backfired for Germany’s Political Centre,” www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/28/migration-german-election-political-centre .

498 finished second “Information on Official and Final Results of the Presidential Election Verified on November 16, 2025,” Tribunal Calificador de Elecciones (Tricel), December 1, 2025, tribunalcalificador.cl/resultados-oficiales-presidentes-primera-vuelta-2025/ , via Google Translate.

498 fourth- and fifth-place . . . endorsed him “Information on Official and Final Results of the Presidential Election Verified on November 16, 2025,” Tricel, tribunalcalificador.cl/resultados-oficiales-presidentes-primera-vuelta-2025/ ; and Tom Phillips, “Far-right candidate José Antonio Kast favourite to become Chile’s next president after first round vote,” Guardian , November 16, 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/17/far-right-candidate-jose-antonio-kast-favourite-to-become-chiles-next-president-after-first-round-vote .

498 won the runoff Kast won 58.16% of the vote and Jeannette Jara won 41.84% of the vote in the runoff. Tiago Rogero, “Ultra-conservative José Antonio Kast elected Chile’s next president,” Guardian , December 14, 2025, www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/15/jose-antonio-kast-wins-election-chile-president .

498 communist . . . “center-left” coalition candidate Le Monde with AFP, “Chile's presidential race heads to runoff between communist and hard-right candidates,” Le Monde , November 17, 2025, www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/11/17/chile-s-presidential-race-heads-to-runoff-between-communist-and-hard-right-candidates_6747514_4.html .

498-499 campaigned on border security “Jeannette Jara supports Boric's announcement on border control and proposes reinforcing it with the Armed Forces and biometric registration,” El Periodista , October 8, 2025, www.elperiodista.cl/2025/10/jeannette-jara-control-fronterizo-boric-colchane/, via Google Translate.

499 lost its majority in both houses . . . dating back to 1955 Euronews with AP, “Ishiba’s Coalition Loses Majority in Japan’s Upper House Election,” Euronews, July 21, 2025, www.euronews.com/2025/07/21/ishibas-coalition-loses-majority-in-japans-upper-house-election .

499      One reason: the rise of Sanseitō Rin Ushiyama, “Rightwing Populist Sanseitō Party Shakes Japan with Election Surge,” The Conversation , July 21, 2025, theconversation.com/rightwing-populist-sanseito-party-shakes-japan-with-election-surge-261303 .

499 adopted the slogan “Japanese First” Shaimaa Khalil, “The Rise of Japan’s Far Right Was Supercharged by Trump—and Tourists,” BBC News, July 27, 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2k29233jeo .

499      secured three seats . . . just one seat Khalil, “Rise of Japan’s Far Right Was Supercharged by Trump—and Tourists,” www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2k29233jeo ; and Justin McCurry, “‘Japanese First’: The Mini-Trump on the Rise as Population Crisis Bites,” The Guardian , September 18, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/19/japanese-first-sohei-kamiya-sanseito-party-nationalist-mini-trump-population-crisis-bites /.

499 The anti-vaccine party had transformed itself into . . . “Although Sanseitō was initially known for its stance against the COVID-19 vaccine, it has more recently campaigned on an anti-foreigner and anti-immigration platform . . . .Throughout the most recent election campaign, [Sanseitō leader, Sōhei] Kamiya repeatedly spread far-right conspiracy theories and misinformation. This included arguing multinational corporations caused the pandemic, as well as that foreigners commit crimes en masse.” Ushiyama, “Rightwing Populist Sanseitō Party Shakes Japan with Election Surge,” theconversation.com/rightwing-populist-sanseito-party-shakes-japan-with-election-surge-261303 . See also Khalil, “The Rise of Japan’s Far Right Was Supercharged by Trump—and Tourists,” www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2k29233jeo .

499 pushing . . . reminiscent of Trump’s Khalil, “The Rise of Japan’s Far Right Was Supercharged by Trump—and Tourists,” www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2k29233jeo .

499      culture and heritage were under attack “Sanseitō is ‘anti-globalist’, urging voters to feel proud of their ethnicity and culture.” Ushiyama, “Rightwing Populist Sanseitō Party Shakes Japan with Election Surge,” theconversation.com/rightwing-populist-sanseito-party-shakes-japan-with-election-surge-261303 . See also Libby Hogan, “Far-right Sanseito Party Wins Shock Electoral Gains in Japan on Anti-Foreigner Platform,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News, July 23, 2025, www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-23/japan-fringe-sanseito-party-shocks-election-anti-foreigner/105558880 .

499 unveiled . . . to the “Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians” motto Saki Toi, “Sanseitō’s ‘New’ Constitution Would Bring Back Japan’s Imperial Era,” Unseen Japan, July 25, 2025, unseen-japan.com/sanseito-new-constitution/ .

499      allied with Nazi Germany “Axis Powers in World War II,” Holocaust Encyclopedia , April 22, 2022, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/axis-powers-in-world-war-ii .

499 make no qualms about their party taking after . . . Ushiyama, “Rightwing Populist Sanseitō Party Shakes Japan with Election Surge,” theconversation.com/rightwing-populist-sanseito-party-shakes-japan-with-election-surge-261303 .

499      had risen to 25 percent, higher than . . . YouGov, X, February 3, 2025, 2:11 p.m., x.com/YouGov/status/1886492760271667611 .

499      the first time that Reform UK had led . . . News Agencies, “Nigel Farage’s Right-Wing Reform Party Leads in UK Poll for First Time,” Al Jazeera, February 3, 2025, www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/3/nigel-farages-right-wing-reform-party-leads-in-uk-poll-for-first-time .

499      “. . . Reform as their primary threat” Eleni Courea, “Now Farage Not Starmer Is Feeding Public’s Appetite for Change,” The Guardian , May 3, 2025, www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/03/now-nigel-farage-not-keir-starmer-is-feeding-publics-appetite-for-change .

499 Farage’s Reform UK (27 percent) had increased . . . YouGov, “Voting Intention: YouGov Survey Results,” November 3, 2025, updated November 4, 2025, https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/VotingIntention_MRP_Results_251103_w.pdf , 1. The most current polling can be found at YouGov, “Voting Intention,” yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/issue/Voting_Intention .

499      most . . . view Brexit as a disaster “Just three in ten Britons (30%) now say that it was right for the UK to vote to leave the EU, compared to 55% who say it was wrong for the country to vote for Brexit in 2016. This is the lowest proportion of the public saying that Britain was right to vote to leave since YouGov began asking this question in the aftermath of the referendum.” Dylan Difford, “How Do Britons Feel About Brexit Five Years On?” YouGov, January 29, 2025, yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/51484-how-do-britons-feel-about-brexit-five-years-on .

499      many . . . don’t blame him for it Among people who have switched their support from Labour to Reform UK, “39% said they believed Brexit had made the country worse—but by and large they did not blame Farage for it. Instead, 30% blamed the Conservative party and 29% blamed Boris Johnson. Only 11% said it was Farage’s fault.” Courea, “Now Farage Not Starmer Is Feeding Public’s Appetite for Change,” www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/may/03/now-nigel-farage-not-keir-starmer-is-feeding-publics-appetite-for-change .

500      gain more electorally from raging against the EU than . . . The authors “posit that far-right parties enjoy an electoral advantage that is specific to the issue of European integration. The European Union (EU) has become a source of social division, creating a vast untapped electoral potential among the pool of Eurosceptic voters. Whereas immigration has already become politicized in West European party systems, the fact that far-right parties do not face serious competition over their position on EU integration creates strong expected electoral gains when the issue is salient among the voters.” Sofia Vasilopoulou and Roi Zur, “Electoral Competition, the EU Issue, and Far-right Success in Western Europe,” Political Behavior 46, no. 1 (2024), link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-022-09841-y , 566, 567, 572, 573.

500 “. . . the highest form of political activity” Ian Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008), 96. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

500 “Politics is a form of conflict . . .” Christopher F. Rufo, Twitter, June 18, 2022, 2:50 p.m., x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1538232677459009537 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/cvA3i .

500 “the poor have been fooled . . .” Emphasis Camus’s. Camus, You Will Not Replace Us!, 17. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

500 “the most relevant case is education” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 18. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

500 opposed “providing college education . . .” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 18. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

500 “‘Such numbers? What numbers?’ . . .” Emphasis Camus’s. Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 24. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

500 “to which I could only answer . . .” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 24. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

500 did not “believe it is for science and scientists to assess . . ." Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 24. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

500 “what you think is happening” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 26. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

500 “trust your eyes” . . . “heart” . . . “listen to your pain” Camus, You Will Not Replace Us! , 26. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1091051149 .

500 “What drives an ideological movement” is “not a matter of . . .” Joseph Goebbels, speech to National Socialist Party rally, August 1927, quoted in Peter Longerich, Goebbels: A Biography (New York: Random House, 2015), 79. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/869262446?oclcNum=869262446 .

500 “first antisemitic pamphlets” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/56/mode/2up , 56.

500 “relapsed” . . . “for weeks at a time, once even for months” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/56/mode/2up , 56.

500–501 “ so monstrous, the accusations . . .” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/56/mode/2up , 56.

501 “imaginative” . . .“new names” . . . “old habits” Imani Perry, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People (New York: Ecco, 2025), 132. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1474965597 .

501 Praising Hitler today Chandelis Duster and Catherine Valentine, “Trump Allegedly Praised Hitler as Doing ‘A Lot of Good Things,’ New Book Claims,” CNN, July 7, 2021, www.cnn.com/2021/07/07/politics/donald-trump-adolf-hitler-book-claims ; and Martin Smith, “Fascists Openly Praise Hitler in Budapest,” Searchlight Magazine , May 16, 2024, searchlightmagazine.com/2024/05/fascists-openly-praise-hitler-in-budapest/ .

501 “blood and soil” today Meg Wagner, “‘Blood and soil’: Protesters Chant Nazi Slogan in Charlottesville,” CNN, August 12, 2017, edition.cnn.com/2017/08/12/us/charlottesville-unite-the-right-rally/index.html ; and David Lawrence, “From Climate Denial to Blood and Soil,” HOPE not hate, accessed May 19, 2025, hopenothate.org.uk/from-climate-denial-to-blood-and-soil .

501 “international Jewry” today On National Action’s use of this phrase, see Jessica Elgot, “Neo-Nazi Group National Action Banned by UK Home Secretary,” The Guardian , December 12, 2016, www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/12/neo-nazi-group-national-action-banned-by-uk-home-secretary .

502 “When you have been caught . . .” Ernst Gombric quoted in Herf, The Jewish Enemy , 271. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/ko/title/The-Jewish-enemy-:-Nazi-propaganda-during-World-War-II-and-the-Holocaust/oclc/62128067 .

502 ultimately rattles all links In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” King Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963, from the Papers of Dr. George Bagley, Special Collection, Samford University Library, library.samford.edu/special/treasures/2013/graphics/SC4630wm.pdf , 2.

502 gain from equitable and just policies alongside . . . See Heather McGhee’s concept of a “Solidarity Dividence,” in The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together (New York: One World, 2021), xxii, 63, 111, 128, 136, 158, 162, 163, 184, 209, 216–217, 255–289. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1281138006 .

503 From poverty Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw writes, “Hitler was to describe his life in Vienna as one of hardship and misery, hunger and poverty. This was notably economical with the truth as regards the months he spent in Stumpergasse in 1908 (though it was accurate enough as a portrayal of his condition in the autumn and winter of 1909–10).” During those months, “Hitler did learn the meaning of poverty . . . All his savings had now vanished . . .During the wet and cold autumn of 1909 he lived rough, sleeping in the open, as long as the weather held, probably in cheap lodgings when conditions forced him indoors.” Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography, 24, 29–30 . Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

503 From isolation Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 21–22, 24, 26, 35. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

503 From his rejection . . . prestigious artistic program Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 14–15, 18–20, 26. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

503 petty paintings for petty cash Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 31, 32, 33–34. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

503 Powerful German-speaking Austrians hoarded. . . Though the worker-driven “suffrage reforms that culminated in 1907 . . . empowered mass movements at the expense of the landed aristocracy,” “those aristocrats still exercised considerable influence in the crownland diets and municipalities.” The German-speaking bourgeoisie and aristocracy still held the reins of power after 1907, but they recognized their control was slipping. Judson, The Habsburg Empire , 370–376, 382–384. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/945736098 .

503 “repelled” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/122/mode/2up , 123.

503 “this whole mixture of Czechs, Poles . . .” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/122/mode/2up , 123.

503 about 9 percent In 1910, 175,318 of the 2,031,000 inhabitants (8.6%) of Vienna were Jewish. Pauley, From Prejudice to Persecution , 23; and City of Vienna, “Growth of the City—History of Vienna,” accessed May 20, 2025, www.wien.gv.at/english/history/overview/growth.html . Find From Prejudice to Persecution , the library book, at search.worldcat.org/title/45730734 .

503 Not far off from the percentage of immigrants of color In most, though certainly not all, cases, the proportion of Vienna’s Jewish population (about 9 percent) back in Hitler’s day is single digits away from the percentages of immigrants of color today. Looking at the featured countries where great replacement politicians focus their rhetoric on migrants: 13.6% of the population of France is foreign-born; 7.1% of the population of Hungary is foreign-born; 16.8% of the population of England and Wales is foreign-born; 16.2% of the population of the Netherlands is foreign-born; 20.2% of the population of Germany is foreign-born; 11.3% of the population of Italy is foreign-born; and 14.3% of the U.S. population is foreign-born. These numbers include White immigrants. See “Foreign-born Population by Group of Country of Birth, 1 January 2024,” in Eurostat, “EU Population Diversity by Citizenship and Country of Birth,” February 2025, accessed May 20, 2025, ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=EU_population_diversity_by_citizenship_and_country_of_birth ; David Milliken, “England and Wales’s foreign-Born Population Rises by 2.5 Million in a Decade,” Reuters, November 2, 2022, www.reuters.com/world/uk/england-waless-foreign-born-population-rises-by-25-million-decade-2022-11-02/ ; and Stephanie Kramer and Jeffrey S. Passel, “What the Data Says About Immigrants in the U.S.,” Pew Research Center, August 21, 2025, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/08/21/key-findings-about-us-immigrants/.

503 “The longer I lived in this city” . . . “the more my hatred grew . . .” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/122/mode/2up , 123.

504 “enemies were in his eyes like . . .” Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 701. Find the library book at earch.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

504 “But his profound contempt . . .” Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 701. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

504 “ridicule” . . . and “dismiss” . . . and “deride certain rites and doctrines . . .” McKay Coppins, “Trump Secretly Mocks His Christian Supporters,” The Atlantic , September 29, 2020, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/trump-secretly-mocks-his-christian-supporters/616522/ .

504 “I don’t have to shake hands . . .” Olivia Troye, an advisor to Vice President Mike Pence and Pence’s lead staffer on Trump’s COVID task force, recalled, “When we were in a task force meeting, the president said, ‘Maybe this COVID thing is a good thing. I don’t like shaking hands with people. I don’t have to shake hands with these disgusting people.’ Those ‘disgusting people’ are the same people that he claims to care about.” “Republican Voters Against Trump: Pence Staffer Calls Out Trump, Endorses Biden | Campaign 2020,” Washington Post , September 17, 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/campaign-ads-2020/republican-voters-against-trump-pence-staffer-calls-out-trump-endorses-biden--campaign-2020/2020/09/17/1f3b7e6c-583e-4cbe-bafa-9f4325fd9f64_video.html , 0:52–1:04.

504 White Democrats Matt Viser and Seung Min Kim, “For Trump, Even Disaster Response Is Colored in Red and Blue,” Washington Post , November 13, 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-trump-again-blames-california-for-a-natural-disaster-adding-to-his-public-denunciations-of-the-strongly-democratic-state/2018/11/12/811626de-e6ab-11e8-bbdb-72fdbf9d4fed_story.html ; Nicole Narea, “A Familiar Trump Attack Forces Democrats to Make an Uncomfortable Choice,” Vox, May 6, 2025, www.vox.com/trump-administration/411668/trump-sanctuary-cities-executive-order-court-democrats ; and Kimberlee Kruesi, “20 Democratic Attorneys General Sue Trump Administration over Conditions Placed on Federal Funds,” AP News, May 13, 2025, apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-funding-conditions-17074b99b8d3f327a17652f90379a90c .

504 White Jews Aaron Blake, “Trump’s Long History of Trafficking in Antisemitic Tropes,” Washington Post , October 17, 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/17/trump-history-antisemitic-tropes/ ; Peter Smith and Tiffany Stanley, “US Jews Upset with Trump’s Latest Rhetoric Say He Doesn’t Get to Tell Them How to be Jewish,” AP News, March 25, 2024, apnews.com/article/trump-jewish-voters-democrats-antisemitism-a43bf6f6266d9c6a4b761b82281aa512 ; Naftali Bendavid, “Many Jews Say Trump Is Politicizing the Fight Against Antisemitism,” Washington Post , April 25, 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/04/25/antisemitism-trump-jews-israel/ ; and Peter Baker, “Denouncing Antisemitism, Trump Also Fans Its Flames,” New York Times , June 3, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/06/03/us/politics/trump-antisemitism.html .

504 White queer people Adam Edelman, “Trump Bans Transgender People Serving in the Military,” NBC News, July 26, 2017, www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-announces-ban-transgender-people-serving-military-n786621 ; Tim Fitzsimons, “Trump Opposes Federal LGBTQ Nondiscrimination Bill, Citing ‘Poison Pills,’” NBC News, May 14, 2019, www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trump-opposes-federal-lgbtq-nondiscrimination-bill-citing-poison-pills-n1005551 ; and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “Trump on LGBTQ Rights,” accessed May 20, 2025, www.aclu.org/trump-on-lgbtq-rights .

504 White workers Celine McNicholas et al., “50 Reasons the Trump Administration Is Bad for Workers,” Economic Policy Institute (EPI), September 16, 2020, www.epi.org/publication/50-reasons/ ; and Celine McNicholas et al., "100 Ways Trump Has Hurt Workers in His First 100 Days,” EPI, April 25, 2025, www.epi.org/publication/100-days-100-ways-trump-hurt-workers/ .

504 White federal workers Elena Shao and Ashley Wu, “The Federal Work Force Cuts So Far, Agency by Agency,” New York Times , updated May 12, 2025, accessed May 20, 2025, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/03/28/us/politics/trump-doge-federal-job-cuts.html .

504 White seniors Nicole Rapfogel, “The Trump Administration Treats Seniors as Expendable,” Center for American Progress (CAP), October 29, 2020, www.americanprogress.org/article/trump-administration-treats-seniors-expendable/ ; and Trevor Jennewine, “Trump’s Plan to Eliminate Social Security Taxes: What It Means for Retirees,” USA Today , May 13, 2025, www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/retirement/2025/05/13/trump-eliminate-social-security-taxes/83594521007/ .

504 White children Erin Robinson and Katie Hamm, “5 Ways the Trump Administration’s Policies Have Harmed Children,” CAP, October 20, 2020, www.americanprogress.org/article/5-ways-trump-administrations-policies-harmed-children/ ; and Eli Hager, “The Trump Administration’s War on Children,” ProPublica, April 23, 2025, www.propublica.org/article/how-trump-budget-cuts-harm-kids-child-care-education-abuse .

504 White Europeans Angela Barnes and AP, “'Major Economic Blow': EU and World Leaders React to Trump’s Tariffs,” Euronews, April 3, 2025, www.euronews.com/business/2025/04/03/ursula-von-der-leyen-says-trumps-tariffs-are-major-blow-to-world-economy ; and Phillip Inman, “Eurozone Growth Forecasts Cut Amid Uncertainty over Trump Trade War,” The Guardian , May 19, 2025, www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/19/eurozone-growth-forecasts-cut-amid-uncertainty-over-trump-trade-war-tariffs .

504 “A RINO may be . . .” Donald J. Trump, “Live: President Donald Trump in Bullhead City, AZ,” YouTube, October 28, 2020, www.youtube.com/live/H2xvE-tDd7U?si=zg8Cdv9CDj6OnL6Q , 27:06–27:09.

504 base of White male rural supporters Seventy-two percent of rural White men voted for Trump in 2016. Exit polls indicate that Trump won rural voters by twenty-seven percentage points in 2016, fifteen percentage points in 2020, and thirty percentage points in 2024. See Rich Morin, “Behind Trump’s Win in Rural White America: Women Joined Men in Backing Him,” Pew Research Center, November 17, 2016, www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/17/behind-trumps-win-in-rural-white-america-women-joined-men-in-backing-him/ ; and Zachary B. Wolf et al., “Anatomy of Three Trump Elections: How Americans Shifted in 2024 vs. 2020 and 2016,” CNN, last updated December 13, 2024, accessed May 21, 2025, www.cnn.com/interactive/2024/politics/2020-2016-exit-polls-2024-dg/ .

504 second-highest suicide rate The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports, “Suicide rates increase as population density decreases and an area becomes more rural . . . Suicide rates in rural (non-metro) areas are highest among non-Hispanic AI/AN males (61.8 per 100,000) and non-Hispanic White males (36.8 per 100,0003).” CDC, “Health Disparities in Suicide,” January 30, 2025, accessed May 21, 2025, www.cdc.gov/suicide/disparities/index.html .

504 “Trump Is a Health Hazard to His Supporters” See Jonathan Metzl, “Trump Is a Health Hazard to His Supporters,” VICE, March 6, 2019, www.vice.com/en/article/how-trump-supporters-are-dangers-to-themselves/ .

504 At least twenty-eight women Andrea González-Ramírez, “Trump Accused of Sexual Misconduct for the 28th Time,” The Cut, October 30, 2024, www.thecut.com/article/new-trump-allegation-stacey-williams.html .

504 swindled out of money Steve Reilly, “ USA Today Exclusive: Hundreds Allege Donald Trump Doesn’t Pay His Bills,” USA Today , June 9, 2016, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/ ; and Ulrich Boser et al., “Trump University: A Look at an Enduring Education Scandal,” CAP, March 30, 2017, www.americanprogress.org/article/trump-university-look-enduring-education-scandal/ .

504      agreed to pay a $25 million settlement Tom Winter and Dartunorro Clark, “Federal Court Approves $25 million Trump University Settlement,” NBC News, February 6, 2018, www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/federal-court-approves-25-million-trump-university-settlement-n845181 .

504 firing . . . who voted for him Nicquel Terry Ellis, “They Voted for Trump in 2024: Months Later, His Administration Fired Them,” CNN, March 8, 2025, www.cnn.com/2025/03/08/us/fired-federal-workers-trump-voters/index.html .

504 cutting billions . . . that helped his base See “Here’s What Trump’s Budget Proposal Cuts by Agency,” Washington Post , updated May 2, 2025, accessed May 21, 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2025/trump-budget-proposal-cuts/ ; and Joe Belden, “Analysis: Trump 2026 Budget Slashes Rural Housing and Other Programs,” Daily Yonder, May 6, 2025, dailyyonder.com/analysis-trump-2026-budget-slashes-rural-housing-and-other-programs/2025/05/06/ .

504 instigated an assault The final report of the House January 6 committee summarized, “Based on false allegations that the election was stolen, Donald Trump summoned tens of thousands of supporters to Washington for January 6th. Although these supporters were angry and some were armed, Donald Trump instructed them to march to the Capitol on January 6th to ‘take back’ their country . . . Knowing that a violent attack on the Capitol was underway and knowing that his words would incite further violence, Donald Trump purposely sent a social media message publicly condemning Vice President Pence at 2:24 p.m. on January 6th . . . Knowing that violence was underway at the Capitol, and despite his duty to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed, Donald Trump refused repeated requests over a multiple hour period that he instruct his violent supporters to disperse and leave the Capitol, and instead watched the violent attack unfold on television. This failure to act perpetuated the violence at the Capitol and obstructed Congress’s proceeding to count electoral votes.” The committee concluded, “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, whom many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” U.S. Congress, House, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 ^th Attack on the United States Capitol, 117 ^th Cong., 2d sess., H. Rep. 117-663, www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf , 5, 8.

505 impeached Trump (for the second time) Bill Chappell, “House Impeaches Trump a 2nd Time, Citing Insurrection Aat U.S. Capitol,” NPR, January 13, 2021, www.npr.org/sections/trump-impeachment-effort-live-updates/2021/01/13/956449072/house-impeaches-trump-a-2nd-time-citing-insurrection-at-u-s-capitol .

505 fell ten votes shy . . . would have enabled a permanent ban . . . “Trump Impeachment: Senate Falls Short of Majority Needed to Convict,” BBC News, February 14, 2021, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56056310 .

505 charged with ninety-one felonies across four . . . Ben Protess et al., “After a Year of Legal Peril, Trump Seeks Election as a Felon, but Free,” New York Times , September 8, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/09/08/nyregion/trump-election-felon-sentence-delay.html .

505 sentence him to no jail time, dismiss the charges . . . Protess et al., “After a Year of Legal Peril, Trump Seeks Election as a Felon, but Free,” www.nytimes.com/2024/09/08/nyregion/trump-election-felon-sentence-delay.html ; and “Highlights: Judge Sentences Trump to 'Unconditional Discharge' in Hush Money Case,” NBC News, January 10, 2025, www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/live-blog/trump-sentencing-judge-juan-merchan-live-updates-rcna186199 .

505 occurred . . . in Munich Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 127–131; and “Beer Hall Putsch (Munich Putsch),” Holocaust Encyclopedia , November 3, 2023, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/beer-hall-putsch-munich-putsch . Find Kershaw’s biography, the library book, at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

505 the city he moved to . . . from Vienna Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 45–46. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

505 received a light sentence Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 135–136; and “Beer Hall Putsch (Munich Putsch),” Holocaust Encyclopedia , encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/beer-hall-putsch-munich-putsch . Find Kershaw’s biography, the library book, at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

505 barred . . . from deporting . . . “a man who thinks and feels as German” Court statement quoted in Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 135. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

505 prison time writing Mein Kampf Hitler began writing Mein Kampf by May 1924 and was released from prison in December. Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 146–147, 144. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

505 “. . . the Jew was no German” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/61/mode/2up , 61.

505 “activity” . . . “must ultimately result . . .” Hitler, Mein Kampf , archive.org/details/mein-kampf-by-adolf-hitler-ralph-manheim-translation/page/62/mode/2up , 63–64.

505 banned Hitler’s Nazi Party, but only . . . Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 132; and “Beer Hall Putsch (Munich Putsch),” Holocaust Encyclopedia , encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/beer-hall-putsch-munich-putsch . Find Kershaw’s biography, the library book, at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

505 remains the most “effective” tactic “to minimize . . .” Cas Mudde, The Far Right Today (Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2019), 143. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1083715030 .

505 outlawed more than fifty political parties Angela Bourne, a professor of European Politics, writes, “In a study I conducted with Fernando Casal Bértoa mapping variation in party ban practices, we found that 20 out of the 37 European democracies we studied banned over 50 parties between 1945 and 2015.” Angela Bourne, “Party Bans and Populism in Europe,” Verfassungsblog , March 27, 2024, verfassungsblog.de/party-bans-and-populism-in-europe/ .

505 prohibited Bolsonaro from running . . . 2030 Robert Plummer, “Eight-Year Election Ban for Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro,” BBC News, June 30, 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-66070923 .

505–506 sentenced Bolsonaro to twenty-seven years Ione Wells and Vanessa Buschschlüter, “Bolsonaro Sentenced to 27 Years in Prison for Plotting Brazil Coup,” BBC News, September 11, 2025, www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xrqxk9p4xo .

506 work on an amnesty bill, prompting demonstrations Gabriela Sá Pessoa, “Brazilians Protest Against a Bill That Could Lead to a Pardon for Bolsonaro and Allies,” AP News, September 22, 2025, apnews.com/article/brazil-protest-demonstration-bolsonaro-amnesty-d4ce20e61caaafc31990367c9c96c56c .

506 charged with coercion Mônica Bergamo, “Brazil’s Office of the Prosecutor General Charges Politician Eduardo Bolsonaro and Commentator Paulo Figueiredo with Coercion Against the Supreme Court,” Folha de S. Paulo , September 22, 2025, www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2025/09/brazils-office-of-the-prosecutor-general-charges-politician-eduardo-bolsonaro-and-commentator-paulo-figueiredo-with-coercion-against-the-supreme-court.shtml .

506 Having fled to Florida Eléonore Hughes, “Lawmaker Son of Brazil’s Bolsonaro Announces Relocation to the US as Father Faces Legal Woes,” AP News, March 18, 2025, apnews.com/article/brazil-bolsonaro-trial-us-son-386ccf9203558c9c631ec98cbf289d6e .

506      accused of lobbying the U.S. government . . . Bergamo, “Brazil’s Office of the Prosecutor General Charges Politician Eduardo Bolsonaro and Commentator Paulo Figueiredo with Coercion Against the Supreme Court,” www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2025/09/brazils-office-of-the-prosecutor-general-charges-politician-eduardo-bolsonaro-and-commentator-paulo-figueiredo-with-coercion-against-the-supreme-court.shtml .

506 impose 50 percent tariffs . . . pointing to Bolsonaro’s prosecution Donald J. Trump, “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Brazil,” The White House, July 30, 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/addressing-threats-to-the-us/ ; and Josh Boak, “Trump Signs Order to Justify 50% Tariffs on Brazil,” AP News, July 30, 2025, apnews.com/article/trump-brazil-tariffs-bolsonaro-lula-trade-imbalance-de4cf0669b00a76149e8f39f200af502 .

506 convicted Marine Le Pen and two dozen . . . €2.9 million . . . Tamsin Paternoster and Sophia Khatsenkova, “Marine Le Pen Barred from Running for Office with Immediate Effect in Paris Embezzlement Trial,” Euronews, March 31, 2025, www.euronews.com/2025/03/31/verdict-imminent-for-marine-le-pen-in-high-stakes-embezzlement-trial ; and Cole Stangler, “The Meaning of Marine Le Pen’s Conviction,” Time , April 1, 2025, time.com/7273307/france-le-pen-conviction/ .

506 The judge sentenced Le Pen . . . Joseph Ataman et al., “Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen banned from 2027 Presidential Race, Throwing French Politics into Disarray, “CNN, March 31, 2025, www.cnn.com/2025/03/31/europe/marine-le-pen-embezzlement-trial-verdict-france-intl/index.html .

506 has appealed Juliette Jabkhiro, “France Court to Hear Le Pen Appeal Against Political Ban in January,” Reuters, September 8, 2025, www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-court-hear-le-pen-appeal-against-political-ban-january-2025-09-08/ .

506 her father died Abel Mestre, “Jean-Marie Le Pen, Who Put the Far Right Back at the Heart of French Politics, Has Died,” Le Monde , January 7, 2025, www.lemonde.fr/en/obituaries/article/2025/01/07/jean-marie-le-pen-who-put-the-far-right-back-at-the-heart-of-french-politics-has-died_6736787_15.html .

506 “immense patriot” Sébastien Chenu quoted in Catherine Porter and Aurelien Breeden, “In Death, Jean-Marie Le Pen of France Is Embraced by Far-Right Party He Once Led,” New York Times , January 8, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/world/europe/france-le-pen-death-national-rally.html ; and Sébastien Chenu, X, January 7, 2025, 7:26AM, x.com/sebchenu/status/1876606363444588866 , archived at archive.today, January 7, 2025 capture, archive.ph/6i2JF .

506 “will remain the one who . . .” Rassemblement National, X, January 7, 2025, 7:48 a.m., x.com/RNational_off/status/1876611798209638621 , archived at archive.today, February 10, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/d7WJB .

507 provide the milieu for transforming minds See Sarah Stein Lubrano, Don’t Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds (New York: Bloomsbury, 2025). Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/es/title/1517977396 .

507 lifted the ban Kershaw, Hitler: A Biography , 161–164. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/500873821?oclcNum=500873821 .

507 the deadliest war in human history William Noah Glucroft, “On Victory Day, Past and Present Collide in Berlin,” DW, May 9, 2022, www.dw.com/en/on-victory-day-past-and-present-collide-in-berlin/a-61737696 .

508 with dictators from the United States, Russia, and China Edward Wong, “Trump’s Vision: One World, Three Powers?” New York Times , May 26, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/us/politics/trump-russia-china.html .

508 52 percent . . . “dangerous dictator” “Interviews were conducted online between February 28th–March 20th, 2025.” “Democracy at a Crossroads: How Americans View Trump’s First 100 Days in Office,” Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), April 23, 2025, prri.org/research/democracy-at-a-crossroads-how-americans-view-trumps-first-100-days-in-office .

508 projected an eleven-seat loss Claire Moses, “Far-Right Party Suffers Big Losses in Dutch Election as Centrists Surge,” New York Times , October 29, 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/world/europe/dutch-elections-geert-wilders-rob-jetten.html .

508 lost his seat in parliament Rob Gillies, “Carney Wins Canadian Election, While Conservative Leader Loses His Seat in Parliament,” AP News, April 29, 2025, apnews.com/article/canada-election-trump-carney-poilievre-861f5b00794355b231ee3f218568949b .

508 connected him . . . to Trump Gillies, “Carney Wins Canadian Election, While Conservative Leader Loses His Seat in Parliament,” apnews.com/article/canada-election-trump-carney-poilievre-861f5b00794355b231ee3f218568949b .

508 bewildered over Trump’s tariffs Michael E. Miller, “Trump Ties Become Liability for Australia’s Conservative Party Leader,” Washington Post , April 15, 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/04/15/trump-tariffs-australia-election-dutton ; and E.J. Dionne Jr., “Trump Boomerang Sinks Australia’s Right Wing,” Washington Post , opinion, May 3, 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/05/03/australia-election-labor-boomerang-albanese/ .

508 “Make Australia Great Again” campaign a shocking defeat Miller, “Trump Ties Become Liability for Australia’s Conservative Party Leader,” www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/04/15/trump-tariffs-australia-election-dutton ; and Dionne Jr., “Trump Boomerang Sinks Australia’s Right Wing,” Washington Post , www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/05/03/australia-election-labor-boomerang-albanese/ .

509 highest percentage of Americans on record—79 percent Lydia Saad, “Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated,” Gallup, July 11, 2025, news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx/ .

509 “immigration is a good thing . . .” Saad, “Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated,” news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx/ .

509 Trump’s ferocious . . . “remigration” roundups U.S. Department of Homeland Security, November 28, 2025, 11:38 a.m., x.com/DHSgov/status/1994445836915253664?s=20 , archived at archive.today, November 28, 2025 capture, archive.ph/L1PzK . Additionally, polling found that “support is also lower today for deporting all undocumented immigrants, with 38% now favoring this as the administration is attempting it, down from 47% last year when it was a Trump campaign promise. However, it should be noted that last year’s support for deportation was uniquely high. Today’s level matches where it stood in 2019 (at 37%) and is slightly higher than when first measured in 2016 (32%).” Saad, “Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated,” news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx/ .

509 only 30 percent . . . should be reduced, after 55 percent . . . in 2024 Saad, “Surge in U.S. Concern About Immigration Has Abated,” news.gallup.com/poll/692522/surge-concern-immigration-abated.aspx/ .

509 where 20 percent . . . are foreign born but Fintan O’Toole, “A Far-Right Rabble Won’t Overthrow Ireland’s Democracy—but We Shouldn’t Be Complacent,” The Guardian , September 25, 2023, www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2023/sep/25/far-right-ireland-parliament .

509 that so far has failed to seize power Ashifa Kassam, “Vox Party’s Hardline Attitudes Appear to Have Turned Off Spanish Voters,” The Guardian , July 24, 2023, www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/24/vox-partys-hardline-attitudes-appear-to-have-turned-off-spanish-voters .

509      gigantic demonstrations erupting in Budapest Euronews with AP, “Thousands Protest in Hungary Against Viktor Orbán’s Government,” Euronews, April 7, 2024, www.euronews.com/2024/04/07/thousands-protest-in-hungary-against-viktor-orbans-government ; Krisztina Than, “Hungary’s Opposition Rallies as Orban Pledges Crackdown on Media, NGOs,” Reuters, March 15, 2025, www.reuters.com/world/europe/hungarys-orban-vows-fast-crackdown-media-ngos-over-foreign-funding-2025-03-15/ ; Jean-Baptiste Chastand, “Thousands Protest in Hungary Against Orban’s ‘Foreign Agent’ Bill,” Le Monde , May 19, 2025, www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/05/19/thousands-protest-in-hungary-against-orban-s-foreign-agent-bill_6741424_4.html ; AP, “Hungarians Declare Resistance to Orbán's Government with a Large Protest,” NPR, June 11, 2025, www.npr.org/2025/06/11/nx-s1-5430267/hungary-viktor-orban-lgbtq-protest ; and Justin Spike, “Around 100,000 March in Budapest Pride in Open Defiance of Hungary’s Ban,” AP News, June 28, 2025, apnews.com/article/budapest-pride-march-defies-ban-orban-hungary-6919758b70c812bfe95dddb589e44132 .