I prefer academic definitions to empty signifiers, and am not impressed by the outburst, it only reveals a latent authoritarian impulse.

“Influencer” is just the propaganda term for propagandist.

Of course that’s a thing lol

Personally, I think it is more accurate to call him a vulgar conventionalist and para-fascist with a narcissistic personality disorder. He isn’t what one would call a “true believer” of fascism, he doesn’t have any real ideology, just whatever his limited intellect can use to gain as much wealth and power he can. However, I won’t fault anyone calling him fascist.

Vulgar conventionalism is … that the life according to nature is the preserve of a small minority, of the natural elite, of those who are truly men and not [born] to be slaves. To be more precise, the summit of happiness is the life of the tyrant, of the man who has successfully committed the greatest crime by subordinating the city as a whole to his private good and who can afford to drop the appearance of justice or legality.

Natural Right and History, Leo Strauss.

para-fascism – a form of authoritarian and ultra-nationalist conservatism which adopts the external trappings of fascism while rejecting its call for genuine social and ethical revolution (see pp. 120–4)

Nature of Fascism, R Griffin

My bad, meant to add context. The « rectification » campaign included struggle sessions as a tool of Maoist propaganda.

The purpose of the “Hundred Flowers Campaign” was to make opponents come out in the open so they could be arrested and eliminated. The subsequent “rectification” campaign could not, in Mao’s words, be “gentle as a breeze or a summer rain for the enemies of the people.”

Even a propaganda centered on education cannot do without terror. In order to arrive at full compliance with propaganda, the 7 percent “incorrigible” individualists must be eliminated. The objective of Mao’s propaganda is a double one: to integrate individuals into the new body politic as deeply as possible, and, at the same time, to detach them from the old groups, such as the family or traditional village organizations. These groups must be disintegrated, always through action from within. For this there must be maximum conformity on the part of the individual.

Propaganda, Jacques Ellul

Under the Dark Enlightenment philosophy adopted by Trump’s financial backers, they do indeed plan the destruction of the US.

“The masses have never thirsted after truth… . Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim.”

The Crowd, Le Bon

Propaganda must be continuous and lasting—continuous in that it must not leave any gaps, but must fill the citizen’s whole day and all his days; lasting in that it must function over a very long period of time.’ Propaganda tends to make the individual live in a separate world; he must not have outside points of reference. He must not be allowed a moment of meditation or reflection in which to see himself vis-a-vis the propagandist, as happens when the propaganda is not continuous.

Propaganda, Ellul

Words and symbols have no real meaning to these people. They are more like mantras, or incantations, to elicit conditioned feelings and demonstrate whether one belongs to the group or not. Fascist has no emotional meaning tied to the term, it’s just a meaningless noise “the others” make.

Oh… a joke, yes, ha ha.

That speaks more to your ideological fantasy than anything else.

In the chapter “The Rise of Factions,” Walter describes how aspiring autocrats cultivated racial and ethnic resentments that culminated in brutal ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. In “The Dark Consequence of Losing Status,” she describes how a sudden change in the power of a specific ethnic group can be more inflammatory than a sustained structural imbalance.

https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2022/10/13/review-walter-jacobs-civil-war-243912/

Fascism is a tool his Dark Enlightenment financial backers adopted, Trump is just a vehicle for dismantling democracy and Balkanizing America so their mythical utopia can rise like a phoenix from the ashes of destruction. Trump will be scapegoated and discarded once he has served his purpose.

Reading Luke Kemp’s Goliath’s Curse has a statement referencing Barbara Walter’s How Civil Wars Start And How to Stop Them: A dominant ethnic group losing status within a country is the single best predictor of civil war today.

It is a mechanism that can be used as a propaganda technique. Although this is closer to milieu control, Vance is using the terminology to signal his affinity to a particular segment of ice.

For context, this theory is a central belief of the Dark Enlightenment oligarchs who financed Trump’s election. He is a useful tool, to be scapegoated and replaced by Vance when he has served his purpose of dismantling democracy.

Semantic satiation.

They do in so far as understanding motives and anticipating actions, it’s like any science, you want to be as accurate and precise as possible to avoid errors in making decisions.

His narcissistic personality disorder and deteriorating mental condition leaves him increasingly vulnerable to manipulation by advisors. The fascist elements within the party are prone to factionalization without competent leadership, these elements are a legitimate threat to his rule. It’s beneficial to know that while these parties all share a version of a palingenetic myth, the utopian visions differ considerably after America’s destruction, which can be used as a wedge to promote infighting and schisms between them.

For instance, the Dark Enlightenment oligarchs and JD Vance are working to scapegoat and get rid of Trump, (see mimetic theory of desire). Normal conservatives would be put off by the idea and their public support would wane, and the MAGA diehards possibly turn rabid to defend Dear Leader against Trump’s financial backers.

Edit:

Or push stories equating Trump/MAGA with Marxism/communism to sow division among the pure capitalist conservative types against his agenda.

https://fortune.com/2025/08/12/maga-marxist-maoist-trump-assault-free-market-capitalism-socialism/

Yes, but for the sake of accuracy the president is a vulgar conventionalist and parafascist. Factions within the Republican party, such as the Christian nationalists, meet academic definitions of fascism but Trump has no ideology. He uses fascism as a tool to gain more wealth and power, he’s not a “true believer” like many of his followers.

Vulgar conventionalism is … that the life according to nature is the preserve of a small minority, of the natural elite, of those who are truly men and not [born] to be slaves. To be more precise, the summit of happiness is the life of the tyrant, of the man who has successfully committed the greatest crime by subordinating the city as a whole to his private good and who can afford to drop the appearance of justice or legality.

Natural Right and History, Leo Strauss.

para-fascism – a form of authoritarian and ultra-nationalist conservatism which adopts the external trappings of fascism while rejecting its call for genuine social and ethical revolution (see pp. 120–4)

Nature of Fascism, R Griffin

I would recommend some PlasticPills but only certain videos, and def not immediately.

https://youtu.be/8W2SEjhXGn4

Also, introduce them to Le Bon’s The Crowd, and explain how this is used as a weapon against them.

https://archive.org/details/gustave-le-bon-the-crowd/Gustave Le Bon - The Crowd

And maybe Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, he defines socialism as totalitarianism regardless of left/right. I have my criticisms about Hayek and neoliberalism, but it is effective comparing far right to communism, especially for old conservatives.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.218162

Vance was handpicked by the dark enlightenment to destroy America for their neofeudal utopia, grinding undesirables into biofuel and enslaving the rest.

Democrats have been discussing strategy since their loss in November. They’ve come up with use populist rhetoric for elections but stick to neoliberal policy.