Trump’s Latest Speeches, Spectacles Resemble Modern Apocalyptic, Millenarian Movements Like Fascism DMT.NEWS

Article by WN.Com Correspondent Dallas Darling

It may surprise some to know that fascism has been studied as a form of modern millenarianism. Millenarian movements pursue an apocalyptic confrontation with the status quo in hope of creating a future utopian society established through supernatural deliverance and political revolution. In some cases, they have turned violent and extremely aggressive by committing genocide. Used interchangeably, the terms apocalyptic and millenarian anticipate a violent social transformation of immense scale that signals a final battle and a new historical epoch.

Trump’s “Apocalypse Now” Moment

Although apocalyptic and millenarian movements are associated with Christianity and religions like Judaism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism, the roots of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi vision to the millenarian Third Reich can be traced to Christian apocalyptic mystics of the Middle Ages who anticipated salvation as collective, imminent, miraculous, total, and occurring on earth rather than in heaven. Centered around a self-destructive savior, Hitler, the Hitler Movement was filled with apocalyptic imagery (violent signs), a final battle (Armageddon), and a New Berlin (New Jerusalem).

Some psychologists warn President Donald Trump exhibits similar traits as a leader of a millenarian movement, and his supporters as followers. In one way, he boasts that he saved over two million lives from the COVID-19 virus. In another, he has essentially stopped trying to contain the disease and instead moved to wage a culture war against those targeting him and statues. His focus on protecting himself and statues at a time when a deadly pandemic is killing thousands of people each week is an act of desperation which borders on insanity and revolutionary suicide.

Trump’s Millenarian Campaign

Speaking at Mount Rushmore amid peaceful protesters led by members of the Sioux Nation, President Trump said:

“Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”

If this was not a clear call to get ready for a final battle, he added, “Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.” He also took issue with “cancel culture,” which he described as “the very definition of totalitarianism.”

The Next day in his White House speech, the president issued another apocalyptic message and warning, that an “angry mob” was going to erase American history. “Make no mistake: This left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution,” he said, adding, “Deploying federal law enforcement to protect our monuments, arrest the rioters, and prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of the law.” He also said that “those in the media who falsely and consistently label their opponents as racists” are true threats to America.

The New York Times reported:

“The president signaled even more clearly that he would exploit race and cultural flashpoints to stoke fear among his base of white supporters to win re-election.”

As he did in the past, he resorted to exaggerated, millenarian language in broadly tarring the nationwide protests that were against entrenched racism and police brutality. Others agreed, claiming the president’s rhetoric about a nation under siege is seen as an extension of other rhetorical patterns to encourage his followers to prepare for battle and go to war. It also is important to note that President Trump’s speeches were preceded by the spectacles at Lafayette Park and St. John’s Church, where peaceful protesters were brutally beaten back for a photo-op.

Trump’s Final Battle and New Age

Cal Jillson, a respected scholar, says millenarianism leaders that repeatedly warn the end is near and try to incite violence seldom change. As figureheads, they are habitual and incurable, and that they are who they are (“Let Trump be Trump"). The president’s habit of making a constant spectacle, which helped his presidential campaign in 2016, however, has become a massive liability during a time of national crisis. This liability will force him to entertain greater acts of desperation and destruction, possibly destroying even the nation along with himself.

Critics suspect President Trump is doing just this as he tears America apart. He does not even pretend to hide the divisiveness and racial rhetoric or apocalyptic imagery coming from his campaign. Without a strong economy and such a poor response to the virus, he is hoping enough Americans agree their White, Christian culture and history is in imminent danger. That they will raise up and win one last battle against

The biased coverage of President Trump's Mount Rushmore speech is just the beginning. As the political season picks… https://t.co/gYoGrtuccw

2020-07-12 21:38:00

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Here’s How the WashPost Lied About Trump’s Mount Rushmore Speech https://t.co/v4JwPEXddu

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Full video: @bdomenech Rips WaPo Gaslighting Over Trump's Mount Rushmore Speech https://t.co/dhvE7JYEMW

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“Marxists, radicals and anarchists roaming the county”

by re-electing him. In doing so, he will become the new messianic pretender to "Make America Great Again".

How Far for the Necessary Purification?

Whether or not President Trump is misreading this historical moment, one thing is certain: The Nazi Thousand Year Reich echoed the same Christian idea of an approaching millennium, which included the Nazi belief in the superior qualities and destiny of the White Aryan race which took on the nature of a nonrational and self-validating faith. This explains why the president frames everything in a dualistic struggle between good and evil (Us vs. Them), and how fascism and other far-right movements engage in demonization, scapegoating, and conspiracism.

For the Nazis, a dualistic approach meant picking the Jews and Roma as their scapegoats. Later, it included political opponents and anyone else who resisted the Third Reich. Each of these groups were listed for imprisonment and final extermination in what was viewed as the necessary purification of society before the anticipated millenarian transformation. Since both can see their failures-but cannot help to prioritize their needs, just how far the president and his followers will go to purge protesters and so-called Marxists and radicals remains to be seen.

Dallas Darling (darling@wn.com)

(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.)

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