In this wide-ranging interview with Mickey Huff, head of Project Censored, Henry Giroux addresses a number of issues that constitute various elements of US authoritarianism. He brings together a number of issues affected by the concentration of power and wealth, including the emergence of a culture of cruelty, hardness, corruption, militarism, racism and violence that has reached down into everyday life while compromising a number of public institutions, including higher education, the criminal legal system and health care.
Giroux is particularly interested in rethinking the end of the ideology debate by arguing that neoliberal politics is no longer interested in camouflaging its market-driven, death-dealing policies and is quite unapologetic about the misery and suffering it is imposing on the American people under the project of making the wealthy elite even richer.
The financial elites and big corporations in the United States have so much power and wealth, coupled with an unbridled degree of arrogance, that they no longer rely heavily on ideology to justify capitalism’s multiple forms of lawlessness and oppression. As neoliberalism morphs into a US version of authoritarianism, civil society is turned into a site of economic nationalism and a spectacle of disparagement and humiliation. The state violence and acts of domestic terrorism that are legitimated and sanctioned in the Trump administration are obscured through a politics of diversion, but their effects are producing widespread suffering and will increasingly make visible the violence of an authoritarian regime.
The United States has entered a period of politics without euphemisms, a no-holds-barred frontal assault on democratic values, institutions and social relations, wrapped up in the discourse of greed and practices characteristic of an authoritarian mode of governance.
Giroux ends by talking about the need for a comprehensive politics that rejects the two-party system and relies upon young people and others in order to rewrite the script of democracy through sustainable social movement dedicated to democratic socialism.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $150,000 in one-time donations and to add 1,500 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy