Truthout
The Public Intellectual
Progressive academics address important social issues.
![The Public Intellectual](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2018/01/9116579256_3b2f9b29d0_h-1200x675.jpg)
Series Introduction
Progressive academics address important social issues in a language that is both rigorous and accessible.
![Truthout Logo](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2018/03/Truthout-Default-Image-1200x900.png)
The Public Intellectual Project
Progressive academics address important social issues in a language that is both rigorous and accessible.
![Donald Trump's face](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/05/2024_0529-donald-trump-400x300.jpg)
Mainstream Media Obscure the Threat Posed by Trump’s Authoritarianism
The ruling elite use major media apparatuses as disimagination machines for tools of indoctrination.
![Pro-Palestinian demonstrators celebrate after raising the Palestinian flag outside Lisner Hall as they rally on the campus of George Washington University on May 2, 2024, in Washington, D.C.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/05/2024_0509-campus-protest-400x300.jpg)
Campus Protests Are Fighting Militarism and Corporatization at Home and Abroad
Student protesters know the fight for Palestinian freedom requires resisting militarization and fascism at home.
![Donald Trump](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2024/01/2024_0131-donald-trump-clouds-400x300.jpg)
Silence Is Dangerous in the Current Age of Rising Fascism in the US
Social movements are creating powerful new languages for confronting tyranny. We must resist the plague of silence.
![Donald Trump leaves after speaking to supporters during a political rally](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/09/GettyImages-1563695883-400x300.jpg)
Mouths Full of Blood: Trump and His Backers Spread Lies, Violence and Fascism
Death threats have become rampant as MAGA culture twists norms and makes once-marginal forms of violence mainstream.
![Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the Midland County Republican Party Dave Camp Spring Breakfast on April 6, 2023, in Midland, Michigan.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/07/2023_0801-ron-desantis-400x300.jpg)
DeSantis’s “Freedom” Is a Force for Domination, Not a Key Form of Empowerment
We can’t let Ron DeSantis and the right wing co-opt the idea of freedom to legitimize the injustices they perpetrate.
![We don't understand our smoke signals. Antibes, France.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/06/DSC02549_V2-400x300.jpg)
Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire: Art Exhibit Calls Viewers to Confront Fascism
As wildfire smoke wafts over North America, artist Isaac Cordal’s critique of neoliberal capitalism is urgent and apt.
![Great Oak High School students leave campus in protest of the district's ban on "critical race theory" curriculum at Patricia H. Birdsall Sports Park in Temecula, California, on December 16, 2022.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/04/GettyImages-1245683882-400x300.jpg)
US Fascism Is Spreading Under the Guise of “Patriotic Education”
Republicans are rallying behind racist pedagogy as an organizing principle.
![Students from Great Oak High School protest their school district's ban of critical race theory curriculum at Patricia H. Birdsall Sports Park in Temecula, California, on December 16, 2022.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/04/2023_0404-student-protest-400x300.jpg)
The Right Wing Is Waging a Dirty War Against History and Education
In the contemporary U.S., an authoritarian politics of disappearance manifests in new ways every week.
![Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a rally at the Wyndham Hotel on August 19, 2022, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/12/2022_1216-ron-desantis-400x300.jpg)
Ron DeSantis Is a Case Study in the Threat of Fascism in the US
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pursued white supremacist policies with deep roots in the Jim Crow era.
![A Make America Great Again hat engulfed in flames burns on the ground at Copley Square in Boston on October 18, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/11/2022_1104-maga-hat-burn-400x300.jpg)
The 2022 Midterms Are a Referendum on the Future of Democracy in the US
The coming election will show whether the mass of voters in the U.S. support democracy or fascism.