A Short History of American Fascism: From the KKK to the Trump Era

About this episode

Dr. John Donoghue discusses the historical roots of American fascism and its implications for confronting contemporary threats to democracy.

Dr. John Donoghue discusses how the Trump regime’s fascism is rooted in deep white supremacist historical currents running from colonial North America through the present. Confronting this history is essential if we are going to determine what it will take to defeat MAGA fascism, which poses a grave menace to freedom, decency, and the common good at home and abroad. John Donoghue’s work has focused on the history of early American colonialism, radical political thought and action, slavery and servitude, abolition, and the political economy of capitalism. His new book (forthcoming) titled American Insurrections: An Unruly History of White Christian Nationalism traces how insurrectionary violence established white supremacy in the colonial era and played a vital part in its transition to white nationalism in the U.S. and the resurgence of white Christian supremacy after the Civil War. ⁠ View this talk as a presentation Sights and Sounds from No Kings Day March 28 Refuse Fascism's statement: On No Kings Day 2026: See It Clearly. Act Accordingly. To get involved, text REFUSE to 855-755-1314 or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up online⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ , follow @RefuseFascism on social media (@RefuseFashizm on…

People in this episode

Host: Refuse Fascism

Guest: Dr. John Donoghue

Topics covered

• American fascism
• white supremacy
• political history
• MAGA fascism
• colonialism
• insurrectionary violence

Keywords

• fascism
• white supremacy
• Trump
• colonialism
• nationalism
• political economy
• abolition

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: American Insurrections: An Unruly History of White Christian Nationalism

Places: North America, U.S.

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