Method in the Madness: The Patterns of American Authoritarianism

Plus, Bugbear Dispatch Updates and Bonus Content for Paid Subscribers

Hello, fellow bugbears! Today’s newsletter is going to be a bit of a hodgepodge. As I periodically do, I’ll be updating all readers on how The Bugbear Dispatch is doing and where I’d like to take it if certain milestones can be met.

Responding to American Fascism: Don’t Lose the Forest for the Trees

But first, I’ll make a few comments on how to assess the chaos in the government and its effects on individuals’ lives in terms of patterns rather than isolated events, the blow-by-blow of which is nearly impossible to follow. Finally, paid subscribers will get some bonus recommended reading and a gift link to my latest article for The Flytrap, “Haidt Crimes: On Moral Foundations Theory and the Normalization of Fascism.”

First off, some fairly quick thoughts on the authoritarian patterns in the chaos we’re experiencing. I object to calling any particular focus of an authoritarian movement a “distraction”—this was often said (including by many on the Left) in recent years about the Right’s moral panic over transgender Americans existing in public and receiving access to medical care, and look where that’s gotten us. As trans people and experts on authoritarianism such as myself knew all along, the culture-warring attacks on our rights were not a distraction, but a key pillar of America’s fascist movement. American fascists are now in control of the entire federal government, and as it turns out they are very sincerely concerned with pushing genocidal anti-trans policies.

In recent related news, we’ve seen the website for the Stonewall National Monument erase all mentions of trans participation in the famous uprising, when trans women were in fact central players in that series of events. The use of “LGB” language, evidently copied from British TERFism, seems designed not only to erase the “T,” but also to drive a wedge between trans folks and the rest of the queer community. I don’t believe this will work, and I’m encouraged by the protests that immediately sprang up in response to the changes of the website. Even so, it’s quite an insult, if an entirely unsurprising one.

Meanwhile, a trans man from Minnesota, Sam Nordquist, was tortured and murdered in upstate New York in a what was likely a hate crime (though it has not at this point been officially declared one). His family has set up a GoFundMe to help them with out-of-state travel as they deal with the horrific crime and process Nordquist’s death.

Whether the Nordquist case turns out to have been a hate crime or not, the dehumanization of a group of people provides a permission structure for bigots with violent impulses to act on those impulses. And that would be the case even if the anti-trans moral panic were simply thrown out as red meat for the bigoted and uneducated by cynical elites who just want tax cuts (or, you know, illegal control of the treasury itself), but that’s clearly not what’s going on.

Does that mean there is no degree of instrumentality to the targets of choice for a fascist regime? No. That, too, would be too simple. Fascism thrives when fascists are able to stir up a significant degree of hatred and fear toward one or more othered groups. But as fascism is an ideology driven by majoritarian grievance, the selection of potential groups to scapegoat is not infinite. The scapegoat du jour must fall outside of white Christian patriarchy in order for fascists to be able to argue that the focus of their ire represents a threat. From that perspective, focusing attacks on trans people makes sense (even though our existence harms no one). As an engine of fascism, this scapegoating process may be regarded as instrumental, but the chosen targets are not accidental. Nor is the process itself a “distraction” from the pursuit of other objectives.

That being said, the pace at which Elon Musk—who seems more like our de facto dictator than the nominal president, Donald Trump—and the Trump regime are moving across the entire government, and the resulting chaos (which is causing people to lose jobs and income, among other consequences) are very much meant to disorient and demoralize us. Not so much to distract us, perhaps, as to drive us to seek distractions, to stop paying attention because what’s happening is overwhelming.

Picture by Brett Jordan, via Unsplash.

That’s why I think it helps to remember the general anatomy of moral panics and fascist movements. They follow patterns, and this is one of them. Perhaps focusing on that may help you not to worry about having to follow in real-time, or constantly remember, every single move the regime makes. Instead, look at the big picture, and beyond that focus on whatever battles you are able to fight in the circumstances that you are in. Local and state battles still matter—when push comes even further to shove, and it will, blue state leadership will need to be pressured to protect the vulnerable and to continue disobeying unconstitutional directives from this lawless federal government or from fascist state governments. Community engagement also matters.

And, I think, phone calls to our federal-level senators and representatives also still matter. The anti-authoritarian organization Indivisible recommends keeping individual calls to one topic. Tt’s clear that behind the scenes there is discontent even among Republicans with Musk’s completely illegal access to highly sensitive government data and his ability to lay off government workers en masse and completely upend federal departments. So I think one topic it’s important to call about is Musk—tell your senators and representative that no one voted for an unelected dictator who doesn’t even have a high-level security clearance to have sweeping power over the federal government, and to do whatever they are able to get this billionaire asshole and walking conflict of interest out of the government. If you are up to another set of calls, I would very much appreciate calls in favor of trans rights. But of course there are many valid issues to call about.

As a final thought, it remains to be seen exactly how far the Trump regime will go to defy the courts, but indications are that they will most likely cease, at some point, to provide even surface-level compliance to rulings that do not go in their favor. A case in point is the court order to restore health-related websites the Trump regime had taken down. The regime ultimately did so, but appended a statement to all pages having to do with gender condemning so-called gender ideology. We’ll see where things go from here, but when, as is likely, the Trump regime begins to simply disregard court orders that don’t go its way, it will become all the more important for state and local governments in Democratic hands to stand firm in defying the federal government when it orders human rights abuses.

A Bugbear Dispatch Update

As I’ve done before, today I wanted to take the time to let readers know where things stand with this publication. I can still only afford for it to be a one-person effort, but revenue and subscriber growth have moved incrementally in the right direction for me to eventually be able to pay an editor and occasional guest-posters.

Over the last few weeks, The Bugbear Dispatch finally exceeded the 200 paid subscriber threshold and has remained above that level (there’s always a little churn). The current numbers are as follows: 2.54k total subscribers, 206 paid subscribers, and annualized revenue (this is a moving target, of course) of $17.1k. Because I’m currently working on my taxes, I can also tell you that in 2024, The Bugbear Dispatch made exactly $16,046.47.

The last time I published an assessment like this, in August of last year, The Bugbear Dispatch had 1,594 total subscribers, 187 paid subscribers, and was projected to bring in $15.7k in annualized revenue.

I appreciate the vote of confidence in my work apparent in the improved numbers, which I will continue to publish periodically in order to be transparent with my audience. I am certainly satisfied with, and thankful for, slow and steady growth, which is likely to be sustainable. At the same time, I’m still a couple hundred paid subscriptions away from being able to make serious improvements like paying for branded art, hiring an editor, or taking on guest writers. The publication would also benefit from the fact that I would need to direct less time and attention toward freelancing.

If you are a free subscriber who has been reading The Bugbear Dispatch for a while, and you find value in my work, would you please consider upgrading to a paid subscription if that’s feasible to you? And to all subscribers, would you please consider posting my work to your social media or telling your friends about it? Thanks!