ABSTRACT
The contemporary American right embrace stereotypes of “liberal” societal institutions as biased in their opposition to conservatives. These attacks target educational institutions, the media, scientists, and the Democrats. But these allegedly oppositional institutions are notable for their tepid resistance to the rightward shift of American politics and society. This chapter documents the ways that the media, higher education, and the Democratic Party fail to guard against the rise of the neofascistic movement. I discuss the failure of higher educational institutions to sensitize students to the dangers of rising neofascistic politics. I examine how the neoliberal politics of the Democratic Party thinned out the working-class foundation of the party, thereby paving the way for Trump’s rise to power.
I identify how the news media have systematically neglected discussions of Trump and the fascism question in U.S. politics, preferring more innocuous discourses emphasizing rightwing “populism.” I also focus on how corporate media have fueled mass consumerism, thereby demobilizing much of the population, and relegating them to the political sidelines. The chapter draws on themes from Herbert Marcuse, Sheldon Wolin, Aldous Huxley, and Neil Postman, who emphasized the harmful effects of mass entertainment, diversion, and consumption in cultivating a passive and apathetic mass public.
