Four Strongmen at the gym
Eddie Hall, UK, IG: eddiehallwsm
Nick Best, USA, IG: nickbeststrongman
Robert Oberst, USA: IG: robertoberst, IG: teamoberst
Brian Shaw, USA: IG: shawstrength
Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, by Ruth Ben-Ghiat, was the third in the set I need to talk about, and a continuation of heavier material to think about, similar to the last one. It's about the concept of strongman rulers, and their general presentation and approach to leadership. The short version: they all suck at it and make everything worse for everyone.
The book is divided into three parts. The first is the rise to power. In a reflection of How Democracies Die, it outlines that the old methods aren't how it's usually done these days. Originally, fascist takeovers were a sweeping overtaking of government. Then was the age of military coups, which have been the majority of fascist regimes. These days, it's usually by force of law and abdication of politicians. The added historical context added by this book is that, in the age of military coups, some occurred because of the breakdown of European control of the world after WW2, and offered rhetoric about escaping imperialism before instituting their own methods of extreme brutality for control.
The second phase talks about the parts of strongman personas. The first criterion is titled "a greater nation," and focuses on the rhetoric of restoring former glory, or in some cases, creating glory they've never had, referencing Mussolini's approach of "Italy will finally have its empire." One thing that is haunting is reading all the past autocratic approaches, and seeing, repeatedly, a focus on censoring education, expelling immigrants, and pro-natalism that emphasizes the need to make babies and criminally punishes LGBT populations.
The second is propaganda, and the control of information. This includes not just what they do talk about, but the constant insistence on mis- and dis-information, and what information is suppressed in the media. When discussing Trump specifically, they talk about the tactic of saying something overtly racist or sexist as a smokescreen to a bigger issue, creating new media cycles about the comments to keep them centered in the media's attention. They also noted the rate of false information went from 5.9 a day, to 22 per day, and a grand total of 16,241 verifiably false statements in the first three years of his first term.
The third is Virility, which is about the machismo and the misogyny. They're all deeply misogynistic, treating women exclusively as sexual objects. This section had an interesting note, stating that, despite this, strongmen also present with high emotionality in public display, and would be considered "high-maintenance," which is a typically feminine trait. Which I found odd, because I feel like it fails to really dive into the gender politics of that. What is "high-maintenance" if not "insistent upon their wants and needs?" That functional trait is praised in men as something strong and unyielding, but irritating in women.
Fourth is corruption. This one is fascinating under Trump 2, because it outlines just how many of these people have a known criminal record before taking office, and then use that office to do everything in their power to remove threats of investigation or justice being done. They also note that, to keep heat off, they operate on constant uncertainty created through constant shifting of people in positions of power. Which, if you've been paying attention the last few months, has been happening a lot, even to the point of changing nominations mid-process.
The last is violence, and...I am skipping over this part because this book does not hold back in its descriptions but oh my god is it upsetting. Violence is a very frequently used tool of control, and the methods employed are...I feel like "inhumane" doesn't even really begin to describe. It's upsetting. I'm moving on.
The final part is about the fall, outlining persistent resistance to the strongman leader, into their inevitable fall. The bad news from my perspective is, often this happens due to outside influence. A major running thread of this book that is stated overtly here is that the US bankrolls many of these regimes. US companies, and even the US government, have been on their side throughout history. And some of those regimes fall because they are no longer useful, and the US withdraws support. Which. I dunno, not exactly encouraging when you are the US.
The most relevant, in my mind, is going to be one of two things. The ideal is that this ends like Mussolini; the rest of the government gets its head out of its collective ass and ousts him entirely, and he dies in utter disgrace. Given how spineless Republicans are, I suspect it will go more like Franco. Nothing will happen, he will die peacefully and in control, and only once he's dead to we start to find the bodies.
But in all of it, I can't help but feel like it's too little too late. The book itself advocates that the best thing is to not court this kind of strongman rule in the first place. Instead, the Republican party embraced it with open arms, and now we're dealing with it. And consistently, it seems like millions have to die before they're removed, and it's just extremely bleak.
Imposing their will on the nation and the world is what matters to strongmen, but destructive policies made in an echo chamber have conseque
"Autocratic backfire occurs when narcissistic leaders have insulated themselves from criticism by surrounding themselves with sycophants and loyalists. No one will tell them the truth, and religious collaborators tell them they are in office by divine will, and so they also end up believing their own propaganda about their invincibility, genius instincts, and infallibility. Then the stage is set for them to make momentous decisions on the basis of erroneous beliefs or personal ideological obsessions." [see also x]
