Jason Stanley on the 'ten pillars of fascist politics' and media coverage of federal forces in Portland, Oregon
Reliable Sources
CNN
3.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 July 2020
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Yale University professor Jason Stanley, author of "How Fascism Works," says he sees a fascist social and political movement taking hold in America's democracy. In this conversation with Brian Stelter, Stanley says the Trump administration is "manufacturing dissent" by sending federal forces to Portland, Oregon and other cities. Stanley calls this tactic "lawlessness in the name of 'law and order,'" and says Fox News functions as a "propaganda station" for Trump. Stanley also discusses Trump's mishandling of the pandemic and explains the "ten pillars of fascist politics" outlined in his book.
To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | What is unfolding in Portland, Oregon? |
| 0:05.0 | What is the significance of federal forces coming into cities trying to quell what the president says is unrest and violence. |
| 0:15.0 | And how is the press covering this important moment? |
| 0:19.0 | Those are a few of the questions here on this week's Reliable Sources podcast. |
| 0:24.0 | So let's get started. |
| 0:25.0 | Kue the music. I'm Brian Stelter and this is our weekly podcast, |
| 0:30.0 | our weekly chance to go in depth with media leaders and newsmakers, talking about how the news gets made. |
| 0:39.0 | On last Sunday's edition of Reliable Sources on television, I talked about the situation in Portland, |
| 0:46.5 | and how it seemed like the arrival of Department of Homeland Security officials and the arrival |
| 0:52.0 | of these federal forces were an attempt, among other things, to create |
| 0:55.8 | a show, to create a stage for the pro-Trump media, for programs on Fox News and elsewhere. |
| 1:03.0 | Since Sunday, this story, this subject has been getting more and more attention. |
| 1:08.0 | And so I want to explore it in more detail. |
| 1:11.0 | With an author of a book with a provocative title, How Fascism Works. |
| 1:20.6 | The author is Jason Kelly. He is a professor of philosophy at Yale University. |
| 1:27.0 | He has authored five books over the years, including how propaganda works. |
| 1:32.0 | But his newest title from how propaganda works. |
| 1:37.0 | But his newest title from two years ago is How Fascism Works, The Politics of Us and Them. |
| 1:40.0 | The paperback edition of the book recently came out, and I thought it would be worth looking at the ten pillars he presents, the ten pillars of fascist politics, because he believes there are direct connections, direct parallels between those |
| 1:57.6 | pillars and what we are seeing happen in the United States today. So let's get into it. Jason, thank you so much for |
| 2:07.5 | joining me. Thanks so much for having me on, Brian. I have seen you on Morning Joe and on Christian on'm in Pore's program and elsewhere talking about how |
| 2:16.2 | fascism works. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from CNN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of CNN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.