How has the turmoil of Jan 6th and talk of coups affected American ability to control global events, especially as regards to China? The basis for fascism exists in the U.S. as a significant number of people who voted for Trump support a more racist and repressive state. Historian Gerald Horne on theAnalysis.news with Paul Jay.

Transcript

Paul Jay

Hi, welcome to the Analysis.News. I'm Paul Jay. Please don't forget the donate button at the top of the Web page.

The events of Jan. 6 have exposed the naked truth about American democratic institutions. The United States as the global model of democracy is a fairy tale that decades of Cold War education and propaganda have created in the American public mind. The reality is a system in turmoil maintained by violence. Four years of Trump, ending in an attempted coup and the storming of Congress on Jan. 6,  have shown how easily this model of democracy can unravel, how it teeters towards fascism. Now, joining us to discuss the global consequences of Jan. 6 and the mass basis of fascism in the United States is Gerald Horne.

Gerald holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores chair of history and African-American studies at the University of Houston. He's the author of many books, most recently "Storming the Heavens: African-Americans and the Early Fight for the Right to Fly" and "The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean." And also, and most recently, "The Bittersweet Science: Racism, Racketeering, and the Political Economy of Boxing." Thanks for joining us, Gerald.

Gerald Horne

Thank you for inviting me.

Paul Jay

So, Gerald, let's start with some of the international consequences of what happened on the 6th, and then let's dig in more into this idea that there's a real mass basis for fascism in the United States. And I'm going to ask you what you make of this Senate impeachment. But let's start more internationally with a particular focus on China.

Gerald Horne

Well, appropriately enough for a pandemic, I think the events of Jan. 6 unmasked, to a certain extent, the United States and the state structures. There are so many questions that need to be answered. However, what we do know already is quite disturbing. For example, we do know, according to Yahoo! News, that just before Jan. 6, there was $500,000 worth of Bitcoin cryptocurrency transferred into the virtual wallets of some prominent right-wingers in the United States from sources in France.

And this points up to these transatlantic, indeed global networks of white supremacists and neofascists, which should not come as a surprise, since those of us like myself who've studied the United States relationship with apartheid South Africa, recognize that during that pre-1994 era there was a ramified network supporting apartheid South Africa in some ways with headquarters right here in the United States. And so some of the reportage that's emerging points to the United States being sort of an exporter, not only of right-wing ideology but capital to support right-wing forces across the globe, particularly in Western Europe, who in return scratch the back of the United States of America.

Paul Jay

That's where Steve Bannon has been very active.

Gerald Horne

Well, of course, Steve Bannon has been ultra active with regard to this. But I think with regard to the unmasking, it's delivered a stinging black eye to Washington. That is to say, how can Washington credibly criticize other countries for so-call...