Craig Franson
@craigfranson.bsky.social
English professor/democracy enthusiast--18/19th century, popular culture, critical theory, writing & rhetoric. Sometime podcaster & substacker at #AmericanId, former photojournalist & actor, Idaho expat.
#Politics #Romanticism #PopCulture #Tolkien #Buffy+
#Politics #Romanticism #PopCulture #Tolkien #Buffy+
White-power calling cards.
ICE is leaving Vietnam-style death cards in the wake of their kidnappings because they are the saddest, most embarrassing military wannabes to ever live
coloradosun.com/2026/01/23/a...
coloradosun.com/2026/01/23/a...
January 26, 2026 at 7:34 PM
White-power calling cards.
Rauch's analysis is worth the read, despite the off-putting framing.
I can see why you wouldn't be, but... Would you be interested in a writer who changed his mind about calling it fascism?
"Until recently, I resisted using the F-word."
Jan. 25: "Fascist best describes it, and reluctance to use the term has now become perverse." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
"Until recently, I resisted using the F-word."
Jan. 25: "Fascist best describes it, and reluctance to use the term has now become perverse." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
Yes, It’s Fascism
Until recently, I thought it a term best avoided. But now, the resemblances are too many and too strong to deny.
www.theatlantic.com
January 26, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Rauch's analysis is worth the read, despite the off-putting framing.
Reposted by Craig Franson
The ultimate establishment post. Criticizing everyone else for using "fascism" for years and when you finally use it yourself, calling everyone who doesn't "perverse".
Fuck you, The Atlantic! You normalized their message with your endless paranoid scare campaign against so-called "wokeness".
Fuck you, The Atlantic! You normalized their message with your endless paranoid scare campaign against so-called "wokeness".
"Recent events have brought Trump’s governing style into sharper focus," Jonathan Rauch argues. "'Fascist' best describes it, and reluctance to use the term has now become perverse." theatln.tc/wVq7MFaa
January 26, 2026 at 12:01 AM
The ultimate establishment post. Criticizing everyone else for using "fascism" for years and when you finally use it yourself, calling everyone who doesn't "perverse".
Fuck you, The Atlantic! You normalized their message with your endless paranoid scare campaign against so-called "wokeness".
Fuck you, The Atlantic! You normalized their message with your endless paranoid scare campaign against so-called "wokeness".
ICE stormtrooper executes VA nurse on a Minneapolis street.
January 26, 2026 at 12:23 AM
ICE stormtrooper executes VA nurse on a Minneapolis street.
Reposting this resource.
Via @transform6789.bsky.social, an all-time great resource: “40 completely legal tactics—many of which are accessible to people from different backgrounds, skill sets, and identities—that can be used to counter and contain” far-right organizing in your community
spencersunshine.com/2020/08/27/f...
spencersunshine.com/2020/08/27/f...
“40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists”
Exciting news! In conjunction with Portland, Oregon’s PopMob, the new edition of 40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists is now out. It’s a completely re…
spencersunshine.com
January 25, 2026 at 7:38 PM
Reposting this resource.
So much of neofascist radicalization is driven by wildly phobic masculine supremacism.
I think there's a gender element in this murder, too. In new vid, we see victim try to shield a much smaller woman a male ICE goon has violently knocked down. Goon enraged, focuses his attack on man shielding woman. As if enraged for showing up his masculinity, for revealing his hysteria.
January 25, 2026 at 5:14 PM
So much of neofascist radicalization is driven by wildly phobic masculine supremacism.
Reposted by Craig Franson
New from me at @therealnews.com: after ICE’s gun violence spreads into Portland, organizer ramp up the campaign to kick out the agency for good. therealnews.com/ice-in-portl...
ICE violence escalates in Portland, but the movement to evict agents from the city grows
“There are so many more people coming into the movement right now and with that we have to figure out a way to direct that energy into something concrete,” says one organizer in Portland, Oregon.
therealnews.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:44 PM
New from me at @therealnews.com: after ICE’s gun violence spreads into Portland, organizer ramp up the campaign to kick out the agency for good. therealnews.com/ice-in-portl...
Fascism is syncretic.
This weird thing where people are like “ICE is not the Gestapo, they’re slave patrols” and then others are like “ICE is not slave patrols, they’re CPS“ and it’s like ok the guy in charge of ICE is dressing himself like a Nazi so yeah Gestapo but also fascists can learn from more than one thing!!!!!!
January 23, 2026 at 6:25 PM
Fascism is syncretic.
Reposted by Craig Franson
This weird thing where people are like “ICE is not the Gestapo, they’re slave patrols” and then others are like “ICE is not slave patrols, they’re CPS“ and it’s like ok the guy in charge of ICE is dressing himself like a Nazi so yeah Gestapo but also fascists can learn from more than one thing!!!!!!
January 23, 2026 at 6:18 PM
This weird thing where people are like “ICE is not the Gestapo, they’re slave patrols” and then others are like “ICE is not slave patrols, they’re CPS“ and it’s like ok the guy in charge of ICE is dressing himself like a Nazi so yeah Gestapo but also fascists can learn from more than one thing!!!!!!
An important thread. The Trump administration will continue to expand the categories of non- & partial-citizens this year. Fascism used "qualitative citizenship" to describe the flexibility they gave the term. That's what we're watching unfold.
German Jews were citizens of Germany at the start of 1933. By the end of 1933, the Nazis had
removed citizenship from naturalized citizen Jews.
In 1935, all German Jews were fully stripped of their German citizenship.
Citizenship under dictatorships is contingent for targeted minorities.
removed citizenship from naturalized citizen Jews.
In 1935, all German Jews were fully stripped of their German citizenship.
Citizenship under dictatorships is contingent for targeted minorities.
January 20, 2026 at 2:19 AM
An important thread. The Trump administration will continue to expand the categories of non- & partial-citizens this year. Fascism used "qualitative citizenship" to describe the flexibility they gave the term. That's what we're watching unfold.
Accelerating ICE violence & MAGA imperialism might finally push the opposition past the near-decade-long definitional debate about fascism ("but is this REALLY fascism?") into a pitched battle between those who demand, "how do we STOP THIS NOW?" & those who get primaried & swept aside.
January 19, 2026 at 5:10 PM
Accelerating ICE violence & MAGA imperialism might finally push the opposition past the near-decade-long definitional debate about fascism ("but is this REALLY fascism?") into a pitched battle between those who demand, "how do we STOP THIS NOW?" & those who get primaried & swept aside.
Fantasy writers, need a manuscript reader? @mariadahvana.bsky.social is the bomb.
Have a couple spots available in my manuscript mentoring/editing calendar! Get in touch with me here if you're interested at all - I can explain more and we can work out a plan for your project. www.theshipmanagency.com/classes/manu...
Manuscript Consultation with Maria Dahvana Headley — The Shipman Agency
All Genres Maria is a New York Times-bestselling, Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning novelist, translator, poet, and dramatist whose work unearths hidden meanings, characters, and possibilities in ...
www.theshipmanagency.com
January 9, 2026 at 4:39 PM
Fantasy writers, need a manuscript reader? @mariadahvana.bsky.social is the bomb.
Reposted by Craig Franson
Many activists are calling on Gov. Little to “sever ties with ICE” following the shooting of a Minnesota woman by a federal agent.
Hundreds in Boise protest against ICE after shootings in Minneapolis, Portland
Many activists are calling on Gov. Little to “sever ties with ICE” following the shooting of a Minnesota woman by a federal agent.
bit.ly
January 9, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Many activists are calling on Gov. Little to “sever ties with ICE” following the shooting of a Minnesota woman by a federal agent.
An ICE agent brutally killed a woman. The president & his leading officials are lying about the killing and maligning the victim, and the FBI reportedly is refusing to share evidence with Minnesota investigators. 1/
January 8, 2026 at 6:11 PM
An ICE agent brutally killed a woman. The president & his leading officials are lying about the killing and maligning the victim, and the FBI reportedly is refusing to share evidence with Minnesota investigators. 1/
Reposted by Craig Franson
"ABOLISH, INVESTIGATE, AND PROSECUTE ICE!"
How many more people must be kidnapped, assaulted, tortured, and killed? After the murder of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, it's time to shout, "Abolish ICE!"
@libradunn1.bsky.social agrees with us
open.substack.com/pub/thelefth...
How many more people must be kidnapped, assaulted, tortured, and killed? After the murder of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, it's time to shout, "Abolish ICE!"
@libradunn1.bsky.social agrees with us
open.substack.com/pub/thelefth...
January 7, 2026 at 10:10 PM
"ABOLISH, INVESTIGATE, AND PROSECUTE ICE!"
How many more people must be kidnapped, assaulted, tortured, and killed? After the murder of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, it's time to shout, "Abolish ICE!"
@libradunn1.bsky.social agrees with us
open.substack.com/pub/thelefth...
How many more people must be kidnapped, assaulted, tortured, and killed? After the murder of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, it's time to shout, "Abolish ICE!"
@libradunn1.bsky.social agrees with us
open.substack.com/pub/thelefth...
I write pretty regularly about far-right politics & culture, but when I write about Tolkien, I get more than 10x the reads. My piece on Tolkien & Silicon Valley was, by far, my most popular publication of the year. Thanks to all who read & shared! americanid.substack.com/p/why-so-wei...
Why so Weird about Tolkien?
The Founder Fantasies of Silicon Valley
americanid.substack.com
January 6, 2026 at 11:09 PM
I write pretty regularly about far-right politics & culture, but when I write about Tolkien, I get more than 10x the reads. My piece on Tolkien & Silicon Valley was, by far, my most popular publication of the year. Thanks to all who read & shared! americanid.substack.com/p/why-so-wei...
Recalling my interview with Eva Schloss in 2001. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Meeting Eva Schloss
Our Ever Present Risk
substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:48 PM
Recalling my interview with Eva Schloss in 2001. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Reposted by Craig Franson
What the fuck
What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids?
Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.
January 5, 2026 at 5:51 PM
What the fuck
I can't get over @jentaub.bsky.social batting away @jysexton.bsky.social like an irritating fly (& inadvertently proving his point). Yes, Jen, one can cheer chaos without stanning MTG. But that cheer still registers as support for those clamoring to invite a fascist vampire into the tent.
December 30, 2025 at 6:53 PM
I can't get over @jentaub.bsky.social batting away @jysexton.bsky.social like an irritating fly (& inadvertently proving his point). Yes, Jen, one can cheer chaos without stanning MTG. But that cheer still registers as support for those clamoring to invite a fascist vampire into the tent.
@shaneburley.bsky.social is one of the best writers on the political dynamics of antisemitism. I haven't finished all these, but I'm here for a deep-dive over the break.
I am writing a series of articles about the Republican Civil War, which includes several more to come. This is a thread covering some of these articles, the top of which is the most recent one written for my newsletter about the events that transpired at TPUSA's AmericaFest. 🧵
AmericaFest Battleground in the GOP's Civil War
At Turning Point USA's AmericaFest 2025 the Republican Civil War over Israel went fully public, and they are now fighting over the future of the party.
maiseh-review.ghost.io
December 28, 2025 at 6:36 PM
@shaneburley.bsky.social is one of the best writers on the political dynamics of antisemitism. I haven't finished all these, but I'm here for a deep-dive over the break.
This thread on AI in higher ed is spot on. Administrators, please start listening to your faculty specialists on language, critical thinking, & the social sciences.
There’s no pitch for genAI in the classroom that doesn’t boil down to “it’s everywhere,” or that takes education as more than job training, or, consequently, that actually argues for genAI as a tool that has a distinct function in education.
It’s not educators who have their heads in the sand here.
It’s not educators who have their heads in the sand here.
December 27, 2025 at 7:16 PM
This thread on AI in higher ed is spot on. Administrators, please start listening to your faculty specialists on language, critical thinking, & the social sciences.
MAGA wants to humiliate higher education & destroy its cultural status. Period. Administrators have to understand the Trump administration won't negotiate in good faith or or honor agreements or get distracted. They will only attack. And attack.
I had missed this. Perverse even by the standards of the Trump White House. They’re threatening to pull student aid from Brown over the shooting www.nbcboston.com/news/local/t...
Trump administration investigates Brown's security after shooting
The Department of Education said its Office of Federal Student Aid would investigate if Brown University violated the Higher Education Act in connection with the deadly shooting on Dec. 13.
www.nbcboston.com
December 27, 2025 at 5:08 PM
MAGA wants to humiliate higher education & destroy its cultural status. Period. Administrators have to understand the Trump administration won't negotiate in good faith or or honor agreements or get distracted. They will only attack. And attack.
Just wait till he watches "Running Man."
Trump announces an "unprecedented four-day athletic event" with "one young man and one young woman from each state and territory"
December 18, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Just wait till he watches "Running Man."
Posting to read after grades are in. www.bostonreview.net/articles/whe...
When We Are All Enemies of the State - Boston Review
A recently discovered 1974 speech by Stuart Hall on Walter Rodney—and why fascists fear ideas.
www.bostonreview.net
December 16, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Posting to read after grades are in. www.bostonreview.net/articles/whe...
"Alt-light" influencer Jack Posobiec going full fascist to a NYC Young Republican crowd full of alt-right white nationalists, proud Franco-phile fascists, & neo-Nazi wannabes from the German AfD. Don't get lost in the unhinged rhetoric. He's calling for revolutionary violence, & the crowd gets it.
Jack Posobiec, the keynote speaker at NYYRC this year, concluded his a bizarre fantasy of warfare that sounds like a bad Batman movie: "Because this isn’t a debate. This isn’t a culture war. This is a street fight that started a long time ago and never really ended. This is spiritual warfare."
December 16, 2025 at 5:05 PM
"Alt-light" influencer Jack Posobiec going full fascist to a NYC Young Republican crowd full of alt-right white nationalists, proud Franco-phile fascists, & neo-Nazi wannabes from the German AfD. Don't get lost in the unhinged rhetoric. He's calling for revolutionary violence, & the crowd gets it.