End Times Fascism, Bunker States, and Trumpian Sadism — What's It All About?
Clear-Eyed Observations from Naomi Klein
With each passing day, week, and month of the second Trump administration, the moral and spiritual darkness of Trumpian politics becomes increasingly apparent.
This is not only because Donald Trump is a decidedly dark figure who in his profuse grandiosity derives considerable pleasure from inflicting pain and suffering upon those whom he disdains.
Mr. Trump is also emblematic of the deep-seated dystopian and apocalyptic nihilism that characterizes MAGA and other fascist movements across the globe.
There is no one better equipped to explain and interpret this than Naomi Klein, the co-author, with Astra Taylor, of a recent article in The Guardian, entitled “The Rise of End Times Fascism.”
In a revealing and thoughtful 21-minute conversation, Naomi Klein speaks with us about what she means by “The Rise of End Times Fascism” and the importance of resisting it.
We American Christians, especially, should take note since “end times fascism,” to the extent that it is a religious phenomenon (the worship of cultural gods), is rooted in a counterfeit brand of Christianity known as Christian nationalism, with close ties to Christian Zionism. But then there are also the secular apocalypticists who are “treasonous to this world and its human and non-human inhabitants.”1
Naomi Klein enables us to see the “forest” and the “trees” of what is emerging in front of us and all around us.
We do well to bring this video conversation, along with the article’s expansive exposition, to our local faith communities for the sake of understanding what is actually going on, and what is required of us by way of response. There will be no quick fix. Yet the stakes are high for all inhabitants of the Earth.
Naomi Klein’s concluding remarks draw our attention to Trump’s draconian and sadistic declaration of war on immigrants, among others.
It would be a grave mistake to think, naively, that a Trumpian America, in cahoots with global fascists, would be averse to carrying out massive ethno-cleansing as a 21st-century version of the Holocaust. Trump’s willful denigration of immigrants and his illegal and un-Constitutional deportation and disappearance of them to deadly foreign prisons, are the trial balloons.
Watch and listen here. And then share. Each one of us is responsible for standing in clear and defiant opposition to Trump’s appalling evils.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk