‘It’s all terrifying’: Fascism expert breaks down Madison Cawthorn's violence-promoting ‘propaganda’

An expert on fascism was terrified by a Republican congressman's remarks on "bloodshed."

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) made the remarks during a Macon County GOP event on Sunday, where he defended those arrested for the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

"The reason why they have taken these political prisoners is because they're trying to make an example, to say -- because they don't want to see the mass protests going on in Washington," Cawthorn said. "They don't want to see people addressing their government for leaving 13 Marines to die in Afghanistan."

"If our election systems continue to be rigged, continue to be stolen, then it's gonna lead to one place and that's bloodshed," he said.

MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes played the remarks while interviewing fascism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat.

"Okay, so let's be clear, when he's talking about political prisoners, he's asked about the folks facing legal consequences over participation in the insurrection. He's asked about busting them out, then he says if the election continues being rigged it will end up bloodshed and how he doesn't want to take up arms against fellow Americans, but that sort of hangs over as a possibility," Hayes said. "That's — I don't know, man, that's not good."

"This is propaganda and he's mentioning it for a reason," Ben-Ghiat said. "He's getting it out there in the public sphere, because fascist movements have to work hard at the beginning to get people to see violence differently, to get them to see violence as something positive and as saving the nation, as freedom fighters, and this is what the GOP is doing."

"It's all terrifying," Ben-Ghiat added.

Watch:

Ruth Ben Ghiatwww.youtube.com