Fox News host and right wing radio personality Dan Bongino made an Instagram post that unequivocally endorses the neo-Nazi conspiracy theory “cultural Marxism.” This is the same anti-Semitic belief that was cited by terrorists who mass-murdered civilians from Christchurch in New Zealand, Poway in California, as well as Oslo and Utøya in Norway.
The post decries the updates made to the wikipedia article for “cultural Marxism.” The image shows an older definition, which is favorable to the hateful ideology. The article has since been updated to lay out the anti-Semitism and neo-Nazi influences of this theory, an update that Bongino and others do not support. Bongino’s caption reads: “This is insane... they are gaslighting the entire country.”
“Cultural Marxism” was noted by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a rising belief amongst the American conservative movement. It was derived from a similar Nazi theory known as “cultural Bolshevism.” Both beliefs follow the same old hateful belief of some kind of Jewish-led cabal that secretly controls world events from behind the scenes. Adolf Hitler and his followers used this conspiracy theory to fear monger against political enemies during the rise of the Third Reich.
This new flavor replaces “Bolshevism” with “Marxism” tries to place the blame exclusively on Marxists rather than Jewish people in an ironic attempt at political correctness. However, it takes very little digging to reveal that the origins of the theory revolve around a group called the “Frankfurt School” who, it just so happened, were mostly Jewish. The true target of these conspiracy theories was unambiguous to historians and it is unambiguous to anyone who understands the history of Nazism.
That truth is also not lost on white supremacist terrorists, themselves.
Oslo and Utøya, Norway
A two-part terrorist attack utilizing a mass shooting and a bombing killed 77 people (8 by bombing, 67 by gunfire, 2 indirectly). Over 300 people were injured. The terrorist, Anders Behring Breivik, cited “cultural Marxism” beliefs as one of his inspirations for the horrific attack in his white supremacist manifesto.
Christchurch, New Zealand
A white supremacist terrorist engaged in two consecutive mass shootings targeting mosques in the city. 51 people were killed, and 40 were injured. The terrorist, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, cited the Norway terrorist’s manifesto as inspiration for his attack.
Poway, California
A neo-Nazi terrorist commits a mass shooting at the Poway synagogue. Yet again, the terrorist cited “cultural Marxism” as an inspiration for the attack, specifically targeting Jewish worshipers.
There has been no comment from Fox News or Dan Bongino’s team regarding his promotion of this violent, terrorist belief that originated from neo-Nazism. As mainstream conservatism pushes deeper to the far-right, people need to remain vigilant against such dangerous philosophies.