At Stonewall National Monument, the rainbow Pride flag that had flown near the site where the 1969 uprising and helped launch the modern LGBTQ rights movement was removed earlier this month by the National Park Service. The action drew swift condemnation from local officials and advocates. Federal officials said the removal due to long-standing rules limiting which flags can be displayed on government-managed historic sites.
In Philadelphia, National Park Service staff took down the exhibit: “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of the Nation” at Independence National Historical Park. The informational panels told the story of the lives of enslaved people connected to the site. The Organization of American Historians called the removal “deeply troubling,” arguing the exhibit had been an important public reckoning with slavery at a place central to the nation’s founding.
And in Washington, The Smithsonian Institution drew fire after references to Donald Trump’s impeachments were removed from at least one display. Critics interpret the removal as a surrender to political pressure.
These examples of now-you-see-it-and–now-you-don’t of America’s history isn’t unusual when a fascist takes power according to Jason Stanley, a Yale philosophy professor.
His new book is “Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future.”
In the book Stanley argues that fascist leaders typically have a core strategy of launching attacks on education and public memory. Once in power, the leader puts restrictions on what can be taught, commemorated, or represented.
The goal is to narrow a public’s sense of whose citizenship and suffering “count” — and, ultimately, who can claim the future.
Stanley warns that the fight over history is not symbolic—it’s instrumental and necessary for the survival of the fascist state. He explains that authoritarian movements seek to replace complex, pluralistic history with a simple “usable past” that is basis for propaganda.
The Trump administration rejects the “fascist” label and frames these disputes as efforts to remove bias.
Guest:
Jason Stanley is a prominent philosopher and professor at the University of Toronto. He is known for analyzing propaganda, authoritarianism, and fascism. He is the award-winning author of “How Propaganda Works” and “How Fascism Works,” focusing on threats to democracy and language.
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This episode will be recorded on Monday, February 16, 2026, at 12:00 p.m.
