Progressive broadcaster and Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan experienced a baffling moment in his new debate video with Jubilee when he found himself talking to a far-right man who openly and proudly admitted to being a fascist.
Pitted against 20 far-right conservatives, Hasan was ready to debate the video’s second topic, regarding whether or not President Donald Trump is defying the U.S. Constitution, when he found himself sitting opposite a self-describing fascist man who expressed Nazi-apologist leanings. “The Constitution is a document that should seek to serve us, and when it fails to seek to serve us, that can be amended. Laws can be changed,” the man, who hesitantly identified himself as “Connor” but noted that he “goes by a pseudonym online” began.
“Quite frankly, if Trump is anti-constitution, good. And I think he should go further,” the far-right conservative later remarked. In response, Hasan asked his debate opponent if Democrats can change or ignore parts of the Constitution when they are in office, too. “Absolutely not,” Connor replied, repeating the same phrase when he was then asked if he believes in Democracy. “What do you believe in?” Hasan asked, to which the other man responded, “Autocracy.”
You can watch the full exchange yourself, which begins around the video’s 22-minute mark, in the video below.
Things went completely off the rails when Connor began to quote the writings of German political theorist and Nazi Party member Carl Schmitt, whom he called “awesome” and “super cool,” which prompted Hasan to ask, “Are you a fan of the Nazis?” “I frankly don’t care [about] being called a Nazi at all,” the other man replied. When Hasan then asked if he condemned the Nazis’ persecution of the Jews, Connor responded, “I think that there was a little bit of persecution and stuff like that, which is bad.”
Hearing enough, Hasan remarked, “We may have to rename this show, because you’re a little bit more than a far-right Republican.” Smirking, Connor asked, “Hey, what can I say?” “I think you can say, ‘I’m a fascist,’” Hasan countered, to which his debate opponent confirmed with a laugh, “Yeah, I am.” As others in attendance began to clap, Hasan noted, “I’m just checking who’s clapping just to get my set of where everyone is on this because … you know that millions of people are going to be watching you on YouTube and checking out who the fascists and the Nazis are?”
“I’m not ashamed of that whatsoever,” Connor told the Zeteo founder. “Clearly, you’re not,” he replied. Near the end of their conversation, an exasperated Hasan told his debate opponent, “The only good thing about this fascist moment we’re in is that you guys are so open about it.”
The video itself was summed up well by one YouTube commenter, who wrote, “This might be the most insane Jubilee video yet.”
