February 02, 2017 10:40 AM UTC

Neil Gorsuch Founded The "Fascism Forever Club"--Wait, What?!

• 14 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Michael O’Laughlin updates the story, and we’re happy to report that there was no real “Fascism Forever” club at Georgetown Prep:

Mr. Gorsuch, who was nominated on Jan. 31 to the Supreme Court by President Donald J. Trump, participated in the informal debates, where he was routinely teased, accused of being “a conservative fascist.” No shrinking violet, he would shoot back, taking on the liberal ethos of the school and even arguing with religion teachers about the liberal theological trends in vogue at the time…

He wrote that he founded and led the “Fascism Forever Club,” though those with knowledge of the school back in the 1980s say there was no such club. The mention of it in the yearbook was a tongue-in-cheek attempt to poke fun at liberal peers who teased him about his fierce conservatism.

At the same time,

The yearbook’s mention of the club is not the only item on Mr. Gorsuch’s profile that is raising eyebrows in some circles: A sarcastic quote from Henry Kissinger about how to get away with unconstitutional activities appears in both his prep school yearbook as well as his Columbia University yearbook.

We guess we feel a little better now! Trump and fascism, folks. Joking or not, it’s a recurring theme.

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Here’s a bizarre story coming today from reporter Michael O’Laughlin of America: The Jesuit Review via DailyKos, about Colorado’s native son U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, and his formative years at Washington’s tony Catholic Georgetown Prep School:

Known to be fiercely conservative at Georgetown Prep School, #Gorsuch joked in yearbook he founded and led “Fascism Forever Club” pic.twitter.com/zrZZ53iP4I

— Michael J O’Loughlin (@MikeOLoughlin) February 1, 2017

That’s right: in a yearbook from Gorsuch’s time at this elite conservative private school, he is identified as the “founder and president” of something called the “Fascism Forever Club.” Now, we should be very clear that we don’t have any real context for this, other than the fact that Gorsuch was described by classmates as a very conservative guy.

And of course, fascism sits on the right end of conservatism.

But look folks, maybe we should give the youthful Neil Gorsuch the benefit of the doubt. Haven’t we all said silly things out of youth and inexperience? Surely Gorsuch hadn’t, you know, thought these things through when he established joked about the “Fascism Forever Club.”

Friend emails turns out Neil Gorsuch was in her class at Columbia, here are yearbook photos pic.twitter.com/H7VPHMNT61

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) February 1, 2017

“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer.” Now there’s a memorable quote from America’s original Machiavellian dark prince, Henry Kissinger! And we would probably dismiss this as a joke from Gorsuch too, but for the fact that conservatives still revere Henry Kissinger. So…we’ll have to see how Gorsuch responds to these questions in confirmation hearings.

One thing’s for sure, this is not the sort of unearthed past that makes confirmations a breeze.