Conservative academics “live in fear of the woke hate mob,” alleges Matthew Goodwin, a political science professor in a British university. He makes this claim in a major tabloid; he’s also been invited as guest speaker to this month’s National Conservatism conference, which he will address alongside top ministers and MPs. Well-connected to various right-wing thinktanks, he’s also director of a polling company and has easy access to the mainstream media. Fear not though, in his most recent book — published by one of Britain’s main publishers — he is “tak[ing] aim at a small and increasingly influential group [he] call[s] the New Elite”.

Yet this unjustifiable claim of having been silenced by the real powers that be is far from an individual shortcoming. Indeed, it’s become a daily occurrence across public discourse. Whether because of obsessive transphobia, Islamophobia, racism, or white supremacism — or simply as a grift — if you are well connected, there is plenty of room on the reactionary bandwagon, no matter how ludicrous or dangerous your argument. There’s no need to be worried about opposition, either: mainstream political and media figures are generally here to help.

Below is a non-exhaustive blueprint that various reactionary actors have put to the test in recent years. We could even consider it a proven success, given how obvious their grift is. Perhaps most amazing has been how easy it is to convince those who believe liberalism to be an inherent bulwark against fascism to accept reactionaries in their midst. In fact, liberals generally end up doing much of the legwork for them in terms of mainstreaming their ideas and politics.