Contents of this Post
- HOWEVER, some people ARE very dangerous, and dangerous in ways very similar to the Fascists of a century ago.
- Here Are Recent Excerpts From Reliable, Serious Sources: “Is Donald Trump A Fascist?”
- Wikipedia on Trumpism:
- The Nation Chris Lehmann Nov 14, “The ‘Is Donald Trump a Fascist?’ Debate Has Been Ended – by Donald Trump”
- RawStory+ Thom Hartmann Sep 6, 23
- FreePress Timothy Karr Nov 16 Title: The Media Must Atone for Enabling Trump’s Fascism
- The Hill: Aug 21
- The New Republic
- AlterNet – Robert Reich – Nov 21
- Alternet – Nov 14 – Is Donald Trump a fascist? Opinion, Transition To Fascism Now Complete
- Raw Story Dec 19 – He’s Gone Too Far
- See Also on PublicChristian:
- Questions for us:
Some say “Is Donald Trump a fascist? No. Fascism is a very specific movement.” But by those definitions nobody today is exactly a fascist.
HOWEVER, some people ARE very dangerous, and dangerous in ways very similar to the Fascists of a century ago.
That is, some important Americans today have strong fascistic flavoring. And it matters a lot.
So we’re seeing a lot of serious, responsible journalism answering the question strongly in the affirmative. (The sources quoted in an article a couple weeks ago – “Is Trumpism … Dangerous?” are almost all different from these. These focus on the fascism question.)
That quote above, “He’s talking like a fascist. He’s planning fascist policies. He’s staffing up with fascists” is from VOX, Nov 14. We should believe him – what he says and what he does. Is Donald Trump a fascist? YES! And that is a very dangerous fact for all of us.
He may be “an extremely dumb fascist” but that does not lessen the threat. (See this New Republic article from July that includes “an extremely dumb fascist” in the title.)
And he may (somehow?) not actually become the GOP nominee, but there are plenty of lesser lights in the GOP who eagerly lick DJT’s boots and now (consequently?) want to bring about fascism in America. DeSanctimonious, anyone?
So let’s heed that great wisdom from an unknown source: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck, then it’s gonna turn out to be a duck. It may be a dumb duck, but we’ve seriously got to watch out for fascistic dumb ducks!
Here Are Recent Excerpts From Reliable, Serious Sources: “Is Donald Trump A Fascist?”
These, of course, place some emphasis on fascism in Donald Trump’s speeches. Is Donald Trump a fascist? He’s telling us – ahead of time! Ladies and Gentlemen, this man and his imitators and sycophants are extremely dangerous to YOU and to ME and to those we love, both persons and institutions. Let’s face it.
Wikipedia on Trumpism:
– Some commentators … view [Trumpism] … as part of a trend towards a new form of fascism or neo-fascism, with some referring to it as explicitly fascist.
– Presbyterian minister and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Chris Hedges has asserted that many of Trump’s white evangelical supporters resemble those of the German Christians movement of 1930s Germany who also regarded their leader in an idolatrous way, the Christo-fascist idea of a Volk messiah
– American historian Robert Paxton … stated that it is “not just acceptable but necessary” to understand Trumpism as a form of fascism.
The Nation Chris Lehmann Nov 14, “The ‘Is Donald Trump a Fascist?’ Debate Has Been Ended – by Donald Trump”
– The real conditions of political engagement on the right have plainly curdled into strongman reaction everywhere you turn …
– [the New York Times] encouraged readers to view Trump’s declaration as an unseemly personal lapse
– “Trump Calls Political Enemies ‘Vermin,’ Echoing Dictators Hitler, Mussolini,” was The Washington Post’s display text. Even Forbes … managed to rise to the moment, with “Trump Compares Political Foes to ‘Vermin’ on Veterans Day—Echoing Nazi Propaganda.”
RawStory+ Thom Hartmann Sep 6, 23
Like so many infamous leaders in history, if Trump isn’t both stopped and imprisoned for at least another presidential election cycle (until 2028) he’ll simply attempt a comeback and further tear apart the psychological and political fabric of our nation. Hitler came out of prison stronger than when he went in: Trump would, too.
FreePress Timothy Karr Nov 16 Title: The Media Must Atone for Enabling Trump’s Fascism
– At a speech delivered on Veterans Day, Trump used rhetoric nearly identical to that used by Adolf Hitler 80 years earlier.
Rather than honoring veterans as one might expect of a political speech on this day, Trump used the occasion to label his adversaries “vermin” — promising that, if elected, he would use his power to “root out” all his political enemies.
– Hitler frequently used vermin references to justify the murder of Jews and others across Europe, while “Trump has used it more broadly to suggest that his opponents are subhuman” and deserve punishment.
– Parroting Hitler should not be considered normal behavior in any U.S. election cycle.
– What is new, however, is the growing number of reporters and commentators being more explicit in their use of the term “fascist” to describe Trump’s beliefs …
The Hill: Aug 21
– We’re seeing in real time what journalist Masha Gessen has called “the performance of fascism.”
– Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich agrees and encourages us not to shy away from using that word as the threat of fascism grows in America.
Reich notes that one of the key features of fascism involves a strongman, or would-be strongman, stoking rage and resentment among his followers to seek revenge. Fascists, Reich argues, “use mass rage to gain and maintain power.”
– Ruth Ben-Ghiat, New York University scholar of fascism, shared perceptions about violence and fascism, hers echoing Robert Reich’s about Trump. Ben-Ghiat, author of “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present,” said that “[s]ince 2015, [Trump has] used his rallies … as radicalization sites. And over and over, he told his supporters at these rallies that violence was a good way to solve conflict.”
The New Republic
– Donald Trump is talking like a Nazi again … declaring that America’s biggest enemies were domestic foes that needed to be “rooted out” and destroyed. “The real threat is not from the radical right; the real threat is from the radical left, and it’s growing every day, every single day,” he said. “The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within.”
– [How the Trump camp responds:] Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung responded … those “who try to make [the] ridiculous assertion [that Trump is channeling Hitler] are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.” Not exactly a posture aimed at reassuring those who are alarmed by the increasingly fascistic bent
AlterNet – Robert Reich – Nov 21
– progressive economist Robert Reich warns that Trump is “going full fascist” with “the backing of prominent billionaires.”
– “Who’s bankrolling all this? While Trump’s base is making small contributions, the big money is coming from some of the richest people in the U.S.”
– “… if capitalism and its moneyed interests are in charge, those excesses inevitably grow to the point where they are able to extinguish democracy and ride roughshod over the common good. That’s why Trump’s neo-fascism — and the complicity of today’s Republican Party with it — are attracting the backing of some of the richest people in the U.S.“
Alternet – Nov 14 – Is Donald Trump a fascist? Opinion, Transition To Fascism Now Complete
– (comparing Hitler speeches, etc., to Trump) Trump’s fixation on Hitlerian imagery, memes and tropes is not an accident. The orange-haired demagogue has had a longstanding fascination with Hitler.
– The cult-like bond between the movement leader and his most ardent followers, a bond characterized by pledges of mutual aid, threats of revenge and shared delusions of victimization, is one of the bedrock features of fascism.
– As a form of political behavior, discourse and ideology, Trump and the MAGA movement are clearly fascist. There is no longer room for debate.
– While fascist movements differ from nation to nation,
they are united by “conspicuous features [that] are recognizably shared.” These include: (long list)
– “[N]ostalgia for a purer, mythic, often rural past;
– cults of tradition and cultural regeneration;
– paramilitary groups;
– the delegitimizing of political opponents and demonization of critics;
– the universalizing of some groups as authentically national, while dehumanizing all other groups;
– hostility to intellectualism and attacks on a free press;
– anti-modernism;
– fetishized patriarchal masculinity;
– and a distressed sense of victimhood and collective grievance.
Fascist mythologies often incorporate
– a notion of cleansing,
– an exclusionary defense against racial or cultural contamination,
– and related eugenicist preferences for certain ‘bloodlines’ over others.”
Raw Story Dec 19 – He’s Gone Too Far
“Every time he says it, we are going to call it out,” said Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director. “He’s going to echo the rhetoric of Hitler and Mussolini, and we’re going to make sure that people understand just how serious that is every single time.”
See Also on PublicChristian:
– Is Trumpism Dangerous? 14 Good Sources Say “You Better Believe It!”
– Nonviolence – Turn the Other Cheek MEANS Resist Courageously, Non-Violently
– What is Christian Nationalism? It Wears Christian Words & Symbols Like Sheep’s Clothing.
– Christofascism – It’s Real, It’s Deadly, And It Intends to Dominate Us All
– Tyranny – We’re in Danger but Have Options – 20 Short Lessons.
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Questions for us:
1. What things that Trump has said are most troubling to you?
2. So what do you think? Is Donald Trump a fascist? Is fascism in America a live option today?
3. And, should there perhaps be something like “Christians against Trump”?
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