I can see three objections to calling a large section of the Republican party pre-fascist. The first can be dismissed with a flick of the fingers as it comes from a self-interested right that has to pretend it is not in the grip of a deep sickness – and not only in the United States. The second is the old soothing “it can’t happen here” exceptionalism of the Anglo-Saxon west, which has yet to learn that the US and UK are exceptional in the 21st century for all the wrong reasons. The third sounds intelligent but is the dumbest of all. You should not call Trump or any other leader a pre- or neo-fascist or any kind of fascist until he has gone the whole hog and transformed his society into a totalitarian war machine.
"(And I come from the old left and thought I had learned about everything that was rotten with America at my mother’s knee.)"
ReplyDeleteRight, then. This is the key to unlock this blog. America is rotten. Everything else follows from this premise.
Donald Trump, then, committed the ultimate crime. He doesn't hate America, and he collects others who don't hate America.
Calling Trump a fascist is an insult to fascists.
ReplyDeleteTrump is a spoiled brat who ran for the presidency to bring the spotlight back to him and probably get a reality TV contract after he lost to Hillary. Once in the White House he had no bigger plan than to try and use his position to keep himself from going bankrupt and reward his family and friends. He had no bigger plan to create a nation-wide cult of personality or transform the US into anything darker.
The Left desperately needs the fascist label to stick because it's the Left that's trying to undermine democracy and institute a thought-controlled dictatorship. How better to distract from that than scream "Look! Trump's a fascist!