JensenHealey
pfm Member
Trump is not clever enough to be a Fascist. Can’t even use a dictionary to look it up!
Not quite true - the "prosperity gospel" originated in the mid-20th century, although hints can be seen back in the 19th. The original religious settlers came to the New World to escape persecution and to practise freely their particular religious beliefs. Many of them saw this as the founding of the New Jerusalem. The Founding Fathers, none of them particularly religious (many at best deists), were careful to preserve a great degree of religious freedom, including the lack of an established church, like the Anglican Church in England. Ironically, an established church did arise - America itself. The belief in exceptionalism, going back to the 19th century's Manifest Destiny, and the belief that, with hard work, anything was possible for anyone in the USA, and, if you weren't successful it was because you didn't try sufficiently hard. This fused with some religious beliefs in the mid-2oth century to produce today's prosperity gospel.
Trump is much more of a self-interested grifter than a fascist and it doesn't take much digging through the fascist trappings to realise that it's all just about what's best for him.
New Statesman did a piece of this last month : https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2021/01/why-trump-isnt-fascist
Looking at the impeachment case so far the evidence is so compelling I can’t possibly see what argument Trump’s lawyers will use. Perhaps they will try the Chewbacca defense?
Trump is much more of a self-interested grifter than a fascist and it doesn't take much digging through the fascist trappings to realise that it's all just about what's best for him.
New Statesman did a piece of this last month : https://www.newstatesman.com/world/2021/01/why-trump-isnt-fascist
He's both. Fascism is a tactic he uses to promote himself.
The thing that really brought this home to me was the Republican Convention where Trump was renominated. The Party had no policy platform - none whatsoever, which, I think, is unheard of. Its sole point was that The Man was Our Man, and had to be re-elected. And whatever The Man said was what had to happen. It was a terrifying illustration of just how thoroughly Trump had taken over the Party.In his book “The Anatomy of Fascism”, Robert Paxton listed common traits he saw among fascist leaders:
- A sense of overwhelming crisis beyond the reach of traditional solutions.
T***p has totally remade the GOP in his own image. It is now a populism, not conservatism, that drives their agenda.
- The superiority of the leader’s instincts over abstract and universal reason.
His total disregard for the truth, and the trust he places in his own gut instinct, captures this one well.
- The belief of one group that it is the victim, justifying any action.
Many in Trump’s base feel threatened by immigrants, so Trump bans Muslims and builds a border wall.
- The need for authority by natural leaders (always male) culminating in a national chief who alone is capable of incarnating the group’s destiny.
This seems like quite a good description of T***p’s boastful claims.
- The beauty of violence and the efficacy of will when they are devoted to the group’s success.
Until the police actions during the BLM protests, an argument could be made that T***p did not check this box. But January 6 pretty much sealed the deal.
Sorry, Mull, I never saw it, so this is lost on me.Little House on the Prairie
Hitler was a lazy man, with no interest whatsoever in the minutiae of policy - he made pronouncements from on high, and individual departments were expected to "work towards the Führer"
Sounds like Boris Johnson!
A velvet fist inside a velvet glove.
The comparison has also been made between Trump and a (not particularly effective) Mafia Boss.
Nish Kumar said:The Trump trial is basically just this scene over and over again:
The essence of Trump is that he doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself, so the idea that he is some kind of nationalist is surprising to me. Instead of the traditional fascist idea of loving the nation so much you are willing to die for it (and become a martyr), Trump famously said of the US military dead "Why would they do it? What's in it for them?".