Trump may not believe everything he says, but, his rhetoric and attitude certainly point to fascism.
Donald Trump comes from a winning mindset, and he is able to identify an angry sect of the population, and whether he believes what he says or not, Donald Trump espouses a fascist and nationalistic mindset.
To delve further into the conversation, I first need to define fascism.
Fascism is an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
Let’s examine each part of this definition.
Authoritarian
Throughout the campaign, Trump often expressed his views in an authoritarian manner. His authoritarianism is evident when he promises to jail his own opponent, disregard the constitution, circumvent his own generals, circumvent congress, and so many other promises which violate both spoken and unspoken democratic laws in our country; Trump advocates for authoritarianism.
Furthermore, Trump’s constant disrespect and disdain for the media has created a narrative of untrustworthiness, which is incredibly dangerous in the interests of a healthy and successful democracy. If people can not trust the media, they begin to disbelief facts, and turn to someone like Trump, who pretends to share facts, but has said and done everything contrary to the truth. Trump has attacked news outlets in opposition to him, and it’s a possibility that once he becomes President, he can forcibly silence and shut down that free press (this wouldn’t actually work , but it’s what he’s advocated for).
This silencing of the media, as Trump intends to do, is all too familiar with 1930s Germany. The Nazi party meticulously used propaganda to rise to power. They created a distrust of the media, shut down all newspapers and organizations in opposition to the party, and began to report the “news” on their own.
Right-Wing System of Government
This one isn’t too hard. Donald Trump ran on the Republican ticket, advocated for the removal of Obamacare, less taxes, less government spending, etc. Trump has also expressed some non-right-wing views, most importantly trade and protectionism. However, for the most part, Trump falls on the right side of the spectrum.
Social Organization
Social organization is perhaps the easiest place to see where Trump has exposed fascism within his own discourse. Social organization is how Trump interacts with people, and how he shows himself to be a strong leader. On the campaign trail, Trump’s message is to “Make America Great Again”, a statement I still believe is incredibly disrespectful, but is able to connect with millions of Americans. Trump is able to expose the hopes and fears of his followers, and tailor his campaign to them. For example, Trump admitted one of his famous catchphrases, drain the swamp, is something he kept repeating because his followers loved the phrase.
Trump, like Hitler did during his rise to power in Germany, targeted the blue-collar working class, listened to their pleas and responded with an answer they liked, whether he actually believed in this or not.
It’s worth noting there are many similarities between the 1930s and the rise of fascism, specifically in Germany, and Trump’s rise to power.
Earlier this week, I was able to visit an exhibit on Nazi propaganda which shows how propaganda effectively wiped out Nazi competition, leading to Hitler’s rise to power, and the collapse of Democracy in Germany. The instruments used in the Nazi’s propaganda served as an eerie comparison between the electoral tactics used by Donald Trump.
Here are some images from the exhibit..
