Is Donald Trump a Fascist?

[Jazzhead]

  In breaking the taboos of civility and civilizations, a Trump speech and rally resembles the rallies of fascist leaders who pantomimed the wishes of their followers and let them fill in the text.   Trump says what they want to say but are afraid to express.  In cheering this leader, his supporters feel free to say what they really believe about Mexicans, Muslims and women

Jeffrey Herf, writing in the American Interest


Here's a link to the essay Is Donald Trump a Fascist?    It is, quite simply,  brilliant and worth your time and study no matter who you're supporting this year.  History stands as a lesson to us all. 

Bush, and earlier Senator Lindsay Graham, seemed to stand alone in the Republican Party in their willingness to confront Trump when his campaign was still in its early stages. They were abandoned by their fellow Republicans, who wrongly thought they could ignore him. When fascism and Nazism emerged in Italy and Germany, their rise to power was also accompanied by an astonishing series of political blunders and misjudgments by the elites of the time. Hitler was underestimated by his opponents on the Left, who thought he was merely a tool of the capitalists, and by the industrialists, who thought he would become their pliable tool. In both cases, the political establishments failed to take the danger seriously enough and then descended into cynical opportunism borne of partial agreement and lack of principle, now evident in the stunning decision of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to support Trump.

History does not repeat itself in simple ways. Trump is not a carbon copy of Hitler or Mussolini. Yet he has now threatened the owners and editors of the New York Times and the Washington Post with libel suits if they continue to criticize him. He (absurdly) pretended not to know who David Duke is and appeared to refuse in an interview to disavow him and the KKK, thereby shamelessly pandering to votes from the extreme racist Right. He then “disavowed” them without clarifying why he was doing so. His cynicism was transparent. Whether or not Trump gains the nomination of the Republican Party, he has already done enormous damage to American politics. The poisons he has unleashed and the taboos he has smashed with such glee have created a new, dangerous field of rhetorical violence and insult in American public life. He has revealed that large numbers of our fellow citizens are willing to follow a demagogue who voices contempt for basic principles of liberal democracy, offers simple explanations of complex issues, and draws on racism, religious bigotry, and extreme nationalism to “make America great again.” Trump’s mixture of wealth and authoritarianism, and their underestimation by the establishment, also evokes comparisons to Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the damage he did to Italy while he served as Prime Minister. Berlusconi’s launching pad in private wealth is similar to Trump. Yet Trump is less the buffoon and more of the bully than Berlusconi. Given the role of the United States in world affairs, the damage he could do should he become President would be far greater.

Despite the important differences between the Trump phenomenon and the extreme Right of Europe’s 20th century, his campaign brings to mind dangerous echoes from the past. We know what can happen when politicians who speak and act like Donald Trump gain power, even if they do so by using the instruments of democracy. With fear and anger unloosed in the land, much can happen, nearly all of it very bad. Trump can be stopped, but for that to happen we need to take the threat he poses seriously and to remember the lessons of the not so distant past.

[PzLdr]

Is Cruz? After all, his entire career is 'my way or the highway'. Look how well he's done in the Senate. But then going from a State Attorney General's job to a term as a U.S Senator, followed DURING that term, doesn't necessarily prepare one to be President. Don't believe me? Ask our last one term Senator to President, Barry the Boy King.

And yeah, I read the article. I've also rerad more books on Fascism, Naziism, Hitler and Mussolini than most. So I know the difference.

[aligncare]

Suddenly, I feel like a shower.

[libertybele]

Is Cruz? After all, his entire career is 'my way or the highway'. Look how well he's done in the Senate. But then going from a State Attorney General's job to a term as a U.S Senator, followed DURING that term, doesn't necessarily prepare one to be President. Don't believe me? Ask our last one term Senator to President, Barry the Boy King.

And yeah, I read the article. I've also rerad more books on Fascism, Naziism, Hitler and Mussolini than most. So I know the difference.

Actually Cruz is not a fascist or a narcissist.  His way or the highway?? Examples please and I'll give you a dozen examples of how he's defended the Constitution and sided with "We the People.

[libertybele]

Trump has been compared to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin all who possessed narcissistic personalities.  Trump has been determined to have that particular personality disorder.

Perhaps the most concerning issue for me, besides him unable to elaborate on any particular issue, is the fact that given his personality disorder, he would be one of the richest men in the world seated in one of the most powerful positions in the world.  I see that as a recipe for disaster.

[sinkspur]

Is Cruz? After all, his entire career is 'my way or the highway'. Look how well he's done in the Senate. But then going from a State Attorney General's job to a term as a U.S Senator, followed DURING that term, doesn't necessarily prepare one to be President. Don't believe me? Ask our last one term Senator to President, Barry the Boy King.

And yeah, I read the article. I've also rerad more books on Fascism, Naziism, Hitler and Mussolini than most. So I know the difference.

Cruz was Solicitor General of Texas, not Attorney General.

[PzLdr]

Cruz was Solicitor General of Texas, not Attorney General.

Thanks for the correction. My bad.

[mountaineer]

Fascism is not a personality trait. It's a political and economic philosophy. If the writer wants to opine that Trump might be behaving in a  dictatorial fashion or that his personality reminds one of Il Duce, that's one thing. But it's not fascism.

Another take: Gianna Riotta, "I Know Fascists; Donald Trump Is No Fascist," from The Atlantic (by an Italian leftist).  Excerpt:

... Trump’s xenophobic rhetoric, his demagoguery, and his populist appeals to citizens’ economic anxieties certainly borrow from the fascist playbook. Italy’s fascists capitalized on similar themes in a different era of global uncertainty; in their case, it was the unemployment, veterans’ resentments, unions’ strikes, and political violence that beset the country following World War I. But Trump is, fundamentally, a blustering political opportunist courting votes in a democratic system; he has not called for the violent overthrow of the system itself. And whereas it can be impossible to discern any logic or strategy in Trump’s campaign, the fascists who marched on Rome in 1922 were relentlessly, violently focused on a clear goal: to kill democracy and install a dictatorship.  ...

But Trump will never master the techniques laid out in 1931 by the then-fascist journalist Curzio Malaparte in his Coup D’etat: The Technique of Revolution, which detailed the clear requirements of the fascist manifesto: Seize and hold state power with a sudden attack, coordinated with cunning and force. There is no fascism without this rational, violent plan to obliterate democracy.  ...

[aligncare]

Thanks for the correction. My bad.

From solicitor General, to a half-term Senator; and now he thinks he's ready to be president.

Another Harvard trained lawyer who thinks too highly of himself. Who does that remind you of?

I guess Ted Cruz and I are equally qualified to be president. Except I wasn't born in the United States...oh, wait.

[PzLdr]

Trump has been compared to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin all who possessed narcissistic personalities.  Trump has been determined to have that particular personality disorder.

Perhaps the most concerning issue for me, besides him unable to elaborate on any particular issue, is the fact that given his personality disorder, he would be one of the richest men in the world seated in one of the most powerful positions in the world.  I see that as a recipe for disaster.

'Determined' by who? Jeffrey Herf? Is he a mental health professional? A Trump therapist violating Dr.- patient privilege because, well, Trump has to be stooped by ANY means. 'Determined' by you? Same questions. Look. I get where you're coming from. You don't like Trump. Think he's a bad choice. Fine. But the smearing BS has to stop. If I found somebody who writes Ted Cruz is a bedwetter, does that make his bedwetting a 'determined' fact? Don't think so.

[truth_seeker]

From solicitor General, to a half-term Senator; and now he thinks he's ready to be president.

Another Harvard trained lawyer who thinks too highly of himself. Who does that remind you of?

I guess then that Ted Cruz and I are equally qualified to be president. Except I wasn't born in the United States...oh, wait.

Brilliant. "Born Near the USA" in the now famous words of Bruce Springsteen.

[mystery-ak]

'Determined' by who? Jeffrey Herf? Is he a mental health professional? A Trump therapist violating Dr.- patient privilege because, well, Trump has to be stooped by ANY means. 'Determined' by you? Same questions. Look. I get where you're coming from. You don't like Trump. Think he's a bad choice. Fine. But the smearing BS has to stop. If I found somebody who writes Ted Cruz is a bedwetter, does that make his bedwetting a 'determined' fact? Don't think so.

I have to agree....I am tired of this kind of article.

[Jazzhead]

I have to agree....I am tired of this kind of article.

It's a serious, thoughtful article that looks to history and applies it to what's happening now.  It's not a hit piece.  What's wrong with it? 

Here's a quote from the Michael Barone article that YOU just posted:

From Trump supporters, I hear the argument that things have gone so badly over the last 15 years that a Trump presidency, for all its possible pitfalls, could not be worse. And they are not moved by the possibility that Trump cold lose to Hillary Clinton

But anyone who knows 20th-century history knows that having the wrong leaders can be not just marginal but catastrophic for a society. Trump’s assurance that U.S. troops would follow his orders, even if contrary to law, should be chilling to anyone familiar with that history.

Why are you criticizing me for posting Herf's essay?   

[Carling]

Why is it according to the left and the GOProgs that wanting to get out illegal criminals, along with wanting better vetting of "refugees" from backward Islamic nations, makes one a "fascist" or a "xenophobia?"

[aligncare]

Brilliant. "Born Near the USA" in the now famous words of Bruce Springsteen.

 

Democrats will use that unfortunate detail against the Haahvard debate champion in the general election.

Of course, then it will be too late for natural born Americans everywhere.

[truth_seeker]

'Determined' by who? Jeffrey Herf? Is he a mental health professional? A Trump therapist violating Dr.- patient privilege because, well, Trump has to be stooped by ANY means. 'Determined' by you? Same questions. Look. I get where you're coming from. You don't like Trump. Think he's a bad choice. Fine. But the smearing BS has to stop. If I found somebody who writes Ted Cruz is a bedwetter, does that make his bedwetting a 'determined' fact? Don't think so.

"Extra, Extra, Read all about it."

In a special confidential story, by sources known only to this writer, we are the first to report that Sen.  Ted Cruz may be a bed wetter. You heard it right. Sen. Cruz may be a bed wetter.

In search of the Truth, we travelled to the aledged home of Sen. Cruz, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. There, we set about to interview anybody that could shed light on this bizarre story.

We asked dozens of people, ordinary folks, if they had ever seen or heard about the Senator from Alberta, and his weird habit. However we did eventually find two sources that seemed to hint about the story.

Specifically one said "what" and the other said "who," so we knew the story might have legs.

So there you have the first breaking story of Sen. Cruz, who has concealed his bedwetting from the Canadian people, for years and years.

In our next installment we will explore the question: Does Sen. Cruz beat his dogs, and his kids?

Now back to Hockey News Update.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Trump isn't any more of a fascist than FDR was.

However, it still doesn't mean his policies are pro-freedom. They are not.

The man or his followers have never uttered a pro-liberty viewpoint whatsoever that I have heard.

[alicewonders]

Is Cruz? After all, his entire career is 'my way or the highway'. Look how well he's done in the Senate. But then going from a State Attorney General's job to a term as a U.S Senator, followed DURING that term, doesn't necessarily prepare one to be President. Don't believe me? Ask our last one term Senator to President, Barry the Boy King.

And yeah, I read the article. I've also rerad more books on Fascism, Naziism, Hitler and Mussolini than most. So I know the difference.

Thanks PzLdr - I value your opinion on this subject more than most. 

[libertybele]

'Determined' by who? Jeffrey Herf? Is he a mental health professional? A Trump therapist violating Dr.- patient privilege because, well, Trump has to be stooped by ANY means. 'Determined' by you? Same questions. Look. I get where you're coming from. You don't like Trump. Think he's a bad choice. Fine. But the smearing BS has to stop. If I found somebody who writes Ted Cruz is a bedwetter, does that make his bedwetting a 'determined' fact? Don't think so.

Trump IS a narcissist: 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stop-walking-eggshells/201511/therapists-confirm-trumps-narcissistic-personality-disorder

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/11/22/top-u-s-psychiatrists-confirm-trumps-narcissistic-personality-disorder-textbook-case/

http://www.christiantoday.com/articletrump.a.textbook.narcissist.with.mental.disorder.that.makes.him.a.dangerous.world.leader.says.top.neuroscientist/77086.htm

http://time.com/4136439/trump-narcissism-strange/

http://www.inquisitr.com/2595334/clinical-psychologists-diagnose-donald-trump-and-it-isnt-pretty-especially-for-his-supporters

http://www.livescience.com/53307-donald-trump-narcissism-reflects-us-culture.html

[Right_in_Virginia]

Brilliant. "Born Near the USA" in the now famous words of Bruce Springsteen.

[GAJohnnie]

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1"[2][3]—​​that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Hitler or Nazism.

Godwin's law

[Jazzhead]

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1"[2][3]—​​that is, if an online discussion (regardless of topic or scope) goes on long enough, sooner or later someone will compare someone or something to Hitler or Nazism.

Godwin's law

You're deflecting.   Read the posted article.  It's a serious essay and not a hit piece.  Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.   

[truth_seeker]

Update to Special Report "Sen. Cruz is Bed Wetter:"

Reporters have now waited X hours since the first report that Sen. Cruz is a bed wetter. Since we have had no denial, we must report the story may be correct.

In as many of 50 percent of such stories, it later turns out to contain at least some element of truth. Slightly higher in Canada.

We will update our readers of further developments in the fast breaking case, "Sen. Cruz is a bed wetter."

Now back to our normal Hockey News.

[mountaineer]

Why is it according to the left and the GOProgs that wanting to get out illegal criminals, along with wanting better vetting of "refugees" from backward Islamic nations, makes one a "fascist" or a "xenophobia?"

They're ignorant of what fascism really means, I'd say.

[alicewonders]

Fascist is a term, along with racist, that liberals fling at anyone that doesn't march in lock-step with them.  I find it disturbing that the terms are flung about so prolifically here.  All day....everyday....