Is Trump A Fascist?

[Salty Booger]

Merriam-Webster

I have seen this term tossed around as though it were confetti. Most often at the Trump Presidency. Disagreeing with the liberal use of the word, I would like to hear from those who truly believe Trump is a fascist and how he falls into that definition.

????????????

 

[Lyndon]

Trump is practically the textbook definition of a fascist leader, try reading up a bit on fascism and its far right ideology, it wholesale attacks on the press, its call to prejudicial nationalism, the refusal to accept the results of the election etc, you have to be practically blind to not see the fascism in Trump's policies.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I hold a loose definition of fascist. And I think Trump is flirting with it on my imaginary sliding scale. I've watched the show Hogan's Heroes before which is about Nazi Germany - which many regard as fascist. And some of the character behaviors on that show, and the styles of salutes, the exaggerated motions and stuff... do remind me of things happening in the current administration I'm seeing, despite the show being an old-time comedy show.

 

[Secret Chief]

Yes.
The term has broad connotations but he seems to tick the major boxes.

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Trump wishes he were a fascist leader, but doesn't have the resources to become one. He idolizes fascist leaders, and takes many pages from their books. From demonizing the press, historical revisionism, espousing ultra-nationalistic quotes and projects (such as the 1776 commission), to inciting violence to quell his detractors.

 

[Tambourine]

For your consideration:

Distrust of the intellectual world has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism, from Goering’s alleged statement (“When I hear talk of culture I reach for my gun”) to the frequent use of such expressions as “degenerate intellectuals,” “eggheads,” “effete snobs,” “universities are a nest of reds.” The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values.

In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.

Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity. Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks for consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.

Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration. That is why one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups. In our time, when the old “proletarians” are becoming petty bourgeois (and the lumpen are largely excluded from the political scene), the fascism of tomorrow will find its audience in this new majority.

To people who feel deprived of a clear social identity, Ur-Fascism says that their only privilege is the most common one, to be born in the same country. This is the origin of nationalism. Besides, the only ones who can provide an identity to the nation are its enemies. Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia. But the plot must also come from the inside: Jews are usually the best target because they have the advantage of being at the same time inside and outside. In the US, a prominent instance of the plot obsession is to be found in Pat Robertson’s The New World Order, but, as we have recently seen, there are many others.

Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say. In a democracy, the citizens have individual rights, but the citizens in their entirety have a political impact only from a quantitative point of view—one follows the decisions of the majority.

For Ur-Fascism, however, individuals as individuals have no rights, and the People is conceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since no large quantity of human beings can have a common will, the Leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus the People is only a theatrical fiction.

To have a good instance of qualitative populism we no longer need the Piazza Venezia in Rome or the Nuremberg Stadium. There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.

Ur-Fascism

 

[sun rise]

It's worth considering the difference between classical fascism, totalitarianism and authoritarianism. I like this Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, and Fascism: What Is the Difference?

First: these definitions:

The Foundations of Fascism
The foundation of fascism is a combination of ultranationalism—an extreme devotion to one’s nation over all others—along with a widely held belief among the people that the nation must and will be somehow saved or “reborn.” Rather than working for concrete solutions to economic, political, and social problems, fascist rulers divert the peoples’ focus, while winning public support, by elevating the idea of a need for a national rebirth into a virtual religion. To this end, fascists encourage the growth of cults of national unity and racial purity.

What Is Authoritarianism?
four most recognizable characteristics of authoritarian states as:

• 
  
  
  • Limited political freedom with strict government controls imposed on political institutions and groups like legislatures, political parties, and interest groups
  • A controlling regime that justifies itself to the people as a “necessary evil” uniquely capable of coping with “easily recognizable societal problems” such as hunger, poverty, and violent insurgency
  • Strict government-imposed constraints on social freedoms such as suppression of political opponents and anti-regime activity
  • The presence of a ruling executive with vague, shifting, and loosely-defined powers

I could make an argument for Trump being one or the other or a combination of both. He's not succeeded in all of those enough to characterize a true regime of this type, but he's tried:

• Ultranationalism - fascism
• Diversion of people's focus - fascism
• Uniquely capable - authoritarianism
• Constraints on societal freedom - authoritarianism
• Ruling executive with vague, shifting and loosely-defined powers - authoritarianism

 

[Salty Booger]

I hold a loose definition of fascist. And I think Trump is flirting with it on my imaginary sliding scale. I've watched the show Hogan's Heroes before which is about Nazi Germany - which many regard as fascist. And some of the character behaviors on that show, and the styles of salutes, the exaggerated motions and stuff... do remind me of things happening in the current administration I'm seeing, despite the show being an old-time comedy show.

Nazism was a dictatorship...

NAZI
"a member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party."
--Merriam-Webster

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

No. Anyone who says that has no idea what Fascism is and are just trying to insult and scare people, like some right-wingers do with the words "communism" and "socialism".

 

[Salty Booger]

Trump is practically the textbook definition of a fascist leader, try reading up a bit on fascism and its far right ideology,

All textbook examples usually involve left-leaning politics.

it wholesale attacks on the press,

In contrast to wholesale attacks by a press that is Owned by a handful of corporation?

its call to prejudicial nationalism

You mean a president who espouses the success and prosperity of his nation and its people?

 

[Lyndon]

No. Anyone who says that has no idea what Fascism is and are just trying to insult and scare people, like some right-wingers do with the words "communism" and "socialism".

Like we're going to take your opinion of what fascism is as gospel??

 

[Tambourine]

It's worth considering the difference between classical fascism, totalitarianism and authoritarianism. I like this Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, and Fascism: What Is the Difference?

None of these are mutually exclusive.

 

[Secret Chief]

Anyone who says that has no idea what Fascism is

What is it then?

 

[Salty Booger]

the refusal to accept the results of the election etc,

Hillary Clinton and the Demorat Party?

you have to be practically blind to not see the fascism in Trump's policies.

Call me blind then.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Like we're going to take your opinion of what fascism is as gospel??

Better than yours. Words have meanings, you know. Fascism is an actual ideology with defined goals, a worldview and philosophy. It does not mean "right-wingers I don't like".

 

[Lyndon]

All textbook examples usually involve left-leaning politics.


In contrast to wholesale attacks by a press that is Owned by a handful of corporation?


You mean a president who espouses the success and prosperity of his nation and its people?

This is total right wing trash talk, all textbooks say fascism is a right wing not left wing philosophy, communism is left wing, fascism is right wing, don't try to bamboozle us with nonsense

 

[Tambourine]

Hillary Clinton and the Demorat Party?

What did they do?

 

[Secret Chief]

Will we be burning dictionaries?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Trump is a constrained fascist. The constraints are weakening.

 

[Salty Booger]

This is total right wing trash talk, all textbooks say fascism is a right wing not left wing philosophy, communism is left wing, fascism is right wing, don't try to bamboozle us with nonsense

Communist Russia/60,000,000 dead. Communist China/100,000,000 dead There are others if you care to research.