Is the Trump Movement Fascist?
Hidden within all of the biased and skewed rhetoric of the
mainstream media Acela/West Coast elitists against the Trump populist movement
is a very real danger that few discuss with any degree of equanimity. That danger is there is a truly emergent
Fascism in the Trump movement with all of
the associated negative effects on politics and society.
Some recent articles rant and accuse Trump of Fascism in a
very cursory and argumentative way, because some of his campaign rhetoric seems
to have implied some affinity for this political view. The NYT, New Yorker. CNN and other blatantly
liberal mainstream media are particularly egregious in this regard.
Fascism is in fact is pretty difficult to define. More scholarly and cerebral views separate
Trump’s actions from what is felt to be more classical views of Fascism. Some
definitions of Fascism and a list of links to varying views are given below.
From Wikipedia:
Fascism /ˈfæʃɪzəm/ is a form
of radical authoritarian nationalism that came to prominence in early
20th-century Europe. Influenced by national syndicalism, fascism originated in
Italy during World War I, in opposition to liberalism, Marxism, and anarchism.
Fascism is usually placed on the far-right within the traditional left–right
spectrum.
Fascists saw World War I as a
revolution that brought massive changes in the nature of war, society, the
state, and technology. The advent of total war and total mass mobilization of
society had broken down the distinction between civilian and combatant. A
"military citizenship" arose in which all citizens were involved with
the military in some manner during the war. The war had resulted in the rise of
a powerful state capable of mobilizing millions of people to serve on the front
lines and providing economic production and logistics to support them, as well
as having unprecedented authority to intervene in the lives of citizens.
Etymology
The Italian term fascismo
derives from fascio meaning a bundle of rods, ultimately from the Latin word
fasces. This was the name given to political organizations in Italy known as
fasci, groups similar to guilds or syndicates and at first applied mainly to
organisations on the political Left. In Milan in 1919, Mussolini founded the
Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, which, in 1921, became the Partito Nazionale
Fascista (National Fascist Party). The Fascists came to associate the term with
the ancient Roman fasces or fascio littorio—a bundle of rods tied around an
axe, an ancient Roman symbol of the authority of the civic magistrate carried
by his lictors, which could be used for corporal and capital punishment at his
command.
The symbolism of the fasces
suggested strength through unity: a single rod is easily broken, while the bundle
is difficult to break. Similar symbols were developed by different fascist
movements: for example the Falange symbol is five arrows joined together by a
yoke.
Main
article: Definitions of fascism
Historians, political
scientists, and other scholars have long debated the exact nature of fascism.
Each interpretation of fascism is distinct, leaving many definitions too wide
or narrow.
One common definition of the
term focuses on three concepts: the fascist negations of anti-liberalism,
anti-communism and anti-conservatism; nationalist authoritarian goals of
creating a regulated economic structure to transform social relations within a
modern, self-determined culture; and a political aesthetic of romantic
symbolism, mass mobilization, a positive view of violence, and promotion of
masculinity, youth and charismatic leadership. According to many scholars,
fascism — especially once in power — has historically attacked communism,
conservatism and parliamentary liberalism, attracting support primarily from
the far right.
Roger Griffin describes
fascism as "a genus of political ideology whose mythic core in its various
permutations is a palingenetic form of populist ultranationalism". Griffin
describes the ideology as having three core components: "(i) the rebirth
myth, (ii) populist ultra-nationalism and (iii) the myth of decadence".
Fascism is "a genuinely revolutionary, trans-class form of anti-liberal,
and in the last analysis, anti-conservative nationalism" built on a
complex range of theoretical and cultural influences. He distinguishes an
inter-war period in which it manifested itself in elite-led but populist
"armed party" politics opposing socialism and liberalism and
promising radical politics to rescue the nation from decadence.
Robert Paxton says that
fascism is "a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation
with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of
unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist
militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional
elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and
without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external
expansion."
Umberto Eco, Kevin Passmore,
John Weiss, Ian Adams, and Moyra Grant, mention racism (including anti-semitism)
as a characteristic of fascism; i.e. fascistic dictator Hitler idealized German
society as a racially unified and hierarchically organized Volksgemeinschaft.
John Lukacs,
Hungarian-American historian and Holocaust survivor, argues that there is no such
thing as generic fascism. He claims that National Socialism and Communism are
essentially manifestations of populism and that, for example, the differences
between the political regimes of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy are greater
than their similarities
From Encyclopedia Britannica
Fascism, political ideology
and mass movement that dominated many parts of central, southern, and eastern
Europe between 1919 and 1945 and that also had adherents in western Europe, the
United States, South Africa, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Europe’s first fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, took the name of his party
from the Latin word fasces, which referred to a bundle of elm or birch rods
(usually containing an ax) used as a symbol of penal authority in ancient Rome.
Although fascist parties and movements differed significantly from each other,
they had many characteristics in common, including extreme militaristic
nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural
liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the rule of elites, and
the desire to create a Volksgemeinschaft (German: “people’s community”), in
which individual interests would be subordinated to the good of the nation. At
the end of World War II, the major European fascist parties were broken up, and
in some countries (such as Italy and West Germany) they were officially banned.
Beginning in the late 1940s, however, many fascist-oriented parties and
movements were founded in Europe as well as in Latin America and South Africa.
Although some European “neofascist” groups attracted large followings,
especially in Italy and France, none were as influential as the major fascist
parties of the interwar period.
Recent
links:
Balanced & scholastic
views.:
Liberal leaning, but some
valid points:
Rather than Fascism, it seems
that the Trump movement represents a form of good old American populism similar
to the actual Populist Party in the late 19th century, Ronald Reagan
in the 1980’s and Ross Perot in the 1990’s.
Other examples we might not like to highlight as much, are the Know
Nothing Party in the early 19th century and George Wallace’s
American Independent Party in the 1960’s.
All of these were home grown populist parties, and some of them had
trappings of Fascism, but were not Fascist.
In all cases of populism in the U.S., our system of checks and balances
kept our democratic principles alive and robust.
Of
course the fallout of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” is that we might
sacrifice some of those beneficial aspects of recent liberal and socialist
trends. One example is the inclusiveness
of all legal ethnic groups as Americans so long as they are willing to become
citizens and adopt our democratic values and principles. Trump’s threat to exclude Muslims based on
religion is xenophobic. Another example is
universal availability of health and other essential services to all people. Obamacare may need to be reworked, but virtually
no one contemplates doing away with it. Still
another example is equal protection under the law, regardless of race
and national origin. With respect to political correctness, elements of it are
beneficial, but it should signify equality for everyone. This means an end to special privileges for
vociferous and activist special interests. There are others examples of a
liberal and socialist nature that are beneficial to society. We should examine these amenities carefully
and not cut indiscriminately.
As Trump promised, what we must do is unwind those elements
of liberalism and socialism that have denigrated and weakened our country. We need to establish viable borders and
enforce them. If that requires a wall,
so be it, but there may be other means available. We need to provide some rational path for the
roughly 12 million illegal aliens living in the country to either leave the
country, or eventually legalize their status through a series of fines, study,
and going through a defined legalization process. We need to enforce our laws equally for
everyone. We should do away with so
called “sanctuary cities” that break the law by harboring criminals. Not only should “black lives matter”, all
lives should matter equally without preferential treatment for a segment of
society. We should increase and support
our police forces and protect citizens in hot spots like Chicago’s south side. We should strengthen our military and bring
it back from the deplorable condition Obama is leaving it in. And we should eradicate Daesh or ISIS from
the face of the earth and impose unequivocal death penalties on terrorists,
foreign and domestic. This may require
additional boots on the ground in Iraq and possibly Syria. And we should
isolate and quarantine Iran and North Korea until they conform with
international laws and conventions. We
should reduce redundancy, but modernize our nuclear capability, so that our
weapons are not stuck with 60 year old technology.
All of the above are Nationalistic, rather than Fascistic ideals. As after many democrat/liberal interludes,
our country is weak and an international laughingstock. Russia and particularly China are in
ascendancy. We should either partner
with them in a mutually advantageous manner or stand our ground with them and
their expansion moves. As Reagan did in
the 1980’s, we indeed need “To Make Our Country Great Again”. But this needs to be done with care, and with
informed guidance. Trump seems to have a
good start with his emerging cabinet. Let’s hope he continues in a similar
vein.
Concerning Twitter, YouTube and social media, the mainstream
media is beside itself and twisting out of shape because Trump simply does not
cater to them in the old fashioned way.
He delivers short tweets which the massed elitists respond to as if they
are spontaneous and egotistical, whereas they are mostly spot on, and tweak the
media mercilessly. Longer messages can
also be delivered by Twitter, or YouTube.
ABC, CBS, NBC. CNN. MSNBC simply are not required. What better way for a populist president to
communicate with the people?
Ray Gruszecki
December 8, 2016
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