Trump American Fascist 1 Fascism Really ?

 

 
 

In looking at Trump and his reign over America as president it is often said he is a fascist in the mold of Hitler and follows his playbook.

First a very basic definition of fascism is essential.

Here's a short description of fascism:

Fourteen Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

End quote

We are now witnessing a fascist regime. I believe Trump has been moving the US from a less than perfect representative democracy aka a republic with democratic elements toward fascism.

It's never been a perfect country certainly, but is rapidly becoming far more in alignment with the description of a fascist regime than it has been certainly in my lifetime. It's a very startling and radical shift towards a totalitarian state.

Trump unlike president Barack Obama doesn't moderate his praise of America and place it as a country in a world that needs to respect the sovereignty and value of other countries. Under president Barack Obama human rights took huge hits as NDAA 2012 expanded the powers the Patriot act created for human rights violations and it was strongly objected to by human rights groups.

But Trump has shown a far greater disdain and disregard for human rights on torture and many other issues. He has repeatedly openly advocated multiple war crimes.

As for scapegoating Trump is in the category with totalitarian regimes that use ethnic cleansing and genocide. He is setting the stage for those acts now. It's not even remotely an exaggeration to say his rhetoric is comparable to Hitler's speeches and shows no signs of diminishing.

Trump identifies strength with the military and has emphasized strengthening it and using it brutally as a diplomatic solution to a variety of foreign policy issues.

Trump epitomizes sexism and chauvinism to an almost unimaginable level. His vulgar remarks about women, appointments of only anti gay candidates, work to revoke funding for programs to help women and support of revoking rights to abortion and other women's rights is as radical as possible.

Trump is attempting to control the media through a system of penalties and rewards. He threatens the media, has said he is in a war with them and grants access to outlets like Fox news, Breitbart and others that only report information favorable to him.

Trump justifies his wall plan, his indefinite detention of immigrants and others, his racist stop and frisk and plans to pack for profit prisons with minorities, his plan to block immigrants and many other acts on national security despite the statistics that don't support his claims even remotely.

He has promised expanded political influence to Christian groups and appointed many people that strongly support Christian doctrine over the constitution and want separation of church and state to be eased in their favor.

He has merged corporate and state power in what many are calling a corporate coup. He has a cabinet with candidates for consideration that has more wealth than a third of American families combined.

Many Goldman Sachs executives, CEOs of Exxon Mobil and other large multinational corporations now are ready to merge corporations with the government. It's an almost naked kleptocracy and kakistocracy (government by the worst men possible.)

Trump has a labor secretary appointee that worked in fast food as a CEO dedicated to wage suppression, violations of worker's rights and depriving workers pay and breaks. Trump openly has said wages are too high and advocates tactics to further reduce pay. Trump has acted to withhold pay for many people in his own business ventures. Trump has been firmly anti union for decades and openly advocates right to work laws that weaken and ultimately break unions in many states.

Trump is amazingly anti science. He advocates anti science conspiracy theories on many issues including climate change and vaccines. He has defunded multiple scientific efforts by the government and acted to muzzle and stifle the efforts of many scientists in the government. He has acted to defund the National Endowment for the Arts and PBS. He is extremely anti arts and sciences.

Trump wants the police to brutally and viciously crack down on people with no repercussions for racism or brutality. That's something I can't stress enough. He has grand designs in this area he often refers to. He wants protesting to be squashed with extreme prejudice. He wants civil rights obliterated.

In just the beginning of his regime nepotism and naked corruption abound. His family and corporations are already taking in money and his business conflicts are tremendous.

He has claimed rigged elections even before they occurred. He persists in this so he can suppress the vote and it actually opens the door to special extreme voter suppression, disregarding election results of he loses or even the eventual suspension of elections if he claims they are being rigged long enough. That's the eventual final result of invalidating the election results. You can just throw them out and claim rigging.

Trump has moved America so radically and so rapidly towards fascism that most people can't comprehend it. But it is here nevertheless. We should identity what fascism is, compare America to it personally and when we see it have the intellectual and moral courage to call it what it is and make it clear fascism isn't just a synonym for bad or bully or totalitarian. It's a specific kind of government with specific characteristics. And it's what Trump is fighting to create in America.