TRUMP AND FASCISM AND DOES IT MATTER

BILL LEE
September 6, 2020

WE LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMESi

The 2020 Presidential election is looming in the   USA within three months and it promises to be an  exceptionally nasty as well as an exceptionally important one. It is a time of a world pandemic that is worse in the USA than anywhere else. Refugees in the USA are being treated as dirt, demonized and maid scapegoats for everything from low wages to crime. Trump is supported by increasingly angry xenophobic and believers in conspiracy theories and/or in a fundamentalist blood and guts old testament kind of religion who take every word of the leader as gospel truth and believe nothing else, journalists, academics, generals, medical professionals or science itself. The members of the Senate of the United States seem to be nothing but henchmen to a strong man leader. Increasingly we hear concerns that the regime that Trump is running now, as well as being a criminal enterprise, is also a proto fascist one, and one that will become one should the great flim-flam man and cheap grifter be able to latch on to another four years of power.

So, the question of whether Trump a fascist, or budding fascist, a neo fascist or a an actual here and now fascist, or something else, is a question that is being debated in many places by many people (Davis, 2020; Moscrop, 2020). My position here, as it often is when confronted by such questions is a careful and humble, maybe, does it matter, and I have to think about it? The following is my attempt at explain why my position is what it is and why I think it is important to engage in a reflection on the question.

FASCISM

I don’t much care for throwing around the term “fascism” outside of a consideration of people like Hitler or Mussolini. It is for me in a similar category as throwing around the term “evil” (Lee, 2020). Fascism believes in nationalism and a belief that the nation has been victimized by other nations and a cabal of secret plotters. A crucial element of a fascist party is a kind of mystical belief that the state must be representative of a “native” population connected to the land it occupies. The Fascist party is understood as the embodiment of the essence of that population/nation. The Fascist party represents the embodiment of that essence and acts in its name. Finally the party leader is the essence of the party. Essentially, there exists a mystical bond between the nation and the leader so that what the leader believes and what action he takes is a genuine expression of the essential nature of the spirit of the people.

It also tends to see the need for territorial expansion to support the needs of the “special” people of the nation. (Paxton, 2005). The USA under Trump seems to adhere to some of these traits but not all and Trump does not express himself in any kind of mystical terms for which German and Italian Fascism were well known. Nor are the historical conditions similar to the chaos that developed after, and perhaps from WWI. We do seem, to be living in interesting times, that are in some ways similar to the 1930’s, they are not an exact equivalent.

TRUMP

On the other hand, (there is always another hand) there is in the USA at this moment a self-proclaimed “nationalist” in Trump who claims he has a unique understanding and connection with the people of the USA, though he does not use the tropes of mystical connection. There is also an armed, ‘locked and loaded’ Right xenophobic and racist Right (Ali, 2020) which Trump and his minions, egg them on at every turn, that more and more are using symbols and tactics from the fascist playbook. But my point here is whether or not Trump is an actual fascist is a somewhat mute point. After all we know that he never read anything about fascism. We have been reliably informed that he reads only cue cards, teleprompters and fawning reviews) and probably paid no attention if it was being taught or discussed in school (Trump, 2020). What is clear however is that Trump and the henchmen and women who maintain Trumpism are aping ideas and strategies that have a familiar ring - “Only I can fix it” - holding on “rallies” where his followers applaud and cheer every insult, exaggeration and fraudulence He more and more encourages thugs to disrupt left oriented gatherings and protests (Von Rennenkampff, 2020) - and putting them into play to attempt to win four more years of power, and perhaps more.

Among his many attacks on honesty and decency, one of Trump’s most odious but successful has gambits has been the coarsening of public discourse. Though it may not have often been very sophisticated and civil to be begin with, his streams of vulgar and mean-spirited blather and twaddle, which has not even a passing acquaintance of the truth has lowered it.

One of the most troubling signs that a Trump regime, if it is not one at this point may become a Fascist or neo-Fascist enterprise, is that the GOP which is widely understood as “his party” and that that has scrapped the notion of putting forth a party platform. The recent GOP convention was essentially a cult event with Trump at its centre. At the event it was explicitly stated that the platform was whatever Trump say said it was. This is frighteningly reminiscent of a description of a Fascist movement.

SO, FASCIST OR NOT?

Still, at the end of this reflection I am not prepared to committ to the use the term fascism as the label to best identify Trump and what is up up to. Mary Trump, his niece and a clinical psychologist, who has written an intimate, and scathing, analysis (2020) of how he operates and how he was formed by a stunningly toxic family environment. In the last part of the book she outlines a farago of his defects, lacks and pathologies. She suggests that he is simply a very damaged individual, a narcissist and a sociapopth (not that sociopanthy is a simple matter), a man with no conscience, a greedy manipulator, a cheat and a liar, a racist and someone who is determined to come out on top, personal relationships, money, women, fame or power, at any cost and with only cold contempt for the “losers”. As well, from her observation he is a profoundly needy and imature individual who has no ability to learn and change. But never once does she ever suggest the notion that her uncle could be a Facist.

So, perhaps, seriously damaged ego, sociopath and/or narcissist, or one or many of Mary Trump’s other labels, are more appropriate; or some sort of combination of them all. Perhaps fascist or neo-fascist, or sociaopath or narcisist or maybe none of these labels, matter very much. Yale professor Jason Stanely does not think that trump is a fasicst per se, but that, “Trumpism is something akin to a fascist political movement,” (in Davis, 2020). Mary Trump doesn’t use the term fascist at all, though she believes, because of his increadably damaged psyche, is dangerous, not only to individuals but to the polity of the USA. This means to her means that he is a danger to the world; we know from experience that fascism was very dangerous to the common good, national and international and Trump is also, in my opinion (and I’m hardly alone) a great danger to the common good, national or international. He, and his behaviour is very worrying. In the end, I find myself in general agreement with Jason Stanley about the great bloviator’s actions. He makes this comment (in Davis, 2020), "I'm not saying that Trump is a fascist," but, “ he is certainly performing fascism — it's performative fascism that we're seeing. It's the tropes of fascism, and I think that's worrisome enough.” And those tropes sure as hell worry me.

References;
Ali, S.S. (2020). “Where protesters go, armed militias, vigilantes likely to follow with little to stop them.”. NBC NEWS. Sept. 1. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/where-protesters-go-armed-militias-vigilantes-likely-follow-little-stop n1238769?fbclid=IwAR0JbL3jyXIcq9ilSSxvCFyWTfoZejXChCbbQA3CnTqb5DMdHHXW_g-zfnk

Davis, C. (2020). “Trump announced a 'surge' of federal agents to cities led by Democrats. The author of 'How Fascism Works' says Trump is 'performing fascism.'” July 23.Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/is-trump-fascist-jason-stanley-says-it-is-wrong-question-2020-7
July 23. Engelhardt, T. (2019). “Donald Trump Is a Category 5 Political Disaster”. The Nation. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/trump-sucks-tomdispatch/.

Dec. 2. Lee, B. (2020). “A Lesser ‘Evil’ or Doing What’s Necessary?” Critical Perspectives Blog. Aug. 31. https://criticalperspectivesblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-lesser-evili-or-doing-whats-necessary.html

Moscrop, D. (2020). “Is Donald Trump a Fascist?” McLeans. May 11. https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/is-donald-trump-a-fascist/

Paxton, R.O. (2005). The Anatomy of Fascism. Vintage.
Trump, M. (2020) Too Much and Never Enough. How My Family Produced the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

Von Rennenkampff, M. 2020). “Trump distracts from, fuels right-wing violence”. The Hill. June 24. https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/504325-trump-distracts-from-fuels-right-wing-violence

i To live in interesting times is an expression, thought to have originated in China but which really came from Great Britain. It suggests periods of uncertainty and disorder as opposed to peace and tranquility, a description which seems to aptly describe the world’s experience, not just that of the USA, with Trump thrashing blindly around while occupying the most powerful position on earth. (Engelhardt, 2019)