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Fascism is a dirty word in American politics, so when former President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, says that Trump fits the definition of a “fascist,” it’s news.
It would place Trump’s name in the same ideological space as the most notorious fascists, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. President Trump rejected the idea and called Kelly a “pervert.”
Asked at a CNN town hall in the battleground state of Pennsylvania whether she agreed with Kelly that Trump is a fascist, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, did not hesitate.
“Yes, I will. Yes, I am,” she said.
Kelly pointed out the definition of fascism to the New York Times, saying, “Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement characterized by authoritarian leadership, centralized authoritarianism, and militarism.” doctrine, the forced suppression of dissent, and a belief in natural social hierarchies.”
“So, certainly, in my experience, he thinks these things are better at running the United States,” Kelly said.
Kelly added that Trump is in the “far-right realm” and “admires people who are dictators,” adding that in his view Trump falls within the “general definition of a fascist.” .
There has been a lot of talk in support of Mr. Kelly. Trump’s suggestion that he could use the military against “enemies from within,” which he said include Democrats like California Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, It sure sounds fascist. His Republican allies say that’s just an exaggeration.
According to reports in 2021, President Trump wanted to use the military to disrupt domestic protests during his time in office, but the commander in chief at the time, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, He reportedly refused this. Election denialism regarding Hitler’s “Big Lie”.
Even if he has no intention of using the military against Democrats, he has a history of trying to use the military to quell protests in the United States, making it a threat to silence opposition.
Trump recently said that if he wins the election, he would fire special counsel Jack Smith “within two seconds,” but Smith is prosecuting Trump on charges including election interference and mishandling of classified documents. Therefore, this seems obvious.
The election interference case was postponed until after the election, and Smith appealed, but another judge dismissed the secret documents case.
Trump has a history of firing officials who raise questions. He fired FBI Director James Comey while he was president. He never forgave Sessions for appointing a special counsel to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election, and fired the first attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report has been called a “Russia hoax” many times by President Trump and his allies, so most Americans probably believe that Special Counsel You probably won’t remember that I didn’t specifically absolve him of the obstruction of justice charge. Mueller identified multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians in 2016, when the Russians were actively trying to help the Trump campaign. Mueller concluded that the contacts did not rise to the level of conspiracy.
President Trump’s second attorney general, Bill Barr, delayed the release of the Mueller report to reduce its impact. Barr refuses to support President Trump’s baseless election interference conspiracy theory and will leave the Trump administration after the 2020 election.
Democrats are wondering who can quell Trump’s impulses if he is re-elected.
President Trump has promised, if he wins the election, to further wage war against what he perceives as the “deep state” made up of bureaucrats at the Justice Department, FBI, and Pentagon.
He also suggested using the judicial system to prosecute election officials.
All of this points to support for at least thematic consistency with some elements of fascism, which is built around a strong leader and eliminates dissent within the government. But there could also be more to fascism than that, including complete control of Germany’s economy and society. President Trump has not suggested any such thing.
Although Harris is only now beginning to label Trump a fascist, he has referred to her as a Marxist throughout the presidential campaign, calling her “comrade Kamala.” This is clearly not true, since Harris supports private ownership.
In June, President Trump promoted a baseless conspiracy theory that President Joe Biden was behind a New York prosecution for falsifying business records related to hush money payments made on Trump’s behalf to a porn star in 2016. He went on to say that the United States is a “fascist state.” .
I took a closer look at the definition of fascism and how it was applied in June, when President Trump was using the term.
Some experts consider President Trump a fascist. Until January 6, 2021, Robert Paxton, a professor emeritus at Columbia University who has written extensively about European fascism, refused to label Trump. At the time, the historian claimed that footage of Trump supporters storming the U.S. Capitol “removes my opposition to fascism.” Fascist label. ”
Trump has also repeatedly used language associated with Nazism, including saying that immigrants are “tainting the blood” of the nation.
When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance in May about Trump’s claim that the United States is a “fascist state,” Vance did not deny the idea, at least not with the term. He suggested that he be tolerant.
“I don’t care what you call it, but this is not the America I know and love,” Vance, who was not yet President Trump’s running mate, said during the tense exchange. spoke.
President Trump has called the United States a “fascist nation.” Listen to the reactions of potential VP selections
Back in June, I also spoke with Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins, an assistant professor at Wesleyan University and editor of the book “What Happened Here?” Perspectives on Fascism and America’ includes many of Paxton’s works, among others.
“Comparative historical models that look at what happened to Germany in the 1930s and use that as a kind of navigational device or map to understand what happened today are very common,” he said. However, while that is debatable, it is a flawed comparison.
“Concepts do not have a timeless essence that can be applied to all phenomena, but they change depending on the political context and the power structure of society,” he said.
Today, he said, the word “fascism” is used to “move people across divisions and to mobilize them to defeat an enemy far more powerful than the longstanding conflicts.”
Mr. Steinmetz-Jenkins said there is a long history, dating back to Franklin D. Roosevelt, of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum attempting to label their opponents as “fascists,” and that American lawmakers have investigated their opponents. He also claimed that there were instances where he threatened to do so. .
While there are arguments in favor of the fascism comparison, there are also arguments against it. Especially since there are echoes of President Trump’s rise of populism and white supremacist movements in American history.
I went back to Steinmetz-Jenkins and asked if the comparison had changed in recent months, and she pointed out that the fascism debate had simmered over the summer and that Harris had replaced Biden, and that Harris’ campaign In most cases, he noted, the message was something like this: A politics of joy replaced fear of fascism.
Now, as Democrats worry about losing to Trump, the threat of fascism is once again coming to the fore.
“What we need is a plan to get people to vote Democratic, not tactics that could lead to fatalism that the world is being engulfed by fascism,” he said.
Enough American voters have heard the word “fascism” as President Trump has, so if President Trump wins in November, they will at least be willing to condone it or say something about it. It is clear that he does not believe that it will be implemented.
