Trump Is So a Fascist
Nov. 3rd, 2024 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ndrosenJacob Sullum, whom I respect highly for his clear thinking and analysis, as well as for his pro-liberty outlook, wrote a column for Reason magazine taking the position that Trump is not thoughtful enough to be a fascist. Mr. Sullum does not praise Donald Trump, nor deny his authoritarian impulses, and does regard the Narcissistic Personality Disorder poster boy as a public menace, but he maintains that pronouncements that arise merely from Trump’s ego and gut feelings of the moment do not make him an actual fascist.
I disagree. There have been fascist intellectuals, but it is not necessary to be an intellectual, or even to be capable of reading and understanding the writings of a fascist intellectual, in order to be a fascist. A thick-witted, uneducated lout can manage it, if he has a particular set of prejudices and loyalties. Such a lout is typically loyal to his country, and may be loudly religious, although this does not keep from taking a dim view of clergy who hold the wrong political views, or who remind the laity that people of all factions are sinners. The lout favors being tough on crime, except crimes committed by himself and his fellow brownshirts or Ku Kluxers, and is contemptuous of concern for due process of law, and letting those accused of real crimes or of political dissent receive fair trials.
The lout’s proclaimed patriotism and love of his fellow citizens does not extend to those compatriots who are of the wrong ethnicity, or who, while loving their country, are not fans of the Glorious Leader, or who practice the wrong religion. The lout is contemptuous of pointy-headed intellectuals, who lack manliness and point out inconvenient truths that challenge his view of the world. The lout is anti-Communist (someone with similar faults can be a Communist, but then his political classification is other than fascist), but is not in favor of free enterprise, which often lets the wrong people become rich and influential. Instead, he wants the government to direct industry to serve the country, and to serve the right kind of people; he may hope to given a business seized from a Jew, or want the government to bankrupt billionaires who support the opposition.
Someone does not need an IQ above 85 to be a fascist foot soldier of this kind, or even to be the leader of a fascist movement, as Donald Trump is.
I disagree. There have been fascist intellectuals, but it is not necessary to be an intellectual, or even to be capable of reading and understanding the writings of a fascist intellectual, in order to be a fascist. A thick-witted, uneducated lout can manage it, if he has a particular set of prejudices and loyalties. Such a lout is typically loyal to his country, and may be loudly religious, although this does not keep from taking a dim view of clergy who hold the wrong political views, or who remind the laity that people of all factions are sinners. The lout favors being tough on crime, except crimes committed by himself and his fellow brownshirts or Ku Kluxers, and is contemptuous of concern for due process of law, and letting those accused of real crimes or of political dissent receive fair trials.
The lout’s proclaimed patriotism and love of his fellow citizens does not extend to those compatriots who are of the wrong ethnicity, or who, while loving their country, are not fans of the Glorious Leader, or who practice the wrong religion. The lout is contemptuous of pointy-headed intellectuals, who lack manliness and point out inconvenient truths that challenge his view of the world. The lout is anti-Communist (someone with similar faults can be a Communist, but then his political classification is other than fascist), but is not in favor of free enterprise, which often lets the wrong people become rich and influential. Instead, he wants the government to direct industry to serve the country, and to serve the right kind of people; he may hope to given a business seized from a Jew, or want the government to bankrupt billionaires who support the opposition.
Someone does not need an IQ above 85 to be a fascist foot soldier of this kind, or even to be the leader of a fascist movement, as Donald Trump is.
