I admit, I haven't had enough drive in me to keep this up. It's a serious flaw in my character. Yet I sit here wondering whether or not the United States of America will elect a fascist billionaire as its next president. I am of course talking about Donald Trump. What started out as a hilarious joke is now terrifyingly close to being a reality. I used the word fascist to describe Donald Trump and I know that one should not throw around such words. If such words are overused, they lose their meaning and when real fascists show up, the label means nothing. Yet I am sitting here and I am perfectly comfortable calling Donald Trump a fascist. Why do I do this? The answer is simple: Because if the boot fits, you must wear it.
I will be using Dr. Lawrence Britt's fourteen defining characteristics of fascism and showing just how many of those boxes are checked by Donald Trump.
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Donald Trump's campaign slogan is "Make America Great Again." Now I agree that a mere slogan is not enough to tick this box, so I also bring up his proclamation that "We (America) will have so much winning, you may get bored with winning." Still not enough? How about his continuing proclaimations that "We'll take our country back." I could go on, but I'd be here all night and we're only at #1. 1/1
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Well here's another one that's easy to prove. Donald Trump is someone who supports the use of torture, saying in one RNC debate that he would "bring back waterboarding and bring back a lot worse than waterboarding." Clearly Donald Trump doesn't know that the Eight Amendment to the US Constitution forbids the use of cruel and unusual punishments. Donald Trump has also called for the American military to target the families of suspected terrorists which is a war crime. On a lesser note, he also wants stricter regulations regarding the press to prevent them from being mean to him. 2/2
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people who have lots of problems... They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists and some I assume are good people." - Donald Trump.
That quote was in his campaign announcement speech. He says that the Mexican government is rounding up Mexican drug dealers, criminals and rapists and sending them to America, and in this group of drug dealers, criminals and rapists, some good people are hiding amongst them. It's not only Mexicans that Trump has identified as enemies. He called for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States. I think we can safely say Trump is 3/3 so far.
4. Supremacy of the Military
Donald Trump wants the US Military to start flexing its muscles again. He has claimed that "There's nobody bigger or better at the military than I am" which sounds like he's trying to say he'll make the military stronger. He also wants to appoint a "proper general" to "hit (ISIL) so hard your head would spin." This is not the first time he advocated such strategies as he promised to "Bomb the shit out of 'em" referring to ISIL. 4/4
5. Rampant Sexism
Donald Trump is a sexist. In other news the Pope is Catholic. Just like with item #1 I could go on for a long time with this one so I'll simply stick to three of his targets. During the early stages of the campaign, Donald Trump had to wonder about Carly Fiorina. Specifically how anyone could vote for someone with her face.
"Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" - Donald Trump
What about the time he got upset when Fox News' Megyn Kelly asked him some hard question. Donald Trump said "You could see she had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." Yes, she had to be menstrual, not just doing her damn job. If this still isn't enough, do a google of "Donald Trump Rosie O'Donnell" and you will see a veritable smorgasbord of mysoginistic comments. 5/5
6. Controlled Mass Media
Fortunately Donald Trump is not yet in a position to control the media like a fascist would, but he has shown signs of intent. News organisations like The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed and Politico, all of whom aren't kind to him aren't allowed at his rallies. He also wants to loosen defamation laws which the Associated Press reported as being at odds with "widely held conceptions of constitutional law." This is what Donald Trump wants to do and he doesn't have the power of the presidency yet. It's not a stretch to imagine he'd want to do more once he has it. 6/6
7. Obsession with National Security
Donald Trump doesn't have many concrete policy proposals, but one he does have is he plans to build a wall along the US-Mexican border (which he will make Mexico pay for). The purpose of this wall is to keep out the Mexican drug dealers, criminals and rapists. He wants to prevent Muslims from coming to America because he wants to keep out terrorists. He even doesn't want the US to take in Syrian refugees fearing that they could be "the ultimate Trojan horse." 7/7
8. Religon and Government are Intertwined
Donald Trump in his infinite modesty said the his book "The Art of the Deal" is only the second best book ever written. He said the best book is the Bible saying "You can't beat the Bible" and "Nobody loves the Bible more than me." Now I don't believe for a moment that he actually thinks that, but he's pandering to Evangelical Christians. In his speeches he invokes God, like when he claimed he would be "the best jobs president God ever created." He also says that people will be saying "Merry Christmas" during the holiday season, showing that he buys into the myth that is the War on Christmas. While I would make a far more believable Christian than Donald Trump, it is clear that Trump will use Christianity to his own advantage. 8/8
9. Corporate Power is Protected
For a start Donald Trump wants to lower the Corporate Tax rate to 15% and he wants to repeal the estate tax. These are two proposals that would greatly benefit corporate types like Trump himself. His plans would give tax cuts to the rich and, according to the Tax Foundation and the Tax Policy Center "boost the after-tax incomes of the wealthiest households by an average of more than $1.3 million a year". It's really not surprising that Trump wants to protect the interests of those like himself. 9/9
10. Labor Power is Surpressed
I am unable to find much about Donald Trump's policies regarding Labor. So I will grant him the benefit of the doubt. 9/10
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Again, I am unable to pin him down on this one so he gets a pass. 9/11
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
This one is easy to nail him to. He advocates violence towards protesters at his rallies, he wants to deport 11 million illegal immigrants en masse (because they're drug dealers, criminals and rapists), he supports the use of torture as I mentioned earlier, he supports the use of capital punishment, I could go on, but I've already been here awhile and I've still got two more to do. 10/12
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Donald Trump is a crony capitalist. Here is an article from the New York Times outlining his practices better than I could http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/opinion/campaign-stops/donald-trump-crony-capitalist.html?_r=0
Here's another one from the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roger-d-barris/donald-trump-crony-capita_b_8949138.html
Thanks for the assist. 11/13
14. Fraudulent Elections
Well since he's not in power, I can't really say he checks this box. 11/14
So Donald Trump his 11 of the 14 defining characteristics of fascism. I think that is justification enough to call him what he is. Donald Trump is a fascist.
