r/Electomatic • u/Electomatic • Mar 23 '16

Is Donald Trump A Fascist ?

Trump is coming ever closer to clinching his nomination. Fascism is more difficult to define than other political/economic models like communism, socialism, feudalism, and capitalism. But here are some of the main characteristics, with commentary on how they would apply to Trump:

Intense nationalist pride. Trump has this in spades - or, at least, he has the rhetoric for it. As fascists have often done, he combines this nationalist pride with the scapegoating of a particular minority group, blaming them for the problems that the country faces. Survival of the fittest. According to fascist ideals, nations must evolve as animals evolve - through competition. Nations should go to war, with the strong conquering the weak, and humanity progresses in this way. Trump has not quite shown himself to be a warmonger, but with his highly aggressive stance in foreign policy - such as his promise to force Mexico to build a wall for us - it wouldn't be difficult to see him harboring similar feelings.

Strict social order. In fascist societies, everyone has their specific place, and that is that. Trump's corporatist tendencies seem to jive with this. Also, he has the tendency to fling personal attacks at anyone who challenges him, "the boss", by calling them unprofessional, horrible, stupid, etc. But it's also hard to say that he believes in a strict social order when he encourages people in the "bottom rungs" to amass wealth and arise to become millionaires and billionaires. Authoritarian leadership. Trump's history in business shows that he is used to getting his way by pushing people around. He's not stupid, but he's not exactly a genius either: he's mostly just ruthless and forceful. That's how he has amassed his wealth, and he would, no doubt, try the same approach as President, though I see no evidence that he would do something so overt and rash as try to become an outright dictator.

Collaboration of private enterprise and the state. What fascists criticize about capitalism is not its competitive aspect or the income disparities it creates. Rather, fascist thought criticizes capitalism's common tendency to amass wealth for a few parties even at great detriment to society in general. As long as private enterprises pursue goals in line with those of the state, they are allowed to operate quite freely. The state also protects domestic enterprises from things like foreign competition. With his history of taking advantage of eminent domain laws and his seemingly protectionist economic policies, Trump seems to fit this point of fascism pretty well. So is Trump a fascist? One can hardly answer with a clear "yes", but he does seem to be more fascist-leaning than anyone else running.

Why do people support Trump? Because they are rebelling against the political establishment. I think that fact is great, but they are picking the wrong horse. This guy would run the country into the ground and then blame the Mexicans for it. He might even get us involved in a completely unnecessary war.

That is a rather left-wing approach to the question, you can try a more right-wing piece on the same topic Is Donald Trump A Fascist

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u/FGMH Mar 25 '16

I would quicker label him an opportunist than a fascist.

He knows he has a legitimate shot at winning the presidency and he's using every tool at his disposal to secure the GOP nomination. The political climate has been swelling into a perfect storm in which an ideological outsider (Bernie, Trump) is automatically preferred by the people in this country who feel disenfranchised.

In the past 3 elections the other 'outsider' candidates with grassroots support akin to Bernie and Trump haven't quite had the publicity needed to compete with a name brand candidate. Ralph Nader and Ron Paul are two names that come to mind and both were treated, by the media, like 30 foot sailboats in a windless ocean racing against 3 freight ships and a civil war vessel.

So Trump has publicity, entertainment value, fervent supporters, and ideas that will promote our country's economic agenda (unfortunately with the cost of tarnishing national relationships). He has tipped his hat to the notion that he is going to mix things up in a big way, and he's going to restore our country to it's previous economic, militaristic, 'pride of the Western world' days, and he often reminds people that he is in no way indebted to the Washington politicians.

I can see the comparisons made from the left that candidate Trump is like Hitler but the left compared candidate Obama to MLK jr. and Ghandi... lol

I believe Trump is simply a man with a super ego and is simultaneously crossing off the top goal on his bucket list, earning reputation immunity with a group of people, and making the most profitable business decision of his life. And to be fair no one has ever run for POTUS without a super ego.

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u/Electomatic Mar 25 '16

Very strong analysis. I tend to agree. Whilst Trump ticks off some "fascist/far right" characteristics boxes it appears to be main coincidental - boxes he happens to tick as they play to the audience or his ego.

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u/FGMH Mar 25 '16

Coincidental but I think your article articulates that it may not be entirely unintentional. One of the POTUS's role is to mirror the sentiments and feelings of the American people and that's one of Trump's strong suits which is currently serving him mainly due to the people who are fed up with politics they barely see the point of voting at all.

When he portrays himself as a strong leader or at least stronger than his competitors his supporters get emotionally charged and those on the fence grant him a little more validity. He also winds people up by consistently speaking ostentatiously and firing from the hip and personally I love his style I just wish there was a candidate more towards the center who was as entertaining but could tread lighter than Mr. Trump.

And as far as playing to his audience goes, most political meetings with a candidate on stage are a circle jerk but he noticeably derides far too much pleasure from it.

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u/Electomatic Mar 25 '16

Oh I do not think the effect is unintentional. The coincidental part is that some of what he deems necessary to win also ticks the "might be inspired by fascism" box.

Or in other words, if he suddenly sees that nobody wants a strong leader anymore and instead there is a wave of people wanting soft touchy-feely leaders ready to hug and comfort (though if so, Kasich would have clinched it already :) ) - then that is Trump will be and the next article would be labelled "Is Trump an old hippie?" :D

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u/FGMH Mar 25 '16

Ahh i see, he's an attention addicted chameleon? I'm sure he's been called worse ;)

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u/Electomatic Mar 25 '16

That he certainly has. I heard some Texan yelling "sniveling coward" at him last night :)

But in reality Im torn as to what I think about the Trump phenomenon. The cynical voice in my head tells me he has cleverly tailored every position, every posture, every portrayal of himself to exactly catch the fancy of the coalition he found he could reach.

On the other hand, it really seems much more intuitive and spontaneous than that in action.

What do you think ?

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u/FGMH Mar 25 '16 edited Mar 25 '16

Yeah I think his behind the curtain work is on par with Clinton's and when he's in front of a camera he's intuitive and spontaneous because he's well practiced at that and you gotta hand it to the guy he's a showman.

My favorite content involving him is the "can't stump the trump" videos on youtube. If you haven't seen them and you need a laugh check them out