06-05-2019, 09:06 AM
(06-04-2019, 10:39 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: I have typically seen it defined as a combination of nationalism and authoritarianism. He rose to the presidency relying on nationalism, and he certainly has authoritarian tendencies. He hasn't been able to completely fulfill those tendencies because of the guardrails of democracy holding him from it, but those guardrails have a lot of dents in them right now.
People hear fascism and all they think of is the end result. The fascist dictators that have made the history books. But those are the "success" stories. For every one of those, there are budding fascists that have tested democracies all over the world, and I truly believe Trump is one of those. There are a lot of people in the field of political science that see it this way, as well. Well respected scholars see proto-fascist tendencies within our country right now, scholars that have researched the rise and fall of democracies at the hands of fascists around the globe.
So people that dismiss the claims of fascism with Trump as easily as you are the ones that don't truly know fascism. The history, the trends, the rise of it around the world. It's more of a concern in this country than you realize.
Trumps election was based more on the pretense that he was not Washington insider and would do things differently, along with the fact that Hillary was viewed as a terrible business as usual alternative. In other words is was more about change than nationalism. And his tendencys are more about stupidity and entitlement than authoritarianism. He is a spoiled rich person who has always gotten his way and thinks he can bull his way to what he wants in the Presidency like he did when surrounded by yes men in business.
If you provide links to these well respected scholars who label his tendencies proto-fascist, I'm am sure you will find them to likely be heavily left leaning. There are actually very few, if any, parallels in Trumps rise and current running of the office to those of the fascist dictators of the early part if the last century. So no, I am not simply dismissing those calls of fascism off handedly. I see them as ridiculous based upon actual comparisons both during Trump's ascendancy and his running of the office.
