Fascism: a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often races above the individual. It is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader and is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation, forcible suppression of opposition, and subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race.
Donald Trump Isn’t A Fascist
Fascism. A term we have heard so much throughout the past eight years yet I bet most of those saying it do not even know the definition. Realistically we do not even need the definition to know that Donald Trump isn’t a Fascist. All those on the left understand is that if CNN or even worse MSNBC have been saying it then that must be true. Rachel Maddow would never lie to us (Russia, Russia, Russia).
When individuals (delusional) paint Trump as a Fascist the most common Fascist regime that pops into most people’s minds is Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler but there are others, such as Benito Mussolini in Italy and Francisco Franco in Spain who ruled from 1939-1975. While just asking for the definition of Fascism would likely stop liberals in their tracks it’s important to understand some of the finer points of why Donald Trump isn’t a Fascist by any metric.
What Are Some of the Defining Hallmarks of Fascists?
For starters, Fascists are notorious for their use of a national emergency as a means of centralizing power in the hands of the State. During a national crisis, the first thing a Fascist leader does is use it as an excuse to greatly expand their powers.
There was no better example of this than the global pandemic where one could argue that Donald Trump was too slow to centralize power and decision-making authority. This led to a slow initial response to the pandemic and a myriad of regulations whereby each decentralized state did its own thing. In California and New York, you could barely walk out of your house but in Florida and Georgia, life continued as normal after a brief pause.
A Fascist leader uses national crises to solidify their hold on power such as in 1930s Germany with the Reichstag burning down and subsequently being blamed on Communists. Due to this Hitler was granted emergency powers known as “Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the Nation and the State.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was Democratic governors who used the panic and chaos to solidify their grip on power. They used draconian executive orders and expanded their emergency powers to control the population. Once vaccines were rolled out Joe Biden instituted national mandates and mostly Democratic State governors issued similar mandates to their citizens (or subjects). Their actions have all of the hallmarks of actual Fascism but only Trump is accused of Fascism.
Trump And Judicial Decisions
“To our friends we give everything but to our enemies not even justice should be given.” This was the populist leader of Argentina General Juan Peron meaning that his enemies should be considered outside the legal system. There would be no Fascist at any point in history that would have any respect for their country’s courts and institutions. Since Fascism by its very definition involves an “authoritarian dictatorial leader” with “centralized autocracy” a true Fascist would have no use for abiding by any court orders or prior constitutions.
Throughout Trump’s first term, we saw quite the opposite. He respected the decisions made by the courts even if he often voiced his disagreement. For example, very early in his term, he faced judicial opposition to his travel ban from a federal judge. In February 2017, James Roberts issued a restraining order against the ban and while Trump disagreed with this decision he did stop enforcing the ban until it was revised.
Trump’s trademark immigration issue was also blocked by activist judges from enacting his policies and he complied with their rulings. Trump’s Department of Justice attempted to withhold funding from sanctuary cities by arguing they were non-compliant with federal immigration law. However, federal judges Harry Leinenweber and William Orrick in 2018 blocked Trump’s executive order defunding sanctuary cities. Once again Trump complained and criticized but he did respect these rulings by dropping his efforts to cut funding from sanctuary cities.
This is a stark example of the hyperbole of the rhetoric declaring Trump a Fascist. Their arguments are not based on any reality or objective analysis but purely subjective emotion. Anything they disagree with must be Fascist and dangerous in comparison to their just and moral philosophy. The above are just two of countless examples of Trump respecting judicial authority as any liberal democratic leader would. The centralizing authority in Fascism would make the courts irrelevant and go against all its core tenets.
Not Capitalist, Not communists, but Collectivists
Fascists are neither capitalist nor communist it is promoted as a third way of doing things and at its core is collectivist.
The communist Soviet Union promoted Fascism as the polar opposite of communism. This meant they pushed it as right-wing, since it allowed private property. Socialists and liberals in the West agreed with this framing and that is generally how it is viewed today as well being a far-right belief system.
However, Fascism is a form of socialism that is closer to what the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic party calls for than anything Donald Trump believes in. The economic policies of both Mussolini and Hitler bore more resemblance to state socialism.
In Hitler’s Germany one could own private property but it was ultimately the property of the centralized state. Both private property and even private industry were essentially subordinated to the state.
This is a far cry from Donald Trump’s allowance of nearly unfettered Capitalism and much closer to the regulated Capitalism that Democrats support. Democrats’ excessive regulations and centralized economic authority in the Federal government have seeds in mid-1900s Fascism. Democrats do believe in private and public economic integration but with the state having the ultimate authority to overrule private enterprise.Whereas Trump and some Republicans believe almost everything should be determined by private markets with as minimal federal government involvement as possible.
In fact Trump would like to use great efforts to shrink the federal government as much as possible and give away vast powers to the states. It is almost ironic that there could not be a political philosophy further away from Trump’s philosophy than Fascism but this is what they chose to paint him as.
Fascism And Militarism
One of the defining characteristics of Fascism is its dependency on militarism. Fascism rejects the idea that violence is inherently bad and sees imperialism and war as a means of national rejuvenation. War is used as a tool to unify the nation, expand territory, and promote national pride.
Here Democrat’s cries of Fascism for Trump also miss the mark He is the first president in modern history who did not start any new war. He has shown an inordinate disdain for using military power. When pushed by his national security advisor John Bolton to go to war with Iran, he essentially said are you nuts and fired him.
Militarism is uniquely important to Fascism because it fits with the narratives of order, control, and nationalism. Fascist leaders generally favor military solutions to political problems. In this regard, Trump is far more sympathetic to using diplomacy to solve pressing political issues. We saw this during his sit-downs with Kim Jong Un and his agreeable posture towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In another twist of irony, one of the leaders who probably is the closest to a Fascist currently would be the President of China Xi Jinping. I say ironic because he is supposedly a communist which they claim is on the other end of the spectrum from Fascism. However, he has greatly expanded the power of the presidency. He has given himself absolute authority compared to prior Chinese leaders who did not wield as heavy an approach.
China is now a more centralized government than at any time since Mao. He has also sidelined any rivals and removed term limits from the presidency effectively making himself president for life. If we see Donald Trump run for a third term in 2028 maybe then we can begin to discuss Fascism.
Also, President Xi has aggressively militarized Chinese society which as we discussed above is a classic trademark of a Fascist leader. His foreign policy has become more assertive and confrontational in the South China Sea. Similarly, he has used his military to crush dissent in China itself as under Xi there has been a massive increase in censorship, the surveillance state, and the persecution of ethnic minorities.
For us to claim Trump is a Fascist we would have to see similar attitudes and policies emanating from his administration which to this date it has been quite the opposite. Trump is arguably a Populist and Liberal critics use the lazy argument of overreaching by turning Populism into Fascism. Using the hyperbole of Fascism for Trump serves no interest as it does not further any discourse or substantive discussion. This is partly the reason why he won the election so easily as the American public saw through this and saw a type of Populism that put America first and was in their interest. Ultimately, Donald Trump isn’t a Fascist and you’re dumb if you think he is.
Donald Trump isn’t a Fascist? Or is he? If you like this article check out Who Writes This S*!&–“A week before the election, Trump will hold his most unsettling spectacle yet” Sidney Blumenthal
