Tag Archives: fascism

Call It What It Is

Yesterday, I posted about the importance of using accurate language, arguing that the media’s penchant for failing to distinguish between far-right ideologues and genuine conservatives blurs reality and distorts public understanding of where America finds itself.

Today, I want to address another issue of labelling: the common complaint that calling MAGA folks fascist or fascist-adjacent is an unfair aspect of the name-calling that Trump has made a prominent feature of our politics–that use of that label is no different from the claims of those so-called “conservatives” that advocates for national health care are all communists.

Yesterday, I compared the actions and rhetoric of Trump and MAGA to the definition of conservative, and found an obvious mismatch. Today, I want to compare them to the definition of fascist, in order to determine whether that label really is an example of uncivil exaggeration and misdirection, or whether it’s an accurate description of what we are seeing.

I’m not the first to engage in that comparison; The Bulwark recently provided an excellent overview of the similarities that justify the label. (Interestingly, The Bulwark is published by “never Trump” conservatives–actual conservatives who know the difference between conservative philosophy and far-Right radicalism.) The essay began by quoting John F. Kelly, a now-retired Marine Corps general who, for a year and a half during Trump’s first term, was the White House chief of staff.

Shortly before the 2024 election, in a New York Times interview, Kelly was asked whether he thought Trump was a fascist. Kelly began his response by reading a definition of fascism.

Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy.

Kelly then ticked off the ways in which Trump met that definition, concluding that he “certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure. . . . He certainly prefers the dictator approach to government.”

It’s one thing to recognize that Trump himself is a fascist–that’s hard to deny, especially given his ramped-up megalomania since returning to the Oval Office. But what about his base? What about the MAGA movement? The Bulwark article cited a 1995 observation by Italian novelist and critic Umberto Eco, who defined the fascism he saw emerging as “a fuzzy totalitarianism” that he dubbed Ur-fascism. Eco proceeded to outline a list of its characteristics:

The most prominent feature of Ur-fascism, according to Eco, is the cult of tradition and the rejection of the modern world. In the irrational worldview of the Ur-fascist, disagreement is treason. Other prominent features of fascism that Eco detailed included the following:

“Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks for consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders.”
“Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration.”
“At the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged. The easiest way to solve the plot is the appeal to xenophobia.”
“The Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters. This is the origin of machismo. . . . Since even sex is a difficult game to play, the Ur-Fascist hero tends to play with weapons—doing so becomes an ersatz phallic exercise.”

The Bulwark article ended with a plea to MAGA folks to recognize these similarities and leave the movement. I’m afraid that such a plea is hopelessly naive. Hard-core MAGA folks are all-in on their ahistorical devotion to “tradition” and their hatred of those “Others” who populate modern societies. They have perfected the informational bubble they inhabit, and far from being appalled by the inhumanity of ICE raids or the anti-Americanism of Trump’s Executive Orders or the damage being done to America’s global stature, they applaud Trump’s increasingly autocratic (and arguably insane) behaviors.

Calling this administration and its supporters fascists is neither an exaggeration nor an inappropriate epithet. It is a word–a label– that accurately describes both Trump and a significant percentage of his MAGA supporters. The rest of us need to acknowledge that, and the fact that most of those supporters are irretrievably lost to the American Idea.

It is up to the rest of us–to the majority of sane Americans– to reject the fascist project and save the Republic. The situation really is that dire.

Comments

Words Fail

In a recent article titled “The New Rasputins,” , Anne Applebaum argued something I’ve long believed: the words “right” and “left” are not remotely accurate descriptors of the political world we currently inhabit. 

Believe it or not, I was long considered–and long considered myself–a conservative. During those years, the term was defined as someone concerned with fiscal prudence, respect for legal tradition and the rule of law, and for conserving the rights protected by the Bill of Rights. Fidelity to what used to be seen as conservative principles now label me “progressive” or “liberal” or–for MAGA folks–a “commie.”

As Applebaum correctly noted, “left” and “right” are outmoded descriptors of today’s GOP and Democrats. The GOP is currently a White Christian Nationalist cult with a corporatist (crony capitalist) economic agenda. The Democratic Party has been left with a nearly-impossible-to-corral amalgam of Americans ranging from center-right conservatives and former Republican “never Trumpers” to actual Leftists. And everyone in-between. We are experiencing the downside of a two-party system–it cannot function properly when one party goes off the rails.

The current misuse of terminology matters, because when language loses its connection to reality, political life is threatened. Authoritarianism thrives when the words citizens use are insufficient to convey an accurate meaning. Worse, when terminology is not just inadequate but misleading, we fail to recognize the reality we inhabit and the nature of the threats we face.

Applebaum’s point was expanded upon by Jennifer Rubin in the new publication Contrarian (link unavailable). 

Contrarian contributor Ruth Ben-Ghiat has written: “[A]uthoritarians turn language into a weapon, as well as emptying key words in the political life of a nation such as patriotism, honor, and freedom of meaning. We are well on our way in America to what I call the ‘upside-down world of authoritarianism,’ where the rule of law gives way to rule by the lawless; where those who take our rights away and jail us pose as protectors of freedom; where the thugs who assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6 are turned into patriots; and where ‘leadership requires killing people,’ as Tucker Carlson recently put it, justifying Vladimir Putin’s killing of Alexei Navalny.”

 

We cannot accept MAGA terminology. Since an “executive order” denotes a proper, legal exercise of power, that term should certainly not be applied to President Trump’s cascade of executive pronouncements (most over-reaching and unconstitutional, others just meaningless). They may be “edicts” or ‘bogus decrees,” as historian Jonathan Alter noted in our recent Talking Feds podcast. But they do not dignify the term “executive order.”

“Pro-life,” is another example, in that it no way defines a movement that supports forced birth laws that kill women and have increased infant mortality. In the abortion arena, the right-wing comes up with non-words like “post-birth abortion”)to express fantastical charges. And while we are at it, “abortion ban” is not nearly descriptive enough. Laws robbing women of bodily autonomy and forcing them to go to term with a pregnancy should properly be called “forced birth.”

For years, the culture warriors of the GOP have used coded and inaccurate language to hide their true identity, which is anything but conservative. It is radical and reactionary, irredeemably racist and misogynistic. To label these people “conservative” is to deprive that term of all meaning.

Those of us who are appalled and terrified by the coming administration are constantly asking ourselves: “What can I do?” At the recent Hoosiers 4 Democracy rally, the “call to action” identified a number of organizations we can join and/or support. But there’s one thing everyone can do–even people unable to volunteer or donate: we can refuse to use inaccurate language. We can call fascism what it is.

And it sure isn’t “conservative.”

 
Comments

Loud And Clear

There was no missing the chilling messages delivered by Trump and his supporters at his Inauguration and immediately after, through his Executive Orders.

There’s obviously a great deal that could be said about most of those vindictive and mean-spirited Executive Orders, several of which were of dubious legality. (Overturning Biden’s order reducing the cost of insulin for those on Medicare or Medicaid seemed particularly egregious–surely many of the beneficiaries of that measure are among his voters. But making Big Pharma happy evidently took precedence over Trump’s non-existent concern for the “little people.”)

I will leave discussion of most of these acts of petulance for others to discuss, because most of them were unrelated to the major message conveyed by Elon Musk’s “heil Hitler” salute and Trump’s pardon of the January 6th insurrectionists. The incoming administration is no longer bothering to hide what most of us already knew was the motivating force behind MAGA–racism and general hatred of the Other. After all, the movement has no policy agenda, no coherent ideology–it’s all racism and White Christian nationalism.

The pathetic efforts to excuse Musk’s Nazi salutes (note the “s”–he gave it not once but twice) brought to mind Timothy Snyder’s warning in his book On Tyranny about people who acquiesce to tyrants in advance. I’ve never considered the Anti-Defamation League a particularly effective organization, but the feeble attempt by its spokespersons to suggest that the gesture was somehow an excess of “enthusiasm” should tell us just how feckless it really is. That pathetic effort to ingratiate the organization with the coming administration rang hollow to anyone who saw the videos of Musk rendering that salute (not to mention anyone who has watched him turn Twitter into a Nazi-apologetic site, or noted his recent endorsement of the German far-right.)

Of course, the salute itself pales before the message sent by Trump’s pardons and commutations of the criminals who participated in the January 6th insurrection. As my youngest son said, it was a loud and clear call to Trump’s Brownshirts, a promise that–no matter what they do on his behalf, no matter what heads they crack, what laws they break, what American principles they deficate on–he’ll have their back. Like Trump himself, they will evade any real accountability.

These “patriots” destroyed government property. They assaulted–and killed–law enforcement officers. Those in prison had been found guilty of sedition by judges and by juries of their peers. A significant number had pled guilty, admitting to the charges of serious lawbreaking.

Pardoning people who were willing to jettison their country’s principles and the rule of law for their “dear leader” gives the whole game away.

There were plenty of related messages sent via those Executive Orders. The assault on the Department of Justice, for example, was notable. But none of those other moves was as obvious and horrifying as the explicit approval of violence if it was committed on Trump’s behalf.

Anyone who actually listened to what Trump was preaching to the MAGA mobs already understood that the movement was all–and only–about “recapturing” America for straight White “Christian” men. It was–and is–about fear and hatred of the Other: brown and Black people, Jews, Muslims, Asians, Gays…the vicious anti-immigrant sentiment that Trump rode to the White House has always focused solely on dark-skinned immigrants. Efforts to paint Trump supporters as folks angry about inflation or the economy deliberately ignore the hysteria over “woke-ism” and DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). It isn’t just coincidental that another of those Executive Orders erased diversity training and all governmental DEI programs.

There is no way to put lipstick on this particular pig. There’s also nothing to be gained by “playing nice” with the people who are just fine–indeed, ecstatic– with all of this. The rest of us need to face up to the fact that America has just installed an “out and proud” fascist government, filled with people who no longer find it necessary to pretend otherwise.

It not only can happen here…it is happening. And the worst thing we can do is emulate the “good Germans” who turned their heads and pretended not to see.

Comments

Really?

According to various media reports, in addition to eying cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the Musk-Ramaswamy proposals to make the government more “efficient,” are focused especially on dramatic cuts to the following: VA Healthcare – $516 billion (100% reduction); the National Institutes of Health – $47 billion (eliminate NIH); Pell Grants – $22 billion (80% reduction); Head Start – $12 billion (100% reduction); the FBI -$11 billion (out of $11.3 billion budget); Federal Prisons -$8 billion (100% reduction) and the SEC – $2 billion (out of $2.1 billion current budget). In other words, the cuts will effectively eliminate the following agencies and programs: VA healthcare, NIH, Head Start, FBI, Federal Prisons, and the SEC.

While it is unlikely that most of these reductions will take place–the “geniuses” who’ve trained their sights on them clearly don’t understand legal or political reality–it is instructive to look at just who would suffer if they were successful: working and middle class people, many of whom comprise the majority of Trump’s base.

It’s equally instructive to note that the “savings” generated by these cuts are intended to make up for diminished revenues anticipated from Trump’s intended tax cuts for the very rich.

What has become very clear as Trump has assembled his “team” is that plutocrats have purchased America’s government. 

Heather Cox Richardson recently cited an NBC News report that Elon Musk alone had spent at least $250 million–a quarter of a billion dollars— to get Trump elected. And Axios has noted that Trump’s administration will be dominated by billionaires.

President-elect Trump has assembled an administration of unprecedented, mind-boggling wealth — smashing his own first-term record by billions of dollars.

That’s even without counting the ballooning fortunes of his prized outside adviser and the world’s richest man: Elon Musk.

Why it matters: It’s not hyperbole to call this a government of billionaires. Whether it acts as a government for billionaires — as Democrats argue is inevitable — could test and potentially tarnish Trump’s populist legacy.

The big picture: Besides Trump, Musk and his fellow Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Vivek Ramaswamy, at least 11 billionaires will be serving key roles in the administration.

Please note that this is without counting Trump, Musk or Ramaswamy. The Axios article has a comprehensive list of the appointees and the net worth of each of them.

The dominance of the super-wealthy and their eagerness to ignore the needs and/or well-being of the rest of us may shed some light on why Congressional Republicans are engaged in an effort to teach a skewed form of civics. 

Republican Congressmen have introduced a bill to support the teaching of civics in the nation’s high schools. This would ordinarily be great news, if the measure contemplated the teaching of actual Civics–a curriculum like “We the People,” for example. This proposal, however–H.R.5349, the “Crucial Communism Teaching Act”– has been described as “a government mandated curriculum requiring all schools to teach the evils of Communism.” When Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern asked why the bill made no mention of the dangers of Fascism, Republicans refused to answer what certainly seems to be a pertinent question: Why are we teaching kids Communism is bad but failing to teach them about the historic failures (not to mention the deaths) caused by Fascism?  

When Rep. McGovern offered an amendment to the Bill to add Fascism to the civics bill, every Republicans voted against that amendment.

Although the most striking aspect of fascist systems is a fervent nationalism–it is characterized by a union between business and the state– in most fascist systems, the uber-rich control the government. Fascist regimes tend to be focused upon a (glorious) past, and to uphold traditional class structures and gender roles that are believed necessary to maintain the social order–a social order that facilitated the acquisition of wealth by those same uber-rich. 

The three elements commonly identified with Fascism are 1) a national identity fused with racial/ethnic identity and concepts of racial superiority; 2) rejection of civil liberties and democracy in favor of authoritarian government; and 3) aggressive militarism. Fascists seek to unify the nation through the elevation of the state over the individual, and the mass mobilization of the national community through discipline, indoctrination, and physical training. (Think Nazi Germany.) 

When people are being trained to focus on the glory of the state (America First), they are more easily distracted from other concerns–like the takeover of their governments by billionaires intent upon protecting their conflicts of interest and special prerogatives at the expense of the masses they disdain. 

Wouldn’t want to teach the kids about that…..they might notice some disquieting similarities….

Comments

The Road Ahead

In the wake of the devastating election results, a good friend sent me an essay that focused on the perennial question we face in life: What now? How do those of us who aren’t ready to submit to autocracy and neo-fascism respond?

The essay is lengthy; it includes several examples from around the globe and from history–examples that suggest productive ways to respond and resist. The subheading counseled that the key to taking effective action is to avoid perpetuating the autocrat’s goals of “fear, isolation, exhaustion and disorientation.”

I found the following paragraphs particularly helpful.

Under a Trump presidency, there are going to be so many issues that it will be hard to accept that we cannot do it all. I’m reminded of a colleague in Turkey who told me, “There’s always something bad happening every day. If we had to react to every bad thing, we’d never have time to eat.” 

An elder once saw me trying to do everything and pulled me aside. “That’s not a healthy lifelong strategy,” she said. She’d been raised in Germany by the generation of Holocaust survivors who told her, “Never again.” She took it personally, as if she had to stop every wrong. It wracked her and contributed to several serious ongoing medical conditions. We can accept our humanity or suffer that lack of acceptance.

Chaos is a friend of the autocrat. One way we can unwittingly assist is by joining in the story that we have to do it all. 

So–as we select our paths, what are our options? The author lays out a number of them, beginning with “Protecting People.”  especially those who are being directly targeted– trans people, folks choosing abortions, immigrants.

This might mean organizing outside current systems for health care and mutual aid, or moving resources to communities that are getting targeted. Further examples include starting immigrant welcoming committees, abortion-support funds or training volunteers on safety skills to respond to white nationalist violence.

Another is“Defending Civic Institutions,” and yet another is “Disrupt and Disobey.”  The elements of each are discussed. My own choice was the last:“Building Alternatives.” 

We can’t just be stuck reacting and stopping the bad. We have to have a vision. This is the slow growth work of building alternative ways that are more democratic. It includes grounding and healing work, rich cultural work, alternative ways of growing food and caring for kids, participatory budgeting or seeding constitutional conventions to build a majoritarian alternative to the Electoral College mess we’re in.

As I have previously argued, our goal should not be a return to the status quo–elements of which facilitated the electoral rejection of  American principles of liberty and civic equality. When Trumpism collapses (a collapse that those on the resistance paths can hasten), we need to be ready with a vision for an improved social infrastructure–one more firmly based on America’s unrealized aspirations.

In the runup to the election, the Roosevelt Foundation’s Felicia Wong wrote about “three things that will be crucial post-election, no matter the outcome.”

First, the old order broke because it failed to keep its most important promise: that a rising tide lifts all, or even most, boats. At the most basic level, a successful and enduring political system must be able to provide for its people.

Second, most of the media has focused on Joe Biden and “Bidenomics” in its narrative about today’s economy. But the reasons we find ourselves in this most perplexing moment, with the economic successes of the last four years frustratingly muted, go well beyond the policies of the last four years. To understand our moment, we must look further back in time and also imagine further into the future.

And third, even amid today’s confusion, we can sense convergence on the outlines of a new political order—but some versions of our shared future are far better, while some are far worse.

As Wong reminds us, successful political orders must deliver a reasonably good life for most people. Neoliberalism fails to do that.

People have different talents, different skills, different time constraints. As we proceed to choose our resistance paths, we need to consider where we are likely to be most effective. Many of you will choose to work through the already burgeoning network of grassroots organizations. Others will focus on what the essay calls “performative” aspects of resistance–what I might call “educational” efforts to draw lines between Trumpism and its inhumane and damaging consequences.

Choose the pathway that works best for you.

Comments