The Rose Outlook

Is Trump a fascist?

Talk of recent events such as the protests in LA could make one wonder if Trump and his administration are fascist, and it’s basically a no-brainer. Has anyone not entertained the idea? I mean look, even Mark Milley (a retired General) called Donald Trump a “fascist to the core,” and even the most moderate liberals in Congress are seen calling Trump a fascist. I agree that Trump is one-hundred percent a fascist when it comes to the ‘traditional’ definition with pure and raw authoritarianism, but even more so when you take a look at the relationship between what fascism actually is, Trump, and his fellow Republicans.

What is fascism?

What actually is fascism? Akin to most political labels that politicians hurl at their political opponents, the word seems to have no meaning anymore. The mainstream definition is that fascism is some sort of nationalist authoritarian dictatorship that believes their nation and/or race to be superior to all the others. However, this definition doesn’t correctly describe its severity and the form it takes, especially when it comes to class.

Fascism is not an ideology. It is a specific form of reaction, and the very nature of fascism must be understood in order to combat it. During the 7th World Congress of the Comintern in August 1935, the Bulgarian communist Georgi Dimitrov (who would eventually become the leader of communist Bulgaria and was already the chairman of the Bulgarian communist party by this time) described fascism as “the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic, and most imperialist elements of finance capital,” that would partake in “terrorist vengeance against the working class” as seen in Germany. Georgi Dimitrov also described fascism as “jingoism in its most brutal form, fomenting bestial hatred of other nations.” He warned that if fascism continued to take power, it would suppress the “democratic liberties of the working people” and destroy “the rights of parliament.”

So, fascism is a terrorist dictatorship of reactionary, chauvinistic, imperialist elements of finance capital. This is certainly true, but another way to put it is fascism is imperialism turned inward. As unfortunate as it is, I have to say one of the best sources I can actually refer to on this matter was from Zak Cope, who actually disavowed his Marxism and instead became some sort of liberal. He previously wrote that “Geographically speaking, on its own soil fascism is imperialist repression turned inward” in his book Divided World Divided Class. Finance capital, however, is the merging of banks with industry (bank capital and industrial capital) that breeds monopolies. Fascism may come when a capitalist country’s economy reaches its limits due to finite growth domestically, and the bourgeoisie are forced to exploit the domestic proletariat to an even greater degree (fascism). Otherwise, they would expand their markets into other lands.

This leads to imperialism abroad. Cecil Rhodes, the English capitalist and politician who was the Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, said “My cherished idea is a solution for the social problem, i.e., in order to save the 40,000,000 inhabitants of the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, we colonial statesmen must acquire new lands to settle the surplus population, to provide new markets for the goods produced in the factories and mines. The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question. If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialists.”

How does Trump fit the bill?

President Trump clearly hits (and greatly exceeds) many indicators of fascism. First off, MAGA-fascism parrots the same rhetoric that is used in every fascist state: they try to appeal to the past. Him and other conservatives love to talk about past glory as if the past US was some sort of advanced civilization that was destroyed due to the evil woke liberal socialists—a tradition we’ve apparently kept up since the Second World War. 

For example, MAGA-fascist rhetoric like “draining the swamp” and “Making America Great Again” often appeals to popular issues such as trade and immigration. Fascism is basically a tumor that grows as capitalism decays, and often takes a very populist form in order to siphon support from the working class, which also helps weaken class consciousness.

But don’t take it from me. In Ur-Fascism, Umberto Eco constructed an excellent system of fourteen points (like a checklist!) that can help you decide whether something is fascism. Although it’s not based in Marxism, the analysis is excellent in giving us the tell-tale signs. “I think it is possible to outline a list of features that are typical of what I would like to call Ur-Fascism, or Eternal Fascism” he says, “These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it.”

1. The Cult of Tradition

The first sign of fascism is the “cult of tradition.” Eco notes that traditionalism is certainly much older than fascism, but you can find traditionalism in every single fascist movement. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy are the two that come to mind. Eco also says that “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.” 

MAGA-fascism and Trump himself espouse occult-like beliefs such as the QAnon conspiracy. Also, the movement has embraced traditional gender roles and sexuality, as well as parts of the prosperity gospel (among secular ideas) producing a unique type of culturally fascistic syncretism.

2. The Rejection of Modernism

The rejection of modernism is self-explanatory. MAGA has rejected modernism. Just like Umberto Eco described, MAGAts see the Enlightenment as “the beginning of modern depravity,” alongside many irrational thoughts. They often reject science and embrace anti-intellectualism; believing that climate change is a hoax and that vaccines give you autism.

3. The Cult of Action for Action’s Sake

Many actions must be done without thinking. Eco states that, to them, “Thinking is a form of emasculation.” Trump has completely incorporated this idea into his MAGA-fascist movement! For example, when he first entered politics and began to build his cult of personality, he told his supporters that he’d pay legal fees for supporters who would punch protestors.

4. Disagreement is Treason

To fascists, there shall be no input. Fascists always surround themselves with like-minded people that would suck up to them and maintain high loyalty. We can see that Trump’s current cabinet is full of far-right people (often unqualified) that were appointed just for their devotion. Furthermore, MAGA-fascists shut out other, more moderate conservatives who don’t agree with their movement. They are often ridiculed, disavowed and dubbed as “RINOs” just as bad as the Democrats. I don’t really care about conservatives and I’m not on their side here, but I just want you to know you hear a lot of “traitor RINO” on the Republican side but not a lot of “traitor DINO” on the Democratic side.

5. Fear of Difference

This is when fascist movements appeal to racism or xenophobia. They look to exploit this, often against immigrants and foreigners. I don’t think this one needs much explanation as the Trump administration is notable for its Muslim bans, outright xenophobia, and actions against people of color (as well as disabled people).

6. Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class

This one is a classic! Eco writes, “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”

7. Obsession with a Plot

Eco writes that followers of fascism want to be oppressed or feel besieged. They are often tricked into believing there is some sort of plot (either domestic or international, or both). Trump’s rigged election claims, claims of witch hunts, repeated conspiracy theories and much, much more show this. There are also many more claims of “plots” you can see if you have any older relatives on Facebook like I do, who legitimately believe Trump is some sort of God-endorsed savior coming to save them from the evil deep state or cultural Marxism. Maybe even the UN, NATO, and whatever international organization they argue is run by Jews. I’ve seen many claims of “cultural Marxism” today that resemble the anti-Semitic claims of “cultural Bolshevism” in Nazi Germany.

8. The Enemy is both Strong and Weak

This one is contradictory yet seen LITERALLY EVERYWHERE in fascist movements. Trump has called the enemy (who are, of course, the Democrats, LGBTQ+, immigrants, ethnic and racial minorities, etc.) strong as they are supposedly able to destroy the constitution, the country, and your gas prices but are also weak blue-haired liberals who can’t even succeed at their job. Curious.

9. Pacifism is Trafficking with the Enemy

Under fascism, there must always be an enemy to fight. Life is basically permanent warfare against the enemy. This is seen in Nazi Germany, where they began to ‘clean up’ their country of internal enemies then began to build up their own war machine to destroy the foreign ones. Unfortunately for fascists, you can’t achieve ultimate victory while always at war. I don’t even need to explain this one and how it relates to MAGA-fascism.

10. Contempt for the Weak

Again, fascist movements love appealing to the ‘strong’. It’s basically elitism; something that Trump loves and is rampant in his current administration and was in his previous one. Trump “doesn’t like losers”.

11. Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero

Eco, who lived during the times of fascist Italy himself, observed the fact that “the Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death.” Trump has demonstrated this very thing. He has procured a cult of heroism and calls on his supporters to rally to save the country. He calls them to “Fight! Fight! Fight!”, and we’ve all seen how January 6 turned out.

12. Machismo and Weaponry

An element of MAGA-fascism, “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”

13. Selective Populism

Fascists love this ‘selective populism’, a notion that the people’s will is different than any random person’s viewpoint on something. People aren’t a hivemind, they say, and thus the leader interprets popular will himself. We can see Donald Trump claim that his policies are actually “very popular” even when they’re not, and that his supporters are actually the silent majority.

14. Newspeak

Fascism often uses the concept of newspeak, something you’d be familiar with if you read Orwell. Anyway, Eco noted, “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.” Although Trump and his MAGA-fascist cult has not exactly employed the use of this to the fullest extent (he probably would if we didn’t live in the internet age), Trump and his cronies still use the media to portray him as a savior. This fake news is supposed to agitate you while Trump projects his use of bad press onto the liberals.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Donald Trump is certainly as fascist as his movement. He is a fascist in every sense of the word, fulfilling all of Eco’s points like some sort of destined antichrist while also being an elite opportunist. Even now, despite constant criticism from almost everyone on the political spectrum, he refuses to listen to any reason and continues his evil ways as a war-mongering politician.