What Would Trump Fascism Look Like?
A top 10 list that’s highly possible given what we’ve seen – and perfectly horrifying.
(Originally published at
History News Network, June 2016.
An edited list of eight traits was also published at
JuanCole.com.)
Given how immigrant bashing is central to his appeal, it’s best to rebrand Mr. Drumpf (Trump) by his original family name. The man best known for hatred of immigrants has a grandfather, mother, wife, and ex-wife who are immigrants. Some accounts point to the grandfather changing his name during the height of anti-German hatred and hysteria during World War I.
Numerous analysts, journalists, publications, and scholars judge Mr. Drumpf to be a fascist. These range from academics toNewsweek toSalon to theNew Republic to evenForbes magazine and conservatives like Max Boot and Jeb Bush. He is authoritarian, appeals to irrationality, is highly nationalistic, extremely bigoted, and calls for the defense of capitalism at the expense of democracy. The only things missing from this textbook definition of fascism for Drumpf and his followers are the uniforms.
In spite of or more likely because of the threat Mr. Drumpf represents, he has little chance of winning. Most likely he will be defeated by 15 to 20 percentage points and over 150 electoral votes, the widest margins lost by any presidential candidate since 1984. Or perhaps a better parallel would be Barry Goldwater’s defeat in 1964, where he lost the election but redefined the party and conservatism.
In my history classes I always teach using counterfactuals, alternate history questions asking college students “What If?” Even though Drumpf has little chance of winning (and I urge all those reading to make that margin of loss as great as possible) it is interesting to consider what form Drumpf Fascism would take. What if he had a chance of actually winning? What if America’s billionaires lined up behind him instead of against him as they are now doing? What if he actually had the cash to self-finance? Truthfully, he does not and never did, which is why he relies on provocative Twitter wars, media manipulation, and loans to himsel
