Shawn Thew/EPA
Donald Trump
The comparison between the definition of fascism and what the US president-elect defends and what he has done in recent years.
Donald Trumpwho will be president of the USA again, will be a president “fascist”, according to millions of US residents.
This group includes some political analysts – and even some republicans, that is, from Trump’s party, agree that the elected president is a fascist.
But politics and history itself show that this classification is wrong, warns Jeremy Etelson no.
Yes, Donald Trump still says the 2020 presidential election was a fraud and was instrumental in the invasion of the Capitol. “But he is not a fascist leader because of that. Maybe it’s a irresponsible; not fascist,” writes Jeremy.
The article reminds us that fascism is a collectivist form of government that seeks to position itself as a state-controlled alternative to Marxist socialism and liberal capitalism.
It is a centralized ideology, always with the alleged objective of fulfilling the nation’s historical destiny.
There is private industry, but the State makes the final decisions.
And this is where Portugal appears on the list of “prominent examples of fascist leaders”, when António de Oliveira refers Salazar, besides Benito Mussolini in Italy and Francisco Franco in Spain.
They all rose to power in the early 20th century in opposition to liberalism and socialism.
And it is appropriate to have this framework, especially because the USA never experienced fascism – although even today some associate Franklin D. Roosevelt with fascism (but not with Hitler’s fascism).
Returning to the analysis, institutional censorship and the suppression of ideological divergence are essential in a fascist regime, whose central points are: collectivism, censorship, autocracy and militarism.
Comparison
But Donald Trump does not follow these principles, argues Jeremy Etelson.
The first example given is COVID-19: “A fascist cannot would delegate decision-making to decentralized state governments. A fascist would not attempt to limit the scope of public-private censorship.”
In Justice: “A fascist would not appoint judges and magistrates who interpreted the Constitution in an original way that minimized government authority federal government and its executive power”.
At a military level, “a fascist cannot would end wars nebulous and would not avoid starting new ones”.
And there is even a comparison with the television: “A fascist would certainly not sit down for hours-long interviews with counterculture comedians and nonconformists like Joe Rogan, Theo Von and Andrew Schulz.”
And Donald Trump fulfilled those last four paragraphs. The article argues that the businessman is anti-authoritarian. It’s even “liberal capitalist” with regard to internal affairs.
“The attempts to demonize Trump, comparing it to Adolf Hitler, and to fascists in general, are not only exaggerated, but also dangerous”, newspaper.
Populist nationalism yes, fascism no.
