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Yet another Republicans-are-fascist article. It is with certainty we can assert that these leftists get their marching orders from Central Command, and today's topic is, surprise, fascism. Again.
The thing is, repeatedly calling someone a fascist is not designed to inform or explain. It is to agitate, to get the troops moving, to inflame and create animosity. There is no constructive purpose to call everyday Americans fascist.
Further, the charge is preposterous. There is no fascism from the side of the political spectrum known for its individualism and quiet, moral living. There are no authoritarians or dictators or mass slaughters on the Right. Fascism (i.e., National Socialism) contains all the features found on the extreme Left: Oppression, violence, censorship of ideas, speech codes, redefining language, isolating and attacking political enemies, fixing elections, and purging of opposition political figure by prosecution, harassment, and character assassination.
In addition, we are absolutely certain that Dr. Reich has no idea what a real fascist is. Trump most certainly isn't a fascist. Remember, he was President for four years? And we have a new President now? How could an "fascist" simply leave office when his time was up? And really, what "fascist" things did Trump do? We all lived through his presidency and experienced his leadership. What exactly did he do to expand his power, curtail civil rights, free assembly, religious freedom, or property rights?
Nothing? Oh.
Well, he must be the worst authoritarian to ever walk the face of the planet.
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Friends,
The Washington Post calls Trump’s vision for a second term “authoritarian.” That vision includes mandatory stop-and-frisk. (Let's talk about New York city, famous for its stop-and-frisk. This city is far Left, and led for decades by Leftists. In the last few years stop-and-frisk has declined in numbers but is still active:
Friends,
The Washington Post calls Trump’s vision for a second term “authoritarian.” That vision includes mandatory stop-and-frisk. (Let's talk about New York city, famous for its stop-and-frisk. This city is far Left, and led for decades by Leftists. In the last few years stop-and-frisk has declined in numbers but is still active:
Stops by NYPD
| Year | Stops |
|---|---|
| Liberal Republican Mayor Bloomberg 2002 | 97,296 |
| 2003 | 160,851 |
| 2004 | 313,523 |
| 2005 | 398,191 |
| 2006 | 506,491 |
| 2007 | 472,096 |
| 2008 | 540,302 |
| 2009 | 581,168 |
| 2010 | 601,285 |
| 2011 | 685,724 |
| 2012 | 532,911 |
| 2013 | 191,851 |
| Liberal Democrat Mayor DeBlasio 2014 | 45,787 |
| 2015 | 22,565 |
| 2016 | 12,404 |
| 2017 | 11,629 |
| 2018 | 11,008 |
| 2019 | 13,459 |
So Dr. Reich is afraid of what Trump MIGHT do while Democrats and Leftists ARE DOING that very thing. Hmmm.)
Deploying the military to fight street crime, break up gangs, and deport immigrants. (Dr. Reich will document none of these assertions.
Let's look at some history. The National Guard, a branch of the military, was deployed numerous times:
- Whiskey Rebellion in 1792
- Civil War from 1861-65
- Against the Ku Klux Klan from 1866-1977
- Great Railroad Strike in 1877
- Desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas from 1957-58
- Desegregation of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi in 1962
- Desegregation of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1963
- Integration of Alabama Public Schools in 1963
- March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965
- Detroit Riots in 1967
- 1968 King assassination riots in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
- New York City Postal Strike in 1970
- 1980 Cuban Refugee Crisis
- Hurricane Hugo in 1989
- 1992 LA Riots
- George Floyd protests in multiple locations nationwide in 2020
We won't bother looking up who deployed the National Guard in these instances. We already know that many of them were deployed by Democrats.)
Purging the federal workforce and charging leakers. (Purging the federal workforce is a great idea.
As far as charging leakers, a leaker by definition is someone who reveals confidential information without authorization. This is a crime. Charge them.
A whistle-blower is a different thing. They reveal illegal activity in government. They have legal protection. Ironically, the Left hates whistle-blowers who rat out Democrats and Leftists. They are the ones who persecute and impugn whistle-blowers. But only when it is going against them.)
“In 2016, I declared I am your voice,” Trump said in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference and repeated at his first 2024 campaign rally in Waco, Texas. “Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.” (Good stuff. Go, Mr. President! Take them on. Drain the swamp.)
How do we describe what Trump wants for America? “Authoritarianism” isn’t adequate. It is “fascism.” Fascism stands for a coherent set of ideas different from — and more dangerous than — authoritarianism. To fight those ideas, it’s necessary to be aware of what they are and how they fit together.
Borrowing from cultural theorist Umberto Eco, historians Emilio Gentile and Ian Kershaw, political scientist Roger Griffin, and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, (All Leftists.)
I offer five elements that distinguish fascism from authoritarianism.
1. The rejection of democracy, the rule of law, and equal rights under the law in favor of a strongman who interprets the popular will.
“The election was stolen.” (Trump, 2020)
“I am your justice. … I am your retribution.” (2023) (Dr. Reich is serious. He thinks this is evidence of fascism. Wow.)
Authoritarians believe society needs strong leaders to maintain stability. They vest in a dictator the power to maintain social order through the use of force (armies, police, militia) and bureaucracy.
By contrast, fascists view strong leaders as the means of discovering what society needs. They regard the leader as the embodiment of society, the voice of the people.
2. The galvanizing of popular rage against cultural elites.
“Your enemies” are “media elites,” … “the elites who led us from one financial and foreign policy disaster to another.” (Trump, 2015, 2016) (Oh my. Trump used the word "elites." Too bad he didn't use the word "bourgeois." [Savvy people will understand this reference and how it applies to the Left.])
Authoritarians do not stir people up against establishment elites. They use or co-opt those elites in order to gain and maintain power.
By contrast, fascists galvanize public rage at presumed (or imaginary) cultural elites and use mass rage to gain and maintain power. (Kill the rich. Wealthy people stole their money from the poor. The factory owner is profiting off his employee's labor. Wealth inequality is bad. Any of these attack on elites sound familiar?)
1. The rejection of democracy, the rule of law, and equal rights under the law in favor of a strongman who interprets the popular will.
“The election was stolen.” (Trump, 2020)
“I am your justice. … I am your retribution.” (2023) (Dr. Reich is serious. He thinks this is evidence of fascism. Wow.)
Authoritarians believe society needs strong leaders to maintain stability. They vest in a dictator the power to maintain social order through the use of force (armies, police, militia) and bureaucracy.
By contrast, fascists view strong leaders as the means of discovering what society needs. They regard the leader as the embodiment of society, the voice of the people.
2. The galvanizing of popular rage against cultural elites.
“Your enemies” are “media elites,” … “the elites who led us from one financial and foreign policy disaster to another.” (Trump, 2015, 2016) (Oh my. Trump used the word "elites." Too bad he didn't use the word "bourgeois." [Savvy people will understand this reference and how it applies to the Left.])
Authoritarians do not stir people up against establishment elites. They use or co-opt those elites in order to gain and maintain power.
By contrast, fascists galvanize public rage at presumed (or imaginary) cultural elites and use mass rage to gain and maintain power. (Kill the rich. Wealthy people stole their money from the poor. The factory owner is profiting off his employee's labor. Wealth inequality is bad. Any of these attack on elites sound familiar?)
They stir up grievances against those elites for supposedly displacing average people and seek revenge. (Ironic. This is what Leftists and Socialist do, they stir up resentment and envy in the lower class so as to foment revolution.)
In so doing, they create mass parties. They often encourage violence. (Um, "encourage?" the Left actually does violence.)
3. Nationalism based on a dominant “superior” race and historic bloodlines.
“Tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border … The United States has become a dumping ground for Mexico and, in fact, for many other parts of the world.” (Trump, 2015) (Absolutely true, and not related to Dr. Reich's claim.)
“I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” (2019) (An opinion about Jewish voting habits has nothing to do with "superior" race.)
“Getting critical race theory out of our schools is not just a matter of values, it’s also a matter of national survival … If we allow the Marxists and Communists and Socialists to teach our children to hate America, there will be no one left to defend our flag or to protect our great country or its freedom.” (2022) (Trump is right on again. CRT is a toxic reimagining of a history that never happened.)
Authoritarians see nationalism as a means of asserting the power of the state. (This is the current crop of Democrats to a "t.")
3. Nationalism based on a dominant “superior” race and historic bloodlines.
“Tremendous infectious disease is pouring across the border … The United States has become a dumping ground for Mexico and, in fact, for many other parts of the world.” (Trump, 2015) (Absolutely true, and not related to Dr. Reich's claim.)
“I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” (2019) (An opinion about Jewish voting habits has nothing to do with "superior" race.)
“Getting critical race theory out of our schools is not just a matter of values, it’s also a matter of national survival … If we allow the Marxists and Communists and Socialists to teach our children to hate America, there will be no one left to defend our flag or to protect our great country or its freedom.” (2022) (Trump is right on again. CRT is a toxic reimagining of a history that never happened.)
Authoritarians see nationalism as a means of asserting the power of the state. (This is the current crop of Democrats to a "t.")
They glorify the state. They want it to dominate other nations. They seek to protect or expand its geographic boundaries. (What expansion of the US has occurred in the last 50 years? What expansion did Trump accomplish?)
They worry about foreign enemies encroaching on its territory. (Um, Yeah. Aggressor nations bent on defeating the US is certainly authoritarian.)
By contrast, fascists see a nation as embodying what they consider a “superior” group — based on race, religion, and historic bloodlines. Nationalism is a means of asserting that superiority. They worry about disloyalty and sabotage from groups within the nation that don’t share the same race or bloodlines. These “others” are scapegoated, excluded or expelled, sometimes even killed. (Dr. Reich, name one time this has happened in US history. Oh, yeah, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. That would be by order of FDR, Leftist hero.
By contrast, fascists see a nation as embodying what they consider a “superior” group — based on race, religion, and historic bloodlines. Nationalism is a means of asserting that superiority. They worry about disloyalty and sabotage from groups within the nation that don’t share the same race or bloodlines. These “others” are scapegoated, excluded or expelled, sometimes even killed. (Dr. Reich, name one time this has happened in US history. Oh, yeah, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. That would be by order of FDR, Leftist hero.
Now Dr. Reich, name one time Trump did any such thing.)
Fascists believe schools and universities must teach values that extol the dominant race, religion, and bloodline. Schools should not teach inconvenient truths (such as America’s history of genocide and racism). (No one on the Right believes this. Trump doesn't believe this. Dr. Reich is making another clumsy attempt at re-framing the issue of CRT. The opposition to this fake history program has nothing to do with a dominant race.
Fascists believe schools and universities must teach values that extol the dominant race, religion, and bloodline. Schools should not teach inconvenient truths (such as America’s history of genocide and racism). (No one on the Right believes this. Trump doesn't believe this. Dr. Reich is making another clumsy attempt at re-framing the issue of CRT. The opposition to this fake history program has nothing to do with a dominant race.
Daniel Greenfield, a Jew, thoroughly refutes the idea of white supremacy.)
4. Extolling brute strength and heroic warriors.
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong. (Trump, January 6, 2021)
“I am your warrior.” (2023) (Are these the best Dr. Reich can find? Really?)
The goal of authoritarianism is to gain and maintain state power. For authoritarians, “strength” comes in the form of large armies and munitions.
By contrast, the ostensible goal of fascism is to strengthen society. Fascism’s method of accomplishing this is to reward those who win economically and physically and to denigrate or exterminate those who lose. Fascism depends on organized bullying — a form of social Darwinism. (Shall we talk about the disproportionate representation of black babies being aborted? Hmm?)
For the fascist, war and violence are means of strengthening society by culling the weak and extolling heroic warriors.
5. Disdain of women and fear of non-standard forms of gender identity and sexual orientation.
“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.” (Trump, 2005) (This was nearly 20 years ago.)
“You have to treat ‘em like shit.” (1992) (This was over 30 years ago, when Trump was a darling of the Left.)
I will “promote positive education about the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers and celebrating, rather than erasing, the things that make men and women different.” (2023) (Hear hear, President Trump!)
Authoritarianism imposes hierarchies; authoritarianism seeks order.
By contrast, fascism is organized around the particular hierarchy of male dominance. The fascist heroic warrior is male. Women are relegated to subservient roles.
In fascism, anything that challenges the traditional heroic male roles of protector, provider, and controller of the family is considered a threat to the social order. Fascism seeks to eliminate homosexuals, transgender, and queer people because they are thought to challenge or weaken the heroic male warrior. ("Eliminate." Dr. Reich, provide us a quote from any major figure on the Right who has ever said they want to eliminate gays. Just one will do.)
***
These five elements of fascism reinforce each other.
Rejection of democracy in favor of a strongman depends on galvanizing popular rage.
Popular rage draws on a nationalism based on a supposed superior race or ethnicity.
That superior race or ethnicity is justified by a social Darwinist idea of strength and violence, as exemplified by heroic warriors.
Strength, violence, and the heroic warrior are centered on male power.
These five elements also find exact expression in Donald Trump and the White Christian National movement he is encouraging. It is also the direction most of the Republican Party is now heading.
These are not the elements of authoritarianism. They are the essential elements of fascism.
America’s mainstream media is by now comfortable talking and writing about Trump’s authoritarianism. In describing what he is seeking to impose on America, the media should be using the term “fascism.” (They must not have gotten the memo from Central Command yet.
4. Extolling brute strength and heroic warriors.
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong. (Trump, January 6, 2021)
“I am your warrior.” (2023) (Are these the best Dr. Reich can find? Really?)
The goal of authoritarianism is to gain and maintain state power. For authoritarians, “strength” comes in the form of large armies and munitions.
By contrast, the ostensible goal of fascism is to strengthen society. Fascism’s method of accomplishing this is to reward those who win economically and physically and to denigrate or exterminate those who lose. Fascism depends on organized bullying — a form of social Darwinism. (Shall we talk about the disproportionate representation of black babies being aborted? Hmm?)
For the fascist, war and violence are means of strengthening society by culling the weak and extolling heroic warriors.
5. Disdain of women and fear of non-standard forms of gender identity and sexual orientation.
“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.” (Trump, 2005) (This was nearly 20 years ago.)
“You have to treat ‘em like shit.” (1992) (This was over 30 years ago, when Trump was a darling of the Left.)
I will “promote positive education about the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers and celebrating, rather than erasing, the things that make men and women different.” (2023) (Hear hear, President Trump!)
Authoritarianism imposes hierarchies; authoritarianism seeks order.
By contrast, fascism is organized around the particular hierarchy of male dominance. The fascist heroic warrior is male. Women are relegated to subservient roles.
In fascism, anything that challenges the traditional heroic male roles of protector, provider, and controller of the family is considered a threat to the social order. Fascism seeks to eliminate homosexuals, transgender, and queer people because they are thought to challenge or weaken the heroic male warrior. ("Eliminate." Dr. Reich, provide us a quote from any major figure on the Right who has ever said they want to eliminate gays. Just one will do.)
***
These five elements of fascism reinforce each other.
Rejection of democracy in favor of a strongman depends on galvanizing popular rage.
Popular rage draws on a nationalism based on a supposed superior race or ethnicity.
That superior race or ethnicity is justified by a social Darwinist idea of strength and violence, as exemplified by heroic warriors.
Strength, violence, and the heroic warrior are centered on male power.
These five elements also find exact expression in Donald Trump and the White Christian National movement he is encouraging. It is also the direction most of the Republican Party is now heading.
These are not the elements of authoritarianism. They are the essential elements of fascism.
America’s mainstream media is by now comfortable talking and writing about Trump’s authoritarianism. In describing what he is seeking to impose on America, the media should be using the term “fascism.” (They must not have gotten the memo from Central Command yet.
And of course, no one calls Trump "fascist" yet. Yeah, it just doesn't happen. Dr. Reich is at the cutting edge of agitprop by using the word "fascist." //sarcasm off//)
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