Are we moving toward fascism?

[nebo113]

The term gets thrown around, but I am not a scholar of this ideology or of Nazi Germany.  I do think we are becoming a dictatorship/police state, but are we sliding into fascism?

[dismalist]

From George Orwell's What is Fascism [1944]:

It will be seen that, as used, the word 'Fascism' is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.

and

By 'Fascism' they mean, roughly speaking, something cruel, unscrupulous, arrogant, obscurantist, anti-liberal and anti-working-class. Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept 'bully' as a synonym for 'Fascist'. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.

It is well worth reading the whole very short thing What is Fascism? It is not at all dated. Nothing has changed.

My first conscious perception of a systematic use of the term as a political insult in America, emanating from academia as far as I could tell, was the accusation that George W. Bush was a fascist. I laughed.

ETA: Huey Long is supposed to have said that if fascism ever came to America, it would be called anti-fascism.

[Sea_Ice]

I don't know what we're headed for, but absolutely hate it.  If there's a silver lining in this, I can't yet see it.

One of the worst things is the over-whelming combination of negatives in those involved:  blatant lies, greed, bullying, false religion, incompetence, destructiveness, lack of creativity, overt cruelty, hatred -- I could probably go on, but I just don't want to think about those beasts.

If there is a true God using them as tools, then who am I to complain?  But it looks much more like there is just true Evil behind them - clearly identified by their inability to create, which they try to hide by imitating creativity, and by the glee they show as they cause pain, debauchery, and destruction.

[spork]

Fascism is a sub-type of totalitarianism. The Trump Administration is too rife with greedy, power-hungry, and incompetent boobs lacking a coherent ideology for us to get to that. However, we now have an authoritarian government that is getting more authoritarian by the week. MATA: Make America Turkey Again.

[fleabite]

As it happens, I saw a Soviet poster from the early 1950s at an exhibition on Saturday. One of the figures was an American soldier with a dollar sign on his collar and a swastika on his boot. The label explained that the Russians conflated capitalism with fascism: hence the use of the swastika, referring back to the fascism of Nazi Germany. Now I better understand why Russia has called the Ukrainians Nazis.

This seems yet another extension of the term "fascism" (see the essay to which dismalist posted a link).

[Sun_Worshiper]

Depends on what you mean, and I am hesitant to use that term, but anyone paying attention should have significant concerns about demographic backslide, the normalization of political violence, demagoguery, and conspiracy theories, etc. And it is not difficult to draw some parallels to the 1930s.

[Ruralguy]

Its definitely arbitrary rule by Trumpism, which is defined to be whatever the hell he wants it to be at a given time.
Everything is all about special cases and deals, and very specific decisions that have weak basis (such as strong arming the University of Virginia).

[spork]

As it happens, I saw a Soviet poster from the early 1950s at an exhibition on Saturday. One of the figures was an American soldier with a dollar sign on his collar and a swastika on his boot. The label explained that the Russians conflated capitalism with fascism: hence the use of the swastika, referring back to the fascism of Nazi Germany. Now I better understand why Russia has called the Ukrainians Nazis.

This seems yet another extension of the term "fascism" (see the essay to which dismalist posted a link).

Russia is a gas station with nuclear weapons.

Putin calls the Ukrainian government "Nazis" in an attempt to evoke parallels with Hitler's WWII invasion of the Soviet Union, which many Ukrainians supported because of Stalin killing millions of their fellow countrymen during the Holodomor.

[Stockmann]

The US is moving towards Peronism, if not already there. With political tactics stolen from the Mexican Left, but Peronist policies and governance.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Depends on what you mean, and I am hesitant to use that term, but anyone paying attention should have significant concerns about demographic democratic backslide, the normalization of political violence, demagoguery, and conspiracy theories, etc. And it is not difficult to draw some parallels to the 1930s.

Man this must have been autocorrect or some brain failure on my part... mean democratic backslide

[kaysixteen]

Ok, for those of us who are not area specialists, remind me what the basic distinctives of 'Peronism' are, i.e., what makes Peronism different from other forms of authoritanriamism such that it is this ism that you think we are entering into now?

[dismalist]

First it was Trump is Hitler.
Then it was Trump is fascist. [The Italian fascists were nice guys compared to Hitler.]
Now, one hears Trump is authoritarian. [That's almost a compliment in comparison to the previous.]

The latest on this thread, that Trump is a Peronist, is a supreme compliment! Peron was a man of the left, a redistributionist from the wealthy landowners to the non-wealthy factory workers.

[Just as an aside, Trump's tariff policy, insofar as I can make out his endgame, is milder, gentler Peronism. It's redistributionist in a Peronist sense.] 

Careful with your pejoratives, folks! :-)

[ciao_yall]

First it was Trump is Hitler.
Then it was Trump is fascist. [The Italian fascists were nice guys compared to Hitler.]
Now, one hears Trump is authoritarian. [That's almost a compliment in comparison to the previous.]

The latest on this thread, that Trump is a Peronist, is a supreme compliment! Peron was a man of the left, a redistributionist from the wealthy landowners to the non-wealthy factory workers.

[Just as an aside, Trump's tariff policy, insofar as I can make out his endgame, is milder, gentler Peronism. It's redistributionist in a Peronist sense.] 

Careful with your pejoratives, folks! :-)

I'll stick with nucking futjob, tyvm.

[dismalist]

First it was Trump is Hitler.
Then it was Trump is fascist. [The Italian fascists were nice guys compared to Hitler.]
Now, one hears Trump is authoritarian. [That's almost a compliment in comparison to the previous.]

The latest on this thread, that Trump is a Peronist, is a supreme compliment! Peron was a man of the left, a redistributionist from the wealthy landowners to the non-wealthy factory workers.

[Just as an aside, Trump's tariff policy, insofar as I can make out his endgame, is milder, gentler Peronism. It's redistributionist in a Peronist sense.] 

Careful with your pejoratives, folks! :-)

ETA: Next will be a  musical for Trump -- Don't Cry for me Argentina!

I'll stick with nucking futjob, tyvm.

That's strategy, not content. Randomize, randomize. He didn't learn that from Machiavelli. I'm guessing he learned that in the NY City real estate market.

The intuition is straightforward: Before you start a fight with your adversaries, it's good to have them think you're crazy.

[jimbogumbo]

Sarah Kendzior has been referring to Trump as ant-democratic and an autocrat wannabee since early in his first term. I'm okay with those terms for sure.