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Finchelstein

15 Apr, 9 tweets, 5 min read

I was recently asked about the so-called fascism debate regarding Trump. There is no such thing if the prevailing idea is that the question can be a definitive yes or no.& answer depends on whether Trump was/is a replica of Hitler. He was not and neither were Mussolini, Pinochet

We should leave this form of binary thinking that insists that fascism cannot happen in the US because it happened differently in Europe before. This view often combined views of American exceptionalism with a lack of historical knowledge of actual fascism.

It is often presented, I should better say affirmed without too much context by colleagues who work on something else & suddenly felt urgent need to present simple dichotomies, thus reducing fascism to their limited knowledge of some European cases. Fascism was global,still is...

@jasonintrator

We have commented on this problem with my colleagues @jasonintrator and @ppiccato in an article in @newrepublic newrepublic.com/article/158999…

my point this a not a real debate if the question is reduced to a binary...The interesting question is not whether Trump is a fascist or not, but whether there is a risk of fascism in his politics. Even if you forget about the important events of January 6, what you see is that

of the four elements, three were in place well before: violence and the militarization of politics, racism, and lies. However, Trumpism was lacking a key element of fascism and that is dictatorship.

January 6 was an attempt at a coup d’état. How can you define the rule of a President who had not been re-elected & remains in power contrary to the result of the elections? Had his attempt succeeded, Trump would have become a 21 century fascist dictator.

@sarahchurchwell

none of the many experts (@sarahchurchwell @ruthbenghiat @mabelberezin @jasonintrator @Notorious_RSG & many others) addressing Trump & fascism reduce the question to a binary but many of their critics do so by also presenting a stereotype of their positions...

@NewFascSyllabus

also key approaches on fascism & trumpism/Bolsonarism, etc by @NewFascSyllabus @Andrea_Mammone @bmzachariah @odiloncaldeira @conradohubner @leandropgon & many other experts from around the world

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More from @FinchelsteinF

Finchelstein

@FinchelsteinF

10 Apr

Fascism & escape from reality are synonymous. These applies to leaders & followers. In recent days, Trump insisted on his great lies, "They rigged and stole our 2020 Presidential Election, which we won by a landslide" & "Radical Left will destroy our Country if we let them."

When you study Trump's recent statements you can confirm how close we were to fascism in the USA.
Not only theorists like Arendt or Adorno noted this issue of fascist simplification as a source of authority via denial of reality...but fascists were quite explicit about this.

Adorno wrote, "By talking with individuals of fascist leanings, one can learn the psychological implications of this ‘key’ idea. Their more-or-less cryptic hints frequently reveal a kind of sinister pride; they speak as if they were in the know and had solved a riddle

Read 11 tweets

Finchelstein

@FinchelsteinF

14 Jan

Beyond the issue of Trump's wannabe failed fascism, I hope some time in the near future discussions of fascism will reflect the transnational nature of the problem. Fascism was not only German & Italian & it crisscrossed the world, from Latin America to Egypt, India & China...

In fact in his failed fascism, Trump's presents features (in terms of coup, religiosity, economics, etc) which are more characteristic of other fascisms, especially but not exclusively Latin American ones.

but I think at least for historians, the problem is so many experts on Europe and USA have no clue of global south history whereas those working on global south cannot afford to ignore history of the north.

Read 4 tweets

Finchelstein

@FinchelsteinF

28 Aug 20

Trump's populism means danger of fascism because 1) glorification of violence & enabling paramilitary groups to go after perceived enemies; 2)places racism & xenophobia at center of politics; 4)conflates leader, movement & state institutions; 5) lies/fascist propaganda technique

6) questions electoral procedures & legitimacy of elections/electoral system; 7) presents an extreme cult of the leader/similar to fascist forms of political religion; 8)presents political theology where the leader is equated with formal religion

9) separation between secular & sacred is shaken; 10) corruption & dissolution of distinction between leader's interest & state interest

Read 12 tweets

Finchelstein

@FinchelsteinF

18 Jun 19

@aoc

As historian of fascism & Holocaust, I would also call these centers concentrations camps. As a Jewish person who lost family in Holocaust, I regret that some Republicans use memory of the Holocaust to defend racist policies of trumpism. @aoc is right. wapo.st/2WTq6v1?tid=ss…

@ruthbenghiat

I think many Republicans can be educated on this by reading books on fascism, populism & Holocaust @ruthbenghiat @mabelberezin @levissullam @jasonintrator @TimothyDSnyderand also the books on camps by Dan Stone, Enzo Traverso & others. There is no lack of biblio here...