Thread by @DavidNeiwert

How is Donald Trump a fascist?

Let us count the ways.

A thread: 🧵 1/17

Defining fascism is not easy. Its constituent parts change over time, especially in the process of shifting from nascent to mature fascism. Various scholars have tried different approaches, as I explained long ago in this assemblage of definitions. 2/17

dneiwert.blogspot.com/2008/01/append…

Trump however still manages to fit all these definitions, taken from different angles. And while at one time I concluded that he didn’t fully meet the description, over the years, his words and actions have fleshed it all out in full. 3/17

huffpost.com/entry/trump-ma…

Some of the ways he fits are obvious. His core slogan—“Make America Great Again”—is probably the closest imaginable manifestation of Roger Griffin’s definition of fascism as “palingenetic ultranationalist populism” (palingenesis is the myth of phoenix-like national rebirth). 4/17

Griffin explained this in simpler terms in his written definition: a “modern political ideology that seeks to regenerate the social, economic, and cultural life of a country by basing it on a heightened sense of national belonging or ethnic identity.” 5/17

Robert O. Paxton’s definition of fascism rings similar notes that clearly fit Trump (see p. 218 of _The Anatomy of Fascism_): 6/17

Like me, Paxton was reluctant to label Trump a full-bore fascist—until Jan. 6 happened. Now, he says it’s unmistakable. 7/17

nytimes.com/2024/10/23/mag…

Trump’s right-wing authoritarianism—also thoroughly established—is another trait that further fills out the fascist portrait. 8/17

https://x.com/DavidNeiwert/status/1062018162500153344

Similarly, Trump’s embrace of eliminationism is another key identifying trait, especially since ethnic and political genocide was the most infamous byproduct of fascist rule. See Trump’s mass deportation plan. 9/17

davidneiwert.substack.com/p/eliminationi…

A core shared trait of fascists throughout history is their “contempt for weakness,” as Harald Ofstad explored in the 1950s. This contempt is one of Trump’s calling cards, as when he says he prefers soldiers who weren’t wounded or captured, or when he mocks disabled people. 10/17

This also plays a major role in another key trait Trump shares with fascists: his unrepentant misogyny. Here’s how Ofstad describes it: 11/17

Consider some of the other many identifiable traits of fascism that figure prominently in Trumpworld. Umberto Eco links it closely with a cult of traditionalism that rejects modernism. So now Trump harkens back to 1798 as America’s golden age: 12/17

newrepublic.com/post/187380/tr…

Eco also notes how the fascist embrace of action for action’s sake also requires contempt for intellectual prowess: “Thinking is a form of emasculation.” 13/17

nybooks.com/articles/1995/…

Finally, I should note that the key trait that was absent in my 2016 assessment of Trump’s fascist qualities was the fact that he did not claim to command paramilitary shock troops, and he kept white nationalists at arm’s length. 14/17
huffpost.com/entry/trump-ma…

All those objections have subsequently vanished. Trump has increasingly allowed white nationalists into his inner circle. And when he told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” he clearly was claiming command of their ranks. 15/17

The subsequent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 by Proud Boys and other right-wing extremists from the MAGA world made irrevocably clear that Trump had, in fact, become the full-blown leader of an American form of fascism. 16/17

Recent revelations about Trump’s fondness for Hitler are really all piece of the same picture, one that no longer really is a puzzle. Trump can deny his affinity for fascism, but the record is already firmly established. 17/17

theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

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