I’ve been reluctant to use the “f” word to describe Donald Trump because it’s especially harsh, and it’s too often used carelessly.
But Trump has finally reached a point where parallels between
his presidential campaign and the fascists of the first half of the 20th century – lurid figures such as Benito
Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Oswald Mosley, and Francisco Franco –
are too evident to overlook.
It’s not just that Trump recently quoted Mussolini (he now calls
that tweet inadvertent) or that he’s begun inviting followers at his rallies to
raise their right hands in a manner chillingly similar to the Nazi “Heil”
solute (he dismisses such comparison as “ridiculous.”)
The parallels go deeper.
As did the early twentieth-century fascists, Trump is focusing
his campaign on the angers of white working people who have been losing
economic ground for years, and who are easy prey for demagogues seeking to
build their own power by scapegoating others.
Trump’s electoral gains have been largest in counties with lower
than average incomes, and among those who report their personal finances have
worsened. As the Washington Post’s Jeff Guo has pointed out, Trump performs
best in places where middle-aged whites are dying the fastest.
The economic stresses almost a century ago that culminated in the Great Depression were far worse than most of Trump’s followers have experienced, but they’ve suffered something that in some respects is more painful – failed expectations.
Many grew up during the 1950s and 1960s, during a postwar
prosperity that lifted all boats. That prosperity gave their parents a better
life. Trump’s followers naturally expected that they and their children would
also experience economic gains. They have not.
Add fears and uncertainties about terrorists who may be living
among us, or may want to sneak through our borders, and this vulnerability and
powerlessness is magnified.
Trump’s incendiary verbal attacks on Mexican immigrants and
Muslims – even his reluctance to distance himself from David Duke and the Ku
Klux Klan – follow the older fascist script.
That older generation of fascists didn’t bother with policy
prescriptions or logical argument, either. They presented themselves as
strongmen whose personal power would remedy all ills.
They created around themselves cults of personality in which
they took on the trappings of strength, confidence, and invulnerability – all
of which served as substitutes for rational argument or thought.
Trump’s entire campaign similarly revolves around his assumed
strength and confidence. He tells his followers not to worry; he’ll take care
of them. “If you get laid off …, I still want your vote,” he told workers in
Michigan last week. “I’ll get you a new job; don’t worry about it.”
The old fascists intimidated and threatened opponents. Trump is
not above a similar strategy. To take one example, he recently tweeted that
Chicago’s Ricketts family, now spending money to defeat him, “better be
careful, they have a lot to hide.”
The old fascists incited violence. Trump has not done so
explicitly but Trump supporters have attacked Muslims, the homeless, and
African-Americans – and Trump has all but excused their behavior.
Weeks after Trump began his campaign by falsely alleging that Mexican
immigrants are “bringing crime. They’re rapists,” two brothers in Boston beat
with a metal poll and urinated on a 58-year-old homeless Mexican national.
They
subsequently told the police
“Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported.”
Instead of condemning that brutality, Trump excused it bysaying “people who are
following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this
country to be great again.”
After a handful of white supporters punched and attempted to
choke a Black Lives Matter protester at one of his campaign rallies,
Trump said “maybe he should
have been roughed up.”
There are further parallels. Fascists glorified national power
and greatness, fanning xenophobia and war. Trump’s entire foreign policy
consists of asserting American power against other nations. Mexico “will”
finance a wall. China “will” stop manipulating its currency.
In pursuit of their nationalistic aims, the fascists disregarded
international law. Trump is the same. He recently proposed using torture
against terrorists, and punishing their families, both in clear violation of international
law.
Finally, the fascists created their mass followings directly,
without political parties or other intermediaries standing between them and
their legions of supporters.
Trump’s tweets and rallies similarly circumvent all filters. The
Republican Party is irrelevant to his campaign, and he considers the media an
enemy. (Reporters covering his rallies are kept behind a steel barrier.)
Viewing Donald Trump in light of the fascists of the first half
of the twentieth century – who used economic stresses to scapegoat others,
created cults of personality, intimidated opponents, incited violence,
glorified their nations and disregarded international law, and connected
directly with the masses – helps explain what Trump is doing and how he is
succeeding.
It also suggests why Donald Trump presents such a profound
danger to the future of America and the world.
ROBERT B. REICH is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at
the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center
for Developing Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton
administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective
cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fourteen books,
including the best sellers “Aftershock, “The Work of Nations," and "Beyond
Outrage," and, his most recent, "Saving Capitalism." He is also
a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause,
a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the
award-winning documentary, INEQUALITY FOR ALL.