During every Presidential Administration in the past century, there have been those who have raised concerns of ‘fascism’ and authoritarianism emanating from the Oval Office. Thoughtful people engaged and debated, for example, as to the question Is the Cheney-Bush Administration fascist. Not hard to find substantive discussions of this related to other Presidents. Other than the extreme portions of this space, these were reasoned discussions — where reasonable people could disagree in the debate and the implications of the ‘signs of fascism’. Today, reasonable and thoughtful people cannot but come to a common conclusion: Donald Trump (and (nearly every one of) the rest of the Team Trump kakistocracy) is blatantly ticking off (repeatedly) almost every one of the signs of autoritarianism and fascism.
Within the Holocaust museum, a sign greets visitors: “Early Warning Signs of Fascism.”
Amid one of the most poignant collections and displays of the implications of unchecked fascism, visitors are warned: be on the look out for the signs that your polis, your (political) society is heading down the path.
Courtesy of Mother Jones,
1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for human rights
3. Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
4. Rampant sexism
5. Controlled mass media
6. Obsession with national security
7. Religion and government intertwined
8. Corporate power protected
9. Labor power suppressed
10. Disdain for intellectual and the arts
11. Obsession with crime and punishment
12. Rampant cronyism and corruption
As the author, Martin Longman, put it so accurately back in January:
You can follow the links above, but it shouldn’t be necessary if you’ve been paying any attention.
Trump and (nearly all rest of the) Team Trump kakistocracy* (and its GOP allies/enablers/followers/sychophants/adherents) are moving ahead rapidly across this entire spectrum — some arenas more overtly, aggressively and successfully than others, but is there is a single one of these 12 where the GOP’s Team Trump isn’t pushing a fascist(-like or -lite) agenda and/or ideology?
For example. take 3 — from attacking foreigners (especially Muslim (but not only) visitors/immigrants) to #FakeNews media to making zero effort for unifying Americans while attacking Democrats as ‘others’, any question that Trump-ism isn’t defined by “identification of enemies as a unifying cause”?
As to, in some contrast, #5, while it seems clear that Trump would love to ‘control mass media’ and takes many un-Democratic steps to push the bar toward that (from approving/supporting Sinclair takeover of even more market space to his tweeting attacks to how the White House press corps is treated to ...), ‘the’ mass media seems to be — at least for now — not shackled by autocratic control. As to the last item, ‘fraudulent elections’, it is clear that American democracy is truly stressed — between voter suppression, corporate/special interest funding to skew elections, foreign interference, and (unanswered and not seriously enough examined) questions about election integrity in the face of hacking and other efforts. That ‘stress’, however, has yet to reach the point of an autocrat’s 99% approval rating.
There is no single, perfect check-list for the emergence of fascism — for example, there is the longer and more detailed “signs of fascism” to the right. Truly astounding (terrifying, no ...) is our dystopian reality that it is harder to find where the current POTUS doesn’t fully show the characteristics of a fascist (in the making?) rather than where it isn’t the case. This is a painful list to consider … and, at the moment, the only possible exceptions seem to be:
- “Imprisonment & murder of political opponents”: As of yet, Elizabeth Warren and DailyKos bloggers haven’t yet been imprisoned …
- “Rallies & military parades in adoration of the leader”. While the Trump rallies clearly meet this, ‘military parades in adoration of the leader’ haven’t yet occurred despite Trump’s desire to have a Kremlin-like military presence at the inauguration parade.
- ‘Rigid sexism and sexual roles’ seems partially true but it appears pretty clear that when it comes to kakistocracy, Team Trump seems blind to gender when it comes to kleptocracy and destructive governance.
Every other item on the list sort of feels like Santa Claus ‘making a list and checking it twice’ since there are so many actions and signals of these items being core to Trump and his GOP toadies.
Now, an interesting element of these ‘signs of fascism’ is differences between ‘fascism’ and ‘autocracy’. Not found in them, for example, are the nepotism and cronyism so core to Trump’s ‘style’. (Nice piece, related to Trump Time covers and journalist taking on Huckabee-Sanders out: Signs of Dictatorship.) Nor is there anything about allegiance to a foreign power (as in potential #TrumpRussia treason and the seeming foreign coup). Nor do these lists have … well, the list(s) could go on.
This is not news to readers of these pages … we are experiencing a dystopia of American decline, a degeneration of our democratic experiment, and an impoverishment of our future.
While we work to change the situation, to resist and find paths forward, these lists are worth returning to … to remind ourselves what is democratic normality (and what is so abnormal about our situation) and to help steel ourselves with further resolve in the fight to recoup our society back toward democracy.
* Kakistocracy: New vocabulary is one of the rare benefits of Trump’s occupation of the Oval Office. Kakistocracy: government by the worst, least competent and least ethical of society.