Is Trump a fascist? Part 2
The ideology, the differences, the real-fake figure
In Part 1, I looked at some of the rhetorical parallels between Trump’s speeches and events and those of the fascists. While there are similarities, it is fair to say that many demagogues seeking to convince use well-oiled rhetorical techniques to get their message across. More important is to identify an ideological foundation.
It can happen here
The speeches themselves are very much in the vein of real and aspiring dictators of recent history, as is Trump’s vocabulary. The style is often reminiscent of televangelists, but that is by no means unusual in the context of political communication. Ideas, besides the egregious ones like rounding up people using the military, do have parallels with Germany in the 1930s: Trump did speak of suspending the Constitution, deporting people, using the Justice Department to attack his political enemies, and so forth. This goes well beyond just riling up and soft-soaping his base to sell them made-in-China bibles and boring watches.
As for Project 2025, it comes closest to being a kind of blueprint for fascism. It would steer the country towards a unitary presidency, with far greater powers given to the president. In combination with the partisan Supreme Court and above all its decision to protect the president from prosecution, the USA under Trump would look very much like a fascist dictatorship. One key is the loyalty pledge for government employees, for example. Here it would be good to remind ourselves that Trump has often expressed the idea that the Armed Forces were his private army. This constant call for loyalty does put Trump in the fascist court An often overlooked key turning point in Hitler’s seizure of Germany was the new oath for soldiers on August 2, 1934:
“I swear by God this sacred oath that I will render unconditional obedience to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, the Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht, and that as a brave soldier I will be ready at all times to honor this oath with my life.”
The earlier oath was sworn to the constitution. This was part of what was known as the Gleichschaltung, the integration of all aspects of life in Germany into the Nazi program. No commentator mentioned this to my knowledge, because like the one outrage cancelling the other, Hitler’s own egregious actions also drowned out some of the less mediagenic ones.
Isolationism is another aspect of the Trumpian rhetoric and could be part of an ideological superstructure. Again, though, it is certainly not a solely fascistic idea. At best, it would be part and parcel of the American political psyche and a building block of an eventual fascist system, a clause in the nationalist philosophy. How he expects to implement this, that is, pull the USA out of its global commitments, is a mystery. And since he, himself, has obviously never thought this through, he only gives incoherent answers, changes the subject and chatters on.
The differences
Kamala Harris and others in the Democratic camp are generally careful not to make direct comparisons between Trump and the two most famous dictators of the interwar period. The differences are glaring and noteworthy: Both Hitler and Mussolini – as well as a number of other fascist leaders back then –actually fought in World War One and were even wounded, Hitler twice in battle (1916 and 1918). Mussolini was actually wounded during a training exercise, but he did fight at the Isonzo front. Both men were fairly well-read, as opposed to Trump, Mussolini had been a teacher and a journalist. And most of all, even if it’s hard to hear, both had a genuine love of country, even if it was based on hatred of Others and people who thought, prayed, loved, and lived and created differently to his ideal. Except for the professed hatred of the opposition, Trump is not the same. He seems ignorant of any literature, political or fiction, he is totally self-absorbed and not genuinely engaged in “saving the country.” Nevertheless, I would venture to say that Trump 2016-2020 was essentially fooling around, testing the waters. The Trump of today seems to be entertaining more serious political ambitions.
The context
1933 is not 2024. The idea that history just repeats itself over and over again is a fallacy. The nations that fell to fascism in the 20s and 30s, notably Italy and Germany, were beset by serious social and political troubles. After four years of devastating warfare, both were undergoing serious upheavals. Lest we forget, a large number of demobilized soldiers were wandering around, many unemployed, and joining paramilitary organizations. Germany tried to implement democracy, of course, moving government to Weimar because things were so chaotic in Berlin. The country was deeply humiliated by the defeat, which occurred even though the country had not been invaded. Inflation ate up the wealth and resilience of the people. After the Wall Street crash, unemployment started rising again, and political divisions brought violence to the streets, where the SA, Hitler’s private army, was fighting with Communists. Many older Germans I spoke to back in the ‘80s would say: “Everything was a mess, there were criminals all over the place, what could we do?” I answered once: “Yes, vote for the man who was in great part responsible for the violence.”
Fact is, the USA is nowhere near the chaos conjured by Trump and his propaganda networks. Sure, people are struggling, but let’s be clear: That has been the case for ages now. The US economy is apparently in top shape, the soaring Stock Market means that 401ks are in filled to the gills, something the legacy media failed to mention enough during the Biden years, preferring instead to report breathlessly about the president’s age and Trump’s outrageous statements.
So who and what is Trump?
First and foremost, he is a shady businessman, a grifter who has no real goal except to make money by hook or by crook….Mostly by crook. In politics, he saw a way to make money differently, without having the hassle of buying and selling. Once the Evangelicals were on his side, he owned the GOP, who are now his hostages. I wrote about this here. This has attracted an army of rather odd figures, mostly other grifters, like RFK, or wannabe grifters like Russell Brand, who are demanding their racketeering rights. What they seek is a totally captive audience to either caress their own ego, or to make money. But the former GOP needs them for power.
Trump has managed to keep up his scam by isolating his base. It’s the reason he insisted that there is such a thing as “fake news,” and that everyone else is the enemy, or a lunatic, or vermin, or dishonest. When he suggested we try ingesting bleach during the pandemic, he was being coherent within his own system.
Conclusion
Knowing all this, it is still hard to say that Trump is actually a genuine fascist. What is closer to the truth, however, is that he plays the fascist, the “strongman,” the “resolute dictator” to the hilt. He cultivates this figure carefully, for it is one that gains strength by simply drawing attention. As models, he has the great dictators, among others. In this light, we can interpret the January 6 insurrection as nothing more than Trump’s March on Rome, or Munich Putsch. But this is like a Disney remake of a “dictator,” it’s not the real thing.
Hans-Georg Moeller, a professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Macau and curator of the YouTube channel Carefree Wandering, uses the term “profilicity” to describe this “technology for shaping (individual or collective) identity through the curation of profiles.” In a “normal” world, we seek our identity by discovering our true self, an exercise that French psychologist Jacques Lacan suggested was impossible, since our identity is tied to our environment (I am simplifying…). Profilicity, says Moeller, is “genuine pretending,” a delightful paradox. I have described this in a bit more detail in my Pretend-Fascist substack.
So: The world is a stage, indeed. Once you see Donald J. Trump and many other figures who populate the spectacle in the light of profilicity, it is difficult to take his act seriously. He is not an authentic fascist but rather a performed fascist, and we all, lovers and detractors, are a part of the performance. His voters, see a savior come to rescue them from the nightmares of their own lives or that he has created in them, or a genuine caudillo or Duce or Führer come to overthrow the system. The GOP sees an impostor who has co-opted their preciously cultivated electorate. What his detractors see, is a dangerous, incoherent oaf who would like to destroy the constitution but who also boosts their own self-imposed moral superiority.
Win or lose, though, he, like Mr Beast and others, is not going away, that is for sure. Because Trump is the first Politician-Influencer, he survives by the enormous reaction from the public and especially from the media, which live in an untouchable space between us and Trump. So many comments addressed to him are, ridiculously, in the second person, as if he bothered reading them. This is hardly necessary in an attention economy that lets an influencer simply count the clicks. Social media are in fact a one-way street.
At any rate: If he wins, I, personally, believe that he is too lazy and distracted to get much of anything done. The one caveat is this: He is showing signs of taking his profile seriously, and he is clearly surrounded by a crowd of far more coherent individuals, like Steve Bannon, who plays Leninist-agitator, Stephen Miller, and J. D. Vance, whose genetic make up seems to include the genomes of a weather vane. They are somewhat more competent when it comes to acting out dictator fantasies, so Trump might become the perfect sock-puppet.
But if Harris wins, she will have her work cut out for her since she will be expected to lead a nation that is coming apart at the seams socially and politically. Her job will be to curate the profile of the “USA brand,” a non-existent bubble of ideas, beliefs, and artificial myths that seem to be collapsing in the face of a multilateral world. . As for Trump, he will continue curating his profile, even if he gets carted off to jail. And he will remain in our faces until the media stop reporting on his odd performances, until people stop showing up at his rallies, until his Truths no longer receive hearts and reposts. To be frank, I don’t see that happening any time soon.