Consumer capitalism-fascism mashup
Fascism is a form of authoritarianism, but not all authoritarians are fascists. Fascists have a transformative political project: to create a homogeneous people devoted to a messianic leader and to mobilize society for the sake of violent racial conflict. By contrast, monarchs or technocratic authoritarians – think of military dictatorships in Latin America – can be perfectly self-effacing: Europe’s longest-lasting dictatorship during the 20th century was headed by a decidedly uncharismatic Portuguese economist, António Salazar. Fascists, on the other hand, base their legitimacy on popular acclamation: they celebrate mass rallies and create a spectacle of power.
So far Trump is filling the fascist bill without breaking a sweat.
So far so Trumpist, it would seem: the cult of personality administered at large rallies; the increasingly open racism which singles out Trump’s supporters as “the real people” – an expression Trump used as he incited his fanatical followers at the Ellipse on January 6. But a collective project centered on violence? Not quite. To be sure, Trump couldn’t be prouder of the Proud Boys; add to that the militarization of civilian life, driven by a supreme court endlessly creative in inventing 18th-century traditions to justify the proliferation of arms. What’s more, Kevin Roberts, head of the Heritage Foundation, today’s leading Trumpist thinktank, has promised a “second American revolution” which, Roberts clarified, “will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be” – as clear a threat of violence as one can imagine. Yet all this is still not the same as fascist leaders glorifying mortal combat as the ultimate meaning of life.
Hmm. It doesn’t seem very different from it though. Trump does love violence as long as it doesn’t mean he has to get his “hair” mussed.
Trump is also both product and promoter of a consumer capitalism that seeks to demobilize people politically. It’s hard to see that young people today would find the idea of marching around in uniforms the essence of the good life; Trump’s promise to his “real people” – from the rural folks of the supposed “heartland” to lily-white suburbs – is precisely that they don’t need to make sacrifices. His former chief of staff reports that Trump, visiting Arlington, claimed not to see the point of dying in war. But no real fascist leader would have denied that heroic death in combat had meaning.
Well but what about a real fascist who is also very stupid and very lazy and very chickenshit?
I think a key part of it is that most of the prior generation of fascists were also military men. Trump is a child of the consumer peacetime era (or at least, the era of ‘let the poor brown folks fight other poor brown folks’). That said, he absolute intends to use militarized police forces against his own population (or at least, that portion that he views as undesirable or disloyal). In this, he resembles Francisco Franco more than Hitler and Mussolini–but don’t take any comfort in this. Remember, Hitler’s Third Reich lasted twelve years, if you count both the build-up period and the last days of the war. Franco had thirty-six, largely because he was smart enough to not actually jump in on the Axis side of the fighting. And his legacy is still contentious in Spain today, depending on which portion of the population your family descended from.
The demagoguery makes Trump a ‘cult of personality’ undoubtedly, as all “real” fascists have been. If he hasn’t arrived at fascism already, he’s definitely on that path. If he wins this election there is the potential for the US to become a failed democracy. He doesn’t have the charisma to unite the US, he’s only interested in hate and division.
He needs to go finish decomposing at his golf club if you ask me, not out in public.
I’m still in camp “no Trump isn’t a fascist but neither was Stalin”; there are lots of ways of being a terrifying evil dictator without strictly speaking meeting that definition. Vance absolutely is and being next in line behind a dotty, frail old man is an excellent place for him to be considering SCOTUS has removed all practical limits and Congress isn’t apparently capable of doing anything.
Fascism isn’t what it used to be. It’s a bit more subtle these days. You won’t see Putin or Orban leading goose-stepping military hordes, or giving lots of fiery speeches, or wearing comical uniforms, but by most standards they are fascist.
Re Franco, it wasn’t so much that he was too smart to enter the war, it was more that Spain was exhausted from the Civil War. But they did send brigades to fight alongside the Germans in the Soviet Union. In a sense that was a continuation of the Civil War, as many Republicans fled to France or the USSR and fought on their side. (An aside: during the war, busloads of Spanish orphans were sent to the USSR; my father-in-law, who was two at the time, was almost put on one, but his mother found him just in time).
As for Franco still dividing Spain, I can attest to that. Both of my wife’s grandfathers spent time in Franco’s prisons, but we once had to sit through a dinner with a drunken cousin-in-law loudly claiming that things were better under Franco.
Wow. Have you seen the epic French serial Un Village Français? The first episode features a refugee couple from Spain: the woman gives birth and dies and the doctor (in the absence of other good options) takes the baby. The Civil War cast a long long shadow.
Updating to add: this happens the day Germany attacks France and the War begins.
Thanks for the recommendation. I think I’d heard of that, but never watched it. I’ll have to see it while our Prime account is still active.
Regarding my grandfathers in law, from what I understand on the paternal side the guy was a jerk, probably abusive, and was denounced mostly because his neighbors didn’t like him. He was also a smart businessman and started a company that’s still going strong. On the maternal side the grandfather was the village school teacher, and apparently was jailed as an intellectual, though he got to keep his job afterwards.
I never met either, and my in-laws didn’t discuss them much, so this is based on what my wife has told me.
You may have heard of it via me, here. It’s extremely good.
Yes, I think I did.
@ #2, #3:
It would be no great surprise to me if Trump were to turn out to have been, all along, a closet Islamist. I regard Islam as entry-level fascism. (nb: not necessarily the people born into it, aka Muslims.) And Trump is definitely an entry-level fascist. So put 2 + 2 together, and what do we get? ;-)
I doubt Trump is an Islamist, partly because he wouldn’t worship any being more than himself, but mostly because I can’t see him pulling off the prayer ritual even once in his life, never mind five times a day.
This looks a lot like fascism.
Threats.
If he wins, we lose. If he loses, we lose.