I very deliberately did not say I thought Republicans were fascist. I do not think the the GOP or republicans at large are fascist. I believe Trump and MAGA are fascist.
It makes no difference. The same applies if "MAGA" - whoever they are - are members of the administration, Congress, lower levels of government, etc. I make the same claim as to all the things they will and won't do, even without requiring that "MAGA" be nailed down to something specific (because like "fascism", one or two characteristics seem to be enough to fix the label).
It's a mistake to equate fascism and communism; they have fundamentally different goals and methods. Fascism is built on extreme nationalism, promoting the idea of a superior group and often scapegoating others to create a sense of unity. Communism, on the other hand, focuses on class struggle and aims to eliminate social hierarchies. While both can lead to authoritarianism, they emerge from different ideologies and contexts, so using one to define the other oversimplifies the discussion.
It does not oversimplify anything. They were grown from the same roots, with a couple of main ideological splits - corporatism versus public ownership, and ethnic solidarity versus class solidarity - which are subject to the unavoidable limitations of human behaviour. Most importantly, the elimination of hierarchy will never happen. There will always be a leader, a nomenklatura, a stratum of underbosses and aparatchiks and middle managers, and the proletariat. So the "classless" attribute is meaningless, and attempts to apply it are vacuous. Ethnic Russians have always been privileged, as have Han Chinese. Ask Uyghers about unity.
They wind up at the same place. Is modern China more communist or more fascist? Consider Venezuela, where Chavez would allow interests to remain private until they didn't do what he wanted, at which point he nationalized them. I observe that and conclude that the distinctions people fight so hard to make and maintain on key points (because the political left long ago worked to make the stink of Nazism a "right" ideology) do not really exist.
When it comes to Trump, even if he didn’t fully achieve a fascist regime
Fully? He didn't barely achieve a fascist regime. How the hell does a misleading word like "fully" slip in there?
, his actions and rhetoric demonstrate fascist traits. His "America First" stance and harsh rhetoric toward immigrants reflect a nationalist sentiment reminiscent of fascism. He cultivated a personal loyalty that often overshadowed institutional norms, and his repeated attacks on the electoral process—claiming widespread fraud without evidence—undermine trust in democratic institutions. This pattern of delegitimizing the electoral system is a tactic often seen in fascist regimes, aimed at consolidating power by discrediting opposition and creating an environment of fear and suspicion.
Nationalism is just nationalism until it's tied to a full suite of ideological markers. He is not the only politician who demands personal loyalty (eg. Hillary Clinton). Simple explanation: Trump attacked the system after the system attacked him. It's not hard to see why he felt persecuted, but I am perpetually amazed at the people who can't situate themselves in his place and see why he might not trust the establishment. Any diagnosis of the situation without that factor is faulty. And he is far, far from alone in deprecating "democratic institutions" (which is a long list of things).
Trump has an authoritarian instinct, as does almost anyone at the apex of an organization. Plenty of people just want to say "make it so". He is not an authoritarian. To be something, you have to pursue it. Trump lacks sense of purpose to use the power he does have to extend power to all the necessary places he would have to wield power in order to be an authoritarian. We know this from his first administration.
Here is the core of my beef. People keep seizing on a few attributes which are mostly common to flavours of totalitarianism and pronouncing the diagnosis "fascism". "Fascist traits" is a cute way of applying the "fascist" label without acknowledging that not all criteria have been examined and met, or that another ideological endpoint might be correct. It's "fascist, fascist, fascist" all the way down; a hundred-and-one disingenuous ways of applying the tag.
"Doctor, I have a high temperature and a headache and my body is sore".
"Oh dear, you have Ebola."
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