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Robert Reich asks, "Is Trump a Fascist?" [1]

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Date: 2023-08-10

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and prominent social critic, released a video this week titled “Is Trump a Fascist?”

While most of us here would already nod our heads in the affirmative, the real thrust of his video was to draw a distinction between authoritarianism and fascism.

“You can generally identify fascists by their hate of the ‘other’, vengeful nationalism, and their repression of dissent,” he tells us.

Here are his highlights:

Five elements that define fascism and what makes it distinct from and more dangerous than authoritarianism: The rejection of democracy in favor of a strongman. Authoritarians believe strong leaders are needed to maintain stability…. But fascists view strong leaders as the means of discovering what society needs. They regard the leader as the embodiment of society, the voice of the people.

Stoking rage against cultural elites. Authoritarian movements cannot succeed without at least some buy-in from establishment elites…. Fascists rile up their followers to seek revenge on the elites.

Nationalism based on “superior” race and historic bloodlines. Authoritarians see nationalism as a means of asserting the power of the state. For fascists, the state embodies what is considered a “superior” group—based on race, religion and historic bloodlines. To fascists, the state is a means of asserting that superiority.

Extolling brute strength and heroic warriors. The goal of authoritarianism is to gain and maintain state power at any cost.… They seek power to wield power. Fascists seek state power to achieve their ostensible goal, achieving their vision of society. Fascism accomplishes this by rewarding those who win economically and physically, and denigrating or even exterminating those who lose. Fascism depends on organized bullying—a form of social Darwinism.

Disdain of women and LGBTQ+ people . Authoritarianism imposes hierarchies. It’s about order. Fascism’s idea of order is organized around a particular hierarchy of male dominance. The fascist “heroic warrior” is male. Women are relegated to subservient roles. In fascism, anything that challenges the traditional heroic male roles of protector, provider and controller of the family is considered a threat to the social order. Fascism seeks to eliminate homosexuals, nonbinary, transgender, and queer people, because they are thought to challenge or weaken the heroic male warrior. These five elements of fascism fit together and reinforce each other.

Reich concludes:

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/10/2186384/-Robert-Reich-asks-Is-Trump-a-Fascist

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