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An introductory rant and call to action from Kansas: Trumpism, a definition and how to combat it [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-08
An introduction: Who am I?
I am The Dead Kansas Liberal, a white 60+ year-old male living in a Democratic county of Kansas. I am a lifelong Democrat, still working (unfortunately, outside of education) but now drawing Social Security to make ends meet. Last year I suffered a cardiac arrest after open-heart surgery and was clinically “dead” (no pulse) for approximately three minutes until resuscitated with CPR and two sets of shocks. Hence, the self-declared epithet “Dead.” I have never been in politics, but would welcome the chance to make my voice heard in a meaningful way. The events of the last year and the Party’s responses to Trump’s post-conviction second term have absolutely disgusted me. I am educated: I hold a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literature, and although I hold no degree in political science, as a college student I attended many courses on Russo-Soviet history and politics and Ottoman/Middle East history. In fact, these were the concentrations of my history minor while earning my B.A. at a public institution in another eternally Republican-held state.
How do we combat Trump and his destruction of American-style Democracy?
First, we need to act, not talk. To my great dismay, after the election Democrats ran and stuck their heads in the sand. Even the YouTube influencers, some highly intelligent and eloquent, remain “all talk and no action.” instead, we should be doing the exact opposite, following our own practice of mounting numerous national protests and demonstrations after the first Trump win in 2016. These events gain needed media attention and attack the narcissist-in-chief where it hurts most: his ego and brand. Those of major importance may become a permanent part of American socio-political history, like the 1963 Great March on Washington or the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Marches, whose anniversary we celebrate this week.
Second, we should begin to ape particular actions of the more successful GOP. In response to this suggestion, I ask the following questions of this community:
Why have the Democrats not created an annual event for the national dissemination of democratic ideals and future candidates’ propositions and platforms? What is the Democratic answer to CPAC? If one exists, why does it not gain as much media attention? How do we increase its importance? What is the Democratic alternative to APEC? Why is there no national strategy to combat its platforms and legislative templates? Why has no one declared candidacy for the 2028 presidential election? Does no one remember that Trump (as president) filed for re-election in January 2017? Even a single declared candidate provides much-needed amplification to opposition voices and enables themselves to be shielded (at least, theoretically) from GOP “weaponization” strategies. Does no one remember that for years Trump himself claimed to be a victim of Democratic weaponization BECAUSE HE WAS A CANDIDATE? Why has the Democratic Party not learned how to attack? The GOP continually creates issues (many based on false evidence), then closes ranks to attack from all sides. This strategy continues in the felon’s current administration. The Democrats, consequently, are always reduced to defensive responses, although there are many issues that they could use for sustained attacks on the GOP and Trump. Finally, why haven’t the energetic and passionate pro-Harris rallies of the past election cycle transformed into anti-Trump/Musk rallies? Trump used massed gatherings throughout his administration as a propaganda-dissemination mechanism and attack vehicle. Democrats should be doing the same now, when the stakes for this Republic are even higher. Even if we start small, with passionate orators speaking truth to power we can transform these local events into citywide, statewide, and regionwide events.
Now, as I teased earlier in my title, let’s tackle the semantics of the GOP’s eponymous (now, foundational) umbrella ideology, Trumpism.
Why should we, the Opposition, do this?
I reiterate: because convicted felon and president Donald Trump is all about branding.
Notice that I’ve already used the term “felon” twice in this story. Has no one noticed that Trump repeats the same phrases, ideas, or epithets over and over again? Nevermind that he is semi-educated and possibly illiterate, only capable of reproducing the language and concepts of fifth graders. Once the public is brainwashed with these (usually vague and general) terms, they are never forgotten. Case in point: “Obamacare” and “Reaganomics.” Every single Democratic legislator and future candidate should automatically refer to the sitting president as “convicted felon and current president.” EVERY TIME, WITHOUT FAIL. Whether in speech or writing, the public should NEVER be allowed to forget.
Read Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1896). According to a passing comment heard on a YouTube historical documentary on Nazism (sorry I can’t provide the title), Hitler read this book and perhaps mentions it in Mein Kampf. (I have been unable to confirm this fact, but this comment provoked me to read Le Bon’s book online and its contents are the possible foundation for a future Daily Kos story.)
In order to brand Trump negatively for all time and eternity we MUST successfully define what “Trumpism” is and drill (baby, drill) it into the public’s malleable consciousness. Naturally, we must first distinguish it from two other terms that are frequently part of the current public discourse on Trump’s ideology and actions: Fascism and Nazism. These both have their own problems in definition among historians and the general public, so if we create a well-accepted definition and begin its dissemination among the Opposition, the more advantageous this action will ultimately be.
Because this story is getting long, let me set out several (?!) simple initial hypotheses or propositions that we can discuss and expand on later in future stories. (Community: always provide specific evidence or citations for us to create a definition which can be used by historians in the future.)
My initial, working definition of “Trumpism” is as follows: “Trumpism” is a uniquely American, ultra-nationalist form of authoritarian-inclined government, combining elements of historical Fascism and Nazism with elements of Russo-Soviet Stalinism and/or Putinism. To wit:
“Trumpism” is a uniquely American form of neo-Fascism or Nazism. How are they the same? Different? Like these ideologies, “Trumpism” is ultra-nationalistic and others or disrespects the immigrant, the disabled, and the LGBTQ+ communities. Watch the informative YouTube video series uploaded recently by the Cambridge Union on its attempt to define Trump as a fascist. “Trumpism” in its nascent form, like Nazism, first attacked (and continues to attack) its political enemies as socialists and communists. In the case of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, the opposition did, in fact, include left-wing parties such as the communists (KPD) and socialists (SPD). In the American case, Democrats have been branded with this vague negative moniker early on to fortify the attacks on the dangerous “other.” “Trumpism,” like Nazism, is embarking on a form of economic colonialism, In the German case, this was necessary to support its war machine or further nationalist tendencies. In the American case, this is a part of its felonious leader’s transactional worldview. “Trumpism,” however, combines various elements of those ideologies with elements of Stalinism or Putinism. These include the deportation of Crimean Tatars to the Uzbek SSR by Stalin in 1944, and the creation of a rubberstamp legislative branch and inception of a form of “pozvonochnost’,” (i.e., a system in which judicial decisions follow the dictates of the executive branch, usually through a phone call), under Putin. “Trumpism,” like Putinism and the Soviet Union under Stalin, has worked to create a government-controlled (or strongly-influenced) national media, while denigrating, threatening, and outright dismissing journalists who are not supportive of the government. To his infamous credit, opposition journalists have not been mysteriously murdered under the Trump administration as has happened under Putin’s. “Trumpism” and its foreign policy objectives seem to emulate the actions of both Hitler and Stalin, as the economic and geographical sacrifices being forced on Ukraine (with its participation only ex post facto) echo the intended results of the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, which sought to partition Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. In the case of Ukraine, its planned partition echoes that of pre-war Poland’s. Perhaps similar arguments could be made for Greenland and the Panama Canal. “Trumpism,” like Putinism, allows favored oligarchs to control various governmental assets, or create rivalries among oligarchs in order to gain advantages through their conflict. Finally, “Trumpism,” like Putinism, favors or contributes to the creation of a kleptocracy, either by its leaders or supporters.
I’m sure you’ve all had enough of me now. I’ll stop here. Thank you if you made it all the way! If you want more semi-intelligent musings, please inform me. Because I work 10-hour shifts Su-W, with OT on Thursdays, I may not always respond quickly.
The Dead Kansas Liberal
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