Trump is a FASCIST!

[Upchurch]

Well, the makers actually admitted Biff Tannen was a fictional version of Donald Trump.

I know, that's what makes it so apt and terrifying. Life imitating art.

Eta: To the OP, there isn't enough substance to Trump for him to be a fascist.

 

[NoahFence]

I have noticed that people are going mental on Facebook saying that Trump is a Fascist, or even the next Hitler. Of course many of them are also saying that those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it, but it seems to me that only those who don't remember history can think Trump is Hitler.

Now, I think he's a demagogue who makes crass comments about Mexicans and Muslims, but that he's not a fascist. In fact, I think that's ridiculous. If Trump devises a 25-point plan for a racially pure Amerikan Reich and forms a paramilitary organization who beat up political opponents then I will change my mind. But not until then.

What do you fine people think?

I shall start a poll to definitively decide this urgent matter.

Re: The highlighted....

Been to a rally of his lately? He's already done that. Not paramilitary per se, but they're pretty well on the way.

 

[Darat]

Before I vote can we have a definition of fascist please?

Here are some words I think apply to him: nationalist, even jingoistic, populist, authoritarian most likely. Looking at other world leaders, Hitler is not the first one that comes to my mind, but I think he could be similar to Putin. Is Putin a fascist?

Yep Putin in my view is what an actual fascist leader looks like.

 

[bozothedeathmachine]

He's a raging narcissist. Fascism, for all its faults and general wrongness, is focused on the state. Trump only cares about Trump.

 

[Darat]

Fair enough, but I tend to think this kind of thing is a deepity. It relies on identifying someone as Fascist in a fairly trivial sense (corporate interests) and thereby associating him with the far more unpleasant or even profoundly disgusting aspects of Fascism such as genocide, ethnic cleansing and political violence.

I think his immigration comments and the punch in the face and used to leave on a stretcher do indicate his fascist credentials.

But saying that in the end he is just another "establishment" politician.

 

[angrysoba]

Re: The highlighted....

Been to a rally of his lately? He's already done that. Not paramilitary per se, but they're pretty well on the way.

No, I've never been to a Trump Rally and, enshallah, I never will.

 

[NoahFence]

He's a raging narcissist. Fascism, for all its faults and general wrongness, is focused on the state. Trump only cares about Trump.

Good point.

If he wins, that'll be the last we hear about any desire to do good for the American people. He'll have his smelly feet on the desk, and his daughter under it for 4 years, or shorter depending on how badly he screws up.

 

[twinstead]

Mein Kampf was published in 1925.

Yea I forgot it was published that early, though the book really didn't take off until he became Chancellor in 1933. Your point stands though; to those who took the time to read the book his intentions were clear, and those people grew in number very quickly.

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

He's a raging narcissist. Fascism, for all its faults and general wrongness, is focused on the state. Trump only cares about Trump.

Yes, this. Planet X option. People largely don't know what "fascism" really is.

 

[twinstead]

IMO Trump is the Republicans Frankenstein's Monster. They thought they were damaging the Democrats with 8 years of obstructionism, but in reality they were planting the seeds of their own party's potential destruction.

They pissed everybody off, not just Democrats.

 

[TubbaBlubba]

Yes, this. Planet X option. People largely don't know what "fascism" really is.

It's also debatable to what extent Hitler's Nazism was fascism as conceived by Mussolini et al.

 

[sackett]

He's a raging narcissist. Fascism, for all its faults and general wrongness, is focused on the state. Trump only cares about Trump.

Still, fascism w/out a Great Leader is scarcely concievable. Would Forrest Trump consent to take on a Duce role? Yes; far too many politicians would succumb to that temptation. Absolute power corrupts, etc. But would the Republicans allow such a thing? Ever since Warren Harding, they've made all the use they can of a vacancy between the Presidential ears; cf. Ford, Ronnie Raygun, and the egregious Bush Mark 2. Trump might not even be fascist material. After all, it takes some concentration even to be a Mussolini. I'd call him no worse than a flabby demogogue.

 

[Ladewig]

It is absurd to compare Trump to Hitler. Hitler actually served in the military.


J/k
.............
Trump is not a facist and not a modern-day Hitler.

Now, if you want to start a Goebbels/Trump thread...

 

[TubbaBlubba]

It is absurd to compare Trump to Hitler. Hitler actually served in the military.


J/k
.............
Trump is not a facist and not a modern-day Hitler.

Now, if you want to start a Goebbels/Trump thread...

Goebbels was incredibly creative and highly intellectually gifted. He had a sense of subtlety and a penchant for skilfull manipulation (even of Hitler himself) that Trump simply lacks. Honestly, Trump is closer to Göring - a bombastic self-inflated buffoon with delusions of grandeur.

 

[Trebuchet]

Who knows what he'd actually do in office.

Nobody. Including him.

 

[bozothedeathmachine]

Still, fascism w/out a Great Leader is scarcely concievable. Would Forrest Trump consent to take on a Duce role? Yes; far too many politicians would succumb to that temptation. Absolute power corrupts, etc. But would the Republicans allow such a thing? Ever since Warren Harding, they've made all the use they can of a vacancy between the Presidential ears; cf. Ford, Ronnie Raygun, and the egregious Bush Mark 2. Trump might not even be fascist material. After all, it takes some concentration even to be a Mussolini. I'd call him no worse than a flabby demogogue.

I disagree about Trump's intentions. Hitler and Mussolini were focused on making their countries "great" and got their power as a result. Trump has no such intention or plans. He only wants to make America better insofar as he can claim responsibility for doing so. He won't become the next Il Duce or whatever because he's not that invested in anything other than himself enough to do so.

I think Trump would be as surprised as everybody else that he's made it so far if his head weren't so far up his own ass. He's riding the wave as far as it will take him, if that's the White House (FSM help us all) then fine. If he gets drummed out at some point, he won't be phased or take anything from it. He'll make some lame excuse, blame some other, and going on thinking he's FSM's gift to the world to whatever pathetic reality show comes next.

What an asshat.

 

[sackett]

Hey! Unfair!

Goebbels was incredibly creative and highly intellectually gifted. He had a sense of subtlety and a penchant for skilfull manipulation (even of Hitler himself) that Trump simply lacks. Honestly, Trump is closer to Göring - a bombastic self-inflated buffoon with delusions of grandeur.

Aw c'mon! Goering could at least fly an airplane!

I wouldn't trust Forrest T to fly a videogame.

 

[Doghouse Reilly]

I disagree about Trump's intentions. Hitler and Mussolini were focused on making their countries "great" and got their power as a result. Trump has no such intention or plans. He only wants to make America better insofar as he can claim responsibility for doing so. He won't become the next Il Duce or whatever because he's not that invested in anything other than himself enough to do so.

I think Trump would be as surprised as everybody else that he's made it so far if his head weren't so far up his own ass. He's riding the wave as far as it will take him, if that's the White House (FSM help us all) then fine. If he gets drummed out at some point, he won't be phased or take anything from it. He'll make some lame excuse, blame some other, and going on thinking he's FSM's gift to the world to whatever pathetic reality show comes next.

What an asshat.

What is your evidence for all of this? Mind reading?

 

[mgidm86]

If he does become president I just hope the American system of checks and balances is robust enough to keep him in check and make sure he leaves office without doing too much permanent damage.

I feel the same way about all the viable candidates. What have we gotten ourselves into?

Demagogue
a political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument.

Seems like 'demagogue' and 'politician' are kinda the same thing? I think a lot of Trump's negative qualities are shared by many/most politicians. Narcissist? Liar? Blow hard? Offensive?

I think someone from "outside" of politics should be president (something needs to change), but I don't think Trump is the best choice for that.

Problem is. the status quo sucks. People say you can tell how bad of a job Bush did because people voted for Obama next. If Trump is elected, that doesn't say much for the way people think the country is going now.

Trump may be a moron in a lot of ways, but people are looking for something - anything - different, and Trump is all that's available. Hard to blame people for being so pissed off that they'd look to a Trump to listen to them or pin their hopes onto.

 

[Cleon]

I don't know if Trump is technically a fascist, but he's close enough to scare the **** out of me.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck, has a bill and feathers, I'm not going to bother with a DNA test before breaking out the Hoisin sauce.