I like talking about politics. Surprise! What a revelation!
Shut up other Mike, it's relevant to my point.
Anyway, I was discussing politics with a friend of mine who also likes talking about politics, but unlike me, he really goes into the trenches. While I pontificate my thoughts on blog without a comment section, he goes head to head with people with whom he disagrees. It's too stressful for me. I can barely play Overwatch without downing a pint of whiskey.
Anyway, he told me about one discussion he was having where he mentioned that Trump is a fascist. He told me that his opponent discarded the comment, because apparently calling Trump a fascist is name calling. Kinda like if I called him a fuckwad to prove a point.
Now if only someone way more smarter than me had compiled a list of commonalities amongst fascist leaders...
Fuck you, Mike get to the point.
Settle down other Mike, right, well there IS a list. "Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each" And guess what? Trump fulfills each one of the criteria! Isn't that fun!? Let's examine, shall we?
1.Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
"Make America Great Again," next.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
Trump has been a continuing proponent of torture and going after the families of terrorists. Which are both war crimes. Because they're affronts to human rights. Also, can I just mention how fucking stupid it is to think that going after the families of terrorists would actually work? This man simply has no fucking clue that these people already live in perpetual fear of being shot at by flying war robots. They've already lost more loved ones to war than we can even imagine. Doesn't he understand how IS formed in the first place and what their goals are? Does he really think that he can scare them into not attacking America? Doesn't he realise that their aim is to recruit all the muslims to their side? And if fear is his weapon, and terror is synonymous with fear, doesn't that mean he's willing to use terror tactics? I mean, these questions don't fucking matter because we now live in a society that places no value on logic. /rant
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
Mexicans and Muslims, next.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
I mean, obviously. I think this is what most people envision when you talk about fascism, and he's already pledged to build up the military and has a appointed more generals to cabinet positions than any other POTUS, so he's on his way. My favourite is now he wants to have military marches in major cities. What a time to be alive!
5. Rampant sexism
"You can grab her by the pussy," "She was bleeding from her eyes, she was bleeding from her... wherever," "I do think there has to be some form of punishment for women who have abortions, yes," next.
6. A controlled mass media
The punchiest things to talk about here are, "fake news," and, "alternative facts," but there are much more troubling and insidious things to contemplate here. First, the tweeting. Here is a ruler who disdains press conferences, and has his press secretary deny demonstrable facts. It doesn't matter though, because we can hear the decrees straight from Dear Leader's own really huge thumbs. Of course he tells us everything we need to know and is being honest. There's also his chief strategist Steve Bannon who had worked in the media and is the chief editor of Breitbart News, an online Alt-Right publication. The difference between this administration and the fascist regimes of the past is that with our current saturation of mass media, their employing a strategy of over abundance rather than a strategy of information exclusion. It's working. We're being overwhelmed.
7. Obsession with national security
The Muslim Ban, next.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together
I feel like even Trump supporters roll their eyes when he tries to invoke the bible. Enter Vice President Mike Pence. Mike Pence believes that abortions should be illegal and thinks that gays can be electrocuted into being straight, I mean, it's pretty logical, right? Homosexuality is highly conductive so when you shock people it creates a pathway for the homosexuality to travel through the body and into the ground. Science. But still, is it right to electrocute gay people? I don't think so, but Jesus says it is. Or maybe it's in the Old Testament. He probably doesn't know.
In addition to Mike Pence, Steve Bannon believes that Judeo-Christian values are just inherently better. Good Lord.
9. Power of corporations protected
Do I really need to say it? Trump is literally a corporation. Not only that, but he wants to deregulate the banks and oil companies. He actually ran on a platform to eliminate two regulations for every one that gets introduced. I get it, governments suck, I liked Ron Swanson too, but in real life these regulations are there for a reason. They're not just there to make lives more inconvenient, they're there so people don't die and we limit our continued rape of our planet.
Look, to city dwellers, this is a head scratcher. We see this as just another evil thing that Trump is doing to consolidate his Corporate Fascist empire (I'm coining that by the way). But people, real working class people are legitimately being pooched over these regulations while they watch big corporations circumvent them. They have an honest belief that they are being targeted by leftist politicians. Read this, it says it better than I ever could.
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated
Trump's Labor pick is a former fast food CEO who actively opposed a raise in the minimum wage. So there's that.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
He's put a climate change denier in charge of the EPA and seemingly plans on shutting it down.
They're muzzling government scientists. (Something we've seen here before in Canada)
Hard facts are now being questioned because of emotions.
And SNL counts as the arts right? Let's say it counts as the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
"I am the law and order candidate." A rhetoric that's been used since the Nixon era, but I digress. Right after Jeff Sessions was confirmed as the Attorney General he signed an executive order giving police more authority. I guess shooting black people with impunity wasn't enough authority. Crime continues to go down, but the Trump Administration is insisting that crime is getting worse. But fuck facts. Facts are the worst. It's because of facts that I'm overweight. From now on I'm thin. I'm the thinnest. Nobody's thinner than me.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
I mean, he handed his company to his kids. A guy who made $500 million on an oil deal with Russia is his Secretary of State.
What's that? Oh, he had a press conference where he had a table full of manilla envelopes that no one was allowed to touch? Oh, okay, nothing to see here folks.