https://www.openculture.com/2024/11/umberto-ecos-list-of-the-14-common-features-of-fascism.html

• The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”

• The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”

• The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”

• Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”

• Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”

• Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”

• The obsession with a plot. “Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged.”

• The enemy is both strong and weak. “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”

• Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”

• Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”

• Everybody is educated to become a hero. “In Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”

• Machismo and weaponry. “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”

• Selective populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”

• Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

To me he meets all fourteen criteria of ur fascism.

edit: Or as Mussolini defined fascism it’s the merger of state and corporate power. Having Silicon Valley as a co-president is structurally fascist.

I think anyone with a billion dollars is a fascist. You don’t get that rich without stepping on people.

He’s the most American man in existence, if that looks like fascism, well I’m not going to disagree with you.

He became classically fascist when he put all the other billionaires on his team. This is the distinction Mussolini himself made, the capitalists must be in the decision making room, no proxies.

I’m gonna say no he wasn’t (past tense), he was an opportunist that used others to seek position and power and ego.

The fascism came through being the path of lowest resistance to what he wants. If an alternative non-fascist path had less resistance he could have been the woke president, he’s exactly that uncommitted to any cause, he is a media figure who will mold himself into any shape that would be successful. He molded himself into the fascist because it ultimately was the easiest way to reconcile the contradictions in the right, the fighting factions previously divided now show very little sign of division. These contradictions were not resolved in his first term and he was not wholly a fascist at that time but he certainly is now.

What this means ideologically however is to be determined by those around him, not by him, he is a true marionette to capitalists around him.

He may not fit the definition exactly, but fuck him, yeah, he’s a fascist.

I’d say that historically fascism is a somewhat nebulous term that tries to cover a few disparate movements, but generally speaking has been a capitalist response to a rising domestic communist movement, and so in Marxism has a very specific/scientific meaning in that regard. So without that movement in the United States currently existing Trump doesn’t qualify in my opinion.

No he’s a wholesome freedom lover and flag kisser, like all our greats 🥰🤗

Arguably yes, arguably no. I’m not convinced it’s a particularly useful way to think about things tbh

I wrote a long thing about this in a different thread awhile back so I’ll link it here: https://hexbear.net/comment/5927199

I’m going to add to it here too:

I think the issue we have is that there is fascism as a material outcome and Fascism as an ideological movement that arose in Italy and Germany which people still identify with. A goose-stepping swastika wearing guy and Trump are not the same person.

Trump could still choose to do everything that fascists did or would do because it benefits him and never think of himself as a fascist or someone who identifies with Hitler or Mussolini.

He certainly has fascists who advise him, but they likely aren’t saying “Donald, we have to do this because it is how we achieve a fascist world, which is our grand plan.” They probably just tell him he will make a lot of money as will all his friends. It’s a good idea economically.

I think this is because he is American, and America was the original fascists before that word or idea we identify with Italy and Germany existed, and that everyone who accepts or promotes Americanism is a fascist materially because they are accepting and promoting the same material outcomes, but calling it being pro-American without even imagining it is intentionally fascist.

There are enough real fascists around to use this to their advantage and accelerate fascism, and enough people who think they are the farthest thing from fascist but accept fascism because it isn’t marketed as fascism, but as making themselves richer and their lives easier. If you are American, you accept everything fascism does, as long as it isn’t called that. This has been the case since the 13 colonies, since before America existed as a nation, and so now it goes totally unnoticed

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I’d say Trump II is more similar to FDR than Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy. I’m going to list some things here, it may sound familiar to what Trump’s doing now:

Putting the “foreign enemy” in camps to secure the country - FDR. Looking to revitalize American manufacturing and awaken the “sleeping giant” at home - FDR. Consolidation of power to the executive and “ignoring the courts”, including the supreme court - FDR. Believing one can do no wrong if the ultimate goal is to “save the country” - FDR. Using outside advisors (Trump uses Witkoff) for key negotiations with Russia because you believe that the insiders are comprimised - FDR. Looking to fight a Naval war in the Pacific - FDR. Running for a third term - FDR.

Social conservatism or reactionary ideology does not necessarily equal fascist. Trump is more an amalgamation of ideas from various US presidents that were generally popular or considered influential if they weren’t popular, from McKinley to FDR to a “reverse Nixon” to Reagan. A “greatest hits collection” of US presidents and ideas. In essence, he is the most American president that has ever existed, a distillation of Americana. If you define fascism like that, then yes you can argue that Trump is fascist. But I still think it’s useful to differentiate from pre and post WW2 Pax Americana and Hitlerite fascism. The closest Trump got to the latter was when he ordered the police to clear out the protestors so he could do a photo op with the Bible in front of a church during the BLM protests in 2020.

I’m no fascism expert, but he literally hits every one of the 14 points in Ur-fascism. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ur-Fascism

Anybody trying to define fascism based on the very specific characteristics of Italy, Japan, or Germany is going to run into reasons to call trump a fascist or not and be able to debate. Like the 14 from ur fascism. I don’t think that’s a useful way to spend our time. I think that the definition of “Actually Existing Fascism” from redsails is the one that is useful, and there Trump can really only be considered the current captain of a success of fascism. The US has been fascist (in expropriating from its shifting periphery) since it’s inception, and managed survived the birthing pains. The “classic” fascist examples failed to become the dominant force of their own existence and thus failed. So Trump is just as much a fascist as every other American president; he just partially shifted the periphery to be an internal enemy instead of external.

Western definitions always find that shift mega-important, but I think Cesaire’s famous quote (“fascism=colonialism turned inward”) was dialectically supposed to mean that all the expropriation at the periphery has been fascism too, not that fascism should be defined by its inward turn. That would only make the definition of fascism be an easy way to hide the oppression of the 3rd world as better than oppression of the 1st world. We Marxists should not accept that.

So yes, his fascism aims slightly different than the democrats, but of course he’s a fascist

Trump might be a fascist, but the bourgeoisie has no need to give him dictatorial powers to rule as a fascist. The bourgeoisie will only resort to fascism if they feel threatened by a Left movement. There is no Leftist movement strong enough to even make the bourgeoisie sweat, the bourgeoisie are still raking in massive profits