A friend and fellow New London County attorney maintains an email list to whom he sends links of articles well worth reading, and in today’s email we get a link to an extremely interesting article in the Guardian entitled Is Donald Trump A Fascist?. Before answering that question I will digress for a moment.
It is interesting that it is unlikely such a question would be broached in an American newspaper of wide circulation. The term “fascism” is itself avoided, replaced by “Christian Nationalism”, which conveys a false impression to anyone not obsessed with politics. After all, Christians are supposed to be the good guys, and not all that many people understand that “nationalism” can be a pejorative. I’m not a Catholic anymore, but I retain my advanced degree in religion from Our Lady of Sorrows School. I’m fairly sure that were Jesus to return to this earth, the folks to whom this term is applied would, as Woody Guthrie sang “lay Jesus Christ in his grave”.
Now to answer the question. It doesn’t matter whether Donald Trump is a fascist. He has no fixed beliefs save one: that the only important thing in this world is Donald Trump. If he could have become president by running to the left, he would have done so, but he’s an accomplished grifter and he knows how the suckers in this country vote. He is primarily concerned with having his ego stroked, which is why he’s so sensitive about crowd sizes.
The fact is, however, that the people who will control him if he gets elected are, indeed, fascists. They even made the mistake of putting their plans in writing by way of Project 2025. Were he elected he will do what he is told so far as implementing those plans. Being totally uninterested in the details of the job, he will let others do it for him, and we know who those others will be. This was his modus operandi in his first term. Does anyone really believe, for example, that he gave a moments thought to the people he nominated to the Supreme Court or any other court. He was given names by his handlers and he signed off on them. So, it doesn’t matter whether he himself is a fascist, he is an enabler and a tool. If he wins, we will be subject to a government run by fascists, and with the help of the fascists on the Supreme Court that fascism will become permanent.