OPINION: Trump Embraces Fascism
(In Plain Sight)
By Trevor K. McNeil
The Vital Importance of Language
Words matter. Talk can be both cheap or expensive depending on the context. All words are arbitrary in their invention but also vital in terms of their function which is to help understand existence. Which is why people can get quite irritable about words being used correctly. Misuse of words quickly leads to miscommunication. Something the last four years of Trump has shown us.
The Definition Is This
A favorite word tossed at Trump is fascism. A much used and seldom understood word. This is at least a linguistic issue, the original word being the Italian fascismo, roughly translated as fastening or togetherness. The main symbolism of the time being a bundle of sticks. One stick can be broken, a bundle of sticks cannot. A nice idea undercut by the fact that by fastening together, the members of a fascist society also close others out.
Stacking The Supreme Court
Fascist systems requiring ultimate power and trust be given to the government of the nation (ie dictatorships). The most accurate present day example of a fascist system would be North Korea. This term is accurate for Trump at least in terms of his goals. Not seeming to understand the difference between federal and state jurisdiction and already talking about extension of term limits. I could be wrong but it seems as though he is working towards absolute power. This is why he is so keen to stack the Supreme Court in his favor. So he can contest the election which already worked out well for Bush, Jr.
Careful Now
Nazi has a much clearer definition. A member of the German National Socialist Workers Party from the early 1930s when they were formed under that name, to the end of World War II in 1945. Except that isn’t quite true. Many Germans were members out of necessity, not least because anti-party sentiment, a key concern of the Gestapo, was a literal hanging offense. A much lesser known number being the roughly 10,000 German dissidents killed for treason. I have been reluctant to refer to President Trump as a Nazi. Even with his “very fine people on both sides” and “shit-hole countries.” Only willing to go so far as “racist” because of Godwin’s Law if nothing else.
Bad Blood
I was wrong. Trump’s recent reference to “good genes” making doubtless his belief in the long-ago discredited principles of eugenics. Based on a gross misinterpretation of the notion of the Ubermensch (Superman), coined by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, eugenics is nasty bit of pseudoscience stating that people are born with good genes or bad genes. Any sort of problems or disadvantages being blamed on “bad genres.” Similarly, any advantages or “positive traits” being the sole result of “good genres” giving no credit to any other factors.
Selective Breeding
Adherents believe that a race of super beings and natural leaders can be created through “selective breeding.” An idea that led to the sterilization and death of countless people deemed genetically inferior. An idea embraced whole heartedly by the original Nazis. A fact only compounded when one finds out Trump has been dying his hair blond since the 1970s. Is Trump trying to more closely resemble the Ubermensch that his father, a known Klansman, told him he was? Actually using the phrase a “killer and a kin” to refer to young Trump. The Nazi’s ended in 1945. The last remnants dying of old age or belated execution since, though the current American president is dangerously similar to them in terms of ideology.
