Thomas Zimmer
Weekend reading: I wrote about Donald Trump’s closing pitch to the American people: Rage, intimidation, and vengeful violence.
He is threatening – or promising, if you ask his supporters – fascism. No more plausible deniability for anyone who refuses to see the threat.
This week’s piece:
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https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/donald-trump-american-fascist
Thomas Zimmer
At the same time, the status of these extremist forces within the Right has changed. They have moved to the power centers of conservative politics, and as a result, the Right has radicalized dramatically – something the superficial institutional continuity of the GOP helps obscure. 9/
Thomas Zimmer
Trump is the fascistic leader of a rightwing coalition that unites all shades of reaction and is entirely dominated by extremism. Should Trump emerge victorious from the election, America will not become a fascist dictatorship overnight. But the Trumpist Right will try. 10/
Thomas Zimmer
Even as a best-case scenario, it will be a long, sustained struggle to move the country forward towards the kind of stable, truly egalitarian democracy it has never yet been. But if Trump is not defeated, things will get worse. Much worse. 11/
Thomas Zimmer
Donald Trump, American Fascist
Trumpism is what a specifically American, twenty-first century version of fascism looks like. And in November, fascism is on the ballot.
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https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/donald-trump-american-fascist
Thomas Zimmer
Trumpism regards any opposition to this project of national purification and re-birth as fundamentally illegitimate. It is dogma among Trump’s supporters that he as their leader embodies the will of the true people, the Volk – Trump is the tribune of “real America.” 5/
Thomas Zimmer
The argument is not that every institution of establishment conservatism has been replaced by fascist structures. The Right is best approached as a coalition of forces, ideas, people who reject egalitarian democracy. And as of right now, the radicals are firmly in charge of that alliance. 6/
Thomas Zimmer
Trumpism is in line with long-standing anti-democratic tendencies and impulses that have always defined modern conservatism as a political project. And fascism is not something foreign to American society: There is a domestic tradition of violent extremism and, yes, fascism. 7/
Thomas Zimmer
In this sense, Trumpism stands in continuity with some very old ideas and movements – and in continuity with the often violent counter-mobilization that has accompanied every real or even just perceived progress towards egalitarian democracy in U.S. history. 8/
Thomas Zimmer
Mere weeks before the election, I revisit the Fascism Debate and discuss where we stand after Trump has, even by his own standards, gone on a rampage recently. If anyone thought more evidence was needed before we could call it fascist, the Trumpists have certainly provided it. 2/
Thomas Zimmer
Trump is not “the new Hitler” and he is not “just like Mussolini.” We are not facing an exact replica of the Ur-fascism that rose to power in Europe’s interwar period. But Trumpism is a specifically American, specifically twenty-first century version of fascism. 3/
Thomas Zimmer
Trump has a fascistic way of describing the problem – and offers a fascistic solution. The nation is in decline, besieged by invading “Others” and the “enemy within”; only a providential leader, fueled by a radicalizing mass base, can restore glory by violently purging these enemies. 4/
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