Is Donald Trump a fascist?

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By EUGENIO BUCCI*

Yes, you need to call Donald Trump is a fascist. He restores and promotes fascism

Is Donald Trump a fascist? Some say we shouldn't call him that. Political scientist Wendy Brown, for example, believes that the authoritarianism that has been growing in our time is of a different nature. In 2022, in an interview with the website New Society, she pointed out distinctions between Benito Mussolini's dictatorship and current far-right regimes. According to her, 21st century autocracies “are born from neoliberal rationality” and differ from fascism derby for being “authoritarian in the political sphere and libertarian in matters of civil and personal life”.

I don't disagree with Wendy Brown. There are autocrats today who don't give a damn about issues like gay marriage. While some are rabid sexists, and Donald Trump is one of them, others don't embrace the misogynistic moralism of the old Duce. There are even far-right leaders who are openly lesbian.

The differences don't stop there. Fascism a hundred years ago was more statist than the ultra-liberal authoritarianism we have today. It was also more “labor-oriented”. Benito Mussolini posed as a defender of the working class and, in Germany, Adolf Hitler's party even had “socialist” in its name: the National Socialist German Workers' Party. We know that both parties decimated trade unionists of all types, but, at least in the beginning, they pretended to represent the poor. It is no coincidence that Getúlio Vargas, known as the “father of the poor”, sought in the “Labor Charter” from fascist Italy the inspiration for its Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT).

Now, Donald Trump wants nothing to do with unions; he only promotes the capitalist cause and convinces the masses: today, the most exploited servants define themselves as “entrepreneurs,” no longer as workers. Apparently, therefore, he would have nothing in common with Hitler or Mussolini.

If we look beyond appearances, however, we will see that Donald Trump has one foot, or even two, in the most blatant fascism. His strategy is to dismantle democracy to destroy social rights, abandon the most vulnerable in the desert, persecute foreigners, fuel nationalism and authorize all forms of capital accumulation in his territories. Like Hitler and Mussolini.

In 1995, Italian thinker Umberto Eco wrote for the magazine The New York Review of Books an essay entitled “Ur-Fascism”. Umberto Eco did not have in mind historical fascism, but a totalitarian regime that would be timeless, the “Eternal Fascism”, which he described in 14 characteristic features.

The first of these traits is the praise of a glorious past of the homeland, an invented past. Donald Trump, with his “Make America Great Again”, or simply “MAGA”, fits the bill. The second trait is the rejection of modernity and enlightenment, with a strong repudiation of intellectualism. Next comes irrationalism, fueled by conspiracy theories, the discourse of “us” against “them”, racism (or hatred of immigrants), the appeal to the resentment of the frustrated middle classes, exacerbated nationalism, the exploitation of feelings of humiliation and the construction of a climate of permanent war.

The tenth feature of “Eternal Fascism” consists of contempt for the weakest, followed by education for heroism: everyone must want to die for the regime. The fixation on phallic objects, such as weapons, is another characteristic, very typical of “machismo” (this is a word used by Umberto Eco). Then, we have exacerbated populism. Feature number 14 is the crude, primary discourse, which repels complex reasoning and critical reason.

Did you recognize Trumpism? Or do you want more? Another scholar who can help is Jason Stanley. In the book How fascism works, he lists essential characteristics (some coincide with those of Umberto Eco): the mythical past, propaganda as a source of truth, anti-intellectualism, the sense of unreality, the predilection for hierarchical solutions, the culture of victimization (especially of the leader), the constant appeal to law and order, sexual anxiety (repressed desires at the surface of the mucous membranes), the obsession with the homeland (“America first”, “Brazil above all” or “Deutschland über alles”) and the disarticulation of the union and public well-being.

Fascists generate instability, produce riots and disturbances (such as January 6, 2021 in the United States and January 8, 2023 in Brazil), while promising to discipline society through violent authority.

In a 1951 article (“Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda”), philosopher Theodor Adorno showed that fascist communication “must mobilize irrational, unconscious and regressive processes.” This is what Trumpism did and does with big tech.

Yes, Donald Trump needs to be called a fascist. He is restoring and promoting fascism. At one of his inauguration ceremonies on Monday, Elon Musk went on stage and gave a Nazi salute. Twice. It was a “Hey, Trump” crazy. The day before, at an informal rally in Washington, Steve Bannon made the same gesture to greet representatives of AfD German. Twice. Help us, democracy.

* Eugene Bucci He is a professor at the School of Communications and Arts at USP. Author, among other books, of Uncertainty, an essay: how we think about the idea that disorients us (and orients the digital world) (authentic). [https://amzn.to/3SytDKl]

Originally published in the newspaper The State of S. Paul.


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