Coriolanus
Banned
From that one time Jacobin got some filthy lefty eggheads to answer the question on benji's mind:
Is Donnie a fascist?
What say you, Jennifer Roesch who is an activist with the International Socialist Organization in New York City?
And you, Richard Steigmann-Gal, who is an associate professor of history at Kent State University?
And you, Dylan John Riley, an associate professor of sociology at UC Berkeley and a member of the New Left Review editorial committee?
see benj? The left gets it. All this branding is just a ploy from the elites to undermine him.
Is Donnie a fascist?
(betteridge's law spoilers)
What say you, Jennifer Roesch who is an activist with the International Socialist Organization in New York City?
Unlike in Italy or Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, the US ruling class doesnt face the kind of political crisis that would lead a section of it to abandon its democratic forms and resort to fascism. In fact, the bulk of the ruling class sees Trump as a threat to its ability to carry out its political agenda. A poll of millionaires was revealing: Clinton leads the pack with 31 percent of millionaires supporting her.
For these establishment figures, charges of fascism are a cynical ploy to distance their own rhetoric and policies from Trumps open displays of racism and bigotry. But for millions of people horrified by his hate-mongering, there is a genuine fear about what Trump represents. I am in full solidarity with that sentiment. Trump has given confidence to some of the most right-wing elements in society.
And you, Richard Steigmann-Gal, who is an associate professor of history at Kent State University?
Fascism insists that the existing political authority is illegitimate and offers itself as a parallel authority, complete with paramilitary violence, which will restore the true nation against impostors. By articulating the Birtherism found in the Tea Party and Oath Keeper movements, Trump exploits and expands distrust of legitimate electoral politics among disaffected, downwardly-mobile white Americans.
If Trump lacks his own militia, there is nonetheless a violent ethos at his rallies. But also relevant here are the Oath Keepers. A nationwide militia movement, like Mussolinis squadristi, they are composed of veterans who promise to fight an illegitimate state and create a parallel authority that protects the nation from its own elected authorities. They are not (yet) tied to Trump organizationally, but they represent a similar current of militant indeed militarist radicalism.
When we apply fascism as a descriptive category, as most commentators are doing, we risk using external criteria like matching shirts or armbands to form a sterile check-list. But when we apply fascism as an analytical category, we understand its past social messages and following, and recognize the danger is poses today.
And you, Dylan John Riley, an associate professor of sociology at UC Berkeley and a member of the New Left Review editorial committee?
No, Donald Trump is not a fascist, and yes it matters very much that he is not one.
see benj? The left gets it. All this branding is just a ploy from the elites to undermine him.