Well, certain names pop easily to mind. Father Coughlin, Huey P. Long, George Wallace, Joel Osteen and others. Trump shares two concrete characteristics with these people: the veneer of success and the absoluteness of nationalism and isolationism. These types also thrive on the cult of personalty, which during times of mounting social stress—such as we have been increasingly experiencing—become extremely attractive to the mass of our society, moreso now in our instant gratification, self-absorbed attention to distraction through various forms of cheap media access.
These types also share a flirtation with and/or steadfast affirmation of fascism. Roger Cohen has indicated the fascist connections with historical Europe in this context. But even more to the point is how clearly our society and its cultural manifestations have been sliding willy-nilly into a kind of (so far) soft fascist orbit. When I use "willy-nilly," I don't mean to indicate that it has been accidental or haphazard. The hard core connection between corporatism and authoritarianism has been quite deliberate. What has been less conscious has been the general public's acquiescence with our metamorphosis from democratic republic to our "merger of state and corporate power," to quote from Mussolini's infamous definition. We Americans have an infinite capacity to both ignore and bowdlerize history, so that we merge fascism and socialism as two sides of the same coin. A simple way to distinguish the two is to recognize that in socialism government controls or regulates the means of production and in fascism unregulated corporatism determines the means and the benefits of production. And because the state works in concert with corporatism, it determines the distribution of those benefits.
Now, as with the European versions of fascism, our fascism needs a culturally acceptable front man, a boisterous, a both deadly serious and humorous guy, who shares all the attributes and personal traits we identify with our mediated society. To witness some linkages with the historical European versions, just Youtube samples from Hitler and Mussolini rallies. You don't really need to understand German and Italian to feel what's happening. Desperation and diminishing hope are the fertile soil for fascism to flourish and spawn. And as Sinclair Lewis indicated in It Can't Happen Here, when and if it does, it won't take an invasion and it won't look like it does in Europe. It will indeed be home grown. And it will be as American as apple pie and our fondest dreams of success and the pursuit of happiness. And it will be "terrific," "tremendous" and the "greatest thing you ever saw"..."believe me."
This is what is actually going on.
These types also share a flirtation with and/or steadfast affirmation of fascism. Roger Cohen has indicated the fascist connections with historical Europe in this context. But even more to the point is how clearly our society and its cultural manifestations have been sliding willy-nilly into a kind of (so far) soft fascist orbit. When I use "willy-nilly," I don't mean to indicate that it has been accidental or haphazard. The hard core connection between corporatism and authoritarianism has been quite deliberate. What has been less conscious has been the general public's acquiescence with our metamorphosis from democratic republic to our "merger of state and corporate power," to quote from Mussolini's infamous definition. We Americans have an infinite capacity to both ignore and bowdlerize history, so that we merge fascism and socialism as two sides of the same coin. A simple way to distinguish the two is to recognize that in socialism government controls or regulates the means of production and in fascism unregulated corporatism determines the means and the benefits of production. And because the state works in concert with corporatism, it determines the distribution of those benefits.
Now, as with the European versions of fascism, our fascism needs a culturally acceptable front man, a boisterous, a both deadly serious and humorous guy, who shares all the attributes and personal traits we identify with our mediated society. To witness some linkages with the historical European versions, just Youtube samples from Hitler and Mussolini rallies. You don't really need to understand German and Italian to feel what's happening. Desperation and diminishing hope are the fertile soil for fascism to flourish and spawn. And as Sinclair Lewis indicated in It Can't Happen Here, when and if it does, it won't take an invasion and it won't look like it does in Europe. It will indeed be home grown. And it will be as American as apple pie and our fondest dreams of success and the pursuit of happiness. And it will be "terrific," "tremendous" and the "greatest thing you ever saw"..."believe me."
This is what is actually going on.
and "huge"
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