As I noted in a post months ago, a fascist is someone who seeks to impose a reactionary program by extraconstitutional means. As such, the vast majority of reactionaries are not fascists, but all fascists are reactionaries.
There is little in Trump’s pre-election past which suggests that he started the campaign as a fascist; after all, he wrote (sort of) “The Art of the Deal,” not “Mein Kampf.” As his campaign has evolved, however, it has become more and more thuggish and dangerous. The final straw, for me, was his threat to treat the outcome of the election as illegitimate, and to call his supporters out on the streets if he loses. That was the point where his coarseness turned into something far more sinister.
Why is this happening? I hate to harp on this subject, but I think it is inherent in his candidacy. If you don’t have any ideology except self-worship, and you don’t have any job qualifications, how else can you run except as a putative strong man? And if you run as a strong man, at what point do you acknowledge the limits our political system puts on you and start showing restraint?
To illustrate the point, imagine a President Trump dealing with a deadlocked Congress and increasingly bold critics. The man on horseback has been exposed as just another politician who can’t get anything done. How does he respond? He has three choices:
- Pull a Palin, and quit;
- Learn to live with the humiliation of being a failed strong man (i.e., a loser); or
- Double down on the strong man routine, ignore the Constitution, and shut up his critics.
If I were a betting man, I would put my money on #3. That’s the problem; even if he never intended to threaten our liberties, his ego will drive him in that direction.