I like y’all so I decided to share this here, as the person this was meant for didn’t appreciate the work that went into this rant/essay and just called me a “left-wing fascist” again anyway. So here it goes.

Trumpism is Fascism.

These are characteristics of fascism as described in Ur-Fascism by Umberto Eco; A scholar that lived under Mussolini’s fascist regime. I will be breaking down these points for you one by one as they relate to ideas and language used by Trump and his supporters on the alt-right.

1. The Cult of Tradition. –The slogan says it all. “Make America Great Again”. Progress is problematic to Trump and his supporters. They’re “old-fashioned” and set in their ways. They simply want to go back to the way things used to be. (Make the past great again)

2. The rejection of Modernism. — Trump and his followers have attacked scientific evidence and facts time and time again. Whether it is censoring the threat of climate change or ignoring the advice and warnings of medical doctors and researchers when it comes to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. The cult of action for action’s sake. — Trump has encouraged acts of violence and is unwilling to unite the nation. He has encouraged violence toward disruptive protesters at his own rallies. He has enabled violent policing with excessive force by sending surges of federal agents to democratic cities to break up peaceful protests – “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Let’s not forget about that time Trump said he could “stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody” and retain all of his supporters.

4. Disagreement is treason. — Trump constantly condemns those that disagree with him as treasonists. Like how he claimed Colin Kaepernik was disrespecting the country and flag for kneeling during the national anthem as a peaceful protest of police brutality. This is not a crime, and far from treason. (but we can talk about Trump’s crimes later).

5. Fear of difference. — Trump has mongered a fear of immigrants. He has gone so far as to fabricate them into a “monster”: An apparent caravan of rapists, drug dealers and criminals invading our borders to destroy American civilization.

6. Appeal to social frustration.– Trump’s attempt at a fascist takeover did not appear out of nowhere. It came from decades of middle class dissatisfaction with the status quo. He propped himself up and campaigned as some “hero” that would stand up for the middle class while not following through on any of his promises.

7. The obsession with a plot. — This one is probably Trump’s favorite. He’s a big fan of conspiracy theories. There are so many to choose from but I will just stick with a few. Like how Trump claims that COVID-19 and Climate change are a Chinese hoax. How the “media” is out to damage his reelection chances. Or his infamous birther movement when he tried to claim that Obama was secretly a muslim and was not born in the U.S. It appears he is even doubling down on this racist theme: he is trying to start a new birther conspiracy against Senator Kamala Harris in an attempt to discredit her candidacy.

8. The enemy is both strong and weak. –The alt-right is constantly shifting their rhetorical focus; The left is apparently simultaneously too strong and too weak. Leftists are a bunch of sensitive “snowflakes” that do nothing yet somehow also hold so much power over our government that they are stealing away our freedoms. Which is it?

9. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. — There is always some enemy to fight. Whether it is attempting to declare war on North Korea or Iran or labeling BLM or ANTIFA as terrorist organizations. Trump has even attacked our journalism – calling the mainstream media “the enemy of the people”. Even Hitler and the Nazis had their own version of the “fake news” buzzword; they used the phrase Lügenpresse (lying press) to attack what they deemed enemy propaganda.

10. Contempt for the weak. — Trump likes to think of himself as an alpha. He has gone on numerous rants just to brag about his self-proclaimed strength, health, IQ or cognitive ability. (Just don’t talk about how small his hands are, he’s very sensitive about that)

11. Everybody is educated to become a hero. — Like when the alt-right thinks they are heroically fighting for their freedoms by forming armed militia cosplays at their state capitols in protest of inconvenient masking and stay-at-home orders. Or that time that Trump claimed that the would single-handedly run into a school, unarmed, to stop a school shooter.

12. Machismo and weaponry. — Trump really likes to put down women whether they be political opponents, reporters or just women that refuse his aggressive sexual advances. He describes women as being “nasty” and thinks women are sexual objects that exist for his pleasure “Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.” As for the weaponry, the right sure does love to fetish-ize firearms.

13. Selective populism. — Despite losing the popular vote, Trump likes to think of himself as a unanimous “Voice of the People”. “No one has ever done more for [insert false claim here] than I have!”

14. Fascism speaks Newspeak. — Trump has utilized Twitter as a platform to communicate with the country. He uses a very elementary syntax, riddled with jibberish and grammatical errors, 280 characters at a time, to limit critical reasoning. Who needs complexity when you have a leader who speaks in short, declarative statements that promise eternal action.

I’m not calling you a fascist, but if you identify with some of these beliefs you are maybe (probably) a fascist.