Trump is not a fascist

[Gadianton]

I do not think fascism has a precise meaning but it does refer to things which have been real. Fascist movements in the first half of the 20th century were creating what was theorized as the ideal best society. It was one where individuality was to be overwritten by command of society. It was a thoroughly militarized society not just as an emergency but as an ongoing ideal. People remember these movements for starting ww2 and killing millions of people in social cleansing campaigns.

All sorts of people may look at Trump and think that whatever he is he is not that. Some people see pieces phrases attitudes with Trump that remind them of fascism in disturbing ways. It is an easy phrase to just up and call Trump fascist. People uncertain or supporting Trump hear that and thinking of the differences reject the accusation. The very accusation becomes a cloak obscuring the dangerous aspects of Trump.

I think Trumpism is it's own kind of creature. It is evolving perhaps taking shape. I see an unstable mix of Trump's ego and conjectures with various groups who think he is useful. With no crystal ball I do not see where it goes.

It can be resisted by focusing upon basic human and American values. People are not to be put in prison without legal due process.

Thanks for your thoughts, Huck. The term is fairly useless beyond a pejorative I admit, and there are a whole lot of differences between Nazi Germany and today's scourge. If Hitler were born today, however, he would not be able actualize what he did in his own day. "Authoritarian" covers both leaders much better. Germany was broken economically and Hitler brought it up economically, whereas Trump inherited a thriving economy and is destroying it. I think fascism requires lots of state-sponsored economic efforts which isn't in the cards for MAGA. In fact, the crazy thing is, that Hitler actually benefited his base, and that was the greater part of the appeal.

[Kishkumen]

It is just as useless as any term. Democracy. Capitalism. Socialism. It is very telling, and no doubt one reason we have ended up where we are, that people are so precious about the term fascism.

[Kishkumen]

We're PAYING El Salvador to hold Mr. Garcia?

Yes! We are!

[Gunnar]

Gunnar, I agree the deportation without due process is an injustice doing harm to our expectation of just laws. I think the neglect on bringing the fellow back is impeachable but impeachment action would be counterproductive before sufficient support gathers to convict.

Resistance is an ongoing process.

I agree with you, both that Trump's action is impeachable, and that attempting to do it too soon would be counter-productive and that it would probably further exacerbate the situation. That would probably not be feasible unless and until the American voters become so disgusted with Trump during the next mid-term elections in 2026 that a blue wave results in both houses of congress being majority Democrat. I fervently hope that happens, but at this point, I have little confidence that it will, though I think it likely that at least that Democrats would gain a majority in the House of Representatives. Plus, for an impeachment effort to work, I think it would have to be a bipartisan effort, with at least some Republicans growing enough spine to join the Democrats in expressing their just outrage about what Trump has done. That came very close to happening during Trump's second impeachment. It's a tragedy that it didn't!

[Jersey Girl]

We're PAYING El Salvador to hold Mr. Garcia?

Yes! We are!

So we taxpayers funded the kidnapping of a man who was found to have no gang related ties and permitted to remain in the U.S. per court ruling, shove him off to a terrorist prison population in El freaking Salvador, by a government who alternately claimed that it's actions were an "administrative error" but they couldn't get him back and now flip flopped saying that he was part of MS13 and they're now defying and soon to be charged with contempt of court orders and we're the tax paying suckers who are paying for this miscarriage of justice.

Or whatever I said there in likely the longest run on sentence in the history of the board. Okay I got it.

In a possibly unrelated thought... I saw a comment on youtube that said to the effect...While I don't wish death on any person let's just say that I wouldn't mind unplugging DJT's life support machine to charge my phone.

[Kishkumen]

So we taxpayers funded the kidnapping of a man who was found to have no gang related ties and permitted to remain in the U.S. per court ruling, shove him off to a terrorist prison population in El freaking Salvador, by a government who alternately claimed that it's actions were an "administrative error" but they couldn't get him back and now flip flopped saying that he was part of MS13 and they're now defying and soon to be charged with contempt of court orders and we're the tax paying suckers who are paying for this miscarriage of justice.

As of now, there is no justice at the top of our government. We still have many politicians, judges, and bureaucrats who are decent, hard-working people that spiritually live with us in the USA of the recent past, but we are now living in a country where any one of us could be grabbed off the streets, shoved in a van, called a terrorist or gang-member, and shipped off to a gulag in El Salvador. All those frightening third-world human rights abuses we used to marvel at, while safely tucked in our comfy quilts (I love them!), are now the reality we inhabit in this country.

This presidency has become the thing we all feared it would become. The thing every MAGA person laughed at us for predicting. And, many of the MAGA folk either do not know it is happening, since they watch our country's version of North Korean state television, or they are fine with it. At this point, our Executive Branch is little different from a tin-pot dictatorship in a tiny country. The frightening thing is that it wields the immense power that was built by the world's sole superpower. It wields the tools of surveillance crafted to fight Islamic extremism. And we are all discussing this on a platform originally created for the US military, where anyone could be reading everything we post.

Any single one of us could theoretically be grabbed and disappeared tomorrow, and I guarantee you someone in a similar situation (in history if not right now) has suffered such a fate. If something doesn't change, we are all on borrowed time, living in an authoritarian dystopia.

[Moksha]

Some may question whether Benito Mussolini was a Fascist.

Words! You think you know what they mean, and suddenly you find that Mormon is a devil word and that MAGA ultimately means no taxes for billionaires and is a byword for grifters.

[Gunnar]

The frightening thing is that it wields the immense power that was built by the world's sole superpower. It wields the tools of surveillance crafted to fight Islamic extremism. And we are all discussing this on a platform originally created for the US military, where anyone could be reading everything we post.

Any single one of us could theoretically be grabbed and disappeared tomorrow, and I guarantee you someone in a similar situation (in history if not right now) has suffered such a fate. If something doesn't change, we are all on borrowed time, living in an authoritarian dystopia.

We won't remain the world's sole superpower for long. Trump, by his actions and disdain for both science and democracy has all but guaranteed that China will, before too long, greatly surpass us in science, technology and in both economic and military power, much to the detriment of not only ourselves, but also the rest of the world.

[Markk]

I suggest a little more homework in regard to Garcia.

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/04/16/kil ... y-violence

[Kishkumen]

I suggest a little more homework in regard to Garcia.

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/04/16/kil ... y-violence

Oh my God, Markk. Just how stupid are you? I suppose you also trust the documentation of yellow cake plutonium the government used to invade Iraq.

OK. Derp.



Let's pretend for a moment that these documents are accurate and lead to the conclusion you think correct. That does not change the fact that every person is guaranteed due process by the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution. True or false, Markk?