Stop Calling Donald Trump A Fascist, Because He’s Not One
The Left’s favorite epithet for Donald Trump is 'fascist.' The problem is, the term simply doesn’t apply. They should stop using it.
Fascism Actually Means Something
But fascism isn’t just an abstract word that can stand in for anything you dislike. The term has an infamous history that all Americans should know about, especially since so many of us are so fond of throwing the term around lately.
As a political movement, fascism in Europe had distinct characteristics—expansionist nationalism, extreme militarism, a conception of the National Socialist as a “new man” for whom politics is above all a spiritual struggle. They took the trappings of militarism seriously, to the point that fascist leaders would typically dress in military uniforms, as would their rank and file.
When they weren’t in power, fascists would organize into paramilitary units—complete with uniforms,
like Hitler’s brownshirts and Mussolini’s blackshirts—and disrupt the authority of the government. “We do not enter parliament to use parliamentary methods,” wrote Joseph Goebbels in a 1929 propaganda pamphlet. Indeed, after the Nazis gained 95 seats in the 1930 elections, they would routinely disrupt proceedings in the German Reichstag
by shouting down speakers, throwing debris from balconies, and generally raising hell. They held only 107 of 577 seats, but they were determined to undermine democracy in Germany—and they did.
Once in power, fascists overwhelmed democratic institutions and consolidated the power of the state in the party. A year after the 1922 March on Rome that put Mussolini in power, he passed the Acerbo Law, which guaranteed a two-thirds parliamentary majority to the party that managed to secure 25 percent of the vote. The law effectively ensured Mussolini could rule as a dictator. Two years later, public meetings of opposition parties were banned, and eventually all rival political parties and newspapers were banned in Italy.
