All it took was a link to open the floodgates.
On Thursday evening, New York Times Washington editor, Jonathan Weisman tweeted out a link to a Robert Kagan editorial in the Washington Post. Kagan’s editorial explained the relationship between what’s happening with Trump and fascism, which is a comparison I’ve agreed with since Trump entered the race.
The response that Jonathan Weisman received did nothing to dispel the connection between Trump supporters and those of earlier fascist movements.
Tweets like this:
And there were many more.
The wash of anti-Semitism included not only cartoons of hook-nosed stereotypes rubbing their hands over ways to make money off illegal immigration and terrorism, but images of bodies in concentration camps being bulldozed into pits and quotes labeling Jews the world’s greatest mass murderers. There were selections from Mein Kampf, and boasting of how Trump was fulfilling a “Saxon uprising.”
Oh, and there was this:
Let’s take another look at Kagan's editorial.
That this tough-guy, get-mad-and-get-even approach has gained him an increasingly large and enthusiastic following has probably surprised Trump as much as anyone else. Trump himself is simply and quite literally an egomaniac. But the phenomenon he has created and now leads has become something larger than him, and something far more dangerous.
Republican politicians marvel at how he has “tapped into” a hitherto unknown swath of the voting public. But what he has tapped into is what the founders most feared when they established the democratic republic: the popular passions unleashed, the “mobocracy.” …
This phenomenon has arisen in other democratic and quasi-democratic countries over the past century, and it has generally been called “fascism.” Fascist movements, too, had no coherent ideology, no clear set of prescriptions for what ailed society.
What they have is anger, militancy, and the cult following of a single strongman leader. What they have is racism, a simplistic nationalism, a concept of governing both domestically and internationally that is based on bullying and threats. What they have is the mindset of children pulling the wings from flies. The rest is window dressing.
What fascist movements have is exactly what Trump is providing. In Trump’s movement racism, misogyny, and anti-Semitism are accepted. Even encouraged. Of course, not everyone in the movement has to hate. Some people on the stage can wince as Trump makes disparaging remarks about women. Or they can look away when he demeans people based on race. They don’t have to share in the hate. They simply have to tolerate hate.
Trump has a lot of followers and a lot of money. All he needs is for people to “support the nominee of the party” and it will all work out. All he needs is enough people who think he can make the trains run on time create more jobs and bring glory to the fatherland make America great again. It’ll be fine.
After all, not everyone in Germany was anti-Semitic.
A great number will simply kid themselves, refusing to admit that something very different from the usual politics is afoot. Let the storm pass, they insist, and then we can pick up the pieces, rebuild and get back to normal. Meanwhile, don’t alienate the leader’s mass following. After all, they are voters and will need to be brought back into the fold. As for Trump himself, let’s shape him, advise him, steer him in the right direction and, not incidentally, save our political skins.