Bigthink.com published a synopsis of British political theorist Roger Griffin’s work on fascism. Griffin’s high-level definition of fascism is as follows: a form of populist, ultra-nationalism dedicated to the idea of a “national rebirth.” That is an unabbreviated description of Trump’s campaign. So, this man’s work merits a deeper look.
Griffin identifies ten features that define fascism. We can use this to rate Trump on a “fascism” scale of 1 to 10, 10 being worst. To get things started, I’ve taken my cut at it, below.
1. “Fascism is Anti-Liberal: Fascists oppose pluralism, tolerance, individualism, democracy, ….”
Trump campaigned against tolerance and pluralism. Is he against democracy? I have written that the entire Republican Party has no interest in democracy. Trump seems happy to go along on any number of Republican priorities, and his “poll watcher” crusade was as anti-voter as any of the Republican attempts to suppress the vote. On this feature, I give Trump a full point for a cumulative score of 1.
2. “Fascism is Anti-Conservative: The key element … is that it seeks a “national rebirth.” This may reference a glorious past “but doesn’t call for a to return to it.” They reject conservative status quo politics.
Trump campaigned on a national rebirth. He also carried on an insurgency that overthrew the conservative establishment within the Republican Party. But his national rebirth does seem to call for a return to the days before the Civil Rights Act and the New Deal. I have trouble assigning significance to the distinction between referencing a glorious pass but not calling for a return to it, but I can’t ignore it. I give Trump three quarters of a point for a cumulative score of 1.75.
3. Fascism Tends to Operate as a Charismatic Form of Politics: Fascism tends to rely on personality cults, mass movements, and appeals to collective emotions over reason.
The Trump campaign was about Trump. Only he can save us. Only he can fix what’s broken. His campaign was a movement bigger than anything that ever was. I give Trump 1 point for a cumulative score of 2.75.
4. “Fascism is Anti-Rational: Fascists do not view man’s capacity to reason as the key human ability, but rather the capacity to be driven … by means of belief, myth, symbols, and the like.”
Enough said. Trump gets 1 point for a cumulative score of 3.75.
5. “Fascist ‘Socialism': Fascists claim that their movement offers the end of class conflict in society along with adequate reward for the productive members of the nation. Fascists … favor a strong state role in the economy….”
Trump did not offer an end to class conflict but, instead, campaigned on class conflict, pitting the working class against the “elites.” On the other hand, though he would deny that he favors a state role in the economy, that was exactly how he achieved his modest and mostly illusory follow-through on his Carrier Corporation promise. I give him a quarter of a point for a cumulative score of 4.
6. “Fascism’s Link to Totalitarianism: A fascist utopia would see the state as all powerful, and the population as homogeneous and well regimented to the ends of the state. The machinery required to ensure ideological and behavioral uniformity in that state would be Orwellian in scale.”
Trump is nothing if not an authoritarian, and the dream of a homogenous population is what set off his candidacy. Fulfilling that dream would require an Orwellian implementation. Finally, Trump’s relationship to the media clearly has been border-line Orwellian at best. I give him a full point for a cumulative score of 5.
7. “Heterogeneous Social Support: In theory, fascism has no bias in support by class. In principle fascism should appeal to all classes equally. Both Italian Fascism and German Nazism made strong rhetorical gestures to all classes.”
Looking only at class heterogeneity, this echoes number 5, above, but without the factor of state involvement in the economy. No points. Cumulative score: 5.
8. Fascist Racism: Griffin says, “By its nature fascism is racist, since all ultra nationalisms are racist in their celebration of the alleged virtues and greatness of an organically conceived nation or culture”. In the same way, fascism opposes the "liberal vision of the multicultural, multi-religious, multiracial society”.
Again, enough said. 1 point for a cumulative score of 6.
9. Fascist Internationalism: While focused on issues relevant to its nation, fascism is perfectly capable of supporting and finding solidarity with fascist movements in other nations. Especially when facing common enemies.”
Trump’s primary interest is money. We would have to replace “finding solidarity with fascists movements in other nations” with “finding profits and corruption in other nations.” However, he has indicated solidarity, such as Trump understands it, with and from Brexit and other populist movements. I give him half a point for a cumulative score of 6.5.
10. Fascist Eclecticism: The concepts that make up Fascism are various, and historically ideas have been taken from both the far right (illiberalism, racism) and the far left (syndicalism). This was considered a strength by fascist leaders and these nearly contradictory ideas are always united by their relation to the concept of national rebirth.
“Eclecticism” is not the same as being pliable to the point of being ungrounded or having no fixed policies let alone principles. However, he has, momentarily, held stances that were liberal (such as protecting Social Security and being the champion of working men and women) and many that were far right. Give him three quarters of a point for a cumulative final score of 7.25 on a scale of 10.
Scotty Hendricks, who wrote the review of Griffin’s work, says, “It of course must be said that one or two of these traits in a movement does not immediately designate such a movement as “fascist”.” Fine. One or two, but what about seven or eight? And if “not immediately,” what about after a long, ugly, degrading campaign that should have left no doubt about what this man was?
So, I now leave the fascism scale for your amusement. I also leave it to you to choose a pass/fail threshold. Make of it what you will, and score Donald Heart of Darkness as you see fit.
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