There have been many accusations that Donald Trump in his presidential pursuits represents fascism. Consider the recent article in Newsweek entitled “Donald Trump is What Fascism Looks Like” . The author suggests that some of Trump’s policies are clearly indicative of the fascistic type policies of Hitler and Mussolini.
Consider the policy to exclude Muslims from being able to enter the United States and to make current Muslim residents register with the US government. These policies are clearly like the policies Hitler used at first towards to the Jews of Germany. It should be noted that Hitler was democratically elected in a country that had pretty good free speech laws. Thus the accusation is that free speech could result in another Hitler; that is the US could elect Trump and see similar results.
The slogan of Trump’s campaign is to “Make America Great Again”. This is not that different than the slogans Hitler ran on. Hitler also promised to make Germany great again. With that noted it is not fair to claim that Trump will be another Hitler. In fact, the accusation is at this point a bit ludicrous .
However, it is clearly fair to suggest that his support does come from the same place that Hitler’s did. That is from a place of ignorance and hate. From a place that wishes to be good again like the old days, even though the old days were likely worse than today. Free speech is very important, and thus Trump should not be stopped from saying what he says, however, it is hoped that people realize he is little more than someone appealing to vulgar emotions.
- Suderman, P., 2015. Donald Trump’s Brainfart Fascism. [Online] Available at: http://reason.com/blog/2015/12/16/donald-trumps-brainfart-fascism [Accessed 3 2 2016].
- Tucker, J., 2015. DONALD TRUMP IS WHAT FASCISM LOOKS LIKE. [Online] Available at: http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-fascist-403058 [Accessed 3 2 2016].
