Category: Class (Page 23 of 25)

Source: Alisdare Hickson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/alisdare/42730197674)

As I said in my previous post, I’ve been sitting for awhile on the question of whether Trumpism is a fascist movement. But to answer this question, I needed to first sketch out what fascism is. A lot of people use ‘fascist’ to mean something like ‘very bad.’ Even historians and social scientists use the word without thinking about the economic and political contexts in which fascism grows.

So I offered five historical conditions where fascism grows. And a starting point for defining it. That starting point was: Fascism is the emergency management mode of capitalism. It arises during times of serious crises and left-wing threats in order to save capitalism from itself.

Here we are, then. Is Trumpism a fascist movement?

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Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/fasces/media/202174/223607

I’ve been sitting for awhile on the question of whether Trumpism is a fascist movement. Are we moving toward fascism in the United States?

It’s a big question, and it’s gotten lots of passionate responses. But I find a lot of the responses ill-informed or otherwise misguided. I also find that it’s a complicated question. Generally, I try to keep these posts to around 1500-2000 words. And to a focused topic. On the issue of fascism, however, I found this to be a burden.

So this is the first post I’ll write on the topic. I’ll add a second, and possibly a third, later. I’ll start by clearing some ground.

What, exactly, is fascism?

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