As of late, I’ve been trying to steer clear of the ‘Great Fascism Debate.’ I’m referring, of course, to the question of whether Donald Trump is a fascist and Trumpism a fascist movement. I’ve written about the topics extensively. For a quick review, readers should check out my original 2018 post arguing for a nuanced ‘no’ answer, as well as two additional posts proposing a fuller account of Trumpism.
In short, Trumpism sucks. But it sucks in a non-fascist way.
However, I’m not here to rehash all that.
This time, we’ll take a look at a brief analysis by Matthew Karp over at New Left Review. Karp brings to the table some insights about what people miss about the second round of Trump.
Trump Maximalists and Trump Minimalists
Karp divides the political world into Trump maximalists and Trump minimalists.
As readers might expect, Trump maximalists hold that the second Trump administration is transforming U.S. politics and life, a historical rupture we’ve never (or rarely) seen. By contrast, Trump minimalists see the Trump presidency as continuous with the direction in which we were already moving. It’s another step in the rise, breakdown, and discontents with the neoliberal order.
What Karp finds interesting – and I agree with him – is that these positions cut across political lines. He identifies maximalists such as the elements of the far right cheering Trump on. But he also points to liberal and left maximalists who argue that fascism has arrived and we need to build a Nazi era popular front.
On the minimalist side, we find centrists who dismiss the dangers of Trumpism, such as James Carville. But we also find leftists like Karp himself. And, for the most part, I also qualify as a left minimalist, with only moderate reservations.
Left Minimalism
In arguing for left minimalism, Karp points out a couple of areas where Trump’s apparent ‘ruptures’ have turned out to be something of a dud.
First, there’s the tariffs. While Trump loudly pounded the table on ‘Liberation Day,’ he has largely chickened out. Famously, this spawned the nickname ‘TACO’. But it also largely coheres with Biden Administration policy. The tariffs Trump has kept are similar to the ones Biden had in place, mainly against China.
Second, there’s the alleged restructuring and/or defunding of government. Musk and DOGE caused a great deal of damage, but the cuts ended up nowhere near what they promised. Indeed, the cuts to federal staff basically matched the Covid era increase in staff, essentially resetting the federal workforce to where it stood in 2019. Hardly a rupture.
Karp goes on to mention things like Trump’s lack of legislative wins and his repeated special elections losses. This matches his first term.
These things don’t exactly constitute a historical rupture.
Only Two Cheers
While Karp makes his case well, it’s worth pointing out, however, that Trump’s rhetoric, his vindictiveness toward immigrants, and his use of police to harass elected officials really have ramped up things from the past. They fit an overall pattern of a gradual authoritarian turn in government.
And so, left minimalism gets only two cheers rather than the customary three. There’s a danger that it might minimize the badness of what’s happening.
But the overall shape of things? Yes, left minimalism is essentially correct. Trump has continued the authoritarian turn built into the U.S. and many other nations. And his administration promotes a kind of neoliberalism on steroids.
These things are continuous with where we were already headed. And that’s still quite bad.
