Bookmarked Is Donald Trump a fascist? by David Runciman (The Guardian)

Trump is too fickle and essentially reactive to be a fascist. At the same time, the would-be fascists who have made him their cause are no nearer to running the show than they were in 2016. If anything, it is the illiberal authoritarians circling around Trump who carry the greater clout. Yet Trump is also too volatile and too haphazard to pass as a plausible authoritarian. He lacks the necessary discipline, which is why the project for some backers of Trump 2.0 has been to use him as a vehicle back into executive power, then sideline him. It is reminiscent of what some of the illiberal conservative elements in German politics believed about Hitler in 1933. We know how that worked out.

Source: Is Donald Trump a fascist? by David Runciman


David Runciman asks whether Donald Trump is a fascist? The answer, no, but it does not mean that fascism may not come in on his watch.

Interestingly, Richard Evans wrote about the same thing in response to the storming of the capital on the 6th of January, 2021. He explained that Donald Trump’s roll as an isolationist is counter to the fascist mandate for war and conquest.

 

Listened History of Ideas (Talking Politics Podcast) from talkingpoliticspodcast.com

History Of Ideas is a new series of talks by David Runciman in which he explores some of the most important thinkers and prominent ideas lying behind modern politics – from Hobbes to Gandhi, from democracy to patriarchy, from revolution to lock down.

David also talks about the crises – revolutions, wars, depressions, pandemics – that generated these new ways of political thinking.