Presidential hopeful Donald Trump is many things, a businessman, television personality and millionaire. But is Trump a fascist? In light of comments he’s made about Syrian refugees and a database for Muslims in the United States, many people, including Republicans are saying that yes, he is a fascist.
When asked by a NBC news reporter if Trump thought that there should be a database to track Muslims in our country, Trump response was troubling. “There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. I mean, we should have a lot of systems. And today you can do it. But right now we have to have a border, we have to have strength, we have to have a wall, and we cannot let what’s happening in this country happen any longer.” When asked if that was something that a Trump Whitehouse would implement, Trump said, “Oh, I would certainly implement that. Absolutely.”
When people think of fascists, Adolf Hitler, the Nazi party and the terrible crimes that he committed against the Jewish people and millions of others comes to mind. Trump was asked about the differences between his plans and the Nazi’s and he responded, “you tell me.”
No one has compared Donald Trump to Hitler or Benito Mussolini, that would be an extreme accusation, but their rises to popularity show certain similarities. The spread of fear was used in Nazi Germany to catapult Hitler to the head of the German government. Trump claims, “We don't have victories anymore. We used to have victories. It would be, you know, having victory after victory. We have nothing. And everything we do is wrong." Trump's rhetoric certainly feeds off people’s fears.
Trump also claims, “We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country.” That is an alarming statement when not many specifics have been offered on what these “things” would be.
Trump has claimed that Latino people coming over from Mexico illegally are “rapists” and “murderers” and some of Trumps followers have even turned to violence, beating a homeless Hispanic man. Trump said nothing. During one of his rallies, a protestor was removed by security while being kicked and punched by people in the crowd. Trump suggested that he probably “should have roughed up.”
“We had the same thing happening in Germany in the 1920s with people being roughed up by the Brownshirts and they deserved it because they were Jews and Marxists and radicals and dissidents and gypsies. "That was what Hitler was saying,” says Steve Ross, a professor of history and scholar of fascism at the University of Southern California. “I'm not saying Trump is Hitler, but the logic of condoning violence against those who oppose you, you can imagine, a man who would condone it as a candidate, what would he do as an official president?"
Republicans are even jumping on Trump's recent comments about the Muslim database. “Forced federal registration of US citizens, based on religious identity, is fascism. Period. Nothing else to call it,” tweeted John Noonan, Jeb Bush’s national security advisor. Max Boot a conservative author also voiced his opinion of Trump through Twitter stating, “Forced federal registration of U.S citizens, based on religious identity, is fascism. Period. Nothing else to call it."
Donald Trump is hoping that he can ride his early poll numbers and popularity within the Tea Party to a Republican nomination and eventually the presidency. It goes without saying that Democrats do not want to see that, but now even people within the GOP would not want to see that. It is a scary thought of what a President, who even though he might not be a fascist, but has fascist ideas could do in office.
