Half of America breathed a sigh of relief when power was finally transferred from, the would be autocrat Donald J. Trump, to the less colorful but entirely predictable Joe Biden. The Biden half believe his ascension represents a return to rationality, to social justice, to the standards of comportment expected of a liberal democracy, indeed, to civility itself. This half of America hopes we can end this chapter of American history and return to normal. But, what of the other half, the half for whom normal is not working, the millions who voted for Trump? Where will they go, what will they do, how will their anger be manifest? Will “Trumpism” turn into a proto-fascist movement as many fear? Are the conditions ripe for such a movement? It would seem so. Trumpism seems to share some important features with historical fascism:
- The adoration of a strong leader (Mussolini, Hitler, Franco, Peron etc.)
- The fear and hostility towards an outsider group (Jews, immigrants, Muslims)
- Nostalgia for and identity with a mythical past (MAGA, Pax Romana, Aryan civilization, the old South, etc.)
- An obsession with guns and the second amendment (Black Shirts, Proud Boys, militarization of civil society, militias)
- A belief in conspiracies (The Elders of Zion, Q-anon, communist subversion etc.)
- Fanatical anti-communism (On the rise)
- The ability to mobilize citizens in the streets and at mass rallies beneath the flags of pernicious identities (Nuremberg, March on Rome)
- A fanatical form of patriotism and glorification of the State (The State is currently an infested swamp but once cleansed becomes the supreme authority beholden only to the Dear Leader)
- A strong distrust in the “lying” media (Fake news)
- A wide spread sense of the betrayal of former leaders
- A shameless open misogyny
All of these elements—and the list could go on–seem to be present in Trumpism and when coupled with the abyss of an economic crisis, a pandemic and a divided governing class, it is not unreasonable to suggest that something resembling fascism is looming on the horizon.
Can it be stopped? Before attempting to answer this question a few curious facts should be acknowledged and questioned. Trumpism and the recent growth of the moderate left of the Democratic Party emerged from the same soil; in many cases the supporters of Obama, Trump and Biden were interchangeable. What reconciles this seeming contradiction? Hannah Arendt1 was right to remind us of the mass of literature from the ancients that warned of the affinity between democracy and tyranny. It is of course a striking phenomenon with what relative ease 20th century liberal democracies transformed into totalitarian states and back again. There must be something in common that gives shape to the social subjectivity of the mass of citizens who are prepared to move in two directions simultaneously. I believe that the common social bond– expressed equally by the two factions of the ruling elite, is economic liberalism.2 Whether a state was seeking to expand the democratic franchise as a mode of social control or an authoritarian state determined to grind its citizens beneath the iron heel of fascistic autocracy, economic liberalism was always the desired outcome. The politics of the left or right are mere strategies to secure the expansion of the liberal economy.
What is the nature of economic liberalism, especially when in crisis, that opens so many to authoritarian solutions? This is a complex question but Arendt points her finger some of the effects of contemporary economic development citing social atomization, extreme individualization, a competitive social structure and extreme isolation and loneliness; in a word, widespread feeling of social alienation. This is how we create a nation of sociopaths. The Biden wing of the ruling elite may turn out to be the mirror image of Trump, equally dedicated to the expansion of the liberal economy, indeed defenders who will tolerate no challengers. If we wish to resist the devastating effects of a prolonged economic crisis we must embrace those moments of resistance that insist that we are more than cogs in an economic machine whose sole right to exist is to protect the interest of the rich.
2/15/2021
1 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
2 I use the term liberalism in its traditional form to mean–a free-market in goods and labor, along with the absolute right to private property as the cornerstone of individual liberty– first clearly articulated by John Locke, i.e. capitalism
“A Sigh of Relief” clearly links the turn to fascism to countries where “democracy” was the prevailing state form, Weimar Germany and the rise of Nazism being a case in point. However, is the “threat” that democracies will turn to fascism, or is it the case that capitalist democracy itself provides ample political space for the most horrific and nationalistic political action by capital? Two world wars in the twentieth century provide horrific examples of just that. In the U.S. for instance both world wars provide us with perfect examples of just that: the crusades against anything “German,” including immigrant communities of German origin in World War One, and the removal of Japanese Americans to concentration camps in World War Two, clearly demonstrate that capitalism does not require fascism or anti-democratic regimes to wage imperialist war. The experience of Britain and the U.S. in both world wars clearly demonstrated that democratic regimes have the capacity to not just wage imperialist war, but to criminalize ethnic or religious minorities in the service of it. Whatever the fate of Trumpism in the U.S. the mobilization against the Chinese “threat” does not necessarily require fascism or outright authoritarian rule; constitutional democracy seems to provide a more than adequate framework for just that.
MI