Thomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024

Weekend reading: I wrote about Donald Trump’s closing pitch to the American people: Rage, intimidation, and vengeful violence.
 
He is threatening – or promising, if you ask his supporters – fascism. No more plausible deniability for anyone who refuses to see the threat.

This week’s piece:
 
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https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/donald-trump-american-fascist

Donald Trump, American Fascist

Trumpism is what a specifically American, twenty-first century version of fascism looks like. And in November, fascism is on the ballot.

Democracy Americana
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
Mere weeks before the election, I revisit the Fascism Debate and discuss where we stand after Trump has, even by his own standards, gone on a rampage recently. If anyone thought more evidence was needed before we could call it fascist, the Trumpists have certainly provided it. 2/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
Trump is not “the new Hitler” and he is not “just like Mussolini.” We are not facing an exact replica of the Ur-fascism that rose to power in Europe’s interwar period. But Trumpism is a specifically American, specifically twenty-first century version of fascism. 3/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
Trump has a fascistic way of describing the problem – and offers a fascistic solution. The nation is in decline, besieged by invading “Others” and the “enemy within”; only a providential leader, fueled by a radicalizing mass base, can restore glory by violently purging these enemies. 4/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
Trumpism regards any opposition to this project of national purification and re-birth as fundamentally illegitimate. It is dogma among Trump’s supporters that he as their leader embodies the will of the true people, the Volk – Trump is the tribune of “real America.” 5/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
The argument is not that every institution of establishment conservatism has been replaced by fascist structures. The Right is best approached as a coalition of forces, ideas, people who reject egalitarian democracy. And as of right now, the radicals are firmly in charge of that alliance. 6/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
Trumpism is in line with long-standing anti-democratic tendencies and impulses that have always defined modern conservatism as a political project. And fascism is not something foreign to American society: There is a domestic tradition of violent extremism and, yes, fascism. 7/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
In this sense, Trumpism stands in continuity with some very old ideas and movements – and in continuity with the often violent counter-mobilization that has accompanied every real or even just perceived progress towards egalitarian democracy in U.S. history. 8/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
At the same time, the status of these extremist forces within the Right has changed. They have moved to the power centers of conservative politics, and as a result, the Right has radicalized dramatically – something the superficial institutional continuity of the GOP helps obscure. 9/
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024
Trump is the fascistic leader of a rightwing coalition that unites all shades of reaction and is entirely dominated by extremism. Should Trump emerge victorious from the election, America will not become a fascist dictatorship overnight. But the Trumpist Right will try. 10/
_esooMoose_Oct 21, 2024
Show threadThomas Zimmer
Even as a best-case scenario, it will be a long, sustained struggle to move the country forward towards the kind of stable, truly egalitarian democracy it has never yet been. But if Trump is not defeated, things will get worse. Much worse. 11/
Oct 19, 2024 at 12:13pmIvory for iOS
Show threadThomas ZimmerOct 19, 2024

Donald Trump, American Fascist
 
Trumpism is what a specifically American, twenty-first century version of fascism looks like. And in November, fascism is on the ballot.

More here - please consider subscribing:
 
https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/donald-trump-american-fascist

Donald Trump, American Fascist

Trumpism is what a specifically American, twenty-first century version of fascism looks like. And in November, fascism is on the ballot.

Democracy Americana
Show threadKid ManiaOct 19, 2024

@tzimmer_history
A fantastic article Mr. Zimmer...thank you.

I encourage all to check out the link.
☠️ 🇺🇸 ☠️ Zimmer's observations, coupled with the reality of the Supreme Court's July 1st decision, paint a very ugly picture.