Half of America believes Donald Trump’s campaign exhibits fascist undertones, with only 30 percent disagreeing, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll. The sentiment isn’t contained to Democrats, who unsurprisingly are willing to agree with a negative statement about their political rivals. Forty-five percent of independents also say Trump’s campaign has echoes of fascism, as do a full 28 percent of Republicans. About half the country believes Trump encourages violence at his campaign events, with just 34 percent saying he doesn’t. The rest aren’t sure. Meanwhile, 27 percent of Republicans say it’s acceptable to “rough up” protesters at political events.
I’ll start by saying (and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration) I doubt most Americans could even define “fascism.” If we’re talking about “echoes of fascism,” my cynical self starts by wondering if many of the respondents thought the reference was the name of a band.
I’ll have to assume those asking the questions provided a working definition of fascism, but for clarity’s sake, how about we go with:
[A] governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
If you go by that definition, there’s little doubt in my mind but that Donald Trump’s campaign doesn’t just have “echoes of fascism”…it has actual, tangible, REAL fascism behind it. This is the GOP’s presumptive nominee, someone who will almost certainly be one of two major party candidates in the general election…which means there’s more than a decent chance he could become President.
Think about that for a moment. Do we REALLY want a President who more closely resembles Benito Mussolini than FDR?
