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In July, The Huffington Post puckishly announced that it would put its coverage of Republican presidential wannabe Donald Trump in its “entertainment” section, because, for all the noise he was making, they considered his campaign little more than a “sideshow.”
Yesterday, in the wake of Trump’s alarming call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” Arianna Huffington reversed that decision, declaring that she was “no longer entertained” by Trump’s campaign, which has “morphed into … an ugly and dangerous force in American politics.”
Huffington is not the only one who’s taking the threat of Trump more seriously these days, and for good reason. I find myself wondering, quite seriously: is this how Fascism in the US will begin?
And I don’t think I’m Godwinning myself here. While Trump isn’t a true fascist ideologue, I don’t think, there are definitely fascistic elements to his campaign, and to his popular appeal; it’s not for nothing that the neo-Nazis I sometimes write about on this blog are almost to a man big Trump fans. Indeed, the rather frighteningly popular Daily Stormer — a site that gets far more traffic than any manosphere blog — responded to Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration thusly:
Islam – 0/5 would not allow.
Get all of these monkeys the hell out of our country – now!
Heil Donald Trump – THE ULTIMATE SAVIOR.
While all this is a little bit outside the purview of this blog, I thought I would share some of what I’ve been reading about Trump and his relationship to the “f word” and open up a discussion on the subject. Because this guy isn’t going away any time soon.
In Slate, Jamelle Bouie, drawing from a classic Umberto Eco essay on the essence of fascism, argues that the f-word “is the political label that best describes what the GOP front-runner has become.”
Donald Trump May Not Be a Fascist, But He is Leading Us Merrily Down That Path
In a long and thoughtful post examining the fascistic elements of Trump’s campaign, investigative journalist and long-time right-wing watcher David Neiwert argues that
Donald Trump may not be a fascist, but his vicious brand of right-wing populism is not just empowering the latent fascist elements in America, he is leading a whole nation of followers merrily down a path that leads directly to fascism.
This is an absolutely essential read, filled with links that help to put Trump’s campaign in a broader perspective.
It’s not just Trump: Islamophobia in America is spiraling out of control
In a long and chilling post on Vox, Max Fischer chronicles the recent spread of Islamophobia in the US, arguing that
Trump is just the tip of an iceberg that runs much deeper than many Americans would like to believe. America’s climate of anti-Muslim hatred and fear, a form of bigotry known as Islamophobia, is rampaging out of control. And it has very real and legitimately scary implications for the millions of Americans who follow Islam.
95,000 Words, Many of Them Ominous, From Donald Trump’s Tongue
Two New York Times writers, with the help of several academics, analyse a week’s worth of public utterances from Trump to understand the patterns in his demagoguery.
Donald Trump is the Gamergate of Republican politics
An interesting comparison from the Washington Post’s Alyssa Rosenberg.
18 Real Things Donald Trump Has Actually Said About Women
To return to the main theme of this blog, a little collection of some of Trump’s more misogynistic quotes.
Discuss.
Now Katie Hopkins is saying she agrees with Trump about London, claiming that her family feels in danger in the city and friends are too afraid to visit. She’s such a fucking liar. They only feel in danger because of her fear-mongering.
Trump’s also called her a ‘respected columnist’ – wha? What the hell is he on?
Win or lose, there will be long lasting repercussions to the Trump candidacy.
This moment in history has been a long time coming. Does anyone remember the Angry White Men phenom? Donahue and Dave Chapelle? Militia movement? Sovereign citizens? Cop on Black crime? Estimated growth of white power groups is off the charts, never seen at these levels since reconstruction.
We have increasingly short memories and a terrible shortsightedness that permeates the culture. And then we elect the first president of color and expect to be immediately transported into a post-racial society?
There have been so many signals for so many years pointing to this very moment and we as a culture, missed them all, or ignored them, or …
I won’t pretend I know where this is leading, but what I do know that previously sensible if uninformed individuals I know personally are buying more and more of the reactionary rhetoric and racist slop by the day, there are many more behind them.
Looking through blogs like the Stormer makes my blood run cold because this is the face of a growing number of blue color whites, some of the same ones whose fathers fought against Nazism are buying into exactly the ideology they fought against.
Its terrifying and sad to say that Trump is only the tip of the iceberg, and very likely the tipping point in a period of domestic unrest that will last a very long time.
@rugbyogi
That, and vast amounts of natural resources. Hence the massive consumer culture that exists in America far more prominently than other countries.
@nparker
Well this is an instance where the saying “birds of a feather flock together” is very appropriate! After all, both Trump and Katie Hopkins keep their names in the media through pandering to the far right racist population at large. Although of course in Hopkins’s case the fact that she writes for the Daily Mail doesn’t make things more difficult.
Yes, I’m a single-country wonk, but both of those are also true of Russia.
@ Monzach
Very true. In another life, Trump would so be a Daily Mail columnist. (Have you seen the comment sections?)
@nparker
I think I found one of his articles from that life:
http://i.imgur.com/ZT3bfXW.jpg
@ Film Runner
That made me laugh on a less than good day for me, so thankyou!
Also, I’m unsurprised that the Daily Mail today often features articles that don’t seem too different, including calling people names- ‘stupid’ for Rothermere, ‘feminazi’ today. (Seriously, they used a word practically only used by internet trolls in a headline on the front page.)
Everyone, I’ve also just found out that both my mum and my brother like, defend and agree with Katie Hopkins, and so to a certain extent Donald Trump. The only defence of themselves seems to just be ‘everyone has subjective opinions,’ which is just an infuriating copout.(oh and declaring my argument invalid because I pronounced ‘xenophobe’ wrong). It’s all really upset me, frankly. I though I knew them better. I mean, I’ve been drifting apart from them for a while, which kills me because they’ve given my life so much more worth. You’ve given really good advice before, and some seem to have similar problems here too- any advice at all?
I don’t know how much more of his moronic yammerings I can handle. He’s already acting like he’s the president. Someone make it stop.
Awesome!
Nope. Not just you. I think of him as “Trumpy”, too. He certainly says and does a lot of stupid things.
Great to see you here, too, C.L!
That is awesome! That eagle is expressing the thoughts of a majority of Americans.
Those don’t make the list, because they are true of several other countries and do not contribute anything to the combination of characteristics that make the United States what it is. The three I listed are also shared – individually, not in whole – by other countries, but they are in combination sufficient to explain it all. No other nation has that exact combination of characteristics. If you ask, “What makes the US different from Arbitrary Country?” the answer will always be one or more of the three that I listed. There is no need to expand the list to encompass 100% of the “uniqueness” of the United States.
On the subject of FREEDOM EAGLES hating Trump, also have this:
http://49.media.tumblr.com/e1faa8a49c18febd3a1e5e73b198e993/tumblr_nz43dqVWhO1tsf68ao1_400.gif
He has been rejected by the Eagles. Hopefully this is a sign.
The Eagle has spoken! Or tried to bite Trump anyway. This is clearly a sign indeed.
Also in other news a Mexican made a piñata that looks like Trump.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/this-mexican-artist-made-an-uncanny-donald-trump-pinata/
Matt Taibbi is calling Trump as “fuckfacevonclownstick” right now in Twitter, with a matching hashtag.
Also also: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/its-too-late-to-turn-off-trump-20151209
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/donald-trump-white-supremacists-216620
Eagle: No! Go away!
[And so say we all.]
We Asked a White Supremacist What He Thinks of Donald Trump
http://flip.it/bPjIx
I’d say I’m baffled, but my reaction to support for Trump has migrated more towards depression than surprise.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/us/politics/fear-of-terrorism-lifts-donald-trump-in-new-york-times-cbs-poll.html?_r=0&referer=
The french Trump, the Le Pen family of the National Front, have failed in the current round of election, because their party is too isolated in the far right and is unable to use alliances to win.
For France, it’s a good news, and it hint the far right will continue to fail at elections in the next few years. At least if the right party continue to refuse to ally or merge with them.
Drawing parralels between the position of the french far right and Donald Trump, I think it mean that he can’t win if he don’t get the Republican investiture, but that there is still a chance he win if he is the republican candidate.
At any rate, I hope Donald Trump, the Le Pen family, and all the fascists of the world will continue to fail in their elections.
Has anyone else seen the creepy comments that Trump makes about his daughter that pretty much say “if I wasn’t her father, I’d be dating her”?
I saw the Daily Show segment on it yesterday.
Apologies for getting the Necronomicon out but people might get some mild amusement from this bit of news.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/16/donald-trump-loses-appeal-windfarms-scottish-golf-course