Reflections on American fascism and Donald Trump

The Republican Establishment goes on the attack against Donald Trump

Reflections by Seemorerocks

I have to say from the start that I have very little idea of American politics other that what I have picked up along the way. The American electoral system is a total mystery to me. All I can be sure about is the impact of these people on the rest of the world.

It seems that whoever Americans vote for (especially amongst the Establishment candidates, whether Republican or Democrat, it makes no difference). It’s always seemed like choosing between the criminal and the criminally insane. It’s a case of choosing the least evil amongst a thoroughly bad bunch.

Whilst I’m reasonably sure of Bernie Sanders, who represents a minor alternative to the liberal and neo-conservative Establishment. Anywhere other than in America he would be seen as Centre-Right (as opposed to Right) – certainly not as socialist.

The Donald Trump phenomenon is more complex and contradictory – at least as I see it. On the one hand he does represent the anger of a large section of the population that has has been decimated and denied a constituency for so long – a reactionary, racist, but fascist blue collar that detest the educated elite and everything they stand for.

There is something else though.

Here we have a tweet from someone who is clearly not ill-educated,or racist, or fascist – Edward Snowden- who is saying that Trump does represent an alternative. 

I am fairly sure it is genuine and not a fake.

Why is the Republican Establishment mounting such a vicious campaign against Donald Trump?

Objectivity, on the part of the media, has totally gone out the window as in this CNN item. This is not reporting. It’s a crusade.

No doubt in my mind that the rulers on both side – Democrat or Republican, but actually Wall Street and the corporations – are fascist.

But they are fascist in the true sense. This is government rule by the corporations and Wall Street – Mussolini’s definition of fascism.

But Trump and his supporters represents something else. It is, at least in appearance, a threat to Corporate America – or at least that’s the way they see it.

Perhaps this is fascism from below – more fascism in the sense of Hitler’s regime (with its Blackshirts and attacks on the Jews) than fascism in its classic sense, or the inverted totalitarianism that Chris Hedges talks about.

I have nothing to back any of this up.

I am simply thinking aloud and trying to make sense of a confusing situation.

Whichever way you look at it, however, it does seem to me that America is headed for a Civil War.

Anyway, here is some of what has been going down (and I will always go for a non-liberal, outside voice on this, so RT fits the bill perfectly)

Mitt Romney: Donald Trump is a 'fraud'

If you want the full speech...

Trump strikes back at Romney, GOP establishment in 10 quotes

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump © Karen Pulfer Focht / Reuters

RT,

3 March, 2015

Donald Trump dismissed Mitt Romney's criticism of him as "irrelevant" and called for voters to ignore the former candidate. The Republican frontrunner also attacked Hillary Clinton, promising he is ready to face her in the general election.

In his usual manner of interspersing  jokes and attacks, Trump emphasized his independence from Wall Street, asked security to throw out four protesters, dismissed lawsuits against him as a regular thing in the business world, and praised himself for being a smart businessman with "good cash flow."

The speech, to a sold-out crowd in Portland, Maine, offered a rambling series of attacks on Romney, Clinton, Trump’s Republican rivals and others. While many of his zingers hit their targets, some bordered on bizarre.

Here are ten Trump quotes that can’t be missed:

• “I could have said, ‘Mitt, drop to your knees’ and he would have dropped to his knees. He was begging me” to endorse him, Trump said. "Begging me.”
• "I ruined my carpet that day... this carpet was wiped out," Trump said, describing a 2012 fundraiser for Romney he organized. "And nobody thanked me for the carpet. Maybe I can send Mitt a bill for 'carpet ruined'."
• “He’s a choke artist,” Trump said of Romney. “He choked, and he choked like nobody I’ve ever seen except for [Marco] Rubio in Florida when Chris Christie was grilling him.”
• "And Jeb [Bush] convinced [Romney] not to run. Can you imagine? Jeb. Jeb! See, now that he’s out, I’ll say it: He’s a high-energy salesman," Trump said.
• “Get him out. They just don't stop. Thank you. Bye bye,” the candidate said, as a second protester was ejected from the rally. “You can be nice, but if you’re nice, you get called soft. If you’re too hard, then you’re vicious. So I've developed a middle ground.”
• “We’re going to find out if Arnold [Schwarzenegger] is quick,” Trump said, referring to his replacement host on ‘The Apprentice’. “When you have Omarosa and all the other ones coming at you, you gotta be quick!”
• “It’s got an A, an A from the Better Business Bureau. So how do I settle a case like this?” Trump asked, referring to Trump University. When an audience member heckled, he added: “B+ would be okay, but we did better than a B+.”
• Hillary Clinton “called me sexist, I hit her with the husband, and that was the last time I ever heard the word sexist,” he said. “That was a rough weekend for them. Bill [Clinton] was not happy. I guarantee you he said, ‘Don’t you ever say that to him again! Say it to somebody else, but not to Trump!’”
• "You're gonna get so tired of winning you're gonna say 'please let us have a couple of losses,” Trump said at the end of his speech, promising to “make America great again.”

But much of Trump's speech was dedicated to attacking Romney, hours after the former Massachusetts governor gave a scathing critique of the GOP frontrunner.

“I heard that Mitt Romney made a fairly long speech,” Trump said, as the audience booed. “I’ll just address it quickly because it’s irrelevant.”

“I heard that Mitt Romney made a fairly long speech,” Trump said, as the audience booed. “I’ll just address it quickly b/c it’s irrelevant.”

He then accused the 2012 Republican presidential nominee of being a “failed candidate” and “choke artist” who disappeared at the end of the election. Trump also reminded voters that he had supported Romney in that race, at the candidate’s behest.

Romney hit back in a tweet, saying that he never would have accepted his endorsement had Trump made the divisive statements he has made in 2016.

I found this comentary from Canadian libertarian, Stefan Molyneux. He's not someone I like but he is thoughtful and speaking from the side.





These next two pieces refer to areas where I feel far more qualified to comment and which affect the whole world and which interest the majority of Americans the least.

Col. Wilkerson: The Foreign Policy of
Clinton, Trump, Cruz & Rubio
“Frighten Me”

The Libya Gamble: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Push for War & the Making of a Failed State

The New York Times has published a major two-part exposé titled "The Libya Gamble" on how then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed President Obama to begin bombing Libya five years ago this month. Today, Libya is a failed state and a haven for terrorists. How much should Hillary Clinton be blamed for the crisis? We speak to journalist Scott Shane of The New York Times.