Salman Rushdie destroys Trump for 'inventing a mythology of a false past' to justify his actions
“I think that what Mr. Trump is doing here that is similar to what’s happening in Britain and even what’s happening in India is in all three place, leaders are inventing a mythology of a false past, a kind of golden age, you know, that if we could only get back to, that everything would be good,” Rushdie told anchor Ari Melber. “You know, make America great again. You want to ask when exactly was that? Was it last week? Was it before slavery was abolished? Was it before the civil rights movement? Was it before women had the vote? When was America great in the way we should get back to?”
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/09/salman-rushdie-destroys-trump-for-inventing-a-mythology-of-a-false-past-to-justify-his-actions/
What makes this more interesting is that the "mythic past" is one of the key facets of fascism:
1. Conjuring a “mythic past” that has supposedly been destroyed (“by liberals, feminists, and immigrants”). Mussolini had Rome, Turkey’s Erdoğan has the Ottoman Empire, and Hungary’s Viktor Orban rewrote the country’s constitution with the aim of “making Hungary great again.” These myths rely on an “overwhelming sense of nostalgia for a past that is racially pure, traditional, and patriarchal.” Fascist leaders “position themselves as father figures and strongmen” who alone can restore lost greatness. And yes, the fascist leader is “always a ‘he.’”
http://www.openculture.com/2018/10/yale-professor-jason-stanley-identifies-three-essential-features-of-fascism.html
As Jason Stanley said in another interview, The United States does not have a fascist government, but Trump is using fascist techniques to rile up his base. He may not have 100% of the characteristics of a fascist, but he has enough that I'd be comfortable calling him a fascist.
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