Trump Is Something Worse Than a Fascist

[babylonsister]

Trump Is Something Worse Than a Fascist
by Heather Digby Parton | January 16, 2026 - 6:32am

— from Salon

snip//

Many Americans have finally wrapped their minds around the idea that we are dealing with a presidency and political movement that can be defined as authoritarian, and even fascist. But after observing Trump over the past year and seeing how he responds to an interview in which the reporters have the time and opportunity to ask follow-up questions, it is clear that those are not the underlying principles that are guiding this presidency.

The better definition for Trumpism is an ancient word that should nonetheless be familiar to anyone who recalls the founding ideals of this country: tyranny. Plato saw it as an inevitable consequence of democracy, when a quest for freedom leads to excess and the populace demands a strongman. He defined it, more or less, as rule for himself rather than the common good, maintained under a system of fear and violence, and characterized by repression of the citizenry — particularly those who are educated and ethical — while relying on lackeys to carry out the tyrant’s wishes and whims.

Plato’s student Aristotle agreed that tyranny was the worst of all possible worlds, but he disagreed that it was the unavoidable outcome of democracy, stressing that the rule of law could mitigate the excesses of the people and tyrant alike. Centuries later, having studied the classics, many leaders of the American Revolution saw King George III as a classic tyrant, and so they fashioned the Constitution around the Aristotelian idea that systems and laws could prevent their new democracy from drifting into tyranny.

The United States has been remarkably lucky that, throughout its 250-year evolution, that assumption had not been seriously tested by any of its leaders until now. Certainly, there have been imperious, corrupt, domineering leaders in our past, but no one has embodied that special brand of ignorance, ego and total self-interest that Donald Trump is bringing to the Oval Office in his second term as president. The rule of law, and our system of checks and balances, have turned out to be quite weak in the face of a man who has no concept of what those are and who operates purely out of greed and self-regard.

You can see this in Trump’s character every day. He is not interested in ideology or philosophy. The president believes in himself and himself alone, and he has been so successful at evading all accountability for everything he’s done in his life that he sees himself as invulnerable. That has freed him to rule completely by whim.

more...

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/heather-digby-parton/115975/trump-is-something-worse-than-a-fascist

[UpInArms]

1. The guardians of pedophiles have been preparing

for this since Raygun … and newt Gingrich’s permanent republican majority …

Remember Jack abramoff?

They have been looking for their strongman cult leader for a long time