Is Trump the reincarnation of Benito Mussolini?

[LongTomH]

Yeah, I know the usual comparison is between Trump and Adolph Hitler; but, there are more ways that Trump resembles another 20th Century fascist; Benito Mussolini.

Take this article from Salon: Trump's not Hitler, he's Mussolini. How GOP anti-intellectualism created a modern fascist movement in America:

Like Mussolini, Trump rails against intruders (Mexicans) and enemies (Muslims), mocks those perceived as weak, encourages a violent reckoning with those his followers perceive as the enemy within (the roughing up of protesters at his rallies), flouts the rules of civil political discourse (the Megyn Kelly menstruation spat), and promises to restore the nation to its greatness not by a series of policies, but by the force of his own personality (“I will be great for” fill in the blank).

To quote Paxton again, this time from his seminal “The Anatomy of Fascism”: “Fascist leaders made no secret of having no program.” This explains why Trump supporters are not bothered by his ideological malleability and policy contradictions: He was pro-choice before he was pro-life; donated to politicians while now he rails against that practice; married three times and now embraces evangelical Christianity; is the embodiment of capitalism and yet promises to crack down on free trade. In the words of the Italian writer Umberto Eco, fascism was “a beehive of contradictions.” It bears noting that Mussolini was a socialist unionizer before becoming a fascist union buster, a journalist before cracking down on free press, a republican before becoming a monarchist.

Like Mussolini, Trump is dismissive of democratic institutions. He selfishly guards his image of a self-made outsider who will “dismantle the establishment” in the words of one of his supporters. That this includes cracking down on a free press by toughening libel laws, engaging in the ethnic cleansing of 11 million people (“illegals”), stripping away citizenship of those seen as illegitimate members of the nation (children of the “illegals”), and committing war crimes in the protection of the nation (killing the families of suspected terrorists) only enhances his stature among his supporters. The discrepancy between their love of America and these brutal and undemocratic methods does not bother them one iota. To borrow from Paxton again: “Fascism was an affair of the gut more than of the brain.” For Trump and his supporters, the struggle against “political correctness” in all its forms is more important than the fine print of the Constitution.

Do a Google search on "Trump Mussolini" or "Trump the Reincarnation of Benito Mussolini" and you'll get hits like this:

DailyKos: Trump the Reincarnation of Mussolini

Eurasiareview.com: Donald Trump The Reincarnation of Benito Mussolini?

“It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep. My fellow-Italians we do not win any more. We must restore the Roman Empire: march on Rome, invade Ethiopia, revive law and order, make the trains run on time, stop the Bolshevists threat, close the borders to foreign influences on our Latin culture, restore Roman discipline and authority as symbolized by the bundle of wheat bound to an ax (the glorious fascist party), suppress strikes and social unrest, institute racial laws, take care of the people who have no voice, punish the crimes of the capitalistic class, restore discipline, in short make Italy great again, never mind constitutional guarantees and respect for human rights, never mind a free press or free speech, never mind political correctness!

We will insure all this through our elite praetorian guards, the Blackshirts. We must become winners again. I am destined to be the man who will restore the lost honor and the glory of Italy. Together we will construct an Italy which is commensurate to its great artistic achievements.”

If the above statements by Dictator Benito Mussolini sound slightly familiar, it is because we just heard them loud and clear at the RNC’s acceptance speech by Donald Trump. All that needs to be done is tweak them a bit. The very first quote about lions and sheep was actually tweeted by Trump only a few weeks ago. Then there is the quote about “we do not win any more” and “make America great again” propagandistically and mindlessly repeated time and again. “Fellow Italians” of course needs to be tweaked to “fellow-Americans,” closing the borders tweaked to Trump’s anti-Moslem immigration proposals, the anti-racial laws by some of the outrageous bigoted statements against Mexican-Americans, Moslem-Americans, women, people with disabilities, naturalized American citizens. Suppression of free speech can be tweaked by his anti-media statements, the Black-shirts advocacy can be replaced by his proposals that dissidents and protesters at his rallies be taken out on a stretcher. And of course “We must make Italy great again” gets replaced by “Make American Great Again.”

What has not escaped notice is that not only the rhetoric sounded familiar but even the body language and the gestures that appeared during the one hour plus speech were uncanningly and familiarly Mussolinesques. That raising of the chin with a firmly clenched mouth and a raised finger, that pose of determination and intransigence affirming one’s superiority. All that was needed was a war helmet and the resemblance would have been perfect. Some have gone as far as suggesting that we were witnessing a veritable reincarnation or rebirth of the infamous dictator.

[dawg]

1. Won't even be able ...

to make the trains run on time.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. I have given this some thought.

More Galtieri, Marcos, Somoza, Mubarak, Batista, Pahlavi, Trujillo et cetera.

Trump is more about self enrichment and aggrandizement than world domination.

[bench scientist]

11. Reminds me of Silvio Berlusconi too. Amoral con men and grifters both. nt

[Cosmocat]

3. We democratically decided to turn into an

Authoritarian, facist state.

And, it didn't suddenly occur two weeks ago, either.

Long before we chose to make DT our potus, the Rs had congess, a majority of governorships and state housesvand senates.

Trump just was the final step w a full on meglomaniac authiritarian to put the cherry on top.

This is what this country wants, at the very least is willing to accept. It isnt like DT isnt very clearly what ge is and Rs dont very ckearly state the crazy ass shit they would like to do.

[LisaL]

15. Not democratically.

Hillary got more votes than Trump.
So in the US, minority rules.

[Cosmocat]

16. It was Donald Fucking Trump

The lunatic shouldn't have gotten a single vote.

60 million or so people willingly voted for him.

And, regardless, as I noted, this country had chosen to give rs congress, control of the states ... etc.

No one put a gun to anyones head to vote Trump or anyone of the 1000s of elected asshole Rs.

Sorry, we are here because this country has chosen to be here.

[smirkymonkey]

4. And we all know how Mussolini ended up.

God, I can't stand the sight of that hideous, arrogant, smug orange face of his.

[eleny]

5. Or Berlusconi

Last edited Thu Nov 24, 2016, 06:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Anyway, that's Rula Jebreal's observation in an interview with Don Lemon the other night. Adding that he's like Berlusconi on steroids.

[andym]

6. plus 1 nt.

[name not needed]

7. No. Mussolini had better hair.

[JustAnotherGen]

8. Nope

He's not going to do shit for infrastructure.

[Bobbie Jo]

9. The dumbed-down version, perhaps.

[neverforget]

10. The Simpsons nailed it years ago

https://m.

[MFM008]

12. Yes

...........

[octoberlib]

13. This a good read. Written by Umberto Eco, who grew up

under Mussolini , for the New York Review of Books in 1995. Actually it describes the Republican party , too.


3. Irrationalism also depends on the cult of action for action’s sake. Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation. Therefore culture is suspect insofar as it is identified with critical attitudes. Distrust of the intellectual world has always been a symptom of Ur-Fascism, from Goering’s alleged statement (“When I hear talk of culture I reach for my gun”) to the frequent use of such expressions as “degenerate intellectuals,” “eggheads,” “effete snobs,” “universities are a nest of reds.” The official Fascist intellectuals were mainly engaged in attacking modern culture and the liberal intelligentsia for having betrayed traditional values.

4. No syncretistic faith can withstand analytical criticism. The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason.

5. Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity. Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks for consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.

6. Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration. That is why one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups. In our time, when the old “proletarians” are becoming petty bourgeois (and the lumpen are largely excluded from the political scene), the fascism of tomorrow will find its audience in this new majority.


3. Ur-Fascism is based upon a selective populism, a qualitative populism, one might say. In a democracy, the citizens have individual rights, but the citizens in their entirety have a political impact only from a quantitative point of view—one follows the decisions of the majority. For Ur-Fascism, however, individuals as individuals have no rights, and the People is conceived as a quality, a monolithic entity expressing the Common Will. Since no large quantity of human beings can have a common will, the Leader pretends to be their interpreter. Having lost their power of delegation, citizens do not act; they are only called on to play the role of the People. Thus the People is only a theatrical fiction. To have a good instance of qualitative populism we no longer need the Piazza Venezia in Rome or the Nuremberg Stadium. There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.

Because of its qualitative populism Ur-Fascism must be against “rotten” parliamentary governments. One of the first sentences uttered by Mussolini in the Italian parliament was “I could have transformed this deaf and gloomy place into a bivouac for my maniples”—“maniples” being a subdivision of the traditional Roman legion. As a matter of fact, he immediately found better housing for his maniples, but a little later he liquidated the parliament. Wherever a politician casts doubt on the legitimacy of a parliament because it no longer represents the Voice of the People, we can smell Ur-Fascism.


http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

14. I see Chris Christie as more of a Italian Natzi

so maybe yer connection isn't so far fetched.