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Fascism is all the rage in Europe, and it’s coming to America
Tuesday, Dec 8, 2015 01:03 PM EST
Neo-fascism is on the rise in Europe, and there are echoes of it in Donald Trump's increasingly dangerous rhetoric
...
Over the weekend France’s far-right National Front (FN) won 30 percent of the national vote in the first round of regional elections, becoming the most popular party in France. The FN, as Salon’s Ben Norton noted, “runs on a harshly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim platform. Le Pen [president of the FN], wants to eliminate immigration and make it much more difficult for migrants already in the country to attain citizenship. The FN says it has zero tolerance for undocumented immigrants, and hopes to ban dual nationality for non-Europeans.”
The rise of the FN is an indication of where France – and Europe more generally – is heading. Across Europe, parties that traffic in xenophobia and neo-fascism are finding more and more success in electoral politics, and right-wing demagogues are capitalizing on growing frustrations among their electorates.
And it’s impossible to miss the parallels in America.
<snip>
Trump presents a real challenge to our political system. It’s a mistake to think fascism – real fascism – can’t happen here, or that it would never look anything like it has in the past. That’s a dangerous illusion. It’s not at all implausible to say we’re one more terrorist attack or economic downturn away from something like a Donald Trump presidency.
Trump’s shtick is perfectly attuned to our chaotic climate. However ridiculous his ideas may be (and they are ridiculous), he’s exploiting legitimate fears among the populace. Radical Islamism is a real problem, and conservatives aren’t wrong to be worried about it. Trump has nothing to offer in the way of solutions, however. He’s added nothing to the conversation but hysteria and hate. And that’s all he’ll do so long as he’s part of our discourse.
cont'd...
Link: http://www.salon.com/2015/12/08/fascism_is_all_the_rage_in_europe_and_its_coming_to_america/
Neo-fascism is on the rise in Europe, and there are echoes of it in Donald Trump's increasingly dangerous rhetoric
...
Over the weekend France’s far-right National Front (FN) won 30 percent of the national vote in the first round of regional elections, becoming the most popular party in France. The FN, as Salon’s Ben Norton noted, “runs on a harshly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim platform. Le Pen [president of the FN], wants to eliminate immigration and make it much more difficult for migrants already in the country to attain citizenship. The FN says it has zero tolerance for undocumented immigrants, and hopes to ban dual nationality for non-Europeans.”
The rise of the FN is an indication of where France – and Europe more generally – is heading. Across Europe, parties that traffic in xenophobia and neo-fascism are finding more and more success in electoral politics, and right-wing demagogues are capitalizing on growing frustrations among their electorates.
And it’s impossible to miss the parallels in America.
<snip>
Trump presents a real challenge to our political system. It’s a mistake to think fascism – real fascism – can’t happen here, or that it would never look anything like it has in the past. That’s a dangerous illusion. It’s not at all implausible to say we’re one more terrorist attack or economic downturn away from something like a Donald Trump presidency.
Trump’s shtick is perfectly attuned to our chaotic climate. However ridiculous his ideas may be (and they are ridiculous), he’s exploiting legitimate fears among the populace. Radical Islamism is a real problem, and conservatives aren’t wrong to be worried about it. Trump has nothing to offer in the way of solutions, however. He’s added nothing to the conversation but hysteria and hate. And that’s all he’ll do so long as he’s part of our discourse.
cont'd...
Link: http://www.salon.com/2015/12/08/fascism_is_all_the_rage_in_europe_and_its_coming_to_america/
2 replies
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Response to inanna (Original post)
