Here's Why Trump Went Full Nazi

[Celerity]

Last edited Wed Nov 30, 2022, 12:53 AM - Edit history (1)

Trump invited two rabid antisemites to the White House (my add, I think the author means Mar-A-Lardo), Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. Why? The answer is bleak.

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/heres-why-trump-went-full-nazi

by Ben Cohen

In The Banter Roundtable Podcast, we have long discussed the need to talk about Holocaust denying, White Supremacist Nick Fuentes. I argued recently that Fuentes would become a big MAGA star and would in time be totally normalized by the GOP. As Justin has often reminded me, what is considered extreme on the right today will almost always be normalized tomorrow. Fuentes, I figured, fit this formula exactly. The rabid Jew hater is young, incredibly stupid, and extraordinarily confident. In the MAGA world, this combination of traits is a perfect recipe for stardom. Figures like Milo Yiannopolous, Candace Owens, and Marjorie Taylor Greene have paved the way for the rise of Fuentes, and he only needed the Orange stamp of approval to become a bonafide MAGA star. This, I figured, would only be a matter of time.

So when the news broke that Donald Trump had invited America’s most prominent anti-semite Kanye West and none other than Nick Fuentes to Mar-a-Lago, I wasn’t surprised at all. I was in fact, kind of relieved. Why? Because I have always known that anti-semitism is one of the major driving forces behind the MAGA movement, and that Trump was almost certainly an anti-semite himself. Trump has flirted with borderline antisemitic statements in the past, but has always been quite careful (at least for him) about openly hating Jewish people. Now he is openly palling around with virulent Jew haters just as he begins his ‘Make America Great Again, Again’ campaign.

This is a good thing in my opinion, just so we can be clear about what we are facing this time around. A more serious question though, is why Trump decided to invite two of the most repellent political/cultural figures in America to Mar-a-Lago for a chinwag? I spent a good deal of time thinking about this over the holiday and have come to quite an unnerving conclusion.

Trump’s skills

When thinking about this question, we have to look at the bigger picture in order to assess Trump’s motives. One mistake Trump’s opponents have made over the years is underestimating his intelligence — or at least his unique skill set. I do not operate on the assumption that Trump is an idiot, and I think there are often unseen calculations he makes that the left doesn’t latch onto until it is too late. I have learned over the years of watching Trump that he has two key skills: The first is understanding his base, and the second is understanding the innate weakness of Republican politicians. This admittedly narrow set of talents has allowed Trump to do truly extraordinary things. He might have the attention span of a flea and have no intellectual interests outside of making money, but he has bent the GOP to his will and created a cult like movement completely impervious to logic, reason, or basic morality.

snip