[The American media needs to call this movement what it is,
fascism, and demand accountability and answers from the thousands of
Republican politicians nationwide who refuse to repudiate it.]
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TRUMP IS NOT OUR BIGGEST PROBLEM: IT’S THE OPEN FASCISM HE HAS
UNLEASHED  
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Thom Hartmann
December 13, 2022
Medium
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_ The American media needs to call this movement what it is, fascism,
and demand accountability and answers from the thousands of Republican
politicians nationwide who refuse to repudiate it. _

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally on November
7, 2022 in Vandalia, Ohio., photo: MSNBC

 

Reporters for TPM obtained text messages between Trump's Chief of
Staff Mark Meadows (formerly a Tea Party congressman) and 34
Republican members of Congress advocating stragegies to end democracy
in America by keeping Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election.

For example, South Carolina's Republican Congressman Ralph Norman
texted Meadows:

"Mark, in seeing what's happening so quickly, and reading about the
Dominion law suits attempting to stop any meaningful investigation we
are at a point of no return in saving our Republic !! Our LAST HOPE is
invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!"

His misspelling "martial"—as in "having the military take over the
country"—notwithstanding, Norman was pushing to end the American
experiment in much the same way Robert E. Lee tried to do in 1861.

This is not a coincidence.

Meanwhile, a new poll shows 61 percent of Republicans have abandoned
Trump, but not because they object to his brutality or lawlessness;
they're just largely concerned that he can't win elections in the
future in part because he may end up in prison.

If authoritarian fascism isn't defeated now it will certainly tear our
nation apart.

This increasingly includes the 147 members of Congress, 10 of them US
Senators, who voted to end American democracy on January 7th, 2021.

So, they're jumping on the DeSantis train, a man largely
indistinguishable from Trump when it comes to supporting cruel,
racist, white male supremacist policies.

This is happening because Trump launched a modern-day authoritarian
fascist movement, with the help and encouragement of Putin and a
handful of American and foreign billionaires.

And the authoritarian-follower Americans who first embraced Trump are
now looking for the next leader of that movement.

The big mistake so many political observers make is assuming that
Trumpism is all about Trump. It's not.

It's all about a 21st century American version of authoritarian
fascism.

There's always been a strain of authoritarian fascism in American
politics, as there has been in every moment of major political crisis
around the world.

Here in the United States it reached a peak in the deep South in 1860,
leading to secession and Civil War, and was defeated by Abraham
Lincoln.

It came back in a big way in the 1930s with the America First
movement, who's most prominent spokesperson was Charles Lindbergh.
Rachel Maddow has recently and brilliantly documented part of that in
her new Ultra podcast series.

In Congress nearly 100 members of that movement, almost all
Republicans, gave speeches praising Adolf Hitler or offering
legislation or resolutions to prevent President Roosevelt from
challenging Germany.

The nation's #1 best-selling author at the time, Nero Wolfe creator
Rex Stout, compiled their speeches into a book titled The Illustrious
Dunderheads. That movement largely vanished after World War II when a
new generation of Americans discovered the horrors of authoritarian
fascism.

And now, here it is again.

Arnold Toynbee, it is said, argued that every 80 years or so America
repeats its greatest political mistakes, and must learn that lesson
through mass death because 80 years is the rough span of human life.

Reporters for TPM obtained
[[link removed]] text
messages between Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (formerly a Tea
Party congressman) and 34 Republican members of Congress advocating
stragegies to end democracy in America by keeping Trump in office
after he lost the 2020 election.

For example, South Carolina’s Republican Congressman Ralph
Norman texted
[[link removed]] Meadows:

_“Mark, in seeing what’s happening so quickly, and reading about
the Dominion law suits attempting to stop any meaningful investigation
we are at a point of no return in saving our Republic !! Our LAST HOPE
is invoking Marshall Law!! PLEASE URGE TO PRESIDENT TO DO SO!!”_

HIS MISSPELLING “MARTIAL” — AS IN “HAVING THE MILITARY TAKE
OVER THE COUNTRY” — NOTWITHSTANDING, NORMAN WAS PUSHING TO END THE
AMERICAN EXPERIMENT IN MUCH THE SAME WAY ROBERT E. LEE TRIED TO DO IN
1861.

THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE.

Meanwhile, a new poll shows
[[link removed]] 61
percent of Republicans have abandoned Trump, but not because they
object to his brutality or lawlessness; they’re just largely
concerned that he can’t win elections in the future in part because
he may end up in prison.

This increasingly includes the 128 members of Congress, 10 of them US
Senators, who voted to end American democracy on January 7th, 2021.

So, they’re jumping on the DeSantis train, a man largely
indistinguishable from Trump when it comes to supporting cruel,
racist, white male supremacist policies.

THIS IS HAPPENING BECAUSE TRUMP LAUNCHED A MODERN-DAY AUTHORITARIAN
FASCIST MOVEMENT, WITH THE HELP AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF PUTIN AND A
HANDFUL OF AMERICAN AND FOREIGN BILLIONAIRES.

And the authoritarian-follower Americans who first embraced Trump are
now looking for the next leader of that movement.

THE BIG MISTAKE SO MANY POLITICAL OBSERVERS MAKE IS ASSUMING THAT
TRUMPISM IS ALL ABOUT TRUMP. IT’S NOT.

It’s all about a 21st century American version of authoritarian
fascism.

THERE’S ALWAYS BEEN A STRAIN OF AUTHORITARIAN FASCISM IN AMERICAN
POLITICS, AS THERE HAS BEEN IN EVERY MOMENT OF MAJOR POLITICAL CRISIS
AROUND THE WORLD.

Here in the United States it reached a peak in the deep South in 1860,
leading to secession and Civil War, and was defeated by Abraham
Lincoln.

It came back in a big way in the 1930s with the America First
movement, who’s most prominent spokesperson was Charles Lindbergh.
Rachel Maddow has recently and brilliantly documented part of that in
her new _Ultra_
[[link removed]] podcast series.

In Congress nearly 100 members of that movement, almost all
Republicans, gave speeches praising Adolf Hitler or offering
legislation or resolutions to prevent President Roosevelt from
challenging Germany.

The nation’s #1 best-selling author at the time, Nero Wolfe
[[link removed]] creator Rex Stout,
compiled their speeches into a book titled The Illustrious
Dunderheads
[[link removed]].
That movement largely vanished after World War II when a new
generation of Americans discovered the horrors of authoritarian
fascism.

AND NOW, HERE IT IS AGAIN.

Arnold Toynbee, it is said, argued that every 80 years or so America
repeats its greatest political mistakes, and must learn that lesson
through mass death because 80 years is the rough span of human life.

_“When the last man who remembers the horrors of the last great war
dies,” he’s often quoted as saying, “the next great war becomes
inevitable.”_

SIMILARLY, WHEN THE LAST AMERICANS WHO FOUGHT FASCISM DIE OUT, THE
NEXT AUTHORITARIAN FASCIST MOVEMENT IS CERTAIN TO EMERGE, LEADING US
BACK TO THE STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY.

* In the 1770s, Americans fought and died in the Revolutionary War
against British oligarchs and their colonialism policy, that
generation’s version of authoritarian fascism.
* Eighty years later, as that generation died out in the 1850s, the
new authoritarian fascism of the Confederate South rose up and
declared another war in America. Over 600,000 Americans died to defeat
fascism that time.
* Eighty years after the Civil War, Americans again defeated
fascism, both overseas and here at home, losing almost a half-million
American lives but winning World War II and reaffirming the values of
American democracy.

Politicians and newspapers who’d spotted the rise of authoritarian
fascism in the old South and in the 1930s America First movement tried
to warn the country about the dangers of rising fascism here and
abroad.

In both cases they failed and war broke out.

AND NOW, ROUGHLY 80 YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR II, HERE WE ARE AGAIN.

The question this time is whether, in an era of mass media and the
internet, that infrastructure will be used to strengthen and spread
today’s new fascism, or will succeed in awakening and alerting the
American people.

It isn’t about Republican versus Democrat; it’s about
authoritarian fascism versus democracy in our republic.

The stakes are much bigger than the political futures of the members
of Congress, or even leadership of the Republican Party.

If authoritarian fascism isn’t defeated now it will certainly tear
our nation apart, will accelerate the growth of fascism around the
world, and end the American experiment with representative republican
democracy.

Its support and funding from within the senior levels of American
industry (particularly fossil fuels and finance) also means its
successes damage humanity’s ability to deal with serious crises like
climate change, disease, and poverty.

Just putting Trump into jail isn’t going to solve this problem;
indeed, when Hitler was put into jail it strengthened him, turning him
into a martyr. Some observers of the Israeli scene believe the same
thing happened when Benjamin Netanyahu was indicted for bribery and
corruption and then won re-election.

This is a critical moment for American media to stop handling this
movement with kid gloves and start calling it what it is: fascism. And
to begin demanding accountability and answers from the thousands of
Republican politicians nationwide who refuse to repudiate it.

_[Thom Hartmann is a talk-show host and the author of "The Hidden
History of Monopolies: How Big Business Destroyed the American Dream"
(2020); "The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of
America" (2019); and more than 25 other books in print.]_

 

* Fascism
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* democracy
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* Donald Trump
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* MAGA
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* GOP
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* Republican Party
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* 2020 elections
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* 2022 Elections
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* 2024 Elections
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* Ron DeSantis
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* U.S. history
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* Civil War
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* Racism
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