A TRUMP POSTSCRIPT

People on the “other” side are upset that 70 million people voted for Trump, but I find the division reassuring when I think of fascism and his fascist tendencies, because not only did he lose the election, he is clearly a sore loser at fascism in his desperate attempt to keep it alive.

A fascist leader is a cult leader who also happens to lead a country. A country under the sway of fascism is lead by a ruler who dictates at the expense of a constitution and the rule of law. He will ignore subpoenas and pardon convicted felons that happen to be his supporters. He can mesmerize his followers at rallies and then sway them into believing his propaganda with misleading information manufactured to promote only his way, often with the help of a mass media entity that profits off his distortions and basks in his praise, while he buys off industry by lowering their taxes to maintain their support.

He cozies up to dictators because that is who he identifies with. Fascism happened in Germany and Italy with great initial success. Just like any cult, followers in these countries invested their sense of self in their leader. Devotion to the cult leader, not the country, bonds supporters in the sway of his lies. When a cult leader also leads a country, the lie becomes a devotion to a fascist idea of a country, where those not in the sway of the cult leader are perceived to be enemies of the state.

A single branch is easily broken, but ten bonded together are strong. Cult supporters must stick together to remain strong, committing to a common litany of lies to maintain their perceived strength. Who would choose to be branded as weak and an enemy. During the election, Biden signs in our county were torn up or defaced by Trump supporters. There was not one report of the same thing happening to Trump signs. One side sees democracy, the other, a fascist state, although they would not call it that.

When Trump is compared to successful fascist leaders like Hitler and Mussolini, who were able to bring an entire country under their thumb, it is clear, thank Someone, that Trump has been a failure at fascism, only able to mesmerize a bit less than half the country who have subordinated their rational minds in the service of his false promises for the sake of seeming strong and bonded. Their egos have become so entwined with his personality that there is no escape from his lies, for lies further the promise of leadership, power, and dominance. Elections threaten the bond and the cult identity. Democracy threatens the zero sum promise of a stolen election. The rest is conspiracies and phantom enemies. “Jews will not replace us,” can be seen as a metaphor for those not in the sway of Trump. The Jews survived. Hitler and Mussolini did not.