Smoodock's Blog

It seems clear that Donald Trump is not pro democratic or in favor of our American democratic republic. If he were, then the balance of power between the Executive, Representative and Justice branches of our government would not be in danger of collapsing. Congress does nothing but kowtow to his wishes, and those that don’t, don’t get reelected, vis-à-vis Liz Cheney, for example. More recently, Trump had a court judge arrested publicly in court, because she didn’t allow federal agents to arrest an immigrant who had testified in her courtroom.[1] This is the kind of thing that tests the independence of our three branches of government, and this practice isn’t new. Trump was doing similar things during his first administration.[2]

So, who is Trump, politically speaking, and can we know? I’ve seen evidence from folks who consider him an Authoritarian Leader, while others consider him to be a Fascist Leader. However, I have not seen anyone defend him of a bulwark or safeguard of democracy. It is not democratic policy to abandon friendly countries like Ukraine, deport innocent people to a foreign prison camp without due process. Keep in mind, these aren’t simple deportations; these are deportations to a prison camp—there is a difference, and it is without due process, imprisonment without a hearing! Moreover, Trump has targeted student visa-holders for disagreeing with the administration—and all done in the first 100 days. Imagine! Only 1300 more days to go folks!

For Authoritarians or Fascists, Democracy must be rejected. Authoritarian leaders, vis-à-vis dictators, absolute monarchs etc., maintain social order through the use of force, while Fascists view their leader as the embodiment of the people. He is their voice, and during his 2016 campaign Donald Trump claimed at one of his rallies: “I am your voice. I alone can fix it!”

Another factor concerning these two systems concern current leaders, political, media, hero’s etc. While Authoritarian regimes must curry the favor of some leading elements, Fascists don’t. They reject the political and social establishment and fuel public resentment and anger against them. Violence is often encouraged, as Trump did, concerning presumed protestors at one of his rallies. His fake news label on the leading news agencies of America is common knowledge, and he singles them out denigrating them often, because they don’t agree with each of his policies. His political opponents are evil Trump haters, and anyone in the Republican party who opposes him will lose their popular support.

Nationalism is a third factor that both political systems focus upon, and both seek to exploit a presumed superior group that it holds up as the original founding group of the nation. While Authoritarians use this policy as a means of asserting its power, Fascists promote fear of minority groups taking over and destroying the interests of the larger and favored group. While bigotry may be denied, it is policy and undeniably present. Consider this ironical take on one of Trump’s speeches: When Mexico Sends Its People!

A fourth factor concerning Authoritarian and Fascist systems of government embraces the praise of brute strength, presumed heroic behavior. While Authoritarian regimes use standing armies to maintain their power at any cost, Fascists achieve their power goals through rewards and punishment. They are bullies and promote bullying tactics among their supporters against those who oppose them. Dividing the nation into competing groups, the promote violence against the weak, by praising the strong. In fact, Trump sees himself as the ultimate warrior, the ultimate hero, as he claimed “I am your warrior. I am your justice. I am your retribution.”

Finally, for Authoritarianism, it’s all about order. Whatever promotes order, their order, is good. On the other hand, order for Fascism is centered around male dominance. The role of women is largely subjugated, and anything that the role of the heroic male, such as LGBTQ+ people will be opposed, as he makes very clear in a speech about “Only Genders Acknowledged by the US Government…” will be considered male and female. However, this translates to one’s Christian beliefs, the point is the power of the government is to be brought down against people, who are ostensibly non-violent as a group, and have not broken any laws, except for the ones Trump assumes are laws.

Christians, in as much as I am able to know through the word of God, are to be non-violent, love their neighbor, support the leaders of their country through prayer (regardless of their morality), and be gentle towards all people, while seeking to advance the Kingdom of God by telling folks about Jesus. That’s it. We aren’t called to overthrow governments, be haters of groups we consider offensive, violently oppose abortion clinics, or any like thing. We are called to live peaceful lives, challenge unrighteous behavior (certainly), but allowing the unrighteous their freedom to oppose the Gospel, and I’m not speaking, here, of allowing violence to go unchecked. We have a police force to take care of violence. The point is, we are witnesses of what Jesus has done in our lives. To do anything that would compromise that witness would be tragic.[3]

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[1] Milwaukee County Circuit Judge, Hannah Dugan, arrested for obstructing justice.

[2] See Auschwitz Survivor Confronts ICE Director (2019).

[3] The outline for this post was derived from Robert Reich’s Is Donald Trump a Fascist?