Let’s not elect this guy to anything
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In July, The Huffington Post puckishly announced that it would put its coverage of Republican presidential wannabe Donald Trump in its “entertainment” section, because, for all the noise he was making, they considered his campaign little more than a “sideshow.”
Yesterday, in the wake of Trump’s alarming call for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” Arianna Huffington reversed that decision, declaring that she was “no longer entertained” by Trump’s campaign, which has “morphed into … an ugly and dangerous force in American politics.”
Huffington is not the only one who’s taking the threat of Trump more seriously these days, and for good reason. I find myself wondering, quite seriously: is this how Fascism in the US will begin?
And I don’t think I’m Godwinning myself here. While Trump isn’t a true fascist ideologue, I don’t think, there are definitely fascistic elements to his campaign, and to his popular appeal; it’s not for nothing that the neo-Nazis I sometimes write about on this blog are almost to a man big Trump fans. Indeed, the rather frighteningly popular Daily Stormer — a site that gets far more traffic than any manosphere blog — responded to Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration thusly:
Islam – 0/5 would not allow.
Get all of these monkeys the hell out of our country – now!
Heil Donald Trump – THE ULTIMATE SAVIOR.
While all this is a little bit outside the purview of this blog, I thought I would share some of what I’ve been reading about Trump and his relationship to the “f word” and open up a discussion on the subject. Because this guy isn’t going away any time soon.
In Slate, Jamelle Bouie, drawing from a classic Umberto Eco essay on the essence of fascism, argues that the f-word “is the political label that best describes what the GOP front-runner has become.”
Donald Trump May Not Be a Fascist, But He is Leading Us Merrily Down That Path
In a long and thoughtful post examining the fascistic elements of Trump’s campaign, investigative journalist and long-time right-wing watcher David Neiwert argues that
Donald Trump may not be a fascist, but his vicious brand of right-wing populism is not just empowering the latent fascist elements in America, he is leading a whole nation of followers merrily down a path that leads directly to fascism.
This is an absolutely essential read, filled with links that help to put Trump’s campaign in a broader perspective.
It’s not just Trump: Islamophobia in America is spiraling out of control
In a long and chilling post on Vox, Max Fischer chronicles the recent spread of Islamophobia in the US, arguing that
Trump is just the tip of an iceberg that runs much deeper than many Americans would like to believe. America’s climate of anti-Muslim hatred and fear, a form of bigotry known as Islamophobia, is rampaging out of control. And it has very real and legitimately scary implications for the millions of Americans who follow Islam.
95,000 Words, Many of Them Ominous, From Donald Trump’s Tongue
Two New York Times writers, with the help of several academics, analyse a week’s worth of public utterances from Trump to understand the patterns in his demagoguery.
Donald Trump is the Gamergate of Republican politics
An interesting comparison from the Washington Post’s Alyssa Rosenberg.
18 Real Things Donald Trump Has Actually Said About Women
To return to the main theme of this blog, a little collection of some of Trump’s more misogynistic quotes.
Discuss.