Is Donald Trump Really a Fascist?

The Politics Guys

Michael Baranowski

Politics, News

4.5 • 772 Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jay and Justin spend the entirety of this midweek supporters' episode discussing the F word: fascism. It’s been explicitly applied to Donald Trump recently by not only Democrats but several of his former staffers as well. What is fascism? How does it differ from other forms of authoritarianism? Does Donald Trump tick enough boxes to be one? While Trump exhibits some concerning authoritarian tendencies - like his admiration for strong leaders and inflammatory rhetoric about "corrupting the blood of America" - the reality is more nuanced than simple labels suggest. Trump's isolationist views contradict traditional fascist expansionism, and his approach differs from historical European fascism's philosophical roots. Justin and Jay emphasize that while Trump may check some fascist boxes, applying the term requires careful consideration of historical context and specific characteristics. The Politics Guys on Facebook | X Check out the Sustainable Planet podcast, as well as the free Sustainable Planet Substack. Listener support helps make The Politics Guys possible. You can support us or change your level of support at patreon.com/politicsguys or politicsguys.com/support. On Venmo we’re @PoliticsGuys. The Politics Guys is part of The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.2	Atheists, agnostics, long-haired widows, short-haired widows, vandal,
0:34.7	hooligans.
0:35.3	Love the government, hug the government, hug the government, love, the government, hug the government hug the government love the government hug the government
0:39.7	love the government hug the government.
0:42.1	Welcome to the politics guys, a place for bipartisan, rational and civil debate on American
0:47.1	politics and policy.
0:48.7	Welcome to the politics guys midweek show.
0:51.1	Again, it's Jay and Justin here.
0:54.0	Justin, who is, of course, a professor at the
0:57.1	University of Northern Iowa. I goofed up the name last week, so I apologize to you and your
1:05.1	institution. You didn't put us in Idaho or Ohio, so I'll take it. Yeah, yeah, I thought I got the
1:10.5	Northern and I got the state correct, but I'll take it. Yeah, yeah, I thought I got the Northern and I got
1:11.4	the state correct, but I just had those words in the wrong order. So, you know, the bonus show
1:16.5	is where we get to just sort of spin out other ideas and it's a little more freewheeling. And
	...

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