The Seeds of Fascism

During his recent “State of the Force” speech at the Marine Corps base in Quantico Virginia, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, swore that there would be no “beardos,” “fatties,” or “weirdos” (among other derogatory names for groups of people) in the U.S. military. He then announced that the three men above would lead his “Project Meridian” which is framed as an in-depth study of the future of warfare. The three men are Palmer Luckey, Newt Gingrich, and Elon Musk, none of whom have served in the military. Any resemblance to those banned from Hegseth’s military is purely coincidental. (DOD photo)

As we enter the eighth month of our war of choice with Iran we find ourselves no closer to a negotiated settlement. Indeed, the rhetoric from Trump and his cabinet members continues to be bombastic, unhinged from reality, and full of lies. Situation normal. Meanwhile, Trump is now touring the country campaigning for MAGA Republicans — whether they want him to or not — and trying to make everything all about him. If you watch the evening news, professional football, or college football you undoubtedly saw one of his propaganda commercials. Claiming that they are Public Service Announcements (PSAs in the lingo), they are actually paeans to the dear leader Trump. They come across to me as something one would see in North Korea or Russia. One is set to the music “Love Me” by JMSN. Trump directed that 20 million dollars be set aside to pay for the ads. Oh yea. 20 million dollars in taxpayer money. Your money and mine. It is clearly illegal under U.S. law, but like most things Trumpian, they do it anyway and dare someone to stop them.

I continue to despair for our country. Trump and his Epstein class buddies are stealing from us in ever more blatant ways and no one seems to care. He demeans people, undermines our democracy, and borders on inciting violence. That is when he can express a coherent thought — which is clearly increasingly difficult for him to do. In the end, he only cares about punishing his enemies and making himself and his family and most loyal associates richer than they could have imagined possible. He is not interested in actually governing. I often hear people say that he does not represent who we are as a country. I disagree. Who is stopping him? The voters of the United States of America put him back in office knowing that he is a convicted felon, adjudicated sex offender, liar, dear friends with the biggest sex trafficker likely ever, tried to overturn a free and fair election and incited a riot where his supporters attacked law enforcement officers and tried to hang the Vice President and Speaker of the House. We are getting our just deserts. (From the Old French word deservir meaning to deserve. One ‘s’ — I just found out. But I digress.)

We are roughly a month from the mid-terms and Trump is feeling the heat. That makes him more dangerous. Based on his track record, I put nothing past him. He will do whatever it takes to keep his power from being diminished. Saturday night during a poorly attended rally in Vandalia Ohio he claimed that the Democrats (or Dumocrats as he likes to say — adding that most people do not know that “dumb” has a b in it, but if he used it then they would be dumbocrats which sounds funny) were trying to kill him. He then went on to say “We’ve defeated every hoax and overcome every threat. Now we are on the cusp of beating the communist, socialist, radicalized lunatics and villains once and for all. We’re going to put them down once and for all.” Put them down. Like an injured or dying animal?

Thinking about where all of this is taking us, I was pointed towards a June 1995 essay by Umberto Eco the Italian writer and philosopher who was in elementary school during the Mussolini regime. The essay is “Ur-Fascism” or “Eternal Fascism.” (Read it here.)

In it, he traces the historical origins of fascism and draws distinctions between its manifestations in Italy, Germany, Spain and elsewhere in the world during the twentieth century. The fascism that originated in Italy is not the same as the Nazis in Germany or Franco in Spain. He further explains that elements of fascism can actually be contradictory and that while different factions may not be exactly the same, they all have certain characteristics in common. Sadly, many of those elements are visible in the current administration. I still believe that Trump could not spell fascism, much less explain it, but he knows enough of what is going on and the personal benefits that he receives, which is sufficient for his purposes. He has no ideological compass, only concern for his own power and wealth. This makes him useful to the architects of Project 2025 and the others that want to fundamentally alter the nature of our government. Trump, especially as his physical and mental health clearly decline, is their useful idiot to be manipulated into taking actions that move them towards their goal — a country ruled by rich, white, Christian, men. Their Christianity is not the typical “Good Samaritan” form of Christ’s teachings, but more like the 19th century Southern plantation owners style of Christianity.

Eco lists fourteen characteristics of Ur-Fascism. You can read the essay to see all fourteen. Here it is sufficient to give a few examples of his analysis.

“Action for action’s sake.” As he explains, action is of itself enough. In other words, “it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.” Arbitrary and reflexive. Sound like anyone we know in the Oval Office? Eco takes it further to say that this leads to distrust of anything deemed intellectual. This leads to attacks on modern culture and anything deemed liberal or associated with universities because they are seen as undermining traditional values. Disagreement is treason.

“Fear of difference.” Disagreement is seen as diversity. A large part of Ur-Fascism is stamping out diversity in favor of unity. Sound like anyone we know in the Pentagon? A primary tool of the movement is to rally against what Eco calls the “intruders” but some now call them the “other” such as those from “shithole countries.” This leads to an insistence that only those born in the country are truly deserving. Fascism is inherently racist.

“Appeal to a frustrated middle class.” This is an appeal to those that are suffering economically or that do not feel that their government is looking out for them, especially as they feel pressure from lower socio-economic classes. Their supporters must feel as if they are under siege, from internal forces and/or external enemies.

“Contempt for the weak.” The masses are inherently weak, therefore they need a strong ruler. To succeed, the hierarchical nature of fascism means that at each level, a leader despises those under him (not her) and each of them despises their inferiors.

“Machismo.” Eco defines it as “both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.” Sex tends to be “a difficult game to play” so the Ur-Fascist “tends to play with weapons—doing so becomes an ersatz phallic exercise.”

“Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak.” This comes from George Orwell’s novel “1984” In other words, education is scaled down to the most basic of dictated vocabulary and syntax to limit the ability for critical thinking. Everyone must be in lockstep.

Please do not assume that I am calling our current leadership fascist. It is, however, alarming that they share so many common elements of fascist tendencies. Clearly this administration is using every power they can imagine — words like lawful, ethical or moral have no bearing on their actions — to establish an authoritarian regime. Their term of art is to create “a unitary executive.” The president is in charge of the government, end of discussion.

So far, my biggest disappointment and fear is that no one is trying to stop them. Certainly not the Republicans who have lost all sense of the right thing to do and have dishonored their oath to the Constitution. I also blame the Democrats who are always concerned but basically just send “stern warnings” in letters. Unfortunately, we the people, have also become accustomed to the endless parade of shenanigans, lies and power grabs. Trump has coarsened America. One can feel it in every corner of the land. What none of us would have imagined ten years ago is now “normal.”

I am not sure how we turn things around. New laws are in order to cover the things that before were “norms” or “the right thing to do” or any other limits to behavior that Trump has run a Mack truck right through.

I do know that if we don’t vote the MAGAs out, we will never get there.