The symptoms of fascist thinking " can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by the desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power;
American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact"their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate ever fissure of disunity; and
[American fascists] claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution"they demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.
Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco, an Italian intellectual, born in 1932 -- 10 years after Benito Mussolini came to power -- lived the first 13 years of his life under a fascist government. In 1995 Eco presented 14 characteristics of fascism, any one of which is sufficient to form the basis of a fascist government, even though some of them are contradictory. Observers drawing on the work Eco have stressed the following characteristics in assessing how closely Trump fits the profile of a fascist.
Cult of action - Fascists distrust expertise and the intellectual world because too often, experts and thought do not favor their ideas. Instead, they prefer actions that are consistent with their preconceived ideas. Trump has assailed political opponents for being too lethargic or cerebral in opposition to himself. The difficulty he has had implementing his Muslim Ban is an exemplar of his preference for action rather than planned action.
Fear of individual differences - The most powerful appeal fascist leaders have is to instill or heighten fear of individual differences in their followers. The fascist leader labels those who are different as intruders and calls for their expulsion to restore safety. Trump has announced the establishment of an office within the Department of Homeland Security, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) to give quarterly reports on crimes committed by immigrants. The purpose of highlighting crimes committed by immigrants is clearly to heighten the threat of immigrants to make government actions against them more palatable to voters.
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