In 1935, renowned independent journalist George Seldes published Sawdust Caesar, his political biography of Italy’s dictator, Benito Mussolini. “Il Duce” ejected Seldes from Italy a decade earlier for his critical reporting. But Seldes still managed to complete the book, detailing Mussolini’s rise to power using the press, populism and violence, all backed by financiers, including Wall Street banks.
In the foreword, titled, “To Americans Facing Fascism,” Seldes warned, “Fascism not only exists in America, but it has become formidable and needs only a Duce, a Fuehrer, an organizer, and a loosening of the purse strings of those who gain materially by its victory, to become the most powerful force threatening the Republic.”
Ninety years later, we are faced with an election many predict will be won by Donald Trump, a man who in 2016 retweeted a Mussolini quote, “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep,” then defended his tweet. Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press, “I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it’s Mussolini or somebody else? It’s certainly a very interesting quote.”
What institutional checks exist on Trump’s authoritarian ambitions? The Supreme Court has repeatedly demonstrated, as recently as this week, its endorsement of the imperial presidency. The Democrats, expected to lose control of the Senate, are desperate to win back the House, as the sole means of countering Trumpism.
Meanwhile, to capitalize on a potential second Trump presidency, the right-wing Heritage Foundation has brought together over 100 like-minded organizations to form Project 2025 – a 922-page blueprint for reshaping the federal government along what critics describe as “authoritarian” and “Christian nationalist” lines, while attacking unions, climate action, universal healthcare, abortion access and more.
Another book published in 1935 was Sinclair Lewis’ dystopic novel, It Can’t Happen Here, about fascism coming to America. We now see that it can happen here. The question is, will we let it?
– Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
Excerpted from “As Authoritarianism Sweeps the Globe,
Will the U.S. Follow?”
Democracy Now!
July 3, 2024
Excerpted from “As Authoritarianism Sweeps the Globe,
Will the U.S. Follow?”
Democracy Now!
July 3, 2024
Related Off-site Links:
“So Were Mussolini and Mobutu”: Scholar Shreds Media Praise of Trump’s Performing Skills – Matthew Chapman (Raw Story, July 4, 2024).
Authoritarianism Expert Exposes Chilling “Codeword” In Project 2025 Plan For Trump – Lee Moran (The Huffington Post, July 4, 2024).
Fascination With Fascism: How Project 2025 Enables Trump’s Vision to Dismantle American Democracy – Thom Hartmann (Milwaukee Independent, June 25, 2024).
Trump Isn’t Like Hitler, He’s Like Mussolini – Dave Nagal (The Courier, January 20, 2024).
Trump Steals a Strategy From Mussolini’s Playbook – John Nichols (The Nation, February 1, 2022).
Mussolini Seized Full Power 97 Years Ago: Does Donald Trump Long to Follow Suit? – Matthew Rozsa (Salon, January 2, 2022).
Woodward and Costa’s Book Peril Shows Trump as Mussolini-in-Waiting – Joe Sims (People’s World, October 22, 2021).
UPDATES: Trump’s Far-Right Army Is Threatening Bloodshed. Believe Them – Thom Hartmann (Common Dreams, July 5, 2024).
It May Not Be the Choice You Want, But Voting Remains Vital When Fascism Is on the Ballot – Bill Ayers (Common Dreams, July 5, 2024).
See also the previous Wild Reed post:
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – July 1, 2024
• The Ongoing Danger of the Trump Cult and the Wider Specter of American Fascism
• Dan Rather on America’s “Moment of Reckoning”
• Donald Trump’s Open and Shameless Criminality
• Insurrection at the United States Capitol
• Trump’s Legacy
• Republicans Don’t Care About American Democracy
• “We Have an Emergency On Our Hands”: Marianne Williamson On the “Freefall” of American Democracy
• “Fascism Is Upon Us”
• Adam Serwer: Quote of the Day – May 23, 2018
• On International Human Rights Day, Saying “No” to Donald Trump and His Fascist Agenda
• Progressive Perspectives on the Election of Donald Trump as President of the United States
• Progressive Perspectives on the Rise of Donald Trump
Quite possibly so. The center of gravity of American public mood about what it fears - and it is fears that rudder elections, not hopes* - has moved considerably away from the American left towards the American right. That's the more dominant pattern in American electoral politics, punctuated by shorter spasms of the opposite trend, the most recent one of which is now fading, and the fork is being stuck into its carcass. (The lefter the spasm, the shorter the spasm.) The fears that the American right appeal to are more atavistic and deep than most of the fears the American left appeal to, so the situation is asymmetrical. It's certainly not "fair", but there is no equivalence. For Democrats, reproductive rights is a much more keenly felt fear rudder for voting than climate change, student debt, or housing costs; people hoping to rely on "younger" voters to make a difference are ignoring a lot of internal contradictions at different levels of opinions in that group (surface level vs deeper levels) given the bubbled and shallow nature of their news media feeds.
ReplyDelete* Parts of America prefer to have this reality veiled from their self-awareness. Obama's vague "Hope and Change" theme of 2008 was expertly crafted to provide such a veil - what Americans feared then was the Panic of 2008 and continuation of American boots on the ground in the maliciously misbegotten GWOT, and that's what really ruddered the vote.