While Democratic strategists debate whether or not their attack ads labeling Donald Trump a fascist have been effective, experts and academics told the Guardian his campaign and the Republican party he now heads have clear autocratic sympathies and political qualities that are firmly in line with fascism movements historically.

Put together, that makes any Trump victory this week and his return to the White House for a second presidential term a clear threat to US democracy, they added.

“There couldn’t be a more obvious example of a fascist social and political movement about to take power,” said Jason Stanley, a Yale philosophy professor whose new book, Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, looks at the global playbook of fascists through the lens of America and beyond.

    • bradinutah@thelemmy.club
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      21 days ago

      The background of every candidate matters. If the guy ran a casino into the ground, that’s worth reading about if you’re gonna hire him. Of he’s a misogynist, that matters too. When you’re hiring, you choose the best candidate. It ALL matters. You want to pick the best. And there’s plenty of ways for a candidate to disqualify themselves. Weird Old 34 has lots and lots of disqualifying characteristics, with fascist in the top ten.