Trump might not run. But Trump chipped away the wall that hid the Republican Party’s obsession with monarchy & fascism. Accused criminal defendant Trump not running for president will not change the fascism now imbedded into the Republican Party.

We now know that Republicans can only choose a fascist for president or almost any public office.

“Authoritarians do not stir people up against establishment elites. They use or co-opt those elites. By contrast, fascists galvanize public rage at presumed (or imaginary) cultural elites to gain and maintain power.”

“In 2016, I declared I am your voice,” Trump said at his first 2024 campaign rally in Waco, Texas. “Today, I add I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

How do we describe what Trump wants for America?

“Authoritarianism” isn’t adequate. It is fascism. Fascism stands for a coherent set of ideas different from – and more dangerous than – authoritarianism.

To fight those ideas, it’s necessary to be aware of what they are and how they fit together.

Borrowing from the cultural theorist Umberto Eco, the historians Emilio Gentile and Ian Kershaw, the political scientist Roger Griffin, and the former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, I offer five elements that distinguish fascism from authoritarianism.

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Trump and the Republican party exemplify these five elements of fascism | Robert Reich

The Washington Post calls Donald Trump’s vision for a second term “authoritarian”.

Robert Reich

Sat 17 Jun 2023 06.05 EDT

That vision includes mandatory stop-and-frisk. Deploying the military to fight street crime, break up gangs and deport immigrants. Purging the federal workforce. Charging leakers.

Trump is an accused criminal. 

You’d think that would disqualify him but this is American democracy. Americans like criminals who fight against authority:

In the 1930s the battle of machine gun toting bank robbers like Bonnie & Clyde & John Dillinger vs the law had admirers on both sides.

"John Herbert Dillinger (/ˈdɪlɪndʒər/; June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He commanded the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times and escaped twice. He was charged with but not convicted of the murder of an East Chicago, Indiana, police officer, who shot Dillinger in his bullet-proof vest during a shootout; it was the only time Dillinger was charged with homicide.

Dillinger courted publicity. The media printed exaggerated accounts of his bravado and colorful personality, and described him as a Robin Hood.[1][2][3] In response, J. Edgar Hoover, director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), used Dillinger as a rationale to evolve the BOI into the Federal Bureau of Investigation, developing more sophisticated investigative techniques as weapons against organized crime.[1]

After evading police in four states for almost a year, Dillinger was wounded and went to his father's home to recover. He returned to Chicago in July 1934 and sought refuge in a brothel owned by Ana Cumpănaș, who later informed authorities of his whereabouts. On July 22, 1934, local and federal law-enforcement officers closed in on the Biograph Theater.[4] When BOI agents moved to arrest Dillinger as he exited the theater, he tried to flee, but was shot; the deadly shot was ruled justifiable homicide.[5][6]"

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John Dillinger