Every time Trump says something more fascistic than the last his poll numbers go up. The excuse for his supporters is that they are angry and the usual litany of grievances is repeated. Recall that the people of Germany had legitimate grievances, too, but they don’t get a pass for supporting war and genocide, which are what Trump is getting perilously close to.
Here is an excerpt from a column on Trump by Peter Bergen, CNN National Security Analyst:
“One is therefore left with the conclusion that Trump is a proto-fascist, rather than an actual fascist. In other words, he has many ideas that are fascistic in nature, but he is not proposing violence as a way of implementing those ideas.”
OK. Proto works. It was when he told us that he would deport eleven million people from this country that the light went on for me: how do you do that without a fascistic and violent force to carry it out? You can be a Communist dictator or a Right-winger or some such; you don’t have to be a fascist. But to satisfy Bergen’s criteria, it works. So we’ll go with proto until he turns his followers into a “internal security” force…… but take a look at the numerous calls for violence and actual violence at his rallies. Does that tell you something? I think he already has some ready recruits.