The Daily Blast: Trump’s Unhinged Ranting At Biden’s FBI Reveals His “Wannabe Fascism”
May 23, 2024
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Federico Finchelstein, expert on fascist movements, discusses Trump's 'wannabe fascism' and MAGA Republicans' dangerous conspiracies. Topics include FBI targeting, manipulation tactics, 'wannabe fascism' concept, American fascism threats, and the importance of voting for democracy.
Trump and MAGA Republicans propagate false claims about Biden's FBI, reflecting a trend of distorting facts for political gain.
Analysis of 'wannabe fascism' highlights the dangerous elements of totalitarian lies, violence, racism, and dictatorship in Trump's rhetoric and actions.
Deep dives
Trump's Conspiracy Theory on FBI Intentions
MAGA Republicans are promoting a conspiracy theory alleging that President Biden's FBI intended to harm Trump during a search at Mar-a-Lago. This claim distorts FBI policy and serves as a tactic to push the boundaries of acceptable rhetoric around Trump's victimization and martyrdom, reflecting the fascistic politics embraced by Trump and his allies.
Defining Wannabe Fascism and Its Four Pillars
The discussion delves into the concept of 'wannabe fascism' and its four pillars: totalitarian lies and propaganda, violence, racism and xenophobia, and dictatorship. These elements are crucial to identifying fascism, with the absence of any one pillar resulting in the absence of true fascism. Comparisons are drawn to past authoritarian leaders who rejected these pillars.
Trump's Potential Move Towards Dictatorship Through Bureaucracy Control
Analyzing Trump's potential path towards dictatorship, the focus lies on reshaping bureaucracy to parallel structures aligned with the ruling party. Drawing historical parallels to Nazi coercion of legal structures, the discussion highlights how Trump's rhetoric questioning law enforcement's neutrality lays the groundwork for centralized control and a disregard for established legal norms.
Trump and MAGA Republicans are floating the crackpot idea that President Biden’s FBI was ready to target Trump with lethal force when it searched Mar-a-Lago. This is based on a wildly absurd reading of FBI policy, but beyond this, we think this saga says something larger about the fascistic politics of Trump and his MAGA allies. We talked to Federico Finchelstein, an expert on fascist movements and author of a new piece in The New Republic’s issue on “American Fascism,” who explains why Trump is best seen as a “wannabe fascist.”