CAN WE USE THE F-WORD ABOUT MAGA? On Mussolini 2.0

The Make America Great Again movement is 

*Hyper-Traditional. Nothing more needs to be learned. American ideals about more perfect unions or created equal need not be updated to apply to minorities, immigrants, and homosexuals. 

*Instinctual. Praise is heaped on spontaneous instinct without reflection, action without rationale, and “telling it like it is” whether true or false, with or without evidence. 

*Hyper-Masculine. Guns and violent takeovers are highly valued; assaults against women are not disqualifications. 

*Super-Nationalistic. Fortress America needs no justification for its actions, and non-Americans of all sorts are not to be trusted. 

*Anti-Difference. People with brown, black, and yellow skins are a source of suspicion and a demographic threat; and different opinions that oppose the party line are not tolerated and quickly punished. 

*Anti-Democratic. Elections cannot be trusted unless your side wins, and  congressional democracy is to be rendered dysfunctional. 

*Pseudo-Populist. The “people” (a.k.a. people who believe what we believe) need no permission  to conduct what has been called “blood baths.” 

*Biased Towards Vengeance. Promises of retribution against political opponents are cheered. 

In 1945 Americans celebrated “victory over Fascism.” Readers are encouraged to do a little reading about Mussolini and his Italian reign in order to discover what that meant and to make comparisons with the present day and make up their own minds. –Tom McBride