Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has taken on policies based on policies that have shocked Americans and the world. From launching immigration crackdowns, persecuting legal residents sympathetic to the Palestinians, dismantling diversity and inclusion programs, assaulting higher education and freedom of speech, Trump has fully embraced the far-right agenda. His critics at home and abroad quickly called him a fascist.
However, fascism is not an ideology of choice for the US president. The fascist movement had different approaches to political and economic issues, but there were several common factors. The goodness of the nation is above all, and the nation plays an inclusive role in society and economy.
In other words, fascism was an attempt to reconstruct the ideals of socialism into a powerful nationalist framework. And in a historical response to communism and liberalism, it remains banished in the “extreme times” of the 20th century, as famously called by British historian Eric Hobbsbohm.
Trump may be using the “America-First” language in his rhetoric, but he is not actually pursuing “the goodness of the nation.” He is pursuing a 1% profit.
Trump and his cheerleaders want to go beyond neoliberalism. This establishes ultracapitalism by claiming that minimal states are ideal for economic prosperity and dissolving the control that the state has more than accumulating wealth by extremely rich people.
They understand that we live in an age where it is not so easy for us to extract profits from society, so they want to free capitalism from the obstacles of democracy and the demands of people that political, social, human beings – are protected by law and state.
The tech brothers Trump surrounds himself, wrapping this hyperactivity on a technical cover, claiming that technology can solve all misery and unlimited growth.
This is clearly outlined in works created by Silicon Valley billionaire Mark And Reessen and others. In a near-religious concept of technology and markets, he writes: “Technooptimists believe in a society of sharks, growth, dying…We believe in ambition, aggression, persistence, and mercy – we believe in agency, individualism.
This view combines unbound capitalism and transhumanism, the belief that humans should use technology to enhance their capabilities, with Charles Darwin’s individualistic interpretation of survival of the fittest. This keen individualistic vision turns out to be the opposite of historical fascism, which prioritizes the people and communities over individuals.
Trump’s tariff policy may be pointed out as evidence that he has a statistical tendency. But damaging the surface, we see that the trade war that the US president is fighting for is not “recovering work,” “defending the national interest,” or a reversal of globalization.
Trump uses tariffs as a compulsory tool to force various countries to negotiate. When he announced a 90-day suspension on some tariffs, he himself boasted about 75 governments reaching out to his administration. Rather than defending American workers’ rights, these bilateral consultations will be used to concessions in favor of large capital closely related to the Trump administration, creating conditions for return of employment to the United States.
It is true that Trump is attracting the support of European postfascist politicians and using fascist language and tools, but that alone is not enough for him to brand “fascists.” Like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European postfascists are separated from the notion of national and economic fascists. Meloni and others have easily embraced a “free market” policy of cutting taxes for the rich and wiping out social security clauses for the poor. Her economic policy is little different to Trump’s.
The US president has fully embraced xenophobic and racist language reminiscent of fascist rhetoric and launched a vicious campaign against immigration. He does so not only to scare and win the marginalized parts of society, but also to distract their growing frustrations to the racialized “others” rather than the wealthy class.
This strategy works not only because of the increased responsiveness against the liberal elites accumulated by the poor majority, but also because the left was unable to act.
The left-wing, progressive politician denounced the fruitful repeat of the old right and left cliches, going to Tyrades about the debate about “Trump fascism” and his fellow Nazi or Roman salutes. Engaging in such rhetoric is a waste of time and energy.
Instead, the left should focus on developing concrete strategies to counter Trump’s popularity and high capitalist drive. It should return to the roots of the problems that ordinary people face in their lives: constant irony about work, healthcare, education, and politics. It needs to not only expose Trump to who he really is, that is, to be a champion of big capital gains, but also provide a solid and realistic option.
The views expressed in this article are the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.