Republican lament, Part 4: The Return of the 1930s
In temperament, he was bombastic, inconsistent, shallow and vainglorious. On political questions, he made up his own reality as he went along. Physically, the qualities that stood out were the scowling forehead, the rolling eyes, the pouting mouth. His compulsive exhibitionism was part of his cult of machismo. He spoke in short, strident sentences. Journalists mocked his absurd attitudinizing.
Remind you of someone?
The description of Benito Mussolini comes from English historian Piers Brendons definitive history of the 1930s, The Dark Valley. So does this mean that Donald Trump is the second coming of Il Duce, or that yesteryears Fascists are todays Trumpkins? Not exactly. But that doesnt mean we should be indifferent to the parallels with the last dark age of Western politics. Among the parallels: The growing belief that democracy is rigged. That charisma matters more than ideas. That strength trumps principles. That coarseness is refreshing, authentic.
Also, that immigrants are plundering the economy. That the worlds agonies are someone elses problem. That free trade is a game of winners and losersin which we are the invariable losers. That the rest of the world plays us for suckers. That our current leaders are not who they say they are, or where they say they are from. That they are conspiring against us.
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In breaking the taboos of civility and civilization, a Trump speech and rally resembles the rallies of fascist leaders who pantomimed the wishes of their followers and let them fill in the text, writes the University of Marylands Jeffrey Herf in a brilliant essay in the American Interest. Trump says what they want to say but are afraid to express. In cheering this leader, his supporters feel free to say what they really believe about Mexicans, Muslims, and women.
This is not the politics of economic anxiety or dislocation. Its a politics of personal exhibitionism, the right-wing equivalent of refusing to be body-shamed. Thanks to Donald, the Trumpkins at last have a license to be as ugly as they want to be.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-return-of-the-1930s-1457396236