Trump Is Not Thoughtful Enough To Be a Fascist
John Kelly, the former Marine general who served as Donald Trump’s second chief of staff, thinks the former president “falls into the general definition of ‘fascist.'” Gen. Mark Milley, whom Trump appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, goes further, describing his ex-boss as “fascist to the core.”
Rebutting those charges, John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, says the Republican presidential candidate is not thoughtful enough to be a fascist. Bolton’s take seems more accurate: Trump’s views, which combine long-standing authoritarian impulses with politically convenient positions of more recent vintage, do not reflect any unifying principle other than self-interest.
The incoherence of Trump’s thinking is reflected in the incoherence of his speech, which in rallies and interviews flits from one topic to another for no apparent reason. His randomly capitalized social media rants resemble wacky email missives destined for the trash bin, written by the sort of unhinged crank you would move away from if you encountered him in public.
Trump’s preening, pettiness, and prevarication are striking even for a politician. During his four years in office, he could barely open his mouth without lying, beginning with his self-aggrandizing claims about the size of the crowd at his inauguration and culminating in his insistence, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that he had actually won reelection.
That second whopper began as comedy and ended as tragedy. When Trump started arguing that voters could not possibly have rejected him, I thought he would eventually come to terms with reality.
That never happened. Trump’s reckless conduct before, during, and after the Capitol riot, when supporters outraged by his stolen-election fantasy violently interrupted the congressional ratification of Joe Biden’s victory, amply justified his second impeachment and should have disqualified him from ever again holding federal office.
Trump refused to play by the rules, which would have been enough to get him booted from my weekly poker game. The requirements for the presidency should be at least as strict.
The rules in the latter case include not just abiding by election results but also recognizing the limits that the Constitution imposes on presidential authority. Whatever you think about Kelly and Milley’s use of the f-word, this much rings true: Trump not only did not acknowledge those constitutional constraints; he did not comprehend the idea that his subordinates had a higher duty than o
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