Trump is a Demented Fascist
Don’t let him near the Oval Office
Two questions have been hanging over Donald Trump for years. The first -- Is he a fascist? The second -- Is he mentally fit? In recent days, people who should know have spoken. And they say, “Yes he’s a fascist” and “No, he’s not mentally fit.”
This week retired Marine Corps general and former Trump chief of staff John Kelly said that in his educated opinion Trump qualifies for the fascist label. Kelly based his assessment on what he saw of Trump in the White House and what the former president has been saying of late about using the military to punish his personal enemies,
Speaking to journalists, Kelly said fascism is “a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, [and] belief in a natural social hierarchy.” In every respect, he noted, Trump fit the definition.
Kelly also said he had heard Trump reference Hitler several times, noting that the man who defined pure evil “did some good things too” and that Trump had said he wished his generals were more like the Fuhrer’s. Kelly said he was also appalled by Trump’s affection for modern authoritarians like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un of North Korea.
Meanwhile, on the day when Kelly made news, The New York Times published a long article in which America’s leading expert on fascism, historian Robert Paxton, said Trump fit-in with Hitler and his ally Benito Mussolini. Paxton also expressed alarm about public support for Trump and fear about the future. “I think it’s going to be very dicey,” he said. “If Trump wins, it’s going to be awful. If he loses, it’s going to be awful too.”
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While Kelly and Paxton weighed-in on Trump’s fascism, psychiatric experts went public with their worries about his mental health. “He seems to be progressively cognitively impaired,” said Allen Dyer, who helped write the rules that govern the way in which psychiatrists comment on politicians. Dyer added, “I find it concerning that he doesn’t complete his sentences, seems to lose track of the question he is trying to answer, or avoid, and that one thought doesn’t lead to another, but appears to veer tangentially off track.”
No kidding.
Anyone with eyes and ears can take in a Trump rally speech or tune in to him being interviewed and recognize there’s something seriously wrong with the guy. His cult members may think he’s giving his usual word salad performances, which he has done for years, but they are wrong. This is a man whose brain isn’t working right.
If the 78-year-old Trump was all there, would he spend forty minutes “dancing” on a rally stage instead of giving a speech? Would he be slurring his words, repeating himself, and rambling for minutes without making a point? Would be talk about an audience that wasn’t there in a TV studio? Would he say he defeated Barack Obama when he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016?
The experts now talking about Trump that his late-in-the-day struggles (he is generally worse in the evenings) reflect a dementia symptom called “sundowning.” As Dr. Ben Michealis recently explained to the press, “It’s very difficult for them to maintain focus on a topic. The idea of being able to maintain that level of focus for that amount of time, that late in the day…you wouldn’t think twice about it if that was your grandfather. It’s just he happens to be running for president.”
It must be noted, here, that Trump and his campaign invited the public examination of his mental capacity when, years ago, they began to say that President Biden was having intellectual struggles. Biden demonstrated his problem during a shocking debate performance. This led to calls for him to step aside, which he heeded in the best interest of his country. That Trump is under the microscope now is a matter of poetic and patriotic justice.
I say patriotic because by now it’s exceedingly clear that Trump is a demented fascist who shouldn’t be allowed into the Oval Office. It’s our duty, as citizens of the United States, to keep him out.
I will never understand the pass the media has given him on his age. When Joe Biden was running, his age was brought up continually. Why not the same with Trump, especially with his incoherent ramblings and weird onstage "dancing?"
I just got finished reading our local paper, with reports of all the "sane washing" that the press has increasingly been doing - makes me a little nauseous. Billionaires putting millions of dollars into the campaign. They are working on the nuance of the word and definition of Fascism (he might only be 85% Fascist - not enough to be alarmed). We are a democracy, so if the voters vote for Trump, then we will have to go through the process of the takeover. Will Americans say they didn't know? The Germans did, even over the odor of the burning bodies, and the ashes falling out of the sky.