Trumpism

A typical MAGA rally, doing the exact opposite of making America great again.

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Fascists

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“”When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

—A quote often wrongly attributed to Sinclair Lewis[1]

Trumpism (or MAGA, an acronym of Make America Great Again) is an authoritarian and nationalist ideology based on Donald Trump's personality cult, policies, and political activities. Trumpism has been categorized by political analysts as a fascist ideology and cult due to its far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist, and anti-intellectual elements as well as its hostility to outsiders (such as people who don’t share their ideology and foreigners), promotion of and penchant for violence, vicious scapegoating of marginalized communities, dehumanization of people whom they deem undesirable or irredeemable, and its extreme gatekeeping which demonizes all dissent — even from like-minded ideologues.^[5]

Trumpism has emerged as a significant force and movement in American politics, essentially taking over the Republican Party.^[6] This rise in power of the movement can be attributed to a range of factors, but the most significant are xenophobia, economic dissatisfaction brought about by neoliberalism,^[7] Fundamentalist Christian fanaticism,^[8] and misinformation regarding political and scientific news.^[9]

Prevalence[edit]

When Trumpism initially appeared, it had a small but soon to be growing fanbase of disillusioned Americans but another voting bloc of birther nuts (a group Trump himself was part of). Characteristic of a typical cult, Trumpism has a huge following and base of millions of Americans, and while numbers have shown that they aren’t as numerous as the average Democrat or centrist voter, they indeed have a stranglehold on American politics. A September 2022 poll showed that 42% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (clumped together as a single category) identified with the term "MAGA Republican", and 58% rejected the term.^[10] This could indicate an outsized effect on the Republican Party compared to how large the core pro-Trump movement actually is versus the wider base of Republican voters.

Trumpism spread since 2016 partially because of his target base (poor white working class Americans) being drawn by his false promises of his America first policies (bringing back jobs, looking out for the little man, pretending to be an anti elite populist), and from Trump’s appeal as a strongman and a demagogue, amplified by various media outlets who parroted his narratives.^[11] Trump's ideology is the direction that most of the Republican Party is heading in, and is purging any and all non-Trump Republicans (referred to as RINOs), who are portrayed by Trump and his cronies as enemies of their movement.^[12] A great example of this was Trump's takeover of the RNC, when dozens of people were fired from their positions and replaced with Trump loyalists (including his family).^[13]

History[edit]

Trump in the Oval Office with a portrait of Andrew Jackson.

Trumpism first emerged as a fluid ideology in 2016, when Trump was running as a presidential candidate.^[14] During this time, Trump cultivated an enormous fanbase by tapping into their dissatisfaction and appeals using a mixture of populism, xenophobia, and appealing to a mythical past.^[15]

Trumpism quickly spread among American citizens, largely amongst Christian, lower-class to middle-class white families. Many Trump supporters viewed America as under siege from immigrants, rather than correctly attributing their suffering to tax cuts for the rich and general austerity measures. Trumpism has a strong element of racism within its ideology, mostly viewing the 1950s and early 1960s as the good old days for the United States.^[16]

Trumpism has deep roots in American political history, dating all the way back to the white supremacist and nativist politics of Andrew Jackson and his ilk.^[17] Like Trumpism, Jacksonism saw a deep anti-intellectualism and populist rejection of traditional democratic institutions that led to the rejection of the orders of the United States Supreme Court and the tragic case of ethnic cleansing and genocide we today know as the Trail of Tears. This was where almost the entirety of the Cherokee people were forced to march in freezing conditions out of their ancestral homeland to virtual wasteland in what is now Oklahoma.^{[18][note 1]}

Walter Russel Mead explained the parallels thusly:

For Washington’s political class, Mead provided an answer to explain the otherwise perplexing populist appeal of the brash billionaire. Jacksonianism, as Mead viewed it, was exactly the historical precedent to explain Trump, marrying grass-roots disdain for elites, deep suspicion of overseas entanglements — and obsession with America power and sovereignty. “He is not the second coming of Andrew Jackson,” Mead said when we talked on the eve of Trump’s first anniversary in office this weekend. “But there was such a hunger in America for a Jacksonian figure that people were willing to project a lot of qualities onto this sort of very unlikely Queens real estate developer who becomes the folk hero of Americans who hate New York and are suspicious of Big Business.”^[18]

Trumpism is ideologically the synthesis of three separate but related reactionary trends in American political history: ethnonationalism as exhibited by the Jacksonians and the Know Nothing Party, politicized religion as exhibited by the Religious Right, and racism as exhibited by the Ku Klux Klan and the Neo-Confederates.^[19]

Besides Jacksonianism, another root of the Trumpist movement is the right-wing populism of Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot. In 1992 Perot railed against the neoliberal NAFTA trade deal as "sucking" American jobs to Mexico and Canada and made it the signature issue of his presidential campaign.^[19] Buchanan likewise ran for POTUS three times in the 1990s, and regularly espoused a protectionist and nationalist agenda.^[19]

The Civil Rights Movement and the end of Jim Crow led Southern racists (previously strong supporters of the Democratic Party) into the arms of the Republican Party.^{[19][note 2]} In the modern day, illegal immigration and supposed voter fraud were two of the hot-button racialized issues that the GOP used to court the racist vote. GOP voter suppression measures have also helped to maintain a white supremacist agenda.^[19] American politics itself has a heavily racialized component to it. To quote the Berlin Social Sciences Center:

Appeals to the issue of race are a staple of contemporary American politics as all politicians seek to mobilize voters who do not consider themselves to be racist.^[19]

Trumpists in particular have been very openly racist. Questioning the native-born citizenship of Barack Obama, the only African-American president of the United States to date, labelling Hispanic-Americans (mostly Mexicans) as "rapists", "murderers", and drug dealers as well as associating them with actual drug gangs such as MS-13, and grouping Islam with terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda have all been the bread and butter of Trumpist rhetoric.^[19]

Trumpism’s main targets of fearmongering are immigrants, non-white immigrants specifically. The main ethnic groups targeted have been Mexicans^[20], Chinese^[21], Syrians^[22], Iraqis^[23], Venezuelans^[24], and (most recently) Haitians^[25].

Effects on politics[edit]

Trumpism has poisoned American political discourse and the minds of its own supporters. Trumpism relies on anti-intellectualism and misinformation to maintain its grip and strength in the public sphere. Social media allows fake news to be spread far and wide, with something simple being spread to millions in a short amount of time (and usually having some degree of separation from anything that refutes it).

Trumpism also embraces a blaming the victim narrative, from painting BLM protestors as anti-white racists and planted agents funded by Soros, to fabricated claims of rape against women committed by immigrants such as Hispanics and Arabs, to the entirety of The Great Replacement theory itself. Trumpism has a heavy emphasis on paramilitarism, which is what was seen in the 2021 U.S. coup attempt.

Trump himself is not a very Christian man,^{[note 3]} but right-wing Christians can and will excuse or ignore this as Trump is willing to push the agenda of the Religious Right as a matter of policy.^{[note 4]} During the 2016 Republican primaries, the Religious Right opposed Trump as a matter of course, but after Trump won the 2016 presidential nomination, they quickly, and eagerly, switched course, with up to 80% of the Evangelical vote supporting Trump in the general election.^[19] Trump has honored the devil's deal that the Religious Right made in supporting him, appointing key members of the Religious Right to prominent positions of government, including Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.^[19]

Probably one of the longest-lasting, and most devastating, effects of the ideological devil's deal between the Religious Right and the alt-right is the packing of the judiciary with right-wing activist judges.^[27] Indeed, it was the activist judges of the Supreme Court of the United States that voted to overturn Roe v. Wade despite precedent.^[28]

Rhetoric[edit]

Prior to going full and openly fascist, Trump used coded language regarding migrants (mostly Mexicans and Muslims) by referring to their entry into the country as “invasions” and many cities being “overrun by hordes”.^[29] His specific rhetoric has been appealing to fascists and Nazis, and his base’s acceptance and amplification of this language eventually led to them becoming fascists (by proxy) as well.^[30]

The rhetoric echoed by Trump and his base have been noted by analysts and historians as being dangerously similar to dictatorships and authoritarians, especially to fascists.^[31] On a Veterans Day speech, Trump used the phrases “vermin” to describe his enemies and immigrants “poisoning the blood” of Americans. His racist statements drew rebuke from many on both the left and the right. The Trump team denied this, arguing that they would pwn their opponents rather than giving any intellectual argument against Trump’s rhetoric being labeled authoritarian and fascist.^[32]

Trumpism outside out America[edit]

In China, he is also known as "Donald the Strong", "Grand Commander", and "Uncle Trump". Many Chinese people despise the "political correctness" in Western societies and see themselves in Trump, whom they consider genuine, which is unusual for a politician. Another reason for their fondness of the head-of-state of a geopolitical rival is that Trump, unlike his predecessors, had no appetite for discussing human rights and democracy with China and prefers to discuss trade. Moreover, Trump seems to recognize China, as well as its president Xi Jinping, as an equal.^[33]

Trump also has a significant following in Iran amongst Restart and its supporters. In fact, their leader and founder, Mohammad Hosseini, modelled his movement on the MAGA movement in the United States and supports Trump and his policies against the Iranian regime. And like Trump, Hosseini has explicitly encouraged and supported violence amongst his supporters.^[34]

Similar movements and figures[edit]

Trumpism has had a significantly negative and strong impact on politics, both in America and abroad. Trumpism has inspired or mingled with analogous movements outside of the United States.^[35] The individuals and countries include:

See also[edit]

• Trump — the central figure of this fascist ideology.
• QAnon — another fascist movement, which is closely related to (and wouldn't exist without) Trumpism.
• Putinism — the functional Russian equivalent.
• Italian Fascism — an older form of fascism to which it shares many parallels and similarities.
• Nazism — another older form of fascism which also has quite a few similarities.
• Restart - an Iranian far-right movement heavily inspired by Trumpism and QAnon.
• Falun Gong - a Chinese far-right movement with qigong-style religious inspiration that supports Trump and his administration.

External links[edit]

• Even Wikipedia calls Trumpism authoritarian and fascist^{[note 5]}

Notes[edit]

References[edit]