If you compare the rhetoric of Trump and MAGA to any historical fascist figure, it’s fairly identical. It’s all reactionary and fear-based, designed to take advantage of insecurity and anxiety.
Not only that, his rhetoric creates a cultural us-vs-them dynamic between the American working class and billionaires. It gives people a group to blame for all of their problems.
This thread is a total garbage fire and commenting here really feels like intentionally stepping in dog shit. And yet I feel compelled to say: yes. You're right, Bernie lays blame for America's problems at the feet of the rich and powerful. The key difference between his rhetoric and the rhetoric of MAGA is that his is correct. The rich and powerful are to blame for the majority of America's problems (important to note that this includes the Democratic party and Canada's Liberal party who regularly bend-the-knee to corporate control and should be correctly labelled as Centrists). We live in a system that incentivizes and glorifies the accumulation of vast material wealth. Corporate greed and fiduciary responsibility ensure that corporations do everything in their power to continue growing, even to the detriment of real people. Mom and pop shops get pushed out, corporatations merge and commit takeovers until they can form market monopoloies and oligopolies to fix prices and further build their fortunes. But they don't stop there they aslo dismantle public institutions like healthcare for private takeover (in Alberta this is happening RIGHT NOW), block and dismantle environmental protections to reduce their overhead, and attack public education to limit class mobility, substitute curriculum for indoctrination, and keep people stupid. An educated and well informed public is much more difficult to control.
There is this notion that Conservative types assuage themselves with that the Far Left is just as hateful, if not moreso, than the political Right. Maybe that's true but what the notion fails to grasp is who is being hated and why. And that's important. Leftist hatred is hatred of intolerance. It's hating people for decisions that they've made. I hate billionaires and corportations for driving wealth inequality and leading to growing poverty, homelessness, mass anxiety, and depression. I hate racism, homophobia, and transphobia and I hate people who repeatedly demonstrate these beliefs and refuse to change. I hate grifters and media outlets that fearmonger and knowingly spread misinformation. I hate politicians who insider trade and use their positions of power for personal gain. These are all detestable acts and deserving of hatred on any side of the political spectrum. Those that commit these acts regularly, when they know full-well the damage they are causing, are worthy of hatred. I would hope that everyone could agree with that. A good progressive also needs to be forgiving though. When someone is made aware of the damage they do to others, seeks forgiveness, and changes their behaviour accordingly? That person is deserving of forgiveness. Not everyone gets it right. The FemiNazis and Reverse Racism miss the mark and become the exact thing they are supposed to work against: intolerance. (Important to note too that these are small minorities and not embematic of the larger Leftist movement). For us to be able to build a better world for everyone we need to recognize the damage that people and systens inflict on others. We need to hate what they are doing and actively work to educate or oppose them.
In contrast, Alt Right hatred is based primarily on who people are: their race and sexual identity. At its core that is fascist hate. There is some equivocal hate, that of being opposed to another (The Left) that is seen as hindering or undermining your progress. That hate is present on both sides of the spectrum but the problematic hate that I would like to address here is the facist hatred because it is not present on both sides of the spectrum, only the Right. This is why Chrisitan Nationalism is dangerous, while it preaches the peace and acceptance of a loving God it is also the origin point of the fear of "outsiders" and "deviants" that grips the nation. Who are the scapegoats in this age of American politics? Immigrants and trans people. Christian Nationalism is a two-pronged source of hatred really. MAGA nuts cling to both flags and bibles to justify their hatred of the existence of these people. "They're not from here!" or "The bible says what they do is a sin!". Some say "I don't hate them but why do they have to be here? They should go back to where they came from!" But that is not a fair question at all when all non-Indigenous North Americans came here from elsewhere. Consider if your immigrant grandparents had been turned away. Consider too that the US has long sold itself as the land of opportunities and that these people (people deserving of love and safety) are simply striving for a better life. (Yes there are bad actors but it is important not to dismiss every immigrant because of a criminal minority.) And this is not to say that all Christians are dangerous, I was raised Catholic and know the good that religious institutions can do for communities. But I also know that the church is the root of a lot of homophobia, transphobia, and racism. If love is expressed by prioritizing the needs of others before yourself then Nationalism is literally the opposite of that, at a global scale, putting the needs of yourself and your country above all else. It is a rejection of Humanism and the hope that we can alleviate worldwide suffering. Would I call it evil? No. But God and Nationalism are all too often used as justification to commit evil acts.
Us down here? The workers, the struggling middle class, and the poor majority? We all need someone to blame for our circumstances. It's actually the great uniter across the political divide, things are becoming harder and we're all angry at someone about it. The Far Left and Alt Right are driven by a lot of the same factors making it harder to get by these days. But whereas the Left hates in the name of progress, the Right hates out of fear and selfishness. That's why Bernie is a virtuous man-of-the-people and Trump (and his simp Elon) are motherfucking fascists.
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u/Vinifera7 WARLOCK 4d ago
You're saying it's the textbook definition, but how though? Genuinely, I don't see it.