Does the GOP support Fascism?
To the Editor:
With the mewling and whining by Trumpian Republicans at having been accurately branded fascists by the president and other historically informed individuals, those Republicans need somehow to counter the walking like a duck, looking like a duck and quacking evidentiary conclusion.
In a paper published in 2003, Dr. Lawrence Britt, having analyzed the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto and Pinochet, identified 14 characteristics of Fascism, 12 of which apply to the current crop of Trumpian Republicans.
Britt found the following policies embraced cultural affects common indicators of Fascism: powerful and continuing nationalism; disdain for the recognition of human rights; identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause; supremacy of the military; rampant sexism; controlled mass media; obsession with national security; the intertwinement of religion and government; the protection of corporate power; the suppression of labor power; disdain for intellectuals and the arts; obsession with crime and punishment; rampant cronyism and corruption; fraudulent elections.
The Conservative Political Action Committee’s anointment of Victor Orban to keynote their annual convention pretty well puts an end to any further need to examine the appropriateness of the branding. Democracy or Fascism: the new and real American choice.
Frank Peterson
Whittier
