The Worst Fascist Dictator Ever

The opposition – which seems to be pretty much everyone, at least everyone who has a voice – seems to be of one mind on one thing – i.e. the only thing they are capable of thinking about these days – namely that Trump is a fascist dictator. Not an aspiring one, mind – or one under construction – but already, just over a year in office, a full-blown dictator in the footsteps and image of Hitler and Mussolini (and a few lesser lights, like... Pinochet, I suppose, or Franco... or whoever runs Latin American countries when they aren't being run by socialists or communists).

Well, if this is true – and try convincing any of them that it's not – then Trump is surely the most failed fascist dictator to ever come down the pike. I mean, think about it – think about all the areas in which he has failed when his supposed role models have succeeded:

• He hasn't made the trains run on time, a la Mussolini. Hell, he can't even keep them on the tracks.
• He hasn't come up with the American 21^st-Century equivalent of the Volkswagen.
• He hasn't constructed any gigantic stadiums in which to hold mass rallies.
• He hasn't yet nationalized any major industries (or minor ones – not even kettle corn stands). Traditionally, this would start with mines, fossil fuels, and defense industries – but no, not a peep. This puts him way behind Obama, who at least managed to nationalize health care.
• He hasn't taken over radio... or television... or the Internet (which his predecessors would have done in a heartbeat if the Internet had existed in their time).
• He hasn't turned the film industry into a propaganda apparatus for his administration and his personality cult.
• He hasn't taken over the print media or the publishing industry.
• He hasn't imposed censorship on music or the arts (but “not yet!” cry the opposition).
• He hasn't issued stamps with his picture on them.
• He doesn't have a hand-picked imperial guard. All he has is the same old Secret Service with their boring suits and skinny black ties, and the White House police with their boring uniforms (which Nixon tried to change, but the pushback was just too overwhelming).
• He hasn't designed a new American flag, or uniforms for himself and his senior staff.
• He hasn't come up with a new title for himself.
• He hasn't come up a distinctive salute, or a substitute for “hello” and “goodbye”.
• He hasn't established a youth movement named after him.
• He hasn't established institutions where elite members of the military can breed with racially pure women in order to produce new members of the master race.
• He hasn't taken over Czechoslovakia or half of Poland (or anywhere else, for that matter).
• He hasn't built any new palaces or mansions with taxpayers' money.
• He hasn't cleansed American society of any particular racial or ethnic group (but “not yet!” cry the opposition).
• He hasn't built any concentration camps (but “not yet!” cry the opposition).
• He hasn't managed to take control of the legislature, or, failing that, dissolve it, and throw anyone who objects in prison.
• He hasn't managed to take control of the judicial branch at any level and bend it to his whims.
• He hasn't managed to put his hand-picked lackeys in charge of states, cities, and localities.
• He hasn't managed to declare illegal all political parties but his own.

And the list just goes on and on. Not only has he failed to take control of key elements of the government, the media, and the culture, and turn them into a unified propaganda apparatus, he has to deal with dogged resistance, hostility, and what amounts to sabotage from those quarters. And it all goes unpunished! He has to deal with the “deep state”, with the intel community, with the media (especially the “entertainment” sector)... with resistance from the judiciary, and hostility from his own political party. So where are all the arrests and detentions? Where are all the “night and fog” operations? Hasn't he ever heard of martial law? You'd think with all the resources at his disposal he could start asserting himself instead of coming across as a 6' 3” Bobo Doll.

The only part of the government that is not lined up in a monolithic way against Trump is the military – and even then, as retired generals in his administration fall by the wayside, we see that even that might be a mirage. Whereas once the military could be counted on to have, at least implicitly, an “America first” attitude, and to be basically conservative in outlook, that has all changed, I would say, in the years since the Vietnam debacle. Now the uniformed services can be globalists with the best of them, and in terms of social attitudes, two generations of brainwashing by the “agents of change” have taken care of that issue as well. (I well remember when the Army started running out of days, weeks, or months upon which to pin some commemoration or cause or ribbon color – and said causes almost invariably had a decided liberal or progressive taint.)

Far from being large and in charge, Trump is... well, he's not even a figurehead; at least, not one that anyone besides his core supporters recognizes. He is, basically, the uncrowned ruler of a country that doesn't exist – a pretender to the throne, if you will. The U.S. exists, of course, but it hasn't accepted him as leader... whereas the country he thinks he's in charge of is a figment of his fevered imagination. So he becomes little more than the naked emperor of song and story – and the amazing thing about it is that most things pretty much continue on as always, despite this unprecedented and grotesque situation, which is more than you can say of Germany, which started falling apart once Hitler retreated into his reinforced bunker beneath the streets of Berlin. But the Germans were authoritarian, you see – and could no more live without der Fuehrer than a bee hive can live without its queen. We at least enjoy some vestiges of individual autonomy, although it's fast disappearing.

But wait! There's hope! He may yet do something that justifies his opponents' image of him – if he can only get the Washington, D.C. government to grant him a permit for a military parade. Now that would be good, old-fashioned fascism in its finest form! (It would also be communism in its finest form, but we don't want to mention that to the opposition, since they have new champions in Kim Jong-Un and his sister. Who knows, they might get “triggered” by such a statement and have to undergo grief counseling, or raid Toys “R” Us for teddy bears and Play-Doh before the place closes.)

So anyway, the bottom line on all this is that so far, at the point in his administration when Hitler and Mussolini had already piled up major achievements, Trump is pretty much dead in the water. He seems helpless against the opposition, and they seem to grow stronger and more vocal – and more radical – with each passing day. They continue to strike down, resist, and filibuster every one of his initiatives, and subject him and his family to the equivalent of cavity searches going back decades.

And let's admit – to give credit where credit is due – that the staying power of the opposition is much greater than anyone could have anticipated. And think of the self-sacrifice involved! The comedy sector of the entertainment media has closed its doors and been repurposed as a 24-hour propaganda machine. Journalists have given up on journalism and turned into anti-Trump apparatchiks who pursue Trump like hounds, in a non-stop hate fest. Caring not for the respect of the “deplorables”, they have taken to the streets, both literally and figuratively, in order to further the cause. It's enough to put a lump in one's throat (or maybe it's just a rising gorge).

And yet this is not unprecedented – they are reliving the glory days of Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon, when it was, as now, one man against the world. There is nothing like a worthy cause to make the ruling elite and their servants stand up as one man and pit everything they have against what they see as an existential threat.  And they may, in fact, wind up winning what has become a war of attrition; sometime sheer persistence and fanatical energy do win out (and the elders among them have the Vietnam protests to look back on as a model).  

So -- Trump had better up his game before it's too late. He shouldn't have to put up with this BS! Certainly no self-respecting despot of the past would have; why now?

Yes, it's true that the sheer pressure and hostility would have forced a lesser man out of office by now – but then none of Trump's Republican primary opponents would have created this sort of opposition, because they were -- by and large -- bland, harmless, non-threatening empty suits. And – most importantly – members of the establishment... the anointed ruling elite. They would have spent a good part of each day apologizing for not being as compassionate and humane as the Democrats. No, it took Trump to start a revolution... and regardless of how it all comes out, I say that it's a good thing, in the sense that now the American public no longer has any excuse for being ignorant as to who's really in charge, and who's really running things.

• Clue #1 – It's seldom, if ever, the president (definitely not since LBJ chose not to run for re-election in 1968).
• Clue #2 – The “deep state” does exist, and it has always existed, but it's not in charge either; it serves as the support system for whose who are.
• Clue #3 – The intel world – the FBI, CIA, NSA, and so on – have not just recently been politicized. They have always been political, and have always been working for the Regime, and either for or against whoever is nominally in charge, i.e. the president. The legendary J. Edgar Hoover, in particular, gave orders much more often than he took them. Plus, they're perfectly capable of giving any president the “mushroom treatment”, as they seem to have done for – at least – George W. Bush. Do you really think they tell Trump what's really going on in that daily briefing? Please. They throw him a few dog biscuits then exchange high-fives as soon as they get out the door.
• Clue #4 – Judging by the stock market, some parts of the U.S. commercial sector seem to like Trump's (not yet accomplished, and barely started) program. (Let's hear it for hope and change!) Big business has mixed feelings, and the international banking and financial cartel has stayed strategically silent. (They don't care who's president anyway. To them it's just noise level.)
• Clue #5 – The globalists at the E.U. and elsewhere are pushing back in a big way, and George Soros, who is the sugar daddy of the opposition, is waging, basically, a one-man war against Trump. (After all, there's only room on this planet for one fascist dictator.) And the U.S., by the way, is just one of Soros' many targets; he attacks whenever, and wherever, he sees a rise in nationalism (AKA “fascism”) and whenever religion shows any sign of sneaking back into politics. On the latter point, the U.S. is going to be a tough nut to crack, but you can be sure he won't stop trying.
• Clue #6 – Religious leaders are not cozying up to Trump even as much as they did to Obama, to say nothing of “W” or Reagan.

So basically, history is in a kind of holding pattern while people wait to see how this all turns out. No one out there in the wider world wants to commit to Trump to any degree, because what happens to them if Trump winds up thrown out of office (and perhaps into jail)? Talk about losing face, and guilt by association! Foreign policy-wise, both allies and “enemies” also seem to have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Even Israel is not showing as much positive regard for Trump as they showed hostility toward Obama. (Good thing we have the Deep State and the military, which just keep slogging along with or without orders from the top!)

And in fact, that's another revelation which has come out of all of this – namely that we don't even need a president. If the one we have is incapable of getting anything significant done, and if no one takes him seriously or follows his orders (not to mention “guidance”), and yet things just keep perking along – well, you see what this means. The presidency is obsolete. But it took a president with all sorts of authority, but no real power, to prove it.

Plus, as a sign of the times, the states are starting to reassert themselves as autonomous, independent entities, complete with their own drug policies, environmental policies, immigration policies, and even foreign policies. This can be seen (how can it not?) as eroding the power, prestige, and scope of the federal government – a trend which I personally am all in favor of. (Is it possible that some day the United States will go back to being united states, rather than a hodgepodge of politically useful but arbitrary administrative divisions?)

The next time the question of the Electoral College comes up, as it does every four years, we might also consider throwing into the mix the presidency – as in, let's quit pretending that we need it. Or – better still, perhaps – turn it back into the office as defined in the Constitution, and nothing more. And while we're at it, turn the White House into something useful, like a daycare center (which, actually, the opposition claims it already is). I think a dash of reality of this sort might be downright refreshing. Besides, if we eliminate the presidency, we also eliminate the opportunity for someone to actually succeed in turning the U.S. into a fascist dictatorship. Because, after all, there are plenty of contenders out there, and they would enjoy a lot more support than Trump has.