Some key vocab before we get started:

Authoritarian: (authoritarianism):

1. of, relating to, or favoring blind submission to authority <had authoritarian parents>
2. of, relating to, or favoring a concentration of power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people <an authoritarian regime>

Autocrat:

1. a person (such as a monarch) ruling with unlimited authority
2. one who has undisputed influence or power <He was the autocrat of his household.>

Fascism:

1. often capitalized :  a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2. a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality — J. W. Aldridge>

Kleptocracy:

1. government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed; also :  a particular government of this kind

 

I’ll open here with articles from the New York Times and the Washington Post: “Is Donald Trump a Fascist” and “How Fascist is Donald Trump? There’s actually a formula for that.”

Next let’s tackle “Is Donald Trump a Fascist?” from The New Republic, “Is Trump an Ur-Fascist?” from The Atlantic’s “Fascism” Notes tag, Democracy Now’s “Father of Fascism Studies: Donald Trump Shows Alarming Willingness to Use Fascist Terms & Styles,” New Civil Rights Movement’s “Here is the Proof of Trump’s Fascist Tendencies & Neo-Nazi Support You’ve Been Asking For, Trolls,” and “Mussolini on Fifth Avenue: Donald Trump’s Fascist Tendencies.”

I could go on*** but I’ll spare you the trouble. Anyways, some people think Trump is actually more of a Berlusconi figure than a Mussolini. Comforting, isn’t it?

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