The look and the outlook…
Donald Trump lost the election in a landslide—which is what he called 306 electoral votes four years ago. But at this writing, Nov. 18, he continues to say he won, attempting to bully his way into a second term and calling the election fraudulent. In fact, he started undermining the legitimacy of the election four months ago when he realized that he probably wouldn’t win. Most likely he will eventually give up, since election results are controlled by the states, not the federal government. But he may not concede or attend the inauguration. All of this brings up the comparison to one-time fascist leader of Italy, Benito Mussolini.
For more than four years, there has been conjecture floating around the digital world that Trump might actually be the reincarnation of Mussolini. Some of it comes from mainstream media sources that use the term in a symbolic way, while other writers take a serious look at Trump as the actual reincarnation of the infamous fascist.
But are they spawns of the same soul? Conveniently, Mussolini died in April 1945 and Trump was born in June 1946. Of course, there’s much more.
Much was written on the subject in 2016, but it has popped up again. Remember the image Trump projected after leaving the hospital and posing silently on the balcony of the White House? Or the way he stood in front of the church in D.C. holding the Bible upside down in the aftermath of dispersing peaceful demonstrators from Lafayette Square with a chemical irritant, shields, billy clubs and horses.
On way of comparing the two leaders is by looking at this direct quote from Mussolini, which was published by Moderndiplomacy.eu in 2016.
“It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep. My fellow-Italians we do not win any more. We must restore the Roman Empire: march on Rome, invade Ethiopia, revive law and order, make the trains run on time, stop the Bolshevists threat, close the borders to foreign influences on our Latin culture, restore Roman discipline and authority as symbolized by the bundle of wheat bound to an ax (the glorious fascist party), suppress strikes and social unrest, institute racial laws, take care of the people who have no voice, punish the crimes of the capitalistic class, restore discipline, in short make Italy great again, never mind constitutional guarantees and respect for human rights, never mind a free press or free speech, never mind political correctness!
“We will insure all this through our elite praetorian guards, the Blackshirts. We must become winners again. I am destined to be the man who will restore the lost honor and the glory of Italy. Together we will construct an Italy which is commensurate to its great artistic achievements.”
If you substitute America for Italy, much of it sounds like Trump. So much so that I had to double-check to make sure it was a real quote. It is. Strikingly, Trump himself in 2016 tweeted the reference to better be a lion than a sheep. Did he read that somewhere? He’s not known for studying history…or did he ‘remember it?’ Maybe a speech writer slipped him the line. Who knows. But there it is.
Modern Diplomacy also points out that in Trump’s 2016 convention acceptance speech, there were similarities in his body language as well as his comments to Mussolini. “That raising of the chin with a firmly clenched mouth and a raised finger, that pose of determination and intransigence affirming one’s superiority. All that was needed was a war helmet and the resemblance would have been perfect. Some have gone as far as suggesting that we were witnessing a veritable reincarnation or rebirth of the infamous dictator.”
Let’s spell out some of the comparisons the two leaders seem to share: xenophobia, ultra-nationalism (presented as patriotism), frequent anti-media comments, the restoration of glory and greatness, opposing social unrest (BLM), racist rhetoric, fear of foreigners, protecting the border from non-white immigrants. Mussolini began his career as a socialist but changed to fascism with the shift in political winds and Trump was a pro-choice Democrat who changed to pro-life Republican. Mussolini was militaristic, Trump not so much, but he favors using the military within the U.S. to deter protestors. That’s pretty militaristic…and forbidden by the Constitution.
Considering all of those similarities, should we be surprised that so many Americans voted for Trump after four years of his Mussolini-esque performance? Not really. It has pointed out that the majority of Americans actually approved of Mussolini during most of his reign.
Here’s the Washington Post’s evaluation of Trump’s fascist tendencies.
