I’m not arguing that there aren’t openly fascistic and/or authoritarian tendencies by Trump and others but calling him or Trumpism fascism also risks letting it off the hook as something almost foreign, an overseas 20th century creature, when really Trump isn’t Hitler, he’s George Wallace & Nixon
This kind of intellectual incoherence is annoying. Moyn is part of the Robin/Bessner clique that rules out Trump as being a fascist for lacking certain historical characteristics... but now I guess TR is a fascist (despite also lacking those same characteristics)? I guess fascism is also calvinball.
I was shorthanding there. There’s a lot more to say in my book. I don’t think TR was a fascist president, but he had proto-fascist tendencies on the international scale (including overseeing the creation of concentration camps) and was a dyed-in-the-wool eugenicist.
Yeah, I think I misread the thrust of your disagreement with him, and I agree that US eugenics movement had a sizeable impact on fascism globally, although worth noting that Nazis opposed mainstream eugenics theory as well (i.e. racial hygiene). Didn't know about the fan letter though!
