Why Vote For Trump?

Yes indeed, why vote for a fascist? I can't find any reason to do that. None. I'm sorry to have to say so, but all who are choosing Trump over Biden, aren't thinking straight. That's not me trying to insult or belittle anyone, that's me truthfully speaking my mind; I genuinely lack what's needed to see anything positive in Trump's personality, policies or rhetoric...

Many of the comments I get when speaking of the bad orange man are in the vein of "but Biden is bad too", or "the democrats aren't any better because...", and you can fill in the blanks. Although both statements are true, I still can't fathom why anyone in their right mind could even suspect that this matters in this moment in time. Yes, Biden is a racist too, he's a creepy old man who has been accused of sexual harassment multiple times, and is responsible for much of the racial injustice that's spawned the recent unprecedented wave of protests. That's all true, but none of it matters right now because Trump is a fascist, and under his presidency we've seen an acceleration of the rise of American fascism. I've written extensively about the parallels between the rise of fascism in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, and what's been happening in America recently, and none of that can be hand-waved away as a Godwin's law fallacy. The similarities are obvious and overwhelming; denying that is the product of either ignorance, extreme gullibility, or a fascist or racist predisposition.

What I do know, is that if we compare the core tenants of fascism and American conservatism, we can identify an alarming number of overlaps; there's a rather fine line between them. Fascism is, in a sense, right-wing and conservative ideals followed to their extremes, usually as an extremist reaction to the rise of left-wing ideals. This rise of left-wing ideals we've seen in recent years is in turn a mild and gradual reaction to the decades of neoliberalism and neoconservatism that has been pushing the Overton window to the right in all western countries. So far right in fact, that America, the country that has been at the front of this development, doesn't have a left-wing mainstream political party anymore; the choice between Democrats and Republicans is a choice between right-wing and far right-wing. And under Trump the threshold toward fascism has been breached. A vote for Biden is in fact a vote for a moderate Republican; even Obama admitted that his policies were akin to those of moderate Republicans from the 1980s or 1990s...

So, let's look at some of the overlaps between fascism's and conservatism's core tenants. Conservatives and the right wing are on the side of the political spectrum that wants everything to stay the same; it's no coincidence that leftists are the progressives. Fascism is the extreme version of that same thing; fascist leaders express a longing for a return to a great mythic past. Trumpists check that mark nicely indeed, with their Make America Great Again nonsense. Funny thing is that when you ask them "when was America great", they usually can't answer. Maybe that's because only two generations ago racism was still normal and out in the open. Another mainstay among fascists is a kind of propaganda in which everything is inversed. Real news is fake news, and anti-fascists are the real fascists, and when leftists enact affirmative action to level the playing field between white cisgendered males and all other demographics, those leftists are the real bigots and racists. Conservatives and crypto-fascists alike will then claim that they "don't see color", and that when leftists speak about white male privilege, they are being racist against white people. Funny how these crybabies are suddenly very comfortable in assuming the victim-mentality they decry so vehemently when it suits them. Here's a good game for you: count the number of times Trump cries about being treated badly by the press, the IRA, moderators... The Great Orange Crybaby... That, by the way, is another remarkable inversion and paradox among fascists. On one hand they claim that the dominant group, white males, is better than any other, but at the same time they paint that dominant group as the greatest victims. The economy is doing bad? Must be all those immigrants stealing our jobs... The sad thing is that under all the bravado and toxic masculinity, apparent among far right extremists and fascists, hides a lot of fear.

I could go on but it should be easy for anyone with just an inkling of historical, social, political and economical awareness to conclude that fascism is nothing more than right-wing conservatism on steroids; love for the nuclear family, anti-feminism, homophobia, adoration of "law and order", the police and the military, all typical right-wing conservative tendencies we see the extremist version of under fascism. That's Trump. A fascist. And I for the live of me can't imagine why someone in their right mind would vote for him. I can see why people would refuse to vote; not voting for Biden is perfectly understandable. Voting for Trump however is voting for fascism, and that I will not sugarcoat or condone in any way.

But let's listen to someone who became famous for asserting that "facts don't care about your feelings." Maybe I'm just being emotional here. Maybe I'm letting Trump's apparent racism and misogyny get in the way of passing fair judgement on the great orange man. After all, not even someone who's past the age of a half century, like myself, is too old to learn. Ben Shapiro, in the below linked video, lists the reasons why he will vote for Donald Trump in 2020 when he didn't vote for him in 2016; I invite you all to do as I did, and listen to this popular conservative online celebrity. Listening to Shapiro reminded me of why I'm simply unable to understand the right-wing conservative mindset; his world-view is so diametrically opposed to mine, his "truths" are so radically different than my facts that the gap between us is far too wide to bridge. One of the first reasons Ben gives us, is that Trump "radically cut regulations"... That's brain-dead to me. Yes, Trump cut regulations. He cut all the regulations that were put in place to help the environment and regular people. He cut the regulations that compelled corporations to behave decently; Trump cut more than 100 regulations for environmental protection. Trump said "fuck future generations, hail Wall Street!" That's what Orange man did. And that's a reason in favor of voting for him? Give me and the rest of the planet a break.

Ben continues with boasting that Trump left the Paris Climate Agreement. That agreement is woefully weak as it is, just a minuscule step in the right direction, but even that was too much for orange crybaby. And then Shapiro lauds Trump for ripping up the Iran deal... That deal was maybe the only good thing coming out of Obama's 8 years in the Oval Office for Christ's sake. Oh, and Trump appointed "originalist" judges who "actually care about the role of the judiciary". Ben doesn't even see the contradiction here, it's so sad; "originalism" says that the constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding at the time of its adoption. Do you really not see the problem here, Ben? It was drafted in 1787 and adopted in 1788 Ben! The 13th Amendment wasn't adopted until 1865, and even that didn't end slavery completely, Ben! It's the justices' job to interpret the text of that document in light of the current situation, and not to try to crawl into the dark hole of the white male slave-owners' minds who drafted it, Ben! The continued survival of that mindset is the problem, you dimwit! It's been labeled and designed as a "living document" for good reasons, Ben! This is the kind of fundamentalism one would ascribe to Muslim fundamentalist and christian fundamentalist terrorists. You're acting like a little fundamentalist Osama Ben Laden!

And this is just the start of Ben spouting stupid reasons to vote for Trump, as well as a bunch of lies; he asserts that under Trump people "at the bottom of the spectrum" have seen their wages rise, for example, and he repeats the often heard talking point that the Trump administration achieved the lowest unemployment figures ever, without specifying that those jobs are overwhelmingly in the gig-economy and that many of the employed are underemployed... Ben's just your regular right-wing hack. Okay, I need to stop. Watch the rest of Ben's reasons yourself, dear reader; maybe you can find something in there that's rational and worth considering. I can't; to me all he does is confirm all the reasons why Trump needs to be voted out of the White house. But that's to be expected from Ben Shapiro, the only Jew I know of who's adored by the far right, white nationalists and neo-Nazis...

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