Trumpocalpse
American Fascists?
“(C)an a fascist movement that controls many but not all of the levers of power achieve total control when most people see that it is making their daily lives worse, not better? Hitler established total control against the backdrop of an economic boom. So did Putin. Even Hungary’s Viktor Orban — whose regime now looks mild compared with Trumpian violence — was able to consolidate control in large part because during the early 2010s Hungary’s economy was recovering from high unemployment caused by austerity policies.
So the answer to that question is probably not. In the end, if Trumpist fascism is indeed defeated, I believe that there will be three sources of that defeat. First is the courage and basic decency of the American people, who refuse to bow down. Second is the egomania and malign incompetence of Trump, who tried to bludgeon and gaslight Americans into submission. And last is the weakness of a fascist movement that just can’t deliver the goods.”
I read The Economist weekly edition, cover to cover. I read both the “international” and “US politics” sections of The Guardian’s daily online coverage. And I read what Paul Krugman has to say every day. The quote above is from a Substack piece he published early yesterday morning.
Mr. Krugman is a gifted and reliable witness. He is the recipient of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, a close relative to the Nobel Prize, which Trump will never win unless the Nobel Foundation takes leave of its senses.
This is Paul Krugman’s reasoned, well-informed, and thoughtful indictment of Trump:
