Donald Trump’s victory at the polls will inevitably reopen the “fascism debate.” But does a populist whose appeal cuts across diverse groups truly fit the fascist profile?
Yes. Yes it does. Just because Euro fascism historically emerged within a national context (German, Italian, Japanese) doesn’t mean its defining characteristic is that bond to a national monoculture. America isn’t a nation in the real meaning of that term. It’s a state defined not by a nation of people but rather a race category that people of many nations participate in.
In this sense, fascism in the American context must be far more white supremacist than either the German context or the Italian context because there is no shared nationality among the various white immigrants.
The fact that the fascists in America are able to include people from non-white race categories is more a factor of just how totalizing white supremacy is in the US compared to anywhere in Europe - the force of white supremacy in the US is so strong that non-white people are compelled to adopt it in whole or in part to survive and millions have done so so thoroughly that they fundamentally incorporate it into their self identity. Such a feat of total dominance of the person could never have been achieved by any of the Euro fascists movements to date.
Yes. Yes it does. Just because Euro fascism historically emerged within a national context (German, Italian, Japanese) doesn’t mean its defining characteristic is that bond to a national monoculture. America isn’t a nation in the real meaning of that term. It’s a state defined not by a nation of people but rather a race category that people of many nations participate in.
In this sense, fascism in the American context must be far more white supremacist than either the German context or the Italian context because there is no shared nationality among the various white immigrants.
The fact that the fascists in America are able to include people from non-white race categories is more a factor of just how totalizing white supremacy is in the US compared to anywhere in Europe - the force of white supremacy in the US is so strong that non-white people are compelled to adopt it in whole or in part to survive and millions have done so so thoroughly that they fundamentally incorporate it into their self identity. Such a feat of total dominance of the person could never have been achieved by any of the Euro fascists movements to date.
Whiteness is constructed so it makes sense that a fascism based on it would be fluid on who it contains and who it others.
Especially given a century of development.