Fascism Bingo with Trump at CPAC

I watched Trump's speech so you don't have to...

I am both a political junkie and a masochist, so of course I watched the former President of the United States Donald J. Trump speak at the notoriously extreme Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). I did not play a game of “One drink every time he says something outrageous,” because by now I would be dead, but I did play “Fascism Bingo,” and record some of the things Trump said which were straight out of the fascist playbook. So here we go!

1. Repeating the Big Lie. Trump said - yet again - that he won the presidential election. His repetition of this false narrative feeds the sense of anger and grievance felt by his supporters, why further eroding their trust in democratic procedures. This makes it more likely they will take anti-democratic action in the future.

2. America First. The fascist ideology is centered on creating a strong, proud nation which is capable of beating others and restoring its lost place in the world. Trump’s “America First” rhetoric - including the idea that, under Biden, the watchwords are now “America Last” - reinforces in his followers the sense that he believes in America, while his opponents do not. This narrative was further strengthened by his claims that only his supporters love American history and culture.

3. Incessant focus on the supposed dangers of immigrants. Trump’s obsession with immigration goes way beyond a reasonable worry about the effects of unchecked migration on US institutions and services. Rather, it is a rabid anti-immigrant stance which makes fear of the outsider a core part of his political appeal. Trump repeatedly claimed that tons of scary immigrants were suddenly flooding the US border because of changes Biden has made. In fact, Biden has not opened US borders.

4. In-group Out-group reinforcement. Trump made many references to “Our people.” This is typical in group-out group language, common to demagogues anywhere. “Our people” are always being taken advantage of or abused by the other. But in Trump’s case it is even more insidious, because Trump does not mean simply “Americans” when he says “our people” - he means Trump-supporting conservatives. This is a very limited group of insiders - true believers - and Trump constantly sets up an “Us against the world” mentality.

5. Repeated attacks on the press. Fascists love to attack the press, and Trump loves it too. He spoke about the “fake news media” to loud cheers from his audience: all part of an attempt to discredit the the free press and to reduce trust in liberal institutions.

6. Language of “surrender” and “taking advantage”. Creating a sense of national shame is central to stoking the fires of grievance which fuel Fascism. Thus, Fascists like to claim that their national pride is being undercut by other nations and peoples. So, rejoining the World Health Organization was framed as “surrender”, and immigrants trying to move to America were said to be trying to “take advantage” of the USA and its people. Everyone is out to get the USA, and the USA is now weak and helpless.

7. Language of “winning” and “losing”. Fascists are obsessed with projecting strength and with the idea that the nation must be restored to glory. So Trump spoke again and again about how under him the country was “winning”, while under Biden the country is “losing”.

8. “The China Virus”. Fascists want the people of their nation to hate those of other nations. Linking COVID-19 explicitly to China - and pointing out he was doing it - Trump reinforced xenophobia and hatred of outsiders.

9. Attacks on minorities. Fascists need an enemy for the populace to focus on, and in this speech trans people were the target. A whole section of the speech was dedicated to “protecting the integrity of women’s sports” from the “dangerous” trans people who are apparently destroying it.

10. Focus on authoritarian law enforcement and a “strong military”. Fascists want to create an ultra-nationalist authoritarian populist state with a cult of personality leading people to support the strongman at the top. To this end they frequent focus on an authoritarian notion of law enforcement and on making the military “strong.” Trump did this in his speech.

And that, I think, is a Fascist Bingo!