Don’t overestimate the intelligence of American voters
The Dems are in trouble as we approach the November presidential election.
This trouble comes from many sources:
- The assassination attempt has boosted Trump’s popularity, and regardless of what happened, the event has exalted him in the minds of many of his followers to a divinity-type status;
- The judicial system is working in Trump’s favor, first by the Supreme Court’s limited presidential immunity opinion and then by the Trump-appointed judge in Florida to dismiss the classified documents case;
- With the Supreme Court’s momentous decision giving a known criminal some authority to commit crimes while president and the terrible debate performance of Joe Biden, the U.S. has inched closer to a Trump presidency. And with it will come the nation’s first nightmare of American fascism.
- Kamala Harris has struggled to maintain her momentum after a powerful launch as the new presidential candidate. She is a forgettable speaker, and after being VP for three years, she has never distinguished herself in any policy area or topical issue that would energize any Democratic demographic. Why she was so invisible during the three years of her vice presidency remains a mystery. Today, those last years of national visibility are hurting her now.
- The Dems have never developed their bench of new, young political talent, which will cost them the next election. The Democratic leadership (whoever that is) is a closed group that abhors new opinions from newcomers. They are constitutionalists, and new people have become victims of the seniority system. This encourages political ossification and lets the Old Guard (Clintons and Obamas) push their old neoliberal policies, even when those policies are unfavorable.
- The Dems and Biden chose the weakest possible Attorney General in modern U.S. history–Merrick Garland–to head the Justice Department. Garland is a timid institutionalist who is afraid to confront a criminal president. He waited a year to appoint Special Counsel Jack Smith even though it was always evident that Trump would use delayed legal actions at every opportunity. Garland played right into Trump’s hands. He is the worst possible AG at the worst possible time in modern U.S. history.
So where does this leave the Dems?
The oddsmakers say the race is too close to call. Trump is pushing his whole prejudiced MAGA agenda, including the authoritarian Project 2025 manifesto.
Trump will never try to unite the nation. Trump’s whole career has been built on lies, fanning fear, and making threats, and despite his two attempted assassination attempts, his sociopathic personality will never change.
So, given this depressing scenario, Americans may be in for a unique learning experience: living in a government that has a fascist agenda. This will include the pursuit of personal vendettas, using the military against civilians, the large-scale round-up of immigrants, and the misguided imposition of tariffs.
Let Americans Go Broke
All of this can be a good thing.
Maybe the American people need to see what four or eight years of MAGA fascism is all about. The lesson most Americans don’t know is that it could take a few generations, about 20 years, to recover financially from a Trump presidency.
This is not far-fetched. Only one generation ago, America had full-formed fascist movements nationwide. During Reconstruction, fascist groups were operating openly in the South. By December 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan was founded, they had fully developed an anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-Jewish hate theme that the Nazis
later acknowledged was the basis for their hate campaigns. Even the stiff one-arm salute, used by the Nazis, was taken directly from the KKK.
Today, we have witnessed the rise of paramilitary groups, the military attacking civilians attempts to co-opt the free press, the rise of a cult leader, the demonization of critics, racial hatred, stuffing the courts with ideologues and political cronies, the rise of paramilitaries, the refusal to make a peaceful transfer of power, the rise of the cult of tradition, and focusing on economic grievances, according to Sarah Churchwell, a professor at the University of London, in this excellent video.
At a minimum, Trump’s fascism means fewer liberties, more public corruption, higher costs for everything from food to services, higher unemployment, bans on abortions, and federal restrictions on civil rights.
This, and more, will all be part of the fascist Trump presidency.
But Trump’s followers embrace all this because Trump is their hero. It will take the country at least 20 years to recover from Trump’s fascist agenda. Still, if Americans want Trump’s fascism, this is the price they will pay to elect a convicted criminal, sociopath, financial fraudster, and protector of the autocrats to run the nation.
Average Americans who vote for Trump are either misled, mean, or unsettled people who want revenge on something they cannot articulate. They are insecure and need the leader-follower relationship to become fuller beings. Their shortcomings may be as family members or workers who failed to climb the success ladder into the upper middle class or become “rich.” They could be weak male figures uncertain of their masculinity.
Fascist leaders are revered because they are “strong men” and male sex symbols. Fascist leaders, such as Mussolini, have also committed violence against women. Maybe followers of fascist leaders like Trump have nostalgic, vague memories of an America from decades or centuries ago. Instead of entering their time machines, they want to “Make America Great Again” as it was in some unnamed time long ago.
Or, like their hero, they may want revenge on the elected people who offended them somehow.
In short, too many of Trump’s followers missed out on the American Dream. They don’t know about today’s historic income inequality because they are uninformed or victims of decades of Republican lies. They are audience members in Trump’s political theater, and when they participate in the violence, they become actual actors in the movement.
Today, they look forward to an American version of fascism they cannot imagine, let alone articulate. Most have never read the blueprint for Trump’s fascism, as detailed by the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which calls for replacing veteran, qualified federal workers with the hack, Trump loyalists. This is no different from the Brown Shirts in Hitler’s Germany, who assumed roles based on loyalty to the Nazi regime regardless of their qualifications.
Trump followers need to learn the implications of replacing qualified federal workers with hackers. This will affect business productivity, regulatory oversight, the quality of all levels of education, travel, interstate commerce, and benefits administration. It will also mean Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid reductions as part of Project 2025’s plans to eliminate social safety-net federal subsidies.
Look For the Open Looting of the Federal Government
A vital element of all fascist political structures is looting the state government. Public corruption becomes commonplace, even expected. Trump and his backers have already elevated this to an art form.
Corruption is an essential element in fascist governments. Since fascism is violence, corruption is profitable and crucial. Stealing and kleptocracy become common.
Trump’s past financial criminal history is the blueprint. As noted in this article, his accomplices in this fascist state will be the billionaires who are already lining up from the hedge fund, private equity fund, real estate, oil, high tech, mining, export, and other major industries that will benefit from reduced regulation and favorable tax cuts and trade deals. Then there are the old-fashioned criminals from crypto, gambling, tax evasion, and professional fraudsters who are already in Trump’s camp of big donors.
Trump’s family will be at the top of the list. This includes his son-in-law, the corrupt Jared Kushner, who has already shaken down the Saudi government for a $2 billion contribution to his hedge fund, Affinity Partners. 
Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband and a former senior advisor to Trump lives in a $24.4 million estate on Indian Creek Island, near Miami. A recent exchange of correspondence between Senator Ron Weyden (D-Oregon), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, asked why Kushner and his firm have not registered as foreign agents under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, considering that “99% of the investment funds managed by Affinity Partners (‘Affinity’) comes from foreign sources, primarily the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.”
As reported by the Florida Bulldog, Weyden has yet to receive a response from Kushner. His firm just ignored the Senator’s request. Weyden wrote, “It is deeply concerning that several Middle Eastern governments are using funds managed by Affinity to pay tens of millions of dollars in fees every year to former President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, creating significant conflicts of interest and potential counterintelligence risks.”
Kushner is the model for scores of other plutocrats who want to become part of the new American oligarchs under the Trump fascist administration. To become an oligarch in America, just as it does in Russia, requires a few things: unquestioning loyalty, devising plans to strip government assets, and paying a fealty or cash contribution to Trump via a foreign bank account in cash, crypto, property, or other valuables.
But as the fascist plutocrat business supporters thrive, they will seek to expand their markets. This means the less connected business people will have to sell out to the oligarchs and sell their businesses at a loss or flee the country.
This is nothing new. It’s been done before by tyrants, dictators, and thugs who have run entire nations for a few thousand years. But this will be part of America’s descent into fascism.
Why Americans Deserve A Bout of Fascism
Trump followers should know this will be happening. Trump talks about it in his speeches, and the Heritage Foundation has even written about it.
Trump’s followers will get the federal looting as part of their perverted vision to “Make America Great Again,” except it will be the old Wild West before the sheriff comes into town. Minorities will feel the heat first as thousands of immigrants get deported. This will mean that gated communities and country clubs around the U.S. must rely on their homeowners to mow the lawns and landscape the grounds. Food will rot in the fields, and construction sites will be looking for workers. Voting will become more complex. To attract workers, business owners must raise salaries or scale back operations. Books will be banned in more states. Colleges and universities will see specific programs eliminated and “unloyal” professors fired. Government propaganda will become the rule to keep the populace under control. Labor unions will become targets of business. Environmental regulations will be widely evaded without penalties. 
We will have white militias on the streets of America that Trump controls. Their targets will be anyone whom the people in power select. They will do the president’s bidding.
Consumers will pay higher prices and have a reduced selection of available goods. Inflation will increase because Trump will cut taxes and tariffs, making average consumers pay more for goods.
The wealthy benefit will benefit from all of this and will be largely immune from Trump’s fascist policies. But that is the goal.
Chaos will become more commonplace since Trump’s fascism thrives on disorder. Invasion from the borders, criminals and terrorists entering the nation, deteriorating cities, foreign enemies are on the rise; liberal elites are threatening your way of life, and the schools are brainwashing students. These are all familiar traits of fascists.
All political opponents are threats to the nation. People in the new Trump presidential administration will be replaced regularly since people thrive on disruptions and perceived disloyalty. This happened frequently in the Trump administration. None of this is random. It’s classic plays from the fascism playbook.
This is why Trump’s family members are crucial to his administration. They are the loyalists, accompanied by business partners from the new oligarchs, who will also serve in the administration.
The only consolation is that history does not treat fascist dictators well. However, vengeance and justice only occur after long years of suffering by the general population, and now that will include average Americans. In modern times, Hitler committed suicide. Mussolini was killed, and his body was hung upside down in front of a gas station. South American dictators fare better. They often flee to another country with some of their money as their citizens pick up the pieces after years of national neglect.
This is the blueprint for the U.S. when Trump’s fascist plan unfolds.
Americans should take a look at the past to get an idea of what they face in the future after American fascism unfolds. The U.S. is the most violent nation on earth, with 393 million guns in the hands of its citizens. Chaos, greed, and survival instincts will explode as this fascism develops. After Trump and his cronies steal and hide whatever they can and leave the scene, it will take decades for the economy and society to recover. That could take us into 2068 and a few years beyond.
So, Trump followers and their families should get their calendars out and plan for the years ahead. It’s going to be a tough time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18K67zNeHDw&ab_channel=NYUInstituteforPublicKnowledge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFuMqJI6-Z4&ab_channel=DemocracyNow%21
