Today the voting population of the United States of America have a big decision to make and frankly it's pretty terrifying that there seems to be a even chance that Donald Trump will be re- elected as president. The polls seem to suggest that something like 47% of Americans will be casting their vote for him with Kamala Harris on 48%. That's too close to call.
That Trump is even allowed anywhere near the ballot paper is bewildering: he is a man who encouraged a coup by a violent mob of supporters when he lost the previous election; a convicted felon facing a possible prison sentence for paying hush money to an actor he had sex with; accused of sexual assault by over twenty women; has a string of charges against him for electoral offences from 2020; hid classified documents in the bathroom at his golf club; has made various threats during the election campaign that show he's unfit to run (to close down media outlets, to be a dictator 'on day one', to use the arms of the state to attack opponents and those who have wronged him, to use the military against citizens he describes as 'the enemy within', to hold 12, 000 'illegals' in camps while they await deportation, made racist remarks about Kamala Harris and falsely accused refugees of eating people's pet animals); threatened to execute Liz Cheney; the removal of abortion rights; the list goes on and on and on. In any sane world, Trump would have been cast out by the people, his party and the media, and his name would be nowhere near a ballot paper.
Like all demagogues he uses people's grievances to further his own ends. He takes people's struggles in an economically difficult time and turns them into Us v Them. He paints his supporters and himself as victims. He thinks presidents should have unlimited power. The only other leaders he openly admires are dictators/ authoritarians. He publicly supports racists and racist groups. His own former staff describe him as fascist.
People sometimes shrink from using the word fascist. It's too extreme, it's student politics, it's an exaggeration. Perhaps the culture around the fascist dictators of the 20th century is partly the reason- Hitler was a fascist and this blinds us to modern equivalents. No one can be as bad as Hitler can they? Therefore, no one else can be a fascist. But Trump's actions and words are fascist- the demonisation of minorities, the talk of genetics and purity, the desire to have unlimited and unchallengeable power, the cult of the leader, the assaults on democracy, the rampant nationalism, the cosy relationship between big business and power- all these things are fascist. I think we should call it what it is.
Only time will tell what happens and what the US and the world will look like in four years time if he wins. You could say that it doesn't matter but what happens in the US affects us all. I hope enough Americans take the opportunity and make the choice to reject him today but even if they do the sheer number who will have voted for him is concerning enough. What's more he will inevitably poison politics and democracy further by claiming the election was rigged and stolen- the undermining of democratic mores and institutions, more fascism. His ego is so fragile he cannot take being seen as a loser. He cannot lose an election, he must have been cheated.
In 1944 Woody Guthrie wrote All You Fascists Bound To Lose, a song about Hitler and Mussolini and their impending defeat in the Second World War. In 2017 The Missin' Cousins, an American bluegrass/ country and western trio covered it, updating it for their own homegrown version and opening with the line, 'There's a fascist in The White House'. I hope America gets it right today and this song becomes consigned to the years 2017- 2021 and not the next four.
All You Fascists Bound To Lose
