Exposing the heart of fascism within the Trumpist Republican Party

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Trumpist Republican Party fascism nationalism capitalism liberty

Exposing the heart of fascism within the Trumpist Republican Party

“Conservatives” used to stand as defenders of values like free market capitalism and liberty, but ever since Donald Trump rebranded conservatism as America First nationalism, a heart of fascism has been beating within the chest of the Trumpist Republican Party.

In her “Ingraham Angle” rant last week in response to Disney’s recently declared war against traditional family values, Laura Ingraham warned companies refusing to follow her version of the conservative gospel that their days are numbered once Republicans retake Congress.

Assuming, of course, they do so:

“When Republicans get back into power, Apple and Disney need to understand one thing: everything will be on the table, your copyright and trademark protection, your special status within certain states, and even your corporate structure itself.” (emphasis mine)

Of course, I don’t support Disney’s Gay Mafia tactics, but fascism isn’t the solution to the problem. Unfortunately, Trumpist Republicans in Congress have also become disciples of nationalism, which is the root of fascism, instead of defenders of liberty.

Leaving aside the apparent fact that Boebert never heard the theme song (it’s spelled M-I-C-K-E-Y), the bimbo representative from Colorado is clearly in the same fascist camp as the rest of the so-called conservatives within the Trumpist Republican Party, where the boot of big government is an acceptable method of dealing with undesirables.

Fascism within the Trumpist Republican Party has been building in momentum, and it’s been particularly obvious with the growing embrace of nationalism as the new conservatism.

In the first annual National Conservatism Conference held in Washington, D.C., we learned how nationalism/fascism was needed to empower government with the means necessary to right the wrongs brought about by the traditional conservatism that had outlived its usefulness economically and culturally.

“Today we declare independence,” NCC organizer Yoram Hazony said, “from the set of ideas that sees the atomic individual, the free and equal individual, as the only thing that matters in politics.”

Taking Hazony’s idea a step further, FOX News host Tucker Carlson said in a keynote speech that big government was less a threat to liberty than the free market. “The main threat to your ability to live your life as your choose does not come from government anymore,” Carlson declared. “It comes from the private sector.” (emphasis mine)

In its coverage of the conference, Reason.com concluded:

“The true object of the nationalists’ ire is much closer to home: They cannot abide individual Americans making social and economic choices they do not like. For consumers, the question might be whether to buy foreign or domestic. For a business owner, it might be where to open a factory.

“Regardless, the new nationalists have decided not only that there is a right answer from a moral perspective but that government should force you to choose correctly.” (emphasis mine)

By the way, another Trumpist Republican in attendance was Josh Hawley, the guy who made nationalism and by default, fascism, key to his future presidential ambitions. Last year, Hawley introduced a liberty-killing bill that will give government unlimited power to take down Big Tech.

Back to Tucker Carlson for a moment. Last fall, his love of nationalism/fascism was the theme in an interview he held with J.D. Vance — a faux-conservative Trumpist Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Ohio — where they channeled their inner Bernie Sanders and declared that government should seize the assets of political non-profits that don’t believe as they do, and then redistribute that wealth to organizations that agree with their “conservative” views.

Throughout the segment, Carlson and Vance portray nonprofit groups as an exotic Democratic Party plot and their tax-exempt status as some sort of left-wing conspiracy.

During the interview, Carlson complains that groups like the Ford Foundation can “completely change the country, non-democratically, using their tax exemption,” and he appears shocked that Marxists like Bernie Sanders aren’t pushing hard to tax “openly partisan” nonprofits. In response, Vance called groups like the Ford Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Harvard University endowment “fundamentally cancers on society.”

The heart of fascism now beating in the chest of the Trumpist Republican Party has also been exposed in groups that used to be foundational to conservatism, such as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC, or to be more accurate, TPAC).

CPAC 2020 provided a virtual who’s who of nationalist/fascist speakers declaring their undying devotion to their nationalist/fascist leader. For example, Josh Hawley, Donald Trump, Jr., and Kevin McCarthy were in attendance to hold a panel discussion addressing the question, “What’s the Right Path Forward on Big Tech?”.

American Conservative Union (ACU) chairman Matt Schlapp called Trump Jr., McCarthy, and Hawley three of the most high-profile conservative leaders in America, and said in part, “I don’t think there is a more important issue facing the American political debate…” when trying to explain his rationale for having the trio speak.

Needless to say, these three members of the nationalism/fascism mutual admiration society were thrilled to be given this opportunity to attack the free market and liberty in the name of Trump’s America First agenda”

“Leader McCarthy and Senator Hawley have been warriors for my father’s America First agenda and are also two people who represent the future of the Republican Party.” ~ Donald Trump, Jr.

“Conservatives are more energized than ever by President Trump’s America First agenda and the tremendous success our country is experiencing. Integral to this movement are Donald Trump Jr. and Senator Hawley.” ~ Rep. Kevin McCarthy

Any doubts about CPAC’s abandonment of conservatism and embrace of Trumpist Republicans’ nationalism/fascism were confirmed when Schlapp appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room radio program and declared that “we are no longer conservatives.”

The destruction of conservatism has been a work-in-progress by the Mitch McConnells and John Boehners of the Republican Party ever since Ronald Reagan handed over the reins to George H.W. Bush, but the stark reality of its demise has come sharply into focus in the Age of Trump.

Equally tragic in this comedy of errors — apologies to William Shakespeare — is how media conservatives in-name-only like Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson have embraced nationalism/fascism and sold their souls to Faustian Trump.

The heart of the Trumpist Republican Party is fascism, and it is destroying liberty in America, which is one more reason why conservatives shouldn’t put their confidence in these spineless cowards.

 

David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.

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