“My generation in Germany were always asking our parents and grandparents how Adolf Hitler could have happened in a democratic state—I think, now we all know it from firsthand [watching the United States]” -Hartmut Mueller, Germany
SHORTLY after major media organizations called the elections for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris folks came out in jubilation, complete with someone spraying the crowd with champagne. I have witnessed celebrations like this before, only when a city’s sports team wins a major championship. Never for election results. It reminded me of the celebrations and tears of joy Filipinos shed after they deposed Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
The 2020 presidential election broke voter turnout records. Joe Biden amassed more than 80 million votes, the highest in history, with Donald Trump garnering 74 million, the second-most in history. While voter turnout is a huge positive, the votes themselves reveal a deeply divided country: 51% Biden, 48% Trump.
I personally find Donald Trump’s incompetence and divisiveness, deeply disturbing. The COVID-19 pandemic requires that we come together as a community to fight the community spread of the virus. Instead, he has encouraged wrong-headed exceptionalist behavior. I was in line to enter a grocery store the other day when a few patrons ahead of me was a man not wearing a mask. An employee approached him, saying, “Sir you need to wear a mask” to which the man answered, “I don’t care about masks.” The employee responded, “Sir, it’s not about you. We are trying to keep this store open, so folks can buy groceries; we will get shut down if someone gets sick while shopping here.”
The challenges in managing the spike in coronavirus cases here in the U.S. could very well be due in part to these exceptionalist attitudes that pervade the American psyche. I think, however, that despite American exceptionalism, Trump’s failure to unite the nation in a common fight against a serious health threat has needlessly led to more American deaths from the virus. For comparison, the 260,000 deaths and counting (as I write this), is more than four times the American combat deaths in Vietnam (60,000).
I am puzzled why so many Americans affirmed Trump’s leadership. It is true that many voted for him, simply on the basis of single issues like abortion while ignoring his racism.
But the vast majority feel that his leadership has given them reassurance and comfort.
Why is this?
I have been nudged into this search by a chat—via text message—with a German friend, a space scientist in Germany who texted me the observation that begins this essay.
What is it that my friend is so attuned to about developments in the United States under Trump to draw this observational parallel between the rise of Nazism in Germany and the rise of authoritarianism in the United States? A recent article by Matthew C. McWilliams in Politico may offer some insight into why my German friend found Trump’s tenure at the White House so compellingly descriptive of the rise of Hitler and Nazism in pre-WWII democratic Germany.
McWilliam’s Politico essay derives from a much larger work, “On Fascism: 12 Lessons From American History”. I should also note that there are other studies out there about America’s authoritarian tendencies, but I find McWilliam’s observations rather prescient of the tableau that unfolded during this election year.
McWilliams begins by observing that through high school civics classes, we come to believe that America is uniquely immune to authoritarianism as a country founded on freedom, equality, and justice. But he quickly adds, this is a national fairy tale.
An authoritarian strain in American politics appears to have been stirred up by Trump’s candidacy during the 2016 elections, he observes. Voters then had a chance to repudiate this strain, but Trump won. Much damage has been done in the ensuing 4 years but voters in 2020 finally repudiated him. Yet, McWilliams warns this strain of American authoritarianism will not magically vanish even if Trump loses. It is thus critical to understand the characteristics of this strain; it is doubly urgent to shine a light on it given the huge support that Trump has garnered, which shows how prevalent it is in the American body politic.
What kinds of policies and changes will American authoritarians support once stirred up?
McWilliams notes that American authoritarianism is not a policy preference such as lower taxes or pro-life, but a world view “that can be activated in the right moment by anyone with a big enough megaphone who is willing to play on voter’s fears and insecurities.”
Thus activated, authoritarian leaning Americans “are predisposed to trade civil liberties for strongman solutions to secure law and order; and they are ready to strip civil liberties from those defined as the ‘other’.”
Several incidents attest to this willingness to curtail civil liberties in ‘strongman’ fashion.
During the summer of 2020 at the height of protests over the deaths of African Americans in the hands of police, Trump famously tweeted, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Shortly afterward, law enforcement officers used tear gas and riot control tactics to forcefully clear peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square for Trump to walk to St. John’s Church for a photo-op. He has openly encouraged violence. When protests against “stay at home” orders to help blunt the spread of the virus took place in Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia, In separate, all-caps tweets, Trump shouted, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” LIBERATE MINNESOTA,” LIBERATE VIRGINIA.” In the latter, he urged Virginians to “save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” These may have encouraged open insurrection for shortly thereafter, a militia group engaged in a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer. Fortunately, the plot was thwarted. More recently, he fired his Defense Secretary for no apparent reason other than his refusal to use the military to quell peaceful protests in Washington, D.C.
McWilliams feels, that authoritarian leaning Americans are more likely to support limiting the freedom of the press and agree that the media is the enemy of the people rather than a valuable independent institution. (Trump’s animosity with the press is public knowledge.) They are also more likely to think the president should have the power to limit the voice and vote of opposition parties, while believing that those who disagree with them are a threat to our country. This election year, Trump and Republicans have repeatedly cast aspersions on the validity of mailed ballots as open to fraud and have filed lawsuits to prevent them from being counted. Fortunately, those in charge of canvassing votes, have conscientiously carried out their tasks, as judges have thrown out lawsuits alleging irregularities as being without merit.
“American authoritarians fear diversity,” McWilliams writes, “they are more likely to agree that increasing racial, religious and ethnic diversity is a clear and present threat to national security. They are more fearful of people of other races, and agree with the statement that “sometimes other groups must be kept in their place.” This fear of diversity is clearly the motivation behind Trump’s order to defund diversity training. A ban issued in late summer forbids federal funding for “spending related to any training on ‘critical race theory,’ and ’white privilege.’” The memo urges agencies “ to identify all available avenues within the law to cancel any such contracts and… divert Federal dollars away from these un-American propaganda training sessions.”
McWilliams observes that “The political path to galvanize American authoritarianism is… well worn and documented. First, purveyors of the paranoid style conjure an “other.”
Second, this other is described as different from mainstream Americans, and identified as a clear and present threat to majoritarian values and traditions. Third, the paranoid leader stokes fear that a hidden conspiracy to undermine mainstream values is afoot and alleges that the other is behind it—activating American authoritarians. Finally, in its most virulent manifestation, the growing fear of the other is manipulated to rationalize actions that violate fundamental values, norms, laws and constitutional protections guaranteed to all Americans.”
The fear that Trump has stoked, was most evident this summer amid BLM protests when a St. Louis couple started waving guns at BLM protesters who were peacefully walking through their neighborhood. Fear-mongering was most evident during the Republican National Convention when Trump himself warned that “Joe Biden and the radical left are also now coming for our freedom of speech, and want to bully us into submission.”
Another speaker, without much evidence, declared, “They (Democrats and Sanders) want to destroy this country.”
In defeating Trump this election cycle, Americans may have dodged the proverbial bullet of authoritarianism and fascism. But immediate and longer-term dangers lurk. The fear-mongering that was on open display at this summer’s RNC plays on the unease many whites feel about the increasing diversity that they are experiencing through changes in the demographics of their neighborhoods, towns and cities. This unease is well illustrated by increased racially biased calls for police intervention through 911—for BBQing in a park (Oakland), for a Latino man playing with his lighter complexioned grandson (Torrance), for sitting at a Starbucks (Philadelphia), for a black student napping in her dorm’s commons room (Yale). A White woman was also caught on video for blocking an African American from entering the apartment building where he lives.
In an age characterized by easy access to social media platforms, disinformation and falsehoods seem to have become part of our daily informational diet. We have yet to master the critical thinking skills to winnow out the chaff from the truth. Our social networks have turned into giant echo chambers, making it difficult to be objective on some issues.
For the longer term, McWilliams urges us to “rebuild faith in the institutions of government and democracy by demanding that our leaders are constrained by the rule of law and our fundamental constitutional principles.” He adds that “we must confront and make peace with our history. We have much to be proud of as Americans, but we also have a history that needs to be confronted…Reconciliation of our past transgressions strengthens us as a people.” This is strong medicine. I agree. White supremacy is a central pillar of nazism. It is likewise the scaffolding that supports slavery, apartheid, and Jim Crow. The attitudes and beliefs that grew out of these institutions still infuse American culture today. They manifest themselves through feelings of discomfort at the sight of “othered ” Americans in spaces they weren’t expected to be at, leading to 911 calls. They are what make Americans highly susceptible to authoritarian leaders.
McWilliams warns that “A country where authoritarian ideals are ascendant, and remain ascendant, is no longer a democracy. It is on the road to fascism…”
I hope that this presidential election has rerouted us away from fascism, and towards a society that affirms equality, diversity, and individual liberties.
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The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
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Enrique de la Cruz is Professor Emeritus of Asian American Studies at Cal State University, Northridge.
