LA Progressive: GOP’s Ruthless New Brand: Hungarian-Style Soft Fascism
By THOM HARTMANN
While it’s fashionable in some circles to compare Donald Trump and the modern-day GOP to Hitler or Mussolini and their fascist movements from the 1930s, what’s happening on the international stage right now is actually somewhat different and, once in power, far harder to stop or overthrow. Call it “soft fascism” or neofascism.
The problem with the old fascism was that it was too brutal and militaristic: it offended voters’ democratic sensibilities, killed way too many people, and caused nearby nations to respond militarily to its perceived threat.
This softer and gentler system, neofascism, still employs many of the same political and rhetorical tools old-fashioned fascists used to gain power, including white supremacy, ultranationalism, and a general embrace of neoliberal crony capitalism.