I'm Getting There

Image by Barbara from Pixabay

I've been one of those unwilling to call Donald Trump a fascist. I've been willing to call him plenty of other things—criminal, treasonous, burnt umber—but not fascist.

My reticence is due to a fondness for linguistic and historical accuracy, and an aversion to hyperbole. But mainly it's due to the fact that I was raised by a woman who was born into Hitler's Germany and lived, barely, through the results of fascist leadership. Yes, we know Trump has authoritarian tendencies, but does he truly rise to the level of 'ol Adolph? I mean, my family has high standards for the evil despots we encounter.

Then along comes John Kelly. As Trump's longest-serving chief of staff, Kelly told The New York Times this week that his former boss fits "into the general definition of fascist" and "certainly prefers the dictator approach to government."

Kelly is hardly a delicate liberal flower. He's a conservative Republican and a retired Marine general who spent a lot of time with the former president. He saw Trump up close and personal, for which I bet even combat training didn't prepare him. Unless that combat training took place in Studio 54.

Kelly said he opted to go on the record because of Trump's announcing he might try to use the military against his domestic foes, an unequivocally fascist move. I'm much closer now to being willing to call Trump a fascist, but I sure wish Kelly had come clean a lot sooner than two weeks before the election.

If she were alive, my mother would offer an irritated "Jawohl."