The progressive left in America is particularly adept at name-calling and labeling those with whom they disagree as adherents of despotic political movements – fascists, Nazis … take your pick. It's a recurring theme they can't resist – so they recycle, rinse, and repeat it again. Thus, this week, when The New York Times ran an article by Michelle Goldberg titled "The Resistance Libs Were Right," droves of Times commenters happily added their collective amen to her preposterous assertion that President Donald Trump is the embodiment of a fascist.
Goldberg asserts past arguments that Trump is not a fascist have now been debunked, likening ICE enforcement to the tactics of Blackshirts in Italy and the president's actions in Venezuela as imperialist and fascistic. Her premise is that "a street-fighting force" and the toppling of strongman Nicolás Maduro are evidence that the 47th president of the United States and, by proxy, his supporters represent a fascist movement in America.
Fascists: Plunging to New Depths of Madness
By claiming that Trump's actions have "plunged [us] to new depths of madness," Goldberg is revealing her radical leftist bent and willingness to categorize anything with which she disagrees as a hateful movement. But a fascist political system would, for instance, never be involved in removing Maduro from his self-appointed throne, and thousands of Venezuelans would not be lauding this bold and breathtaking move if it were not for the freedom and liberty that it now signals. Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro took a once-prosperous nation and drove it into the ground. Only now, with Maduro out of power and behind bars – where he belongs – do the people of Venezuela have hope for a brighter future.
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Equating ICE agents with the Blackshirts of Italy reveals a lack of understanding about the history of the Italian strike force. The Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, or MVSN, "helped create a tightly controlled state that did not tolerate opposition," according to the website WorldWar1-2.com. "From the early 1920s, the MVSN (aka Blackshirts) systematically employed violence, intimidation, and repression to eliminate opposition to the fascist regime."
Meanwhile, ICE agents are simply trying to enforce US laws and remove those from our society who have perpetrated violence against the American people or could realistically be expected to do so. The Department of Homeland Security has persistently made the point that they are removing the rapists, pedophiles, and murderers from our neighborhoods and communities. In protesting their actions, the radical left stands in opposition to this defensive move and demonstrates a lack of understanding of ICE's purpose. One must ask oneself: "Are they really protesting to leave these bad actors in our midst?"
The answer to that question is where using the phrase "plunging to new depths of madness" actually makes sense. Political dissent is the right of every American, but actively obstructing government authorities trying to enforce the laws of the land is another thing altogether.
These are not the only examples of the president acting in ways that prove he and his followers are not fascists. In myriad other circumstances, President Trump shows himself to be on the side of freedom and liberty. Liberty Nation's Graham Noble put it succinctly: "Trump's focus on shrinking the size and cost of government and creating conditions that enable ordinary Americans to be less reliant on government is about the least fascist thing a president could do. So, for leftists to equate Trump with Hitler, they must ignore the core tenets of fascism and completely rewrite history."
Should the president decide to take action in Iran on behalf of the Iranian people, the siren song about him being a fascist will undoubtedly rise again. Once again, the left would do well to talk to some of the citizens who will be freed from totalitarian rule in the Persian state. They will not be calling him a fascist because the Iranian people will finally be free from what is, in fact, a quasi-fascistic rule. Like the Venezuelans, they will be calling him the great liberator.
