As risky as it is politically, Joe Biden is correct in calling former President Donald Trump and his supporters “semi-fascists” and a threat to US democracy, argues historian Federico Finchelstein, an expert on the history of fascism. In his government’s toughest speech so far, the president said, on Thursday night (1st), that American democracy is under attack.
Author of “From Fascism to Populism in History” (Ed. Almedina) and professor at The New School in New York, Finchelstein says that both Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) have moved away from populism and towards fascism.
For the Argentine based in the US, however, the attack on former president Cristina Kirchner, also on Thursday night, may not fit the definition of neo-fascism because there is no clear connection in the South American country between the top echelon of the politics and radical groups.
Biden said democracy in the US is under attack. A week earlier, he called Trump supporters semi-fascists. Does this definition make sense to you? Yup. We see populists like Trump or Bolsonaro in Brazil who are somehow reforming themselves, taking an authoritarian form and reconstituting themselves in a fascist project. Populism degrades democracy without destroying it, while fascism destroys democracy from within.
This is the case of these two characters, with an almost fascist intention, aspiration and vocation. In the case of Trump, there was a clear coup attempt. In Bolsonaro’s, there are signs of wanting to replicate this attempt. Democracy, luckily and thanks to the power of institutions and the will of many people who defend it, was not destroyed. But the vocation and the intention are there. So the English term I use is “wannabe fascism”; for that reason, Biden’s term is correct.
This tone is new to Biden, who up until now has been calling for unity. Do you think it’s the president’s role to call political opponents semi-fascists? Depends on the case. As a historian who specializes in fascism and populism, when we see that they do not identify with the Constitution and legality, they defend coups and the other things that we know happened, I think there is no other way to call them.
But thinking about the political game, isn’t it risky to stigmatize a large portion of voters who still support Trump and the Republicans? As a historian, I say the term is correct. Now, if it’s a good strategy to call things what they are, it’s a political decision. I believe that normalizing extremism, violence, xenophobia and appreciation for dictatorship is also not a good idea politically.
Whether you like what we say or not, it’s what’s happening in the US and what Trump has been doing in the GOP. Perhaps there are voters who may not identify with what Biden says. On the other hand, it is important for American society that those who are attacking democracy be identified as such.
The attack on Cristina Kirchner in Argentina is also part of this fascist movement that Mr. describe? Not much is known about the criminal. But I believe there is a big difference with the US, where Trump, neo-fascists, white nationalists all form a big spectrum enemy of democracy. Remember that Trump already said that among the Nazis there were people who were good. He, like Bolsonaro, promotes a normalization and integration of these sectors, there is a political arc that is inimical to liberalism, constitutionalism and enlightenment.
In Argentina, it is not clear that this same articulation exists. What would be the connection of this criminal with political sectors? There is no such clear. In the US, in cases of extremist terrorists such as the one in El Paso [que matou 22 pessoas no Texas em 2019], we see an incorporation of Trumpist language: everyone sees themselves as participants in a common front against pluralism, diversity. We still know little about the criminal in Argentina, but I don’t think he represents high sectors of politics. In the country, at least in the center of the main parties, we do not see extremist political actors like Trump and Bolsonaro.
Mr. makes a series of comparisons between Trump and Bolsonaro. Are you worried about the presidential elections in Brazil? It is interesting because Brazil is much more comparable to the US than to its neighbor Argentina. What we see in the country is a government whose vocation is fascist. In the case of Bolsonaro, who so much imitates Trump, there is a constant vocation and intention to destroy the legal system and the constitutionality of Brazilian democracy. Fortunately, Brazil has strong institutions and a political spectrum that also largely rejects what is happening. It is a central election in the history of Brazil.
x-ray | Federico Finchelstein, 47
A professor in the department of history at the New School in New York and a PhD from Cornell University, he is an expert in fascism and populism. Born in Buenos Aires, he is the author of “A Brief History of Fascist Lies” (Ed. VestÃgio) and “From Fascism to Populism in History” (Ed. Almedina).
