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Glenn K. Beaton: Trump is a lousy fascist

Glenn K. Beaton
The Aspen Beat

Hitler murdered 6 million Jews, roughly two-thirds of the entire Jewish population of Europe. His National Socialist German Workers Party — the Nazis — performed unspeakable “experiments” on Jewish children.

Fast-forward 80 years. President Donald Trump did something that Republican and Democrat presidents promised but never did. He moved the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the Jews’ ancestral home.

Even Charles Schumer, the Democrat minority leader of the Senate who disagrees with Trump on practically everything, stated, “I applaud President Trump.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Thank you, President Trump, for your leadership and friendship.”



Now, other countries from Brazil to Australia are actively considering moving their embassies to Jerusalem.

Closer to home, a newly elected congresswoman recently made several “vile anti-Semitic slurs,” according to a leader of her own party. When the House stalled on a resolution condemning her remarks, Trump rightly called them “shameful.” (The House ultimately passed a watered-down resolution.)




From all that, I can only conclude that Trump is a lousy Hitler.

During the Cold War, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics led by Nikita Khrushchev turned Eastern Europe into a gulag. When people tried to escape from socialist East Berlin to capitalist West Berlin, the Soviets barricaded them in with the Berlin Wall. Thousands scaled that wall for freedom, and hundreds of others died trying.

Trump, too, wants to build a wall. But his wall is not to keep freedom-seekers imprisoned; it’s to keep trespassers out until they can enter legally (something he favors more of).

You can quarrel whether Trump’s wall is necessary or effective. But unless you see no difference between a jail and a fort, you can’t equate it to the Berlin Wall.

Trump is a lousy Khrushchev.

In some parts of the world, it’s a crime to be gay. In the Iranian theocracy founded by the Ayatollah Khomeini, for example, being gay is a capital offense and people are still executed for it, including a young gay man who recently was hanged for his “crime.”

In response, Trump launched a global effort to decriminalize homosexuality in Iran and elsewhere. The effort is led by his openly gay ambassador to Germany.

Trump is a lousy Khomeini.

On college campuses, political activists routinely bully those with whom they disagree in a manner that would make Joseph McCarthy blush. Speakers are disrupted, banned and physically assaulted.

A few weeks ago at the once-great University of California, a conservative speaker was sucker-punched in the face.

Trump has announced that he will put an end to this criminal violence against free speech. Colleges that tolerate it will risk their taxpayer funding.

Trump is a lousy McCarthy.

Venezuela continues to spiral back to the stone age after being looted by socialist zealot Hugo Chavez. About 75 percent of Venezuelans lost an average of 19 pounds in a year. They’re starving.

Despite the continued tyranny of the Venezuelan socialists and their continued blame-game against the U.S., Trump has repeatedly tried to deliver emergency humanitarian aid to their starving people.

Trump is no Chavez.

In China, they still pay homage to socialist (do you see a pattern here?) Karl Marx channeled through Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong. His “Cultural Revolution” in the 1960s killed hundreds of thousands and imprisoned millions to squelch thought and speech that was contrary to approved dogma. A milder form continues in China to this day.

Think of it as an extreme version of political correctness.

Unlike his predecessors, Trump has taken a stand against the Chinese thought police. Chinese dissidents and intellectuals have applauded.

Trump is a lousy Mao.

Speaking of fascists, that word is not Latin for “the Republican I voted against.” No, it’s an Italian word coined by one-time labor organizer, revolutionary socialist, far-left journalist and eventual dictator Benito Mussolini. Early last century, he created the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento — the “Italian League of Combat” — to overthrow the elected government of Italy.

Think of it as an early version of today’s “Resistance.”

One of the fascists’ early acts was to impose harsh penalties for criminals. In fact, a mere accusation could put a person into an internment camp for five years.

Trump has urged due process for the accused and has worked to reduce, not increase, prison sentences. He signed and celebrated a reform bill passed last year by the Republican Congress and supported overwhelmingly by Democrats, as well. It gives judges more latitude in sentencing, strengthens rehabilitation programs and moves prisoners closer to their homes.

Trump is a lousy Mussolini.

Another newly elected congresswoman still fantasizing about Russian collusion declared hours after being sworn in that she’s “gonna impeach the motherf—er” Trump.

So did Trump have her executed, hanged, imprisoned, censored, exiled, starved, stoned, sent to a gulag or put in an internment camp?

No, none of the above. He instead mocks her in childish — but not obscene — tweets.

Trump is a lousy motherf—er.

In short, Trump is a lousy Hitler, a lousy Khrushchev, a lousy Khomeini, a lousy McCarthy, a lousy Chavez, a lousy Mao and a lousy Mussolini.

Let’s face it, Trump is lousy at being a fascist. He’s also lousy at tweeting.

But if we can endure eight years of lousy tweets, he just might save us from the real fascists.

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