Trump’s Fascist-Anarchism

By J. Michael Atherton

Trump and the Republican party espouse both fascism and anarchism; therefore, on a profoundly fundamental level, Trump and his fellow Republicans contradict themselves. The rot of contradiction runs through them from top to bottom.

Fascism contains many tell-tale attributes:

• Fascists fetishize power.
• They practice a cult of personality.
• They promote masculine strength.
• They see criticism as treasonous.
• They try to bully opponents.
• They wrap themselves in military symbols.
• They present themselves as unquestionable experts in any field or endeavor.
• They will not allow anyone to challenge them in foreign or domestic affairs.
• Their leader is always right, no matter what he says (Fascist leaders are never women).
• They often travel in attack units using repurposed military vehicles, war flags, and military fatigues to intimidate the opposition.
• They use unrelenting, legal, and illegal means to quash opposition thinking.

Any of this sound familiar? Cult of personality? Check. Masculine strength display? Check. Using military paraphernalia? Check. Check, check, and check. Clearly, Trump and Republicans embrace fascism. However, this worldview presents problems because their fascist characteristics run headlong into anarchism.

Let’s have a look:

• Anarchists wants to tear down governmental organizations
• Anarchists say only individuals can create cooperative social structures
• Anarchists reject all state structures because they promote the sovereignty of the individual, as opposed to a state that does things on their behalf, such as pothole repair, regulating medications, and overseeing interstate commerce.
• Anarchists want to break up governments they claim steal power from the individual.
• Anarchists promote free association where no party or leader tells them what to think.
• Anarchists oppose governmental planners because they think individuals can make their own plans on every topic.

Anyone who knows what fascism and anarchism mean realizes fascist-anarchism cannot hold together. One person cannot promote fascist-anarchism without fact blindness and willful self-deception followed by terminal chaos. No party, no person, no nation can espouse fascist-anarchism because it wars with itself. Nevertheless, the Republicans preach both fascism and anarchism.

More can be said about fascism and anarchism; however, it is time to highlight the Trump-Republican internal confusion.

The Trump-Republican Internal Confusion

Fascist Republicans support robust governmental agencies that give their leader king-like powers. In opposition, Anarchist Republicans have for years been dismantling government agencies. Look at Project 2025 where they plan to eliminate the following: the Departments of Education, FBI, Environmental Protection Agency, The Federal Reserve, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Head Start, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and others.

Fascist Republicans swim in a cult of Trumpian personality, worshiping his every pronouncement as though he were their Savior. Anarchist Republicans never look up to anyone, eschewing kings, leaders, and “saviors” because they rely on themselves alone.

No political entity can be both fascist and anarchist at once. A person or a party must choose between these two things:

• Either (A) a fascist dictatorship where individuals bow to the supreme leader, think of Hitler and Mussolini,
• Or (B) an anarchist state where isolated individuals stand helpless against corporate greed, mob actions, and bullies of all stripes, think of Free-Staters and Lord of the Flies.

Nevertheless, Trump and his Republicans want them both at the same time.

Fascists might try to appease anarchists by strengthening only some agencies; however, such cherry-picking won’t suit those pesky anarchists. Anarchist Republicans would say less government means less government; not creating “some” warehouses full of shock agents ready to attack.

The Republican strong-man government vs the Republican anti-government conflict does not so much resemble an unstoppable object hitting an immovable object as it resembles two hopelessly confused objects uselessly banging into each other. Nothing good, productive, safe, healthy, or economically sound can come from them. In such a Republican fascist-anarchist world, things fall apart and the center cannot hold because their internal contradiction generates nothing but chaos, confusion, and bedlam.