Daniel Guerin, a Marxian thinker, wrote an authoritative book on Fascism, title - Fascism and Big Business. It explains several dynamics of Fascism - Fascism as a Plebeian counter revolution, Fascism as an instrument used by plutocrats to control society by masquerading brutal dictatorship as a populist revolution, Fascism as a Psychological phenomenon, Fascism as a religion & a mysticism. In addition to all that, Fascism is also a Paradox. Guerin describes this paradox so severe that it’s like combination of Fire and Water, a very volatile mixture that cannot be continued for too long. That’s why Fascism, along with other reasons, is a highly unstable political doctrine.
This thesis can be applied to Trump regime also which some commentators describe as American form of Fascism. I won’t go into lengthy discussion into all comparisons of MAGA to past Fascism. However, i will elaborate on Paradox of Trump regime in America. Trump regime in America is owned lock, stock & Barrel by American oligarchs; the Wall Street elites, the Tech brothers, the Silicon valley billionaires, the big corporations etc. They want deregulation, subsidies, special favors, tax cuts, government contracts and control over policy making in general. Trump, who himself is a plutocrat, pledges to do all that. Trump is a highly corrupted, sociopathic, narcissistic and a megalomaniac scoundrel who has no qualms to destroy society as long as he’s the Duce/Fuhrer/King of America. The paradox is that MAGA while being a regime of oligarchs and plutocrats masquerades itself as a populist revolution of the masses.
America is theoretically a Democracy and despite the Plutocrats pouring big money into financing politicians, politicians still needs to win a formal election to get people’s mandate for legitimacy. This is where the plebeian counter revolution of MAGA movement comes into play. The electorate have lost objective thinking and sense of self interest. This is due to decades of collective intellectual decline of society, dumbing down of society and abuse of society by afflicting them with failed national policies (like Neoliberal, trickle down economics etc) that have rendered them poor, desperate and unemployed. Now to capture the support of this abused, confused and desperate electorate, various political gimmicks are employed like identity politics, Kayfabe, Rube bait issues, southern strategy (Guns, gays, gods, race & abortion) as a diversionary tactics. The goal of all this is to conceal plutocratic rule under the dress of populism & people’s mandate.
This is where showmanship of Donald Trump (a reality TV star) comes in as he hypnotizes and brainwashes people with his charisma - Make America Great Again, Build the Wall, American Dream is dead etc - mystical slogans that capture the subconscious sentiments of poor electorate especially the low information voters, rural voters and southern reactionary whites. How Trump creates narcissistic symbiosis with electorate can be understood from work of Dr Bandy Lee, a social psychologist (1, 2). In a declining society, social classes wish to regain status and hence want domination over other classes (often minorities). That’s where scapegoating of immigrants, Muslims and Mexicans comes into play (in Germany, it was the Jews) to blame national decline. For fanatic & nihilist plebeians, the minorities are the source of evil. For the political elites & their billionaire financiers, minorities are a diversionary issue to keep electorate away from matters of economic rights, class consciousness and bread & butter issues.
While Billionaires, in this case Wall Street financiers and Tech bros, throw big $$$ in political campaigns, the groundwork is also done by plebeians dupes who get mobilized and fired up on hot button issues of immigration and conspiracy theories like QAnon & war against deep state. This is the inherent internal contradiction in Trump’s MAGA (American Fascism). After elections are won, the plebeians and billionaires fight for the spoils of victory. The pre-election slogans of Trump regime were mostly instrument for political gains. If these slogans are actually converted into policies, the results can be disastrous. The billionaires want their tax cuts, subsidies, deregulation etc and plebeians want to see implementation of fanatic foolhardy policies like deportation of foreign workers and retribution. But deporting foreigners can destabilize the corporate interests of billionaires and their corporations who employ a lot of such labor.
This is a legacy of globalization. Hiring imported temporary cheap labor on visas by corporations drives down wage costs and maximize profits. This practice is prominent in tech companies and transnational corporations who also control a kind of monopoly on the system of these visas. On other side of this is brain drain from developing and 3rd world nations from which labor migrates to America. Domestic American workers costs more to train, educate and hire. The private education costs in US universities is exorbitant and obviously workers will also need to be paid more. A better alternative is just importing skilled workers whenever necessary and outsourcing jobs to 3rd world wherever feasible.
The plebeians demand billionaires and transnational corporations to hire American workers. But American labor force is now hollowed out because of Neoliberal & globalization policies where government made no effort to strengthen public education, retrain workforce and utilize them for domestic economy. The low information voters, the voters without college degrees and MAGA plebeians don’t understand this dynamic of American Neoliberalism. Hence this puts them in collision course with Tech bros & plutocrats.
On one side in OG MAGA (original anti-immigrant anti-deep state MAGA camp), the Nihilist hooligan Plebeians who crave for power and on other side is Plutocratic MAGA who crave for profits & rent seeking through existing Neoliberal mechanisms including importing cheap labor. The plutocratic MAGA will seek to gain exemptions from hardline anti-immigrant policies and also exemption from tariffs from Trump regime. While OG MAGA has to swallow this bitter pill because plutocratic MAGA are the cash cow for Trump regime.
It may appear that plutocratic MAGA will eventually get what they want after all they are the money bank of Trump regime. The imported skilled labor is necessary for American economy and the low IQ southern white & MAGA base cannot provide substitute for that. But we cannot be sure what will happen in long run. Going back to Nazi Germany, the plutocrats did get big subsidies and government contracts from Hitler. But as Hitler consolidated power, the fanatic plebeians gained more significance. The result was war economy and Autarky which strangulated plutocrats.
Hitler’s regime was always an unstable combination & internally divided even after he consolidated power. When Hitler got power, the Plebeians demanded a second revolt against the plutocrats and German establishment. That’s when Hitler & top Nazis orchestrated ‘Night of the long knives’. When the war started to turn bad (due to reckless maniacal decisions of Hitler), Hitler started replacing conventional military leadership with fanatic incompetent plebeians. There were assassinations attempt to neutralize Hitler by military factions which failed. Most of the plutocrats who supported Hitler never imagined and endorsed for Genocide of Jews but this did materialize as fanatic plebeians & Hitler went on their own path. The Autarky of Hitler also paralyzed German big business and threw it into the furnace of war economy. All this created immense destruction and tragedy for Germany as well as the world. Were plutocrats aware of this would happen when they gave power to Hitler? Absolutely not (1, 2).
So what propelled Hitler to power? It was opportunism on steroids. German elites saw potential in Hitler to deliver Fascist dictatorship which he did. German elites also thought once they give power to Hitler, they would be able to control & contain him just like any other Bourgeoisie politician. But that did not happen. Even foreign powers cajoled with Hitler. The German communists stood down & silently accepted Hitler’s takeover of power. Stalin in Russia thought that Hitler would start war on the west, ravaging Europe, and Russians will later invade to pick up the weakened forces when all dust settles. The British appeased Hitler on ‘false pretense’ of peace. Everybody thought that Hitler was a great opportunity for their plans and manipulations. But this created a world tragedy.
Today, American plutocrats see a great opportunity in Trump regime. But this may have unintended consequences. There are severe internal contradictions in Trump regime and the mystical hollow slogans of Trump would not solve any economic & social problems of America. Instead it will only aggravate and amplify America’s crisis. And as Trump’s failure mounts, he will need more diversions & distractions to maintain his power. The Kayfabe acts like - calling for Canada to be 51st state of America, taking over Panama Canal, buying Greenland from Denmark etc - will keep MAGA plebeians entertained for a while but these gimmicks will not last very long. The economy will worsen. The plebeians will crave for more power & put them on collision course with plutocrats. What new distractions will Trump create to keep his power?