Benito Mussolini

America’s Fascist Demagogues In History: Huey P. Long, Joseph McCarthy, George C. Wallace, Patrick Buchanan!

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The United States has had its Fascist demagogues in the past nearly hundred years of our history, but luckily, they “burned out” very quickly.

We had Democratic Governor and Senator Huey P. Long, who condemned the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the early 1930s era of the Great Depression.  He had a big following on radio; drew large public crowds; preached “Every Man A King” and “Share The Wealth” as he attacked Wall Street; had his own group of “storm troopers” to protect him;  and made clear that he hoped to come to power on a national level, having alienated his Senate colleagues and the President by his tactics and showmanship.

His potential threat disappeared, however, when he was assassinated in the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge in September 1935, a mystery that still exists today, as covered in Chapter 7 of my book, ASSASSINATIONS, THREATS, AND THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: FROM ANDREW JACKSON TO BARACK OBAMA (Rowman Littlefield Publishers, August 2015).  He reminded many of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, both of whom had not yet become as aggressive and warlike as they would become in the mid to late 1930s and early 1940s.

Then we had evil personified in Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin, who stirred fear and insecurity in America in the early 1950s, when he accused Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower and many government and other public figures of being Communists, or “soft on Communism”.

He ruined thousands of people’s lives, caused their deaths or complete destruction of their lives, but it was all a ploy backed by right wing conservatives, who continue to honor him, even after his political downfall in December 1954 when the US Senate condemned him, and his early death of alcoholism in May 1957.  This despicable man was a true Fascist demagogue with too many people ready to back him, but his cockiness and arrogance and false charges finally brought him down.

Then we had Democratic Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama, who sowed racism in America as he stood in the door of the University of Alabama in 1963 to attempt to block integration of the state university, and allowed police brutality in Birmingham and elsewhere, leading to the bombing of a black church and the death of young girls in the explosion.

A true Fascist demagogue of the worst kind, he actually gained five states and 46 electoral votes as a third party candidate for President in 1968.  Then, while running in 1972 again, he was shot and paralyzed for life by an assassin, a tragic event for sure, but brought on by his notoriety and demagogic nature.  Wallace’s story is well covered in Chapter 11 of my new book mentioned above.

And then we had Patrick Buchanan, an aide to President Richard Nixon and President Ronald Reagan, who promoted nativism and racism and antisemitism, including Holocaust denial,   as he campaigned against President George H. W. Bush in the 1992 primaries; against Bob Dole in the 1996 primaries;  and then ran as a third party candidate of the Reform Party in 2000.

Due to confusion in Palm Beach County, Florida, Buchanan gained 4,000 votes that were intended by voters for Al Gore, but mistakenly, these elderly, mostly Jewish voters punched the wrong hole on the “butterfly” ballots, and by doing so, caused the election of George W. Bush statewide, officially by a total of 537 votes, sadly denying Al Gore the Presidency, despite his national popular vote lead of 540,000!

Buchanan clearly was and is a Fascist demagogue, who, however, has become someone ignored, and no longer has a major media presence in his later years, as he once did on cable television as a political commentator on MSNBC and CNN, although he still is on Fox News Channel and PBS.

And now we have, at the least, two Fascist demagogues, now considered the front runners in the Republican race for President—Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz!  Again, the fight against right wing Fascism and its elements–racism, nativism, misogyny, antisemitism—remain a battle decent people must fight with every ounce of their energy!

Donald Trump: The Demagogue, The Fascist, Dangerous For American Democracy!

Ronald 30 Comments

It is now past five months since Donald Trump entered the Presidential race, and he is still number one in the polls for the GOP Presidential nomination.

It was thought that Trump was a “flash in the pan”, who would falter and collapse, but that has not happened.

Republicans are disillusioned not only with Barack Obama, but also with Republican leadership, and in the dangerous world we live in, they seem ready to throw away experience and select a man who has NEVER been in government, and has no clue on most issues, but uses code words and incendiary language to draw his support.

It is clear that racism, nativism, and ignorance are reigning today among Donald Trump supporters who seem not to care that most of what he says are all lies, manipulations of the truth, and pure demagoguery.

His appeal includes attacking Mexicans, Muslims, immigrants, the news media, and anyone who dares to disagree with him, and his bully nature brings out the lowest class of people who love his boasting and egotistical nature.  He ridicules the disabled; insults women wit his misogyny; and acts in a fashion that should turn off any decent, intelligent human being, and yet no matter what he says or does, his support seems to remain strong, worrisome for the long term future of American democracy.

But John Kasich, the Governor of Ohio, is speaking out on the reality that Trump is sounding more and more like a typical Fascist, as found in Spain with Francisco Franco, Argentina with Juan Peron, Italy and Benito Mussolini,  and elsewhere historically–the superhero who arouses an ignorant population to follow him in solving all problems, and has no problem in insulting and humiliating others.

Kasich is showing guts and courage, which so far no other GOP Presidential candidate seems willing to display.

Donald Trump must be stopped because he is a danger to America in both domestic and foreign affairs, who would undermine all of the progress made in the past century.  The right wing would prosper under his leadership, as all of the objectionable extremist groups in America would flock to him.

Anti Immigrant Hysteria: 1840s-1850s; 1870s-1880s; 1920s-1940s And Now! Do We Ever Learn?

Ronald 14 Comments

Part of the ugly side of the history of America is its record of nativism and anti immigrant hysteria.

In the 1840s and 1850s, it was anti Catholic hysteria against the Irish and the German immigrants fleeing from poverty and political turmoil.  The “American” or Know Nothing Party was formed, had some members in Congress, and had former President Millard Fillmore (Whig) win the state of Maryland (heavily Catholic) in the Electoral College in the Presidential Election of 1856.

In the 1870s and 1880s, it was anti Asian hysteria, mostly Chinese at the time, and often led by Irish who had forgotten the prejudice and discrimination they had faced in an earlier generation,and it led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, courageously vetoed by President Chester Alan Arthur but passed over his veto by a two thirds majority in the House of Representatives and Senate.

In the 1920s through the Second World War in the 1940s, it was anti “new” immigration, to stop the massive wave of Catholics and Eastern European Jews from coming to America, as well as anti Japanese prejudice, replacing the Chinese who had already been banned from migration to America since 1882.

This led to the horrors of Italians, Jews, and other southern and eastern Europeans denied admission to America during the time of the rise and triumph of Fascism in Italy under Benito Mussolini and Nazism under Adolf Hitler in Germany.

The result was the Holocaust, which America could have worked against by admission of refugees, but just like now, it was Republicans, some Democrats, and conservatives who lobbied against children and women and old people being admitted, due to racism and nativism.

It also led to the forced movement of Japanese Americans into internment camps during the Second World War, as an hysterical reaction to Pearl Harbor being attacked by Japan.

In more recent decades, we have seen growing anti Hispanic and anti Latino discrimination, and now against Muslim and Arab refugees, as if we have learned nothing from our past.

America has been a beacon of hope in a difficult world, and we must not lose our image that the Statue of Liberty represents, so we must salute and applaud President Barack Obama for coming out forcefully against Republican Governors and members of Congress, who are demonstrating the ugliest side of the American experience once again!

A Century Ago Today, An Assassination Led To World War I, Which Still Reverberates Today!

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Precisely one hundred years ago today, a political assassination led to the outbreak of World War I, which still reverberates today in so many ways!

The Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, along with his wife, were assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Black Hand terrorist organization, which was out to prevent Habsburg influence over Bosnia, which was allied by ethnicity to Serbia nationalists, and had friendship and support with Czarist Russia.

The series of events that followed over the next five weeks led to general continental war in Europe, lasting more than four years, when most thought the war would be won by their side within months. Instead, we saw trench warfare, barbed wire separating the warring sides, and use of poison gas, with almost no progress toward victory on the “Western Front”, and total disaster for Czarist Russia in Eastern Europe against Germany and Austria-Hungary. It became known as the “Great War,” but it was only great in the massive loss of life of millions of people, and the upending of the traditional empires of European nations in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

World War I led to the following:

The rise of the Soviet Union and Communism, and the later Cold War, with the downfall and murder of the last Czar of Russia.

The end of the German Empire, but then the rise of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler within 14 years of the end of the war, and the eventual outbreak of a more disastrous war, World War II.

The rise of Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini within four years of the end of the war.

The end of the Austro Hungarian Empire, and the rise of separate nations based on nationality in Eastern Europe.

The end of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and the creation by Great Britain and France of artificial boundaries for the Arab peoples of the Middle East, leading to more disarray and conflict on a constant basis, and now unraveling after a century.

The decline and fall of the British Empire, French Empire, and other European empires in Africa and Asia over two generations, creating instability in both Africa and Asia, and the creation of new nations on both continents.

The rise of the United States as the greatest military power after World War II until the late 1960s, when the Vietnam War, followed by the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War, undermined and weakened the supremacy of the American nation.

The world and America will be commemorating the events of World War I over the next four and a half years, and a worthwhile tourist site would be the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, which the author has visited, and highly recommends to anyone wanting to understand the reality and the impact of this war, which transformed the world in so many ways!

Two Significant Series Debuting On History Channel And CNN This Week

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Two significant documentary series are debuting this week on History Channel and on CNN.

Tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the History Channel has a three part, six hour series on World War I and its effect on the coming of World War II, through a study of major world leaders, including Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles De Gaulle, Douglas MacArthur, and George Patton.

On Thursday at 9 PM for an hour for ten weeks, CNN will have a ten hour series on the 1960s, and the effect it had on America with actor-director Tom Hanks involved in the project.

For anyone interested in politics and its effect on history, make it your business to watch and record these two series!

Lies, Deception, Fear, Hypocrisy Being Utilized By Right Wing To Destroy ObamaCare

Ronald 14 Comments

There have been so many lies, deceptions, fears, and hypocrisy stoked by the right wing in America to destroy ObamaCare before it goes into effect.

The argument that ObamaCare has caused massive loss of full time employment is a total lie, as that has been going on since the Great Recession of 2008.

The argument that the individual mandate will force people to pay a fine, without any way to avoid it, is a lie, as no one will be prosecuted if they do not pay it, with the only purpose being to convince Americans of the importance of being insured for their health.

The argument that prices for health insurance will double and triple is a lie, as government subsidies will be provided for people up to four times the poverty income for a family of four.

Many ignorant, prejudiced people, many of whom are racists, will not associate with anything connected to Barack Obama, even with proof that it would save them money. It has already been shown to be true that people tied to an ideological commitment, are willing to lie openly on television about their situations in an interview arranged by Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel, who has no trouble lying through his teeth, exploiting any situation to fulfill his need to enrich himself, and can look straight in the camera as he knows that he, and people who he knows are lying and deceiving, go right ahead and do so on his television show. And this is common all the time on radio talk shows of the right wing, and on Fox News Channel, by people determined to make sure that tens of millions of Americans have no ability to have coverage for their children to age 26; make sure that pre-existing conditions not be covered for millions of children and adults; and make sure that the closing of the “donut hole” for senior citizens on their prescription medications not be covered.

This is class warfare, trying to turn the 85 percent who have health care against the concept that the other 15 percent should have the same right to health care at reasonable cost.

This is the right wing Heritage Foundation, headed by extremist right winger Jim DeMint, formerly Senator from South Carolina, hiding the fact that it was that group which proposed what is now ObamaCare in 1993, as an alternative to HillaryCare, the Clinton health care plan, which was more extreme in its approach to health care, than the plan now law, which is also so much like RomneyCare in Massachusetts. So a Republican plan adopted by Barack Obama is suddenly “socialism”, which it is not in any sense.

How can one look at this, except to call it the BIG LIE technique, utilized in dictatorships, by such luminaries as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, and others as the method to expand their power at the detriment of the population?

Reflections On The Pearl Harbor Anniversary

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The History Channel tonight presented an exceptional two hour program on the 24 hours after Pearl Harbor, and how Franklin D. Roosevelt learned about and handled the matter up to the declaration of war on Japan precisely a day after the attack.

It made this author wonder about how much is taught about Pearl Harbor in the schools of America. This is such a path breaking event, a turning point in our history, unmatched since the attack on Fort Sumter which stared the Civil War, and only matched since by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

How many students would know what Pearl Harbor represents, and would know that Japan was the nation which attacked us? How many would realize the importance of World War II, and know all the “players” in that war, including FDR, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Emperor Hirohito?

It is horrifying to think of the historical ignorance of America, not only of this event, but of all of the events and facts of American history and government which are needed for citizens to be knowledgeable enough to be good citizens and intelligent voters!

Education MUST be the prime way for this country to prosper and advance into the future, but instead, we are seeing educational cutbacks all over the nation!

This is, therefore, a time to mourn, not just for the victims of Pearl Harbor, but for ourselves as a nation which is poorly informed, which affects our politics and our hopes for a better America in the future!

The Right Wing Has No Limits: REDSTATE’s War On Conservative Republicans As NOT Conservative Enough!

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REDSTATE is a right wing website of blogger Erick Erickson, and seeks to make the Republican Party as right wing as possible, failing to realize that the party will destroy itself if it goes that direction anymore than it is already!

In an entry this morning entitled “Conservatives Stand To Lose Big In 2012”, Erickson declares war on conservative Republicans in the Senate who he claims are not conservative enough!

On his hit list are the following Senators:

Richard Lugar of Indiana
Roger Wicker of Mississippi
Bob Corker of Tennessee

Also, such well known candidates for the Senate as the following are opposed as not conservative enough:

Former Congresswoman Heather Wilson of New Mexico
Former Governor Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin

Ericikson also attacks such former Republican officeholders as former Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, former Governor Charlie Crist of Florida, former Kentucky Attorney General Trey Greyson, and former Congressman Mike Castle of Delaware, treating them as if they are “poison”!

His declaration of war on the above, if successful, will marginalize the GOP to such an extent that it will lose all semblance of being a major political party, and maybe, just maybe, that is his intent, with the replacement of the GOP by an openly Fascist party, a la Benito Mussolini, Juan Peron, or Francisco Franco!