lind2_MANDEL NGANAFP via Getty Images_trump rally

Demagogues vs. Dictators

Feb 8, 2021 Michael Lind

AUSTIN – Throughout Donald Trump’s single term as president of the United States, his opponents in both the Democratic and Republican parties frequently portrayed him as a would-be fascist dictator. But with Trump ousted from the White House, this analogy has become untenable. The Italian leader Trump resembles most is not the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini but rather Silvio Berlusconi, the scandal-prone former prime minister.

Figures like Trump and Berlusconi – tycoons or media celebrities who ran for office as anti-establishment populist demagogues – are not uncommon in contemporary Western democracies. In Europe, the list includes elected leaders like Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, one of the country’s wealthiest men; former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, previously his country’s “Chocolate King”; and his successor, Volodymyr Zelensky, a comic actor who had previously played a Ukrainian president on television.

Although Trump is the first true demagogue to be elected to the American presidency, the entertainer or plutocrat who wins office by posing as a champion of the common people has been a staple of mayoral and gubernatorial races for generations. Media celebrity, in particular, has become an increasingly common basis for electoral success in America.

To continue reading, register now.

As a registered user, you can enjoy more PS content every month – for free.

Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer.

Already have an account? Log in

Subscribe to Project Syndicate

Enjoy unlimited access to the ideas and opinions of the world’s leading thinkers, including long reads, book reviews, topical collections, short-form analysis and predictions, and exclusive interviews; every new issue of the PS Quarterly magazine (print and digital); the complete PS archive; and more. Subscribe now to PS Premium.

new comment has been posted. new comments have been posted.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 8 Comments on this article

j. von Hettlingen Feb 12, 2021

According to Michael Lind, Trump - like Italy’s “scandal-prone” former prime minister, the tycoon and media celebrity, Silvio Berlusconi - ran for office as an “anti-establishment populist demogogue,” not a “would-be fascist dictator,” like Benito Mussolini. Il Duce ruled Italy between 1922-1945 with an iron fist, allying with Nazi Germany and enacting anti-Semitic laws that ousted Jews from schools and public jobs and ultimately led to the death of nearly 6,000 Italian Jews in Nazi camps.
It is nothing new that successful business tycoons and wealthy entrepreneurs across the globe run for political office - often on a populist platform. Berlusconi was in power for nine years in total, making him Italy's longest serving post-war prime minister, and the third longest-serving since Italian unification. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is one of the country’s wealthiest men, and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, is called his country’s “Chocolate King”.
Populist leaders like Jair Bolsonaro, Boris Johnson, Narendra Modi, and Trump are a bunch of self-absorbed, uncaring and incompetent opportunists. They may have identified “legitimate grievances among some voters, they almost never deliver on their promises to followers” once elected. The very qualities that helped them gain political power are those that make them dismal failures at handling a complex national crisis. Covid-19 has turned out to be their Achilles’ heel. In order to deflect criticism, they play down their mistakes and scapegoat others.
The author says, America’s history is awash with examples of populist demagogues and their scandals. Someone like Trump, “posing as a champion of the common people has been a staple of mayoral and gubernatorial races for generations. Media celebrity, in particular, has become an increasingly common basis for electoral success in America.” Like the flamboyant demagogue “in the American South - such as Louisiana Governor (and then US Senator) Huey P. Long - Trump was corrupt, preying on populist discontent to further his personal ambitions and line his own pockets.
In democratic countries populist leaders “generally do not intend to create police states, and they could not even if they tried. Whereas interwar fascist dictators were backed by their countries’ military, police, bureaucratic, and business establishments, populists rely on the support of alienated non-elite groups and are typically opposed by most of the other power centers in society.” Of course they can still “do a lot of harm, even if they cannot (and do not intend to) abolish elections, establish police states, and put their opponents in concentration camps.”
According to the author, “opposing demagogic populists when they appear is not enough. We also need to understand the conditions that allow this species of politician to flourish. When major groups in society have adequate representation through electoral politics and institutions like trade unions, religious organizations, and community groups, populist demagogues seldom find significant public support. It is only when large groups….feel disfranchised and ignored by conventional leaders that they are tempted to turn to” charlatans, claiming “to represent them.”
Even though Trump was not a “would-be fascist dictator,” just imagine what he would do had he been reelected. During his term of office, he had displayed all the trappings of an autocrat - his fascist style of populism, attacks on the media, narcissistic personality, blatant cronyism and fondness for tyrants. His lack of respect for democratic institutions, his predisposition to put self-interest over civic duty, his disavowal of any rule of law, his spite and malice all combined to suggest that, if remained in power for another four years, he would become a dictator.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Susan Rockwell Feb 11, 2021

"Very rarely do demagogues create new institutional structures that can carry out reforms long after they leave office." Really? They can tear down. This country is primed and ready for a dictator (especially a religious one) because of the work of master demagogue Christian Cowboy (PR wizard and actor) Ronald Reagan. The U.S. has been in regression for four decades because of his neoliberal pet rocks who think like Mussolini; women, held back by his cynical "pro-life" (anti-woman) demagoguery. The privatization of public goods and services is the end of civil liberties. Democracies won't fall to a tiny man. They crumble over time. Construction Don was an outcome. The rise of an oligarch.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
dbmann dbmann Feb 10, 2021

I have to correct you about Ukrainе. Petro Poroshenko is not some kind of anti-establishment populist. He has a degree in international economic relations and has long been a politician, working as a MP, national defense council secretary, minister of foreign affairs and minister of economic policy.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Robert Wolff Feb 9, 2021

Re: "Demagogues in modern democracies can do a lot of harm, even if they cannot (and do not intend to) abolish elections, establish police states, and put their opponents in concentration camps."

But Trump DID try to abolish the election he lost, very well would have established a police state if he could (wanted to declare martial law) and did call for putting his opponents in prison (e.g. Hillary Clinton).

My take is Trump would willingly have become a Fascist Dictator if the Establishment had not stopped him by putting up a dogged fight against him.

I find it difficult to swallow the author's mealy-mouthed claim that Trump hadn't the intent to be a Fascist Dictator.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Michael Gannon Feb 8, 2021

Trump seems mostly nihilistic, plainly corrupt, and frequently clownish. In the end, Trump's biggest innovation may be coupling the politics of resentment with the entertainment values of professional wrestling; his was a politics of "heroes and heels," based more in W-W-E than in G-O-P. [Note: It would be interesting to ask the author, Michael Lind, why he does not touch on Joseph McCarthy or Father Coughlin. Presumably, they don't support his thesis well. But, it would be interesting to hear HIM say why he thinks that is so.]
- Robert Wolff Feb 9, 2021
  
  Compared to Joseph McCarthy and Father Coughlin, Trump exhibited many racial prejudices in his preference for for White Supremacy groups and xenophobic reactions to Hispanics. This type of racism is the hallmark of Fascism, especially racist Nationalism. In addition, he encouraged angry and frustrated lower middle class Americans (the primary historical proponents of Fascism) to rebel against the Establishment.
  
  Joseph McCarthy was an anti-Communist with no demonstration of racial prejudice.
  
  Father Coughlin said, "Nothing can be gained by linking ourselves with any organization which is engaged in agitating racial animosities or propagating racial hatreds. Organizations which stand upon such platforms are immoral and their policies are only negative."
  - Michael Gannon Feb 10, 2021
    
    Robert, I appreciate your response.
    
    McCarthy was an anti-communist, as well as a liar and a demagogue. In fact, I would argue that McCarthy was the biggest American demagogue of the 20th Century and that Trump is the biggest American demagogue of the 21st Century (thus far).
    
    Father Coughlin was a demagogue, anti-Semite, and master of the "dog whistle." I suspect that the quote you've cited was basically Coughlin saying that he would not make common cause between his anti-Semitism and the anti-Semitism of an organization like the Klu Klux Klan. In the 1930s, the Klan was so anti-Catholic that Coughlin was simply stating the obvious.
    
    In article about American demagogues and would-be dictators, it struck me as odd for Lind not to mention McCarthy, even if only to mention and dismiss his relevance. I was also curious about Lind's thoughts on Coughlin because, like Trump, Coughlin was a media star.
    
    Given the length limits PS imposes on the commentators, it may of been unreasonable of me to suggest that Lind should have commented on people like McCarthy and Coughlin. Lind does cite some terrific historical examples and uses them effectively in support of his thesis.
    
    BTW, I regard Trump as reckless and dangerous, but as between the binary choices of "demagogue" or "dictator," demagogue still rings truer for me. Trump strikes me as a very dangerous -- and quintessentially American -- demagogue.
    
    I appreciate your astute comments.
    A new reply to this comment has been posted.
  A new reply to this comment has been posted.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.

https://prosyn.org/okyaJlYes

Demagogues vs. Dictators

Subscribe to Project Syndicate

New Comment

Email this piece to a friend

Contact us

Log in/Register

Demagogues vs. Dictators

Subscribe to Project Syndicate

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification