While Trump has evoked some obscene human emotions in the USA, other world leaders like Putin, Oban, Erdogan, Bolsonaro and Modi have arguably been invoking the very same fascistic emotions in more sophisticated and impactful ways. Robert Paxton describes the “mobilizing passions” of Fascism thus –
• a sense of overwhelming crisis
• the subordination of the individual to the group
• a belief that one’s group’s victimhood
• a fear of the corrosive effects of liberalism, class conflict, and alien influences
• the need for a purer community
• the a natural leader capable of incarnating the group’s historical destiny;
• the superiority of the leader’s instincts over reason
• the beauty of violence and the efficacy of will
• the right to dominate others
I invite you to apply Paxton’s criteria to evaluate your own political environment and to assess the mobilizing strategies of the politicians involved.
https://time.com/5908244/strongman-fascism-history/
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-election-results-president-fascism-far-right-fernando-haddad-a8606391.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/theworldpost/wp/2018/06/25/erdogan/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/12/09/blood-and-soil-in-narendra-modis-indiahttps://www.independent.co.uk/voices/jair-bolsonaro-brazil-election-results-president-fascism-far-right-fernando-haddad-a8606391.html
The Koboi Project 
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