It’s Time We Stop Coddling Trump Supporters
The president isn’t expected to be perfect, but he or she is still a leader and must set an example for the country. Hate and bigotry are unacceptable.
By 
Chris Bedell
I want to preface this article by saying there’s nothing wrong with being a Republican. The United States needs two major political parties since each party acts like a check on the other party. That being said, Trump supporters have to stop being coddled. More Americans voted for Hillary Clinton, but she sadly isn’t president because of the outdated Electoral College, which was really created to protect slavery and is inherently undemocratic. How Trump supporters can have blind loyalty to Donald Trump is beyond me—especially since he’s shown fascist tendencies. And no. Discussing fascism in relation to Donald Trump isn’t name-calling. George W. Bush’s former ethics lawyer (Richard Painter) even compared the United States to 1930’s Germany after Charlottesville by saying this is the face of fascism in the United States.
Powerful and continuing nationalism is one of the fourteen points of fascism, and is something that Donald Trump is guilty of. Pride in your country is okay until it’s taken to an extreme. Like with Donald Trump demanding football players stand for the national anthem. This is the United States, and there is nothing wrong with non-violent civil disobedience. It’s also appalling when people are more outraged about kneeling football players than Nazis and the KKK marching in broad daylight in Charlottesville last August. The reality is, a lot of people were silent after Charlottesville in addition to how Trump should not have emphasized, “both sides” were to blame.
Trump also illustrates racism through supremacy of the military. Again, nothing is technically wrong with appreciating the military—except when it’s taken too far. Like with Trump wanting a military parade. Sorry, but the money would be better spent actually helping veterans and not a farce. Besides, you know who also conducted military parades? Hitler and Mussolini.
Identification of enemies as a unifying cause is another one of the fourteen points of fascism. And Trump is guilty of that. Like when he calls Mexicans rapists and spouts his anti-immigrant rhetoric. The reality is, Trump’s xenophobia is more than a slip of the tongue and shouldn’t be ignored. The president isn’t expected to be perfect, but he or she is still a leader and must set an example for the country. Hate and bigotry are unacceptable. Sometimes, there’s a right and a wrong and racism is definitely wrong. Furthermore, constantly blaming Obama and Hillary is another example of identification of enemies as a unifying cause. Like during the election with all the constant chanting about locking Hillary Clinton up about Benghazi despite how the Republicans were the ones who interfered with embassy funding. Scapegoating Hillary Clinton was despicable. The United States is not a Banana Republic, and people shouldn’t go to jail because of mob chanting.
Rampant cronyism and corruption is also one of the fourteen points of fascism, and Donald Trump is guilty of that as well. Like with Ivanka and Jared Kushner being involved in government, such as with Jared Kushner being in charge of peace in the Middle East (which doesn’t seem to be going too well at the moment). Ivanka and Jared Kushner have no business being involved in government, though. They aren’t qualified. Besides, it’s alarming how more people aren’t talking about how Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. narrowly avoided indictment by the Manhattan district attorney.
The above points are only several examples of Trump’s fascist tendencies. However, Trump’s presidency is not a social experiment, and stopped being funny ages ago. This is “real life,” and a president’s actions have consequences. Like with the Republicans stealing a Supreme Court seat, and Trump getting to make said appointment. The truth is, Trump showed who he was a long time ago when he pushed birtherism and lied about Obama being born in Kenya. And a part of that is the media’s fault. And I’m not just talking about Fox News. Trump peddled birtherism on a variety of networks. Ultimately, America is at a reckoning, and one can only wish Robert Mueller Godspeed. 
