In the 1930s, “radio priest” Father Charles Coughlin said that fascism would come to America, but just under another name.
Before we see the new American fascism, I suspect we will be able to smell it. I did this morning when the two biggest bully boys of American politics—Donald Trump and Governor Chris Christie—held a mutual love fest in Texas where Christie’s endorsement of Trump was a thinly-disguised excuse for resuming his unprovoked assault on the character of Marco Rubio in the New Hampshire debate just before Christie bowed out of the presidential race.
Christie and Trump took turns disgustingly mocking Senator Rubio, the son of a Cuban impoverished immigrant bartender who’s risen to near the pinnacle of American politics on basis of his irenic vision and JFK-like eloquence, as a “light weight” and unmanly man oozing sweat from every pore.
Christie in 2012 stuck a knife in Mitt Romney’s back by hugging Barack Obama days before the November election. Therefore, his treacherous, self-serving embrace of kindred thuggish spirit Trump should come as no real surprise.
For what’s it’s worth, it should be noted this day witnessed the juxtaposition of two Trump endorsements: one by Christie, the other by former Grand Wizard David Duke who blessed The Donald as the last best hope of “the white race.”
Some weeks ago, the Journal ran a piece analogizing the Trump phenomenon to the fictional history of the Charles Lindbergh administration in Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America. Then, I thought this was an overblown comparison. Now, I’m not so sure.
It’s still too much to liken the love fest between Trump and Christie to the Fuhrer and the Duce mutually back slapping at Berchtesgaden. Instead, they look more like two aging frat boys smirking about how they had had their way with reluctant coeds back in the day. Thuggish frat boys (actually, Trump learned to intimidate at the military school to which his father shipped him off) may be loyal to each other, but not necessarily their fascist political analogs. Hitler betrayed Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss, and Mussolini stabbed in the back France.
Anyone who would accept Trump’s assurances that his marching at the head of past Jewish parades guarantees his benevolent “neutrality” umpiring the dispute between Israelis defending their survival and Palestinians striving to destroy the Jewish state is foolish indeed.
My own long political march has led from my being a moderately liberal Democrat to a moderately conservative Republican. But this seems to be an existential moment where Jewish Republicans must join other Jews in rallying around Hillary Clinton assuming she’s the Democratic nominee. It’s also time for FBI Director Comey to clear the cloud that hangs over not only her but our democratic process. The FBI has no business using murky investigations to pre-screen presidential candidates the way that the Ayatollah does in Iran.
It’s ultimately the American people’s right alone to make the decision about whether her misjudgments about using a private computer server for State Department business disqualifies her from being president.
Trump is not yet the GOP nominee much less president. But the whiff of fascism is already strong enough for Jews to unite against him.
I should add just for the record that my opinion here is exclusively mine and not a reflection of the views of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
