![](https://refusefascism.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/8-13-Oakland-600px-300x200.jpg)
Trump’s ranting press conference today, in which he lashed out against the “alt-left” and defended the right of white supremacists, neo-nazis, the Klan, and other “fine people” to hold KKK-style torchlight rallies on the steps of a church in which black clergy were holding a prayer vigil, (among many other outrageous statements) highlights a contradiction of fascism.
Fascism needs two forces to come to power – a nationalist mass sentiment that can be warped and manipulated to become violent and genocidal, and the cooperation and support of established conservative elites.
But these two forces are not always in alignment and sometimes are in contention. Hitler had this same problem throughout his regime – how to toe the line between the street forces that would violently advance and enforce the fascist agenda on the ground, and the sensibilities of the elite who wanted fascism to roll out more tastefully, with less raucous instability. It’s not an easy balance to strike. It requires going back and forth like a ping pong ball, using coded language that mollifies both sides, and moving quickly forward to consolidate fascist authority.
Trump is saying what he needs to say to keep his mass base energized and his elite base from freaking out. So far he isn’t doing a bad job of it. His base of white supremacists is solidly behind him, and none of the traditional politicians or the mainstream media has called for his resignation, even while they’ve strongly criticized him for this handling of this crisis. No one who was horrified by what they saw in Charlottesville should have called for anything less.
Why won’t Trump strongly condemn the white supremacist fascists? Because he is one. Why won’t the politicians from either party place the blame squarely on Trump and condemn him? Because they want him, they need him, and they are willing to sacrifice the lives of people who righteously resist racism to keep him.
In Nazi Germany, a culture of violence and intimidation carried out by paramilitary forces reached a climax in 1938 during Kristallnacht, in which Jewish people were terrorized and murdered, Jewish property destroyed, and tens of thousands of Jewish people were taken into concentration camps. In a press conference following Kristallnacht, Goebbels blamed the events on the righteous anger of Germans, and Hitler managed to avoid the topic altogether. For years, Hilter used a combination of silence and double-talk to not only placate but encourage his base of brown-shirted Nazi thugs. Many ordinary Germans were horrified by Kristallnacht, but they did not rise up. If they had, millions of lives lost during the Holocaust could have been saved.
This is a crisis for Trump, but if he gets to the other side of it, he will be that much further along in keeping his promise to his white supremacist base and consolidating fascism. We have to understand the genocidal logic of the fascists who marched to defend their monument (and spoke in defense of their president afterwards) and we have to drive out the hateful regime that is throwing gasoline onto this movement. Imagine the consequences if we don’t.