Just after Trump was elected president in 2016, I emailed my German Women’s History Study Group and said he was a fascist.  They reacted as historians, asserting that it couldn’t be fascism because there was no such political party here, that the context was different, etc.  Today, most of them agree with me.  What has changed?

     Fascism, defined as “a populist political philosophy…that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition” has, under Trump, come to characterize the MAGA movement.  Republicans who don’t toe the line have been expelled from the party.  Trump and others continually speak of “the enemy within,” meaning journalists, Democrats, and generally everyone who doesn’t agree with them.  Trump’s continuing attempts to insist that he won the 2020 election, in the face of facts and the decisions of over 60 courts, show both his contempt for the U.S. Constitution and his fascistic authoritarianism.

     Recently, Marine General John Kelly, who served as Trump’s White House Chief of Staff from 2017-19, declared that he now believed that “Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, who would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the rule of law.”  After years of silence, he decided to speak out because he thought Trump’s recent talk about “the enemy within” was truly dangerous.  Near the end of his presidency, Trump stated “I need the kind of generals Hitler had,” according to two people in the White House.

     So we can now consider him a fascist and a would-be Hitler.  What about the Alzheimer’s?  It’s “a brain disorder that destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually the ability to carry out daily tasks.”  In recent years, Trump has mixed up Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley, confused Milwaukee with Madison, Wisconsin, and bad-mouthed Detroit to a Detroit audience.  Recently, his confusion has intensified.   He stopped speaking and instead danced silently for 40 minutes at a Pennsylvania rally.  His staff has prevented him from participating in interviews and debates, almost certainly to shield him from criticism.  A few days ago, at a rally, he riffed for 15 minutes about the golfer Arnold Palmer, ending by referring to the size of his penis.  After that, he called Kamala Harris “a shit vice president” and attacked mail-in voting as the rally’s tv screens urged his supporters to cast absentee ballots early by mail.

     Admiring and wanting to be like Hitler is bad, but being a Hitler with Alzheimer’s is even worse.  Please spend these last few days before the election working to support Harris and other Democratic candidates!

Every news source, every poll states that the forthcoming presidential election is too close to call.  I find this hard to believe.  The gap between the candidates seems too large for that.  Let’s take a look at the differences.

     As many of Harris’s ads say, “Vote for the prosecutor, not the felon.”  But that seems immaterial for many voters.  What about the candidates’ policy differences?  Harris wants tax credits for working-class and middle-class citizens.  Child care allowances, $20,000 for first-time home buyers, help for start-up businesses, etc.  Trump wants to cut taxes again for the wealthy, as he did in his first term and also wants to impose steep tariffs.  This would raise prices a great deal for poorer people.  Harris repeatedly speaks about protecting and expanding access to reproductive health care –- not just for abortions, but for IVF and contraception as well.  She wants such decisions to be between women and their doctors without the interference of politicians, who are usually male.  Trump argues “Let the states decide,” ignoring the fact that many of the states, most of them in the South, have made abortions impossible to obtain, even for abused children pregnant at 12.  Female deaths have risen in these states and doctors have left.  This burden falls primarily on poor and black women who cannot travel to distant states to obtain the health care they deserve.  In every instance where states, a number of them red like Kentucky and Kansas, have voted about abortion they have overwhelmingly decided in its favor.

     What about guns?  Harris, who owns a gun, wants to promote sensible gun laws, like those that check the buyers’ backgrounds.  Trump supports guns “everywhere.”  Harris wants to tackle the climate crisis and join with other nations to do so.  Trump acts as if it doesn’t exist.  He also has scorned international groups, like NATO.  On medical and hospital costs, Harris wants to cap prescription drug payments at $2000 for everyone.  Trump wants to end Obama’s popular American Care Act and has no solution to replace it –- just the “concept of a plan” as he stated in their sole debate.  Harris is open to further debates, Trump has refused them and even did not agree to appear on “Sixty Minutes” as every previous presidential candidate has done.

     So the issue is not their disagreements.  I think David Sedaris put it best, if vulgarly.  You’re on an airplane and you’re asked which meal you’d like: chicken with mashed potatoes or shit with ground glass in it?  With regard to those who want to know more about Harris, a friend said it’s like asking “Is there butter on the mashed potatoes?

     The basic issue, I think, is a subject that the founding father, James Madison, raised in 1788.  He declared, “I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select” politicians “of virtue and wisdom.”  “Is there no virtue among us?” he continued, then “no form of government can render us secure.” 

     Perhaps optimistically, I believe there is still virtue and wisdom in the people.  Wisdom to see through fake news and misinformation.  Virtue to choose better over worse, for themselves and others.  More to the point, perhaps, I think the polls are and have been incorrect.  Remember the “big red wave” that was supposed to happen only two years ago?  I vividly remember the Barry Blitt New Yorker cover of an elephant standing on a surf board that has run aground.  In 2016, all the polls presented Hilary Clinton as the major victor and we know how that turned out.  I think young people are going to be important voters in this election.  Young people, and many others, do not answer their phones if they don’t know whose calling them and so are not polled.

     Finally, Trump continues to run traditionally, speaking at rallies largely composed of his base.  Even there, he goes on so long that many leave and a lot of his speeches don’t make sense, even to the converted.  I, and many others, think he’s going into Alzheimer’s.

     In contrast, Harris is speaking to unconventional venues, especially those that appeal to young people, Blacks, and Hispanics.  She went on Call Her Daddy, the Howard Stern show, Steven Colbert, and numerous small radio stations aimed at Black and Hispanic audiences. 

     All this leads me to believe that she still can win big.  I look forward to a Democratic trifecta of the presidency, the House, and the Senate.  Meanwhile, I and many others are donating money and writing letters and postcards to ensure that happens.  Together, we can make it so.