Benito Mussolini, remember him? In 1922, while Hitler was giving beer hall speeches and getting arrested, Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister of Italy. Americans seem so fixated on Adolf Hitler that they forget Benito Mussolini. So that we can all be on the same page, let me quote from Wikipedia:
"German-American historian Konrad Jarausch has argued that Mussolini was responsible for an integrated suite of political innovations that made fascism a powerful force in Europe. First, he went beyond the vague promise of future national renewal, and proved the movement could actually seize power and operate a comprehensive government in a major country along fascist lines. Second, the movement claimed to represent the entire national community, not a fragment such as the working class or the aristocracy. He made a significant effort to include the previously alienated Catholic element. He defined public roles for the main sectors of the business community rather than allowing it to operate backstage. Third, he developed a cult of one-man leadership that focused media attention and national debate on his own personality. As a former journalist, Mussolini proved highly adept at exploiting all forms of mass media, including such new forms as motion pictures and radio. Fourth, he created a mass membership party, with free programs for young men, young women, and various other groups who could therefore be more readily mobilized and monitored. He shut down all alternative political formations and parties (but this step was not an innovation by any means). Like all dictators he made liberal use of the threat of extrajudicial violence, as well as actual violence by his Blackshirts, to frighten his opposition."
Anything about that seem vaguely familiar. The man wasn't broadly hated in Italy prior to WWII and in fact was loved by many. He did create a lavish cult of personality. The government crushed fundamental class conflicts in favor of corporatism.
And the trains ran on time.... (That's humor for those of you who don't remember this which sounds "Donald-like.)
Trump in many ways behaves like Mussolini. Consider "QUIZ: Who Said It—Donald Trump or Benito Mussolini?"
Yes, the American oligarchy is a current and immediate problem and billionaire Trump is an outsider who wants to crush that oligarchy.
With that said, I wouldn't put Benito Mussolini nor Trump in office. Not even if I knew Trump would crush that oligarchy with a Mussolini-type Fascist dictatorship adapted to the United States. There are worse problems.
In contrast to those liberal alarmists using the Hitler comparison, some complacent types say that with Hillary or Trump America would end up the same. No, if Hillary wins we won't find America is roughly in the same position we would if Trump wins.
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