June 14, 2023

Democrats, Big Media, Big Tech, Big Pharma, academia, Hollywood and all the other radical Marxist/Leftist groups hate President Trump.  Robert DeNiro wants to punch him. Ashley Judd threatened to go “nasty woman” on him.  All those Trump haters scream that he’s an idiot, a disgrace, crass, a bore. 

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However, their most politically meaningful hatred centers on the accusation that he’s an authoritarian, a fascist.  Since his June 2015 presidential announcement, turn on/read any of the Democrats’ media (NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Washington Post, etc.) and that accusation of authoritarianism is made daily by the likes of Joe Scarborough, Rachel Maddow, and Don Lemon.  Only two months ago, The Atlantic, a purportedly serious magazine, said Trump’s using an authoritarian playbook, whatever that means. 

They all make such accusations, giving no definition of what it means to be “an authoritarian” and using no examples.  So, what does it mean, and is Trump an authoritarian?  First, let’s look at some of history’s recent authoritarian regimes. 

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When I think of an authoritarian regime I think of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Eastern Bloc countries, Cuba (under Fidel), North Korea, China, and many Middle East Islamic countries.  Those governments had (and still have) almost 100% control over all aspects of society.  Those regimes control all media (TV shows, news, newspapers, movies, radio, etc.), silenced and jail all opposition, arrest political opponents, prevent protests, prevent religious worship, encourage people to rat on their neighbors, control history taught in schools, control the economy, and (more recently) control the internet.  The ideology of the state wasn’t just coming from politicians; it was the police, the media, the military, the courts, entertainment, and teachers.  To control society, an authoritarian regime must control all aspects of society, and those regimes do.  The regime demands total compliance; no dissent is tolerated.  In such regimes, the people know they’re being lied to but can’t do anything about it. 

Using the above short description, is Donald Trump an authoritarian?  Did he have political opponents arrested?  Did he control network news?  Control Big Tech?  Print media?  Academia?  Hollywood?  Sports Leagues?  Entertainment?  The courts?  The government?  Intel agencies?  Law enforcement?  After all, a true authoritarian would control all those and much, much more.  For each one of those questions, the answer was, and is, a big no.  Trump controlled nothing that an authoritarian would control.  If he did, Trump wouldn’t have allowed Big Tech to kick him off of Twitter and Facebook when they disagreed with him. 

As much as Big Tech dislikes him, so do our news networks hate him.  A 2017 Harvard study found the media to be 93% negative, 7% positive, to Trump during his first 100-days in office.  (In comparison, Obama was 60% positive.)  Similar negatives toward Trump came from schools and universities, from Hollywood and entertainment, and from sports figures (such as LeBron, Kaepernick, Stephen Curry) and ESPN.