21 November 2023 , 12:32
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Donald Trump's "fascist" words are part of a worrying authoritarian strategy to "dehumanise" people, an expert has claimed.
The former president, and leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, has promised to crack down on illegal immigration by introducing camps and conducting mass deportations.
Trump has admitted he would restore his 2019 "remain in Mexico" program, which forced non-Mexican asylum-seekers seeking to enter the US at the Mexican border to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their cases. In addition, he would try to detain all migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, which he dubbed "catch and release."
The presidential candidate has also threatened to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, rhetoric, and "anywhere else that threatens our security." His rhetoric looks to "dehumanise" people which is edging towards "fascism", according to an authoritarianism expert.
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Trump's divisive language has split America (AP)“There are echoes of fascist rhetoric, and they’re very precise,” Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor at New York University who studies fascism, told the New York Times. “The overall strategy is an obvious one of dehumanising people so that the public will not have as much of an outcry at the things that you want to do.”
The expert believes there are parallels between Trump's rhetoric and fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. "People initially thought Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was “some sort of blusterer,” she said. “We don’t take them seriously at our peril, and often it’s when it’s too late people wake up and say, ‘Oh, I should have listened when Trump said he could shoot someone and not lose any followers in January 2016.’”
Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat has expressed concerns over Trump's languageIt comes as Trump marked Joe Biden's 81st birthday on Monday by releasing a letter from his doctor that reports the former president is in "excellent" physical and mental health. The letter posted on Trump’s social media platform contained no details to support its claims — measures like weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, or the results of any test.
Dr. Bruce A. Aronwald, a New Jersey physician who says he has been Trump’s doctor since 2021 and most recently examined him in September, reported that Trump’s “physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional.”
He added that Trump’s most recent lab results were “even more favourable than prior testing on some of the most significant parameters” thanks to recent weight loss he credited to “improved diet and continued daily physical exercise, while maintaining a rigorous schedule.” The doctor concluded the 77-year old is “currently in excellent health” and “will continue to enjoy a healthy active lifestyle for years to come.”
While Trump isn’t all that much younger than Biden, polls consistently find that Americans view age as more of a liability for the president. An August poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 77% of U.S. adults, including 69% of Democrats, viewed Biden as too old to be effective for four more years, while only 51% of adults — and just 28% of Republicans — said the same about Trump.