<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/16/kamala-harris-trump-fascist-charlamagne-tha-god>
"Kamala Harris has agreed that Donald Trump is a fascist in her most forthright
statement yet in casting her presidential opponent as a potential autocrat
harboring authoritarian visions should he return to the White House.
The US vice-president and Democratic nominee crossed a psychologically
important boundary in addressing the issue of fascism in an interview with
Charlamagne Tha God, an influential radio host whose audience reaches a
predominantly Black audience of 8 million listeners monthly. The talk happened
during a campaign stop in Detroit, the centre of a battle between the two
candidates for the battleground state of Michigan.
Setting out the electoral options in the hourlong phone-in interview, Harris
was initially cautious, telling her host that voters in the 5 November election
“have two choices … and it’s two very different visions for our nation” before
giving a vague definition of her vision.
Charlamagne then in effect goaded her into making a leap, saying: “The other is
about fascism. Why can’t we just say it?”
Harris immediately replied: “Yes, we can say that.”
It is the first time Harris has publicly endorsed using the word fascist to
describe Trump and his plan for governance, although it has been raised
repeatedly by some observers as his campaign rhetoric and threats to jail his
political opponents have grown more ominous.
Her explicit approval of the word to describe Trump breaks new ground in a
presidential campaign in which she has already criticised his warm relationship
with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, and stated admiration for other
foreign autocrats.
Harris’s comments went significantly further than her previous day’s attack on
Trump’s increasingly authoritarian rhetoric, when she called him “unstable and
unhinged” and “dangerous” in response to his branding of Democratic opponents
as “the enemy within”. Trump had also advocated using the military against
opponents he accused of plotting “chaos” on election day, although – as an
opposition candidate – he has no power to do so.
A newly published book by the journalist Bob Woodward quotes the retired
chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, as calling Trump a
“total fascist” and “a fascist to the core”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
