Bill Kerwin's Reviews > Fascism: A Warning

Have you ever looked at President Trump when he juts out his jaw in a pursed-lip scowl, and said to yourself: my God, look at him, he's a dead ringer for Mussolini? Have you then listened to what he says, and come to realize that he sounds a lot like Mussolini too?

In this focused and disciplined book, Madeleine Albright draws upon her experience. In foreign affairs (as National Secirity Council member, United Nations ambassador, and first woman Secretary of State), as well as her memories as a child refugee World War II era Czechoslovakia, to gives us a brief history of fascism in the 20th century, and warning about its dangers to the world in general—and America in particular—in the age of Trump. I enjoyed her book, and found both the history and the warning to be valuable.

She begins with the origins of Fascism and accounts of the rise to power of both Mussolini and Hitler. She is very good at choosing details with contemporary resonance (Mussolini liked to have his picture taken with his shirt off, Hitler couldn’t sit still and preferred oral briefings), but at her best when she demonstrates that Fascism rarely comes to power by the violent overthrow of a democracy, Instead, through a peaceful—though anomalous—election, a leader with Fascist instincts comes to power, and then proceeds to inflame public opinion and disparage tradition norms so that the constitution itself may be altered or ignored.

So it was in the days of Benito, Adolph, and Josef, and so it has continued with the autocrats of the last thirty years. (Some of whom Mrs Albright has met and describes from a first hand perspective.) Often, as with Chavez, Erdogan, and the leaders of the illiberal democracies of contemporary Poland and Hungary, each man may begin by expressing a concern for his people, but as time goes on, the autocrat widens his power and crushes all forms of opposition.

The last few chapters, of course, are devoted to the question of Trump. I think the following passage will give you idea about how Madame Secretary feels about the bull in our red-white-and-blue china shop:

Trump is the first anti-democratic president in U.S. history. On too many days, beginning in the early hours, he flaunts his disdain for democratic institutions, the ideals of equality and social justice, civil discourse, civic virtues, and America itself. If transplanted to a country with fewer democratic safeguards, he would audition for dictator, because that is where his instincts lead. This frightening fact has consequences. The herd mentality is powerful in international affairs. Leaders around the globe observe, learn from, and mimic one another. They see where their peers are heading, what they can get away with, and how they can augment and perpetuated their power. They walk in one another’s footsteps, as Hitler did with Mussolini—and today the herd is moving in a Fascist direction.