Trump a fascist? Let's pump the brakes a little bit on that

I've long been uncomfortable with such statements, and events of last week only increase my discomfort.

Note, this was originally set for last week, but I held off when I instead had material for a post about Trump backing new sanctions on Russia and restoring old ones, as it's a good lead-in to the ideas here, namely that Trump is not under Putin's thumb. 

First, Trump's name has been removed from the Kennedy Center, after a judge's ruling. That piece, written last Saturday, is an update from this story, written last Friday, which said the Kennedy Center's Trump-flunky board voted to appeal the ruling. THAT said, per this Saturday story, the DC Court of Appeals rejected that appeal, which had requested a freeze on the original ruling.

Second, another judge ordered the Department of Interior and National Park Service to restore signage depicting the actual full story of American history in the parks, including slavery and climate change, and to do so by July 4. The Trump administration does not appear to be directly resisting the order, though foot-dragging on the date will likely happen. 

The point is that Trump is not a Hitler or Mussolini, or even a Peron or Franco. Sure, people inside the administration and out, like his bald-headed Goebbels Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, surely wish it were otherwise, but it's not. 

Yes, Jan. 6, 2021 is the big exception. And, his current maneuver to order the USPS to restrict the return of mail-in ballots (which almost certainly will be overturned) is another. Weirdly, the federal judge with initial oversight allowed that one to go forward, not because he agreed with it, but because he said it had so many unanswered questions he couldn't rule on it yet. Excuse me Judge Nichols, but isn't that a good reason to rule against something?

Yes, it's true that Hitler and Mussolini came to power by legal means before destroying what had been the previous system of legality. Federal courts have helped Trump around the edges, but nothing like in Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany. (And, some things, like the continued gutting of the Voting Rights Act, are a Republican project in general, not a specifically Trumpian one.) 

I think this in part boils down to a difference between leftists and liberals, and on a partially parallel track, between people who are members of the left hand of the duopoly and the less insane portion of the right hand of the duopoly versus people who are outside it to the left. (Centrist "independents" are usually semi-tribalist when push comes to shove and don't think outside of duopoly frameworks.)