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There has never been a media meltdown like this.
When Donald Trump came out and said publicly what half of America has been thinking privately for a decade - that it's time to block all Muslim immigration immediately, at least while we get our act together and figure out how to deal with terrorism - everybody who's anybody trampled over each other to condemn him as the second coming of Adolf Hitler. From MSNBC to CNN to Fox News to the Republican establishment to every Democrat who could get near a microphone, the massed power of the media roared with one voice. Even normally conservative publications set aside their erstwhile dedication to the truth for a chance to lob a rock.
Some of this is just plain lies - Mr. Trump did not mean to say that current U.S. citizens who happen to be Muslims would be immediately banished, nor even that noncitizens legally living in the U.S. would be instantly deported. He simply argued that we shouldn't let any more in than are already here, which is nothing more than President Carter did to Iran during the 1979 hostage crisis in compliance with a law passed in 1952 (over Democrat opposition, even then).
And for this, Donald Trump is wearing a swastika?
The mainstream media is bad enough, but the lefty blogosphere went absolutely apoplectic. For example:
Not only [do] Trump's comments form a discourse of hate, bigotry and exclusion, but also that such expressions of racism and fascism are resonating deeply in a landscape of US culture and politics crafted by 40 years of conservative counterrevolution. One of the few politicians to respond to Trump's incendiary comments was former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who stated rightly that Donald Trump is a "fascist demagogue."
Heather Digby Parton is right when she writes that Donald Trump "may be the first openly fascistic frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination but the ground was prepared and the seeds of his success sowed over the course of many years."
We could condemn this bloviating for its complete inaccuracy: since when has Trump, or any other Republican, suggested shoving people into gas chambers or concentration camps? We could also attack the fundamental premise - people who are not citizens of the United States have no right to be here, and by definition a nation has an absolute right to allow or disallow whatever visitors it deems best. But we make those observations nearly every day.
No, what's truly chilling is that, by the use of such unjustified hyperbole, the left and elites are working overtime to make true fascism thinkable and even plausible.
Consider the perspective of most Americans on the subject of Islam. Over half of all Americans recognize that Islam is fundamentally at odds with American values and our way of life. Despite the usual media attempts to paint middle America as racist, the facts support this view: full 51% of Muslims in America support the barbarism of Sharia law, and a quarter of them support violence against their fellow citizens!
On some level, even the low-information voters realize that Islam is an alien, barbaric, and dangerous force that we'd be better off without. Yet what do they hear screaming from every self-anointed Voice of Reason? "Islam is a religion of peace!" - a transparent lie that becomes more preposterous by the day.
It's no wonder that the media and politicians are held in such contempt. We know they couldn't care less about our financial well-being, but now we discover they don't turn a hair at our being slaughtered at Christmas parties! It should be no surprise that more than a quarter of Americans believe that our own government is the enemy. Actually, considering that Attorney General of the United States Loretta Lynch's response to the San Bernardino Muslim terrorist attacks was that her her "greatest fear" is the "incredibly disturbing rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric," that number is doubtless much higher today.
So, we have a government which is becoming a clear and present danger to your personal safety by virtue of a dedication to import vast numbers of adherents of a murderous ideology and a complete refusal even to consider a pause.
And, we have that same discredited, despised, dishonest government and its equally condemned supporters shouting that Donald Trump is a fascist, criticizing that same person who has spent the campaign saying what more and more Americans actually think, and defending American views and values against the high priests of political correctness.
There are two possible responses. One is to dismissively say of the media elites, "There they go again," with the usual lies. That's our default view.
However, arriving at this position requires a certain amount of information and some dedication to analytical logic. Most Americans have neither the time nor the inclination for this. They simply want not to be blown up or dismembered by Mohammed al-Kaboom, and they have the old-fashioned notion that their leaders should support this worthy goal.
Therefore, if Donald Trump's positions make sense and show concern for American lives; if our current elites have shown nothing but contempt if not hatred for ordinary Americans; and if those elites are calling Trump a fascist - well, what does that make Fascism? Maybe it's gotten an unjustifiably bad press, just as Donald Trump is getting and conservatives have all gotten for years and years?
Let's be perfectly clear - yes, fascism is every bit as evil as advertised, and no, we want nothing to do with it. In fact, there are many examples of economic fascism in America right now, and we oppose them with all the force at our command.
It goes without saying that we are vehemently opposed to throwing U.S. citizens into concentration camps when they have not been convicted of any crime. We are equally opposed to throwing illegal noncitizens into concentration camps because they should simply be deported to their home countries, in a humane but brisk fashion, which is not only more civilized but saves a pile of money we don't have.
And we certainly don't believe in sending anyone to a gas chamber who has not been sentenced by a jury of their peers for a heinous crime.
We have no doubt that Donald Trump fully agrees with the last two paragraphs, and large chunks of the one prior. He is, beyond question, no fascist, despite what the demented members of the media claim.
But by falsely calling him one, the left and the right are paving the way for a true fascist demagogue to be listened to. And here's a truly scary thought: maybe they're working on finding one right now.