Trump’s Fascist Politics: One Long Attack on Political Correctness and Now Universities

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was sometimes described as one long attack on “political correctness.” Now, as president, some warn his presidency is one long attack on universities. To be sure, chancellors at two colleges have just been pressured by the Trump administration’s Department of Education to target pro-Palestinian voices on their respective campuses. The same occurred earlier at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. They were ordered to remake the Middle East studies program run jointly by the two schools after concluding that it was offering students a biased curriculum that, among other complaints, did not present enough “positive” imagery of Judaism and Christianity in the region.

Most Powerful Weapons to Change the World
The reason for sounding the alarm is that fascist politics have always sought to undermine public learning and discourse by attacking and devaluing education, expertise, and language, and to establish the parameters of teaching in a narrow political spectrum of pedagogy. Without proper education, intelligent and critical debate is impossible-let alone access to different perspectives. So is a rich enough language and way of thinking to precisely describe reality. When education, expertise, and linguistic distinctions or ways to make sense of the world are undermined, there remains only power and tribal identity. In this case, it centers around Trump and his reality.

This does not mean there is no role for universities in Trump’s fascist political world. But in his mind, there is only one legitimate viewpoint: that of White Nationalism. He wants schools to introduce students to a white dominant culture, its mythic past, and what is currently acceptable by most Republicans and conservatives. For now, then, education poses a grave threat to their fascist view of the only true mythical, politically acceptable, and dominant view. It’s the reason protests and cultural clashes on campuses have represented a true political battleground and received national attention. Fascist politicians like Trump and the Republicans seek to undermine the credibility of universities that still harbor independent voices of dissent.

Academic Eugenics
The Trump administration wants to also replace universities with educational systems and media that reject those voices of dissent. One typical method is to level accusations of hypocrisy. Trump and a contemporary right-wing campaign are now accusing universities with hypocrisy on the issue of free speech. Universities may appear to hold free speech in the highest regard but suppress any voices that don’t lean left by allowing protests on campuses against them. Most recently, critics of campus social justice movements have found an effective method of turning themselves into the victims of protesters meant to deny them their own free speech. It includes going public with the “most dangerous professors” in America and “most dangerous courses.”

Another concern is the cozy relationship between the Trump administration and conservative pundits. Millions of listeners are fed a narrative by Rush Limbaugh, FOX News, and Sean Hannity that tells them universities and public education is failing to protect and promote free speech. Without any proof or evidence, former professors like Dr. Everett Piper who just released his new docu-drama “No Safe Spaces” allege campuses are implementing thought control and ideological fascism rather than championing free speech, and that free speech is being trampled on to satisfy the left’s singular political agenda. Calling it “ideological fascism,” he claims: “students are forced to think like the left, look like the left, and talk like the left or be silenced and crushed.”

Passport to Fascism
Despite all the fascist propaganda coming out of the Trump Administration, the protections of academic freedom afforded to universities enables them to host the freest domain of expression of any workplace. It’s also something that causes the most concern for students. Not only did a recent survey find race, diversity, and inclusion were by far the most discussed issues among students today, but that it stemmed from the many conservative and white supremacist movements like “Unite the Right” and “Alt-Right” which tried to silence students from debating what it meant to go to schools built by enslaved people and founded by a slave-owners. Other concerns were mental health services, sexual misconduct, and gun violence.

According to the survey, no wonder Trump’s political fascism overlaps with the talking points of some of the well-funded media and political institutions that have risen to attack and delegitimize universities and public schools as bastions of liberalism. Given his history of sexual misconduct and white nationalism, or his ability to incite gun violence state of mind, students are right to be alarmed. The same was true of most fascist movements of the past. When they were in the process of seizing power in liberal democratic states, schools and universities were attacked and academic disciplines were always singled out and purged from the national mind. The educators in these fields accused of either disrespect to the traditions and myths of the nation, or treason.

Eliminating Intelligence and Freedom of Thought
Whether Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy, or even McCarthyistic America, we all know what happened to such schools and educators who resisted fascist politics and clung to the freedom of thought.

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and www.WN.com/dallasdarling.