Over the past five years or so, Ive had no problem using the F word (fascism) to describe whats been happening under President Trump and the Republican Party.I wrote about it here in Salonall the way back in 2015, noting that I wasnt the only one. In fact, it was his fellow Republicans who were the first to use the term to describe him. All you have to do is go back and read that full-page newspaper ad Trumptook out in 1989, headlined Bring Back the Death Penalty, Bring Back Our Police, to understand his fundamental authoritarian nature.

Even though we knew from the beginning that we were dealing with an essentially authoritarianleader, our awareness of it has sometimes been subsumed amidthe sheer chaos of daily newsoverthe past five years. But if you look at the various issues Trump is most obsessed with, whether it was the lurid obsession with terrorist violence and refugees during the 2016 campaign or his preoccupation with immigrants, the pardoning of war criminals, his flirtations with dictators, the endless threats to jail his political opponents and muzzle the press, the valorizing of the Confederacy and the openly racist law and order campaign of this year,its pretty clear what gets himexcited along withhis devoted following.

But wait, you say:Donald Trump only cares about himself! Hes not interested in anything as abstract as issues, not even the ones that tickle his lizard brain. But these are not mutually exclusive things. You see, Donald Trump genuinely believes he is scientifically superior to all those others and that they must be kept in check, with whatever level of violence may benecessary.

He doesnt talk about this a whole lot, but it definitelycomesup from time to time. Just this past weekend in Minnesota, in the midst of one of his most rambling, racist rallies in a long while, Trump said this, startling quite a few people who perhaps werent aware of his deep andabiding belief in eugenics:

As a historian who has written about the Holocaust, Ill say bluntly: This is indistinguishable from the Nazi rhetoric that led to Jews, disabled people, LGBTQ, Romani and others being exterminated. This is America 2020. This is where the GOP has taken us. https://t.co/CHMLg804mp

Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) September 20, 2020

The last time he brought this up was in May when he visited a Ford plantto praise the organization for some PPE initiative:

Hes a big believer in blood and soil. https://t.co/gYQUwJy56H

digby (@digby56) May 21, 2020

Trump is poorly educated, so he probably doesnt even knowthat such language evokes Nazi Germanys eugenics program and AdolfHitlers theory of the master race, especially when discussing the notorious anti-SemiteHenry Ford. But itsclear enough that regardless of the historical context, Trump is on Fords wavelength when it comes to eugenics.

Hes talked aboutbloodlines line before,weirdly tellinga group of British businessmen in 2018 thatyouve all got such good bloodlines in this room.Youve all got such amazing DNA.' He obviously didnt know anything about their bloodlines, but made the assumption they must be amazing because they were a bunch of rich, successfulwhite, men.

According to Trumpbiographer Michael DAntonio, hedoes believe in a racehorse theoryof human development. Its all about the breeding.

Im a big believer in natural ability, Trump told me during a discussion about his leadership traits, which he said came from a natural sense of how human relations work. If Obama had that psychology, Putin wouldnt be eating his lunch. He doesnt have that psychology and he never will because its not in his DNA. Later in this discussion, Trump said: I believe in being prepared and all that stuff. But in many respects, the most important thing is an innate ability.

Perhaps Trumps conviction that DNA not life experience is everything explains why he proudly claims that hes basically the same today as when he was a boy. When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, Im basically the same, he said. The temperament is not that different.

The racehorse theory of human development explains Trumps belief in his suitability for political leadership, despite the fact that he has never held office. Hes absolutely convinced that Americas problems will be solved by his God-given management skills, bankruptcies notwithstanding. You are either born with superior qualities the right DNA or you are not. And people get what they deserve. In his case, that includes the White House.

According to DAntonio, Donald Trump Jr. also told him that he believes in the racehorse theory as well, and that he too is in the high percentile on the bell curve, although his father scores even higher.

In Trumps case, the belief that he has great genes means that he is not required to study or consult experts or reallyever bother to learn anything. He explained this tothe Washington Post back in 2016:

He said in a series of interviews that he does not need to read extensively because he reaches the right decisions with very little knowledge other than the knowledge I [already] had, plus the words common sense, because I have a lot of common sense and I have a lot of business ability. He believes that when he makes decisions, people see that he instinctively knows the right thing to do: A lot of people said, Man, he was more accurate than guys who have studied it all the time.

This was most recently demonstrated in his bizarrecomments at the CDC last March:

!!! https://t.co/1V47k7dyB6

digby (@digby56) September 21, 2020

Youll note that he mentions once again that his uncle, JohnTrump an electrical engineer and inventor taught at MIT, which he believesconfers on him the same level of intelligence because of their shared genes.

For Trump, thisisnt just idle talk about an accomplished relative. It is central to his understanding of the world and his ability to navigate it. He simply does whatever he feels likein the moment, secure in the knowledge that it must be right because his instincts are superior to any book learning due to his great bloodlines:

Its easy to laugh at Trumps foolishness or assume that hes just blathering on as usual. But consider his obvious willingness to sacrifice the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans to the deadly pandemic for his own purposes. As he has put it,Well let it wash over the countryandachieveherd mentality.Or what about the horrific conditions at the border over the past three years, most recently the accusations thatdoctors are performing hysterectomies and other sterilization procedureson immigrant women against their will. Think about what former Homeland Securitychief of staff Miles Taylorreported: This was the president of the United States who looked at me and told me, when were deciding who to let in to the U.S., he didnt want us to accept people who had quote, missing toes or funny foreheads. This is how the president talks about human beings.

Trumps absurd talk about his good German genes doesnt sound so funny when you consider his policies. Somewhere along the line, all these words of his and all the actions of his administration come together in a pattern in which his belief in eugenics fits right in with a program that looks an awful lot like that F word.

See original here:
Indistinguishable from Nazi rhetoric: Trumps racehorse theory of genetics is profoundly racist its also why he thinks hes a natural-born genius -...