It seems that Republican 2016 Republican Presidential front-runner Donald Trump sui generis campaign strategy has been to hold yuuuge (sic) celebrity styled rallies to appeal to an agitated electorate and generate copious amounts of earned media.
Much to the Trump camp's chagrin, the Donald is markedly underperforming compared the the polls and the large crowds, especially in closed primary and caucus contests. To remedy this lack of follow thru by truant Trump supporters, Donald Trump started a campaign schtick to urge attendees to take an oath to get out the vote for the Donald.
Unfortunately, the optics of having crowds raise their right hands in the air looks like a fascist salute. Several days after this tactic was applied, Donald Trump went on MSNBC's "The Morning Joe" to deny that he knew anything about it. Trump claimed that comparing this Trump pledge to a Nazi salute was crazy.
Oh--our mistake (sic). It's just unfortunate optics that are repeated in rallies leading up to Super Duper Tuesday.
One might believe Trump instead of our lying eyes, except this is not his first brush with fascist phenomenology. A couple of weeks ago, Trump retweeted a quote popularized by Mussilini.
When questioned about it, on NBC's Meet the Press, Trump did not recoil at the Mussilini attribution and doubled down that it was an interesting quotation that sparked a conversation.
Lest we forget how Donald Trump could not immediately recognize and condemn any support coming from ex Klansman David Duke and white supremacists. It would but stupid to prematurely alienate a small segment of fanatical Southern Pride voters when their votes count.
Contributing to this authoritarian aura around Donald Trump was his response in the Detroit GOP Debate when he was asked for his reaction if the military would refuse an illegal order. Trump insisted that this would never happen because: "They're not going to refuse me. If I say it, they'll do it." Besides, this would just be killing the families of terrorists in retribution for their war crimes. A day later, Trump PR flacks walked back this bold blurtation.
Trump social media warriors are quick to excuse these strong man assertions, noting that Mussilini did not originate the quote and that it is hate speech to see the similarities between a fascist salute and a Trump loyalty pledge.
Sure. Swear to Trump.
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