Someone I know sent me this video because he was sucked in to believe that Donald Trump is a Fascist.
David Ashton CEO
The creator of the video has cherry picked words out of many different speeches from Trump.
ChatGPT without asking (see below) has said and I quote "It is not fabricated, and it is not wildly inaccurate, but it is framed in a way that serves a contemporary political critique."
If I said in a speech "I heard the other day Joe Bloggs say in a video that I don't like the multiple gender crap going on right now".
Then Robert Reich for his political critique would pull my words from above "I don't like the multiple gender crap going on right now"
The main stream media uses headlines to sell their story. But 9 times out of 10 when you read the article in it's entirety it tells a different story, far from the attention grabbing headline.
This is what Robert Reich has done. So I'd suggest you go and watch the entire speech that Reich has pulled the Trump quote from.
You said:
Is this facebook video accurate about what Fascism really is? https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1558363175120940&rdid=hBINpIwJitsmC8SY
ChatGPT said:
I tried to open the Facebook video you linked (https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1558363175120940) but couldn’t fetch it directly. So I can’t verify the exact content of that specific video. 😕 However, I can tell you whether what most videos/arguments about “what fascism really is” tend to be accurate compared with what historians and political scientists agree fascism actually means.
Here’s a grounded, factual explanation of what fascism really is (and isn’t):
📌 Scholarly Consensus on Fascism
Historians and political scientists generally define fascism as:
- a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist ideology and movement;
- built on dictatorial leadership, centralized autocratic power, and forcible suppression of opposition;
- that exalts the nation (often framed as a race or people) above individuals and individual rights;
- with strong regimentation of society and the economy and a myth of national rebirth.
In other words, fascism is not just a generic word for “authoritarianism” alone — it has a distinct set of core features around nationalism, total control, and the cult of the leader.
📌 Key Points Most Accurate Definitions Agree On
✔︎ Ultra-nationalism — the nation (or race) is supreme.
✔︎ Authoritarianism / dictatorship — opposition is suppressed and political freedoms are eliminated.
✔︎ Militarism & violence are often central, not accidental.
✔︎ State over individual — individual rights are subordinated to the nation’s goals.
📌 What Fascism Is Not (Despite Common Claims)
❌ “Fascism just means authoritarian” — While authoritarianism is part of fascism, not all authoritarian systems (e.g., some military juntas) meet the full criteria of fascism.
❌ “It’s a neutral term that can apply to any ideology” — serious scholars don’t apply it to every non-democratic system; it has a specific historical context.
❌ “Communism is fascism” — communism and fascism are different ideologies with different roots, though both can become repressive.
🧠 Why Definitions Vary
The term is used a lot politically as a criticism, which means people sometimes stretch it to mean “anything I strongly disagree with.” But most academic definitions stick to a specific cluster of traits outlined above.
✅ In short: If the video defines fascism in line with the features above — ultranationalism, authoritarian dictatorial control, suppression of opposition, exaltation of the nation/race at the expense of individual freedoms — that matches the widely accepted understanding.
❗ But if the video uses “fascism” loosely to label modern politicians or movements without those core features, or claims fascism is primarily a left-wing or centrist phenomenon, that does not align with historical and scholarly definitions.
If you can tell me what the video actually says — like the main arguments or claims — I can give you a precise evaluation of its accuracy.
You said:
Can you access this video I just uploaded? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZlCJ9p93so (I copied the video to my youtube channel)
ChatGPT said:
I wasn’t able to access the YouTube video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZlCJ9p93so — trying to open it directly failed, and there aren’t any searchable references to that specific ID online, which usually means the video is either private, removed, unindexed, or restricted in some way.
➡️ Because of that I cannot watch the video or see its content from external sources, so I can’t directly judge whether that specific video is accurate or not.
✅ Still — I can tell you what an accurate explanation of fascism looks like based on scholarly consensus
Fascism, as historians and political scientists define it, is a specific political ideology and movement — not just a general term for authoritarianism or extremism. Key points most scholars agree on include:
✔️ Far-right authoritarian and ultranationalist ideology, rooted in the idea that the nation (or race) is supreme, above individual rights and freedoms.
✔️ Dictatorship and centralized power, with opposition suppressed and political pluralism eliminated.
✔️ Strong militarism and use of force to achieve political aims.
✔️ Rejection of liberal democracy, socialism, communism, and pluralism.
✔️ Subordination of the economy and society to the state / nation.
✔️ Propaganda and myth-making to unify people around the leader and the idea of national rebirth.
This definition comes from the historical record of the original fascist movements in Italy under Mussolini and in Germany under the Nazis, and from how scholars describe fascism as a coherent ideology and historical phenomenon.
✅ What most credible videos on fascism emphasize
Reliable educational videos (like those by historians or educators) tend to focus on:
📌 Origins of fascism in early 20th-century Europe with Mussolini and Hitler.
📌 Core features like ultranationalism, authoritarianism, and suppression of dissent.
📌 Propaganda, cult of personality, and the use of violence.
These are the features that distinguish fascism from other forms of authoritarianism or political extremism.
🔎 If you can describe what the video claims about fascism…
I can evaluate those specific claims against the scholarly definition and tell you what parts are accurate, what parts are oversimplified, and what parts are misleading.
Just let me know what the video says!
You said:
Try again I've taken the privacy off
ChatGPT said:
I tried multiple web searches for the exact YouTube video with ID QZlCJ9p93so, but I could not find any public results or indexed references for it — which usually means one of the following is true:
- The video is very new and not indexed yet by search engines.
- It may still be set to unlisted or restricted (even if the privacy setting is off).
- It may not be widely shared anywhere that’s indexed publicly.
So at the moment I cannot watch that specific video or retrieve a transcript from the web. I don’t have direct access to view YouTube videos myself — I can only fetch indexed info or summaries from search results, and nothing came up for that ID. 🔍
📌 However — I can still help you judge the accuracy of it
If you tell me what the video claims about fascism (for example: main points, quotes, arguments), I can compare those claims to what historians and political scientists generally agree fascism actually is.
Here’s what solid scholarship says about fascism:
✅ Core Features of Fascism (Scholarly Consensus)
- Ultra-nationalism: Belief that the nation (and often race or cultural group) is above individual rights.
- Authoritarian dictatorship: Centralized power under a dominant leader with suppression of opposition.
- Rejection of liberal democracy: Opposition to pluralism and democratic processes.
- Suppression of dissent: Removal of civil liberties and political opposition.
- Propaganda & mythmaking: Use of emotional appeals, symbols, and mythology to unify the population.
- Militarism: Glorification of violence and war as tools for national rebirth.
These characteristics come from analyses of historical fascist movements — primarily Italy under Mussolini and Nazi Germany under Hitler — which are the classic examples scholars use to define the ideology.
🔍 Common Misunderstandings (So You Know What to Look For)
Some videos mix up or distort fascism by claiming things like:
❌ “Fascism is a left-wing ideology” — This is historically inaccurate. Fascism arose in opposition to both liberal democracy and communism/socialism.
❌ “Any authoritarian regime = fascism” — Not all authoritarian systems (like absolute monarchies or juntas) fit the fascist pattern.
❌ “Fascism is just extreme nationalism” — Nationalism is part of it, but combined with authoritarian one-party rule, cult of leadership, and suppression of opposition.
If the video you watched makes claims like those, they would not line up with the mainstream historical definition.
👍 Best way forward
Just copy/paste the main arguments from the video here — for example:
• “The video says fascism is…”
• “It claims fascism was originally a left-wing ideology because…”
• “It argues that modern governments are fascist because…”
I’ll go point-by-point and tell you what’s accurate, what’s questionable, and what’s widely rejected by experts.
You said:
I have transcribed the video. The creator has cherry picked words from Donald Trump's speeches to try and depict him as a Fascist - but when you understand that he is destroying a British System and saving the USA. But this is not about that. Are what they are saying about Fascism accurate? Here is the transcript:
Robert Reich 0:03 I want to talk to you about the F word, no, no, not that F word. I'm talking about fascism. Is Donald Trump really a fascist, as some would say, or is the word authoritarian sufficient? The term Fascism is often used loosely, but you can generally identify fascists by their hate of the other, vengeful nationalism and repression of dissent. To fight these ideas, we need to be aware of what they are and how they fit together. Let's examine the five elements that define fascism and what makes it distinct from and more dangerous than authoritarianism, first, the rejection of democracy in favor of a strong man. Authoritarians believe strong leaders are needed to maintain stability, so they empower strong men, dictators or Absolute Monarchs to maintain social order through the use of force. But fascists view strong leaders as the means of discovering what society needs. They regard the leader as the embodiment of society, the voice of the people.
Donald Trump 1:16 I am your voice. I alone can fix it.
Robert Reich 1:25 Second, stoking rage against cultural elites, authoritarian movements cannot succeed without at least some buy in from establishment elites, while fascist movements often seek to co opt the establishment. They largely depend on fueling resentment and anger against presumed cultural elites for supposedly displacing regular people. Fascists rile up their followers to seek revenge on the elites,
Donald Trump 1:56 the out of touch media elites, the political elites, but the elites from the elites who led us from one financial and foreign policy disaster
Robert Reich 2:08 to another, they create mass political parties and demand participation. They encourage violence. Donald Trump 2:16 You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this, they'd be carried out on a stretcher. Folks like to punch him in the face. I'll tell you, Knock the crap out of him, would you? And we fight. We fight like hell. Robert Reich 2:29 Third nationalism based on superior race and historic bloodlines, authoritarians see nationalism as a means of asserting the power of the state for fascists. The state embodies what is considered a superior group based on race, religion and historic bloodlines to fascists. The state is a means of asserting that superiority.
Donald Trump 2:56 When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you.
Robert Reich 3:03 Fascists worry about disloyalty and replacement by groups that don't share the same race or bloodlines, Donald
Trump 3:10 and I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.
Robert Reich 3:20 Fascists encourage their followers to scapegoat, expel and sometimes even kill such others. Fourth, extolling brute strength and heroic warriors. The goal of authoritarianism is to gain and maintain state power at any cost. For authoritarians, strength comes in the form of large standing armies that can enforce their rule. They seek power to wield power. Fascists seek state power to achieve their ostensible goal, achieving their vision of society. Fascism accomplishes this by rewarding those who win economically and physically and denigrating or even exterminating those who lose. Fascism depends on organized bullying, a form of social Darwinism.
Donald Trump 4:10 Our people are tougher and stronger and meaner and smarter for
Robert Reich 4:15 the fascist war and violence are means of strengthening society by culling the weak and glorifying heroic warriors.
Donald Trump 4:25 I am your warrior. I am your justice. I am your retribution. I am your retribution.
Robert Reich 4:32 Fifth and finally, disdain of women and LGBTQ people. Authoritarianism imposes hierarchies. It's about order. Fascism's idea of order is organized around a particular hierarchy of male dominance. The fascist heroic warrior is male. Women are relegated to subservient roles in fascism, anything that challenges the traditional heroic male roles of protector, provider and controller of the family is considered a threat to the social order. Fascism seeks to eliminate homosexuals, non binary, transgender and queer people, because they are thought to challenge or weaken the heroic male warrior,
Donald Trump 5:22 I will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth.
Robert Reich 5:33 These five elements of fascism fit together and reinforce each other. Rejection of democracy in favor of a strong man depends on galvanizing popular rage. Popular rage draws on a nationalism based on a supposed superior race or ethnicity. That superior race or ethnicity is justified by a social Darwinist idea of strength and violence, as exemplified by heroic warriors, strength, violence and the heroic warrior are centered on male power. These five elements find exact expression in Donald Trump, his uniquely American version of fascism is rooted largely in white Christian nationalism. It is the direction that most of the Republican Party is now heading in. It's not enough to call Trump and those promoting his ideas authoritarianness, when what they are really advocating is something far worse.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
ChatGPT said:
You’ve asked a good, focused question: putting Trump aside, are Robert Reich’s claims about fascism itself accurate?
Short answer: They’re partly accurate, but somewhat simplified and slightly overstated in places. The core structure he describes overlaps with mainstream scholarship — but a few elements are framed more narrowly or ideologically than academic definitions would.
Below is a careful breakdown compared with widely accepted scholarship (e.g., historians like Robert Paxton, Roger Griffin, and Stanley Payne).
1️⃣ “Rejection of democracy in favor of a strong man”
Reich’s claim:
Fascism rejects democracy and elevates a leader as the embodiment of the people.
Accuracy: ✅ Mostly accurate.
Scholars agree fascism:
- Rejects liberal democracy and pluralism
- Promotes one-party rule
- Elevates a charismatic leader as the embodiment of the nation
The “leader principle” (Führerprinzip in Nazi Germany) absolutely fits this description.
Nuance:
Fascists often use democratic systems initially (elections, coalitions) before dismantling them. So it’s not always an outright rejection at the beginning — but the end goal is authoritarian rule centered on a leader.
Verdict: Accurate.
2️⃣ “Stoking rage against cultural elites”
Reich’s claim:
Fascists mobilize resentment against elites and co-opt institutions.
Accuracy: ✅ Largely accurate.
Fascist movements historically:
- Portrayed themselves as anti-elite and anti-establishment
- Claimed corrupt elites betrayed the nation
- Mobilized mass movements based on grievance
However:
Nuance:
Fascist movements usually partnered with industrial, military, and conservative elites once in power. They attacked “cultural” elites rhetorically while aligning with economic elites strategically.
Verdict: Substantively accurate, but simplified.
3️⃣ “Nationalism based on superior race and historic bloodlines”
Reich’s claim:
Fascism is built on racial or bloodline superiority.
Accuracy: ⚖️ Mostly accurate — but needs qualification.
Nazism absolutely centered race and bloodline ideology.
But not all fascist movements were equally race-focused:
- Mussolini’s early Italian fascism was ultranationalist but not originally biologically racist.
- Racial laws in Italy came later and were heavily influenced by Nazi Germany.
Scholars generally define fascism as:
- Ultranationalist
- Seeking national rebirth
- Often mythologizing ethnicity or culture
- Frequently (but not always centrally) racial
Verdict: Broadly accurate for many fascist regimes, but somewhat over-generalized.
4️⃣ “Extolling brute strength, violence, and social Darwinism”
Reich’s claim:
Fascism glorifies violence, heroic warriors, and “culling the weak.”
Accuracy: ✅ Strongly supported.
Mainstream scholarship agrees:
- Fascism glorifies violence as regenerative
- War is seen as purifying and strengthening
- Masculinity and martial values are central
- Political violence is normalized
This aligns closely with academic definitions.
Verdict: Accurate.
5️⃣ “Disdain of women and LGBTQ people”
Reich’s claim:
Fascism enforces male dominance and suppresses homosexuality and gender nonconformity.
Accuracy: ⚖️ Mostly accurate, but slightly overstated as a defining core element.
Historical fascist regimes:
- Promoted traditional gender roles
- Elevated hyper-masculinity
- Repressed homosexuality (especially under the Nazis)
- Encouraged women into motherhood roles
However:
Most academic definitions of fascism do not list “anti-LGBTQ” or “disdain of women” as one of the core defining pillars. Instead, they treat:
- Hyper-masculinity
- Patriarchal hierarchy
- Traditionalism
as characteristic traits — but not always as one of the five foundational elements.
Verdict: Historically accurate trend, but not usually considered one of the central defining criteria in scholarly models.
Where Reich Aligns with Scholarship
He correctly identifies:
- Anti-democracy
- Leader cult
- Ultranationalism
- Mythic national rebirth
- Glorification of violence
- Mass mobilization
- Suppression of dissent
Those are core components in mainstream academic definitions.
Where It’s More Framed or Simplified
- He structures fascism into exactly “five elements” — scholarship doesn’t universally agree on one fixed list.
- He emphasizes race more centrally than some scholars do.
- He treats gender hierarchy as one of the defining pillars, which many historians treat as characteristic but secondary.
Big Picture Conclusion
If your question is:
Are Reich’s descriptions of fascism historically grounded?
Answer:
Yes — largely.
His explanation fits mainstream academic understandings of fascism.
But:
- It is structured in a way that supports his political argument.
- It simplifies a complex ideology into five talking points.
- A few elements (especially gender/LGBTQ emphasis) are somewhat amplified compared to many scholarly models.
It is not fabricated, and it is not wildly inaccurate, but it is framed in a way that serves a contemporary political critique.
If you’d like, I can next:
- Compare Reich’s definition to a standard academic model (like Paxton’s 5-stage model), or
- Show you how fascism differs from generic authoritarianism in a more neutral analytical way.
