A reader has written in to disagree with yesterday’s commenter that claimed Trump and Elon Musk were leading a fascist government – here’s why (Picture: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments.
‘You can’t call every right-wing populist a fascist’
Ryan Cooper (MetroTalk, Thu) argues that Elon Musk’s ‘Nazi’ salute at Donald Trump’s inauguration shows what was once unthinkable is now mainstream – and I agree.
However, while it is led by a very right-wing president who has done and said things that should never have been done or said, calling the US government ‘fascist’ is incorrect.
Not every right-wing populist is a fascist, just as not every left-wing populist movement is another Khmer Rouge. Fascism is authoritarian (Mussolini before the Salo Republic) or totalitarian (Nazi Germany), limiting and ultimately dismantling democracy, whereas Trump can be voted out democratically within the next couple of years.
Whether this happens depends on whether more centrist politicians recognise they have allowed populists to rise by ignoring the often justified grievances of large sections of their societies. David Frencel, London
Trump the anti-science president?
Robert F. Kennedy has promoted many conspiracy theories (Picture: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
‘A cabinet of conspiracy theorists and overruling medical reality’
Is this the most anti-science presidency ever? Trump has promised to ‘drill, baby, drill’ for gas and oil in the face of an impending climate catastrophe that can only be averted by an immediate transition away from fossil fuels.
He’s trying to overrule medical reality by declaring his government will only recognise two genders.
He’s filling his cabinet with conspiracy theorists like Bobby Kennedy Jr and declaring war on immigration and diversity, despite all the evidence showing that those factors make the US richer.
Clearly the US needs a more overtly scientific approach to governance, starting with educating people on how to think empirically, and putting facts above feelings. Charlie Parrett, Stoke
Drill, baby, drill; burn, baby, burn; flood, baby, flood; fire, baby, fire… Liz Gowans, London
Is Trump an autocrat?
Sounds like hypocrisy… (Picture: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
‘Trump would be better to address problems at home’
Trump says Vladimir Putin is ‘destroying Russia’ by prolonging the war with Ukraine (Metro, Wed). He may well be right, yet he seeks to add Panama and Greenland to his country’s territory and would be prepared to use armed aggression to do so.
Leaders with autocratic instincts see a foreign war as a good way to distract attention away from domestic issues.
Trump would do better to address problems at home, not least, nepotism and cronyism in the White House. Stephen Spark, Balham
A leader you can’t trust?
He does have a habit of going back on what he says he’ll do (Picture: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
‘Trump has a long history of promising the world’
Clark (MetroTalk, Thu) boasts about what Trump is doing compared with our government, as if leaving the Paris climate accord is a good thing.
I wonder what his excuses would be for Trump making promises on the rising costs of food – a global issue – only to say after winning the election that he couldn’t promise prices would go down as its a ‘difficult subject’?
Or that he promised to deport any and all immigrants, only to drop it as soon as Elon Musk reminded him how much less they can pay foreign workers?
Trump has a long history of promising the world, only to pivot once he has what he wants. Matthew, Birmingham
Or, one that the UK government could learn from?
This reader says Sir Keir Starmer could learn a thing or two (Picture: Henry Nicholls – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
‘The UK needs a man like him’
God bless Donald Trump. The UK needs a man like him, who puts his country first and those born outside second, as all patriotic leaders should.
Sir Keir Starmer, take note! As Trump’s mother was born in Scotland, he is entitled to a British passport.
Hopefully he will come over, claim his heritage and be vocal in his condemnation of this lousy government. Nick Smith, London
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