Fascism and stupidity are not mutually exclusive

For years now, many have argued that Donald Trump could not pull off a fascist takeover of the United States, because he was simply too stupid to do it. People think of infamous authoritarians like Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini or Mao Zedong and imagine a savvy operator who knows exactly what they're doing.

Perhaps there's some truth there, but as we're currently seeing in the United States, stupidity is not necessarily a significant impediment to accomplishing destructive, authoritarian goals. While we mock Trump for being the idiot that he is, he's dismantling a republic that's about to turn 250 years old.

I will plainly say, whenever you'd like, that Trump is a moron. However, intelligence isn't the only factor at play here. Trump is not a smart man, but he is charismatic, manipulative, driven and shameless. These qualities, among others, make him dangerous regardless of how smart you think he is or isn't.

"Hitler was widely thought to be a buffoon—both by German conservatives and by foreigners," Anne Applebaum, a writer at The Atlantic, professor and historian, tells me. "What that meant, in practice, was that he wasn't taken seriously until it was too late. His buffoonery disguised the danger that he posed to Germany."

Applebaum says Hugo Chavez, the former president and autocratic leader of Venezuela, was thought to be "a buffoon and a fool," but he managed to do a massive amount of damage to that country.

When it comes to Trump, Applebaum says his "instincts, prejudices, whims and impulses" are what guide his actions, and those are important to understand. His motives and tendencies reveal a lot about him and what he might do in the future as president.

“It does seem to me that Trump isn’t a very intelligent person," Peter Gordon, a professor of history at Harvard University, tells me. Gordon says he sees Trump as someone who "possesses weak skills at processing complex information, accepting contradiction and is resistant to criticism or revision in his own opinions.” 

However, his appearance as an unintelligent person might actually benefit him in some ways. Gordon says he might appeal to some voters because he doesn't come off as some egghead who's trying to tell you what's right and what's wrong.

"Intellect for some Americans is associated with inauthenticity, with elitism, with dissociation from the values of the heartland," Gordon says. “I suspect that for some voters his appearance as an unpolished, even brash and rude individual makes him even more appealing.”

We've heard this kind of thing before. Trump voters will say they like him because he's an "outsider," because he doesn't censor himself and he seems genuine in some way. On the other hand, Democrats are often seen as poll-tested, elitist and out of touch. They're seen as the intellectuals who have lost sight of what "real" Americans care about. For the record, all Americans are real Americans.

“I think Trump is only as dangerous as he retains his popular appeal," Gordon says. "So if his appearance as unintelligent enhances his appeal among a major share of the American electorate, then of course he’s... dangerous.”

It's been argued that Trump isn't even the person we should be focusing on here but rather the people he's surrounded himself with. Characters like Stephen Miller, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and others have often been cited as the masterminds behind his authoritarian actions.

"The people around him enable him, and that's what matters," Applebaum says. "Instead of constraining his actions, they help carry them out, even when, like Trump's completely random and illogical tariff policy, they are clearly unbalanced."

Gordon says that it is "definitely true" that some of the more powerful members of Trump's cabinet are "more consistent and ideologically single-minded than Trump himself," which means they are a threat that must be acknowledged.

"When Trump permits himself to be guided by individuals like these, people who are animated by strong ideological convictions and not just a narcissistic thirst for approval, then I think the Trump administration is far more effective in its policies, and therefore far more dangerous," Gordon says.

Whether a particular threat is coming at us because of something that's deeply embedded in Trump's brain or the brain of someone he's elevated, it's coming at us, so it might not matter that much in the end.

Trump may never deliver a profound speech or impress us with his understanding of a complex issue, but he nonetheless represents a great threat to the future of American democracy. The people around him, perhaps, help increase the threat he represents. He may be stupid, but he's taking us in a fascist direction pretty effectively.

"The most prominent ideologues of fascism were second-rate intellectuals, philosophers of history with half-baked theories of racism," Gordon says. "Needless to say, the ideologues of fascism were highly effective, dangerous, lethal. But it didn’t require intelligence for them to be dangerous.”

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