LETTER in the Boston Globe
How fascist is it?
Updated September 24, 2020, 1 hour ago

The cult demands allegiance
“Is it fascism yet?” by Renée Graham (Opinion, Sept. 23) reinforced my fears about how dangerous Donald J. Trump is. The American carnage he vowed to remove from our country was actually his goal. The pandemic mismanagement confirms that chaos is his modus operandi. The cult of Trump enjoys the binary approach that Trump advocates. Threats, intimidation, and violence make them feel good. Trump struts on stage with the smug arrogance displayed by Benito Mussolini. The divisive rhetoric has echoes of Adolf Hitler. Trump may not be a dictator, but that is his goal. The walk across the street from the White House with a show of force to highlight the Charlton Heston moment with a Bible in hand sent an unmistakable message. The cult of Trump requires blind allegiance. Trump lies and people die, and the refusal to wear masks shows us how bald-faced the strategy is. It gives true meaning to “in your face.” I am reminded of the warning at the entrance to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum where an American liberator of a concentration camp says these things just don’t happen. Unfortunately, they did.

Steven A. Ludsin