Charles Petzold

It might seem silly for a retired technical writer and obscure blogger to endorse a Presidential candidate. I am not vain enough to believe that my prestige (such as it is) has the power to influence people’s electoral choices. But I believe this election to be too important for anyone to remain silent. Silence is not an option. Silence equals complicity.

My personal politics — which is to say, my political moral values — derive from a strong belief in human rights. I believe that we are all created equal, and that everyone has the innate right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (to quote our country’s founding document). I believe that government is instituted to secure those rights for everyone, and to promote our safety and happiness.

The best government is not that which governs least. Minimal government is only the best for plutocrats. Instead, the best government secures our rights and freedoms, which to me implies that government has a strong role to play in universal healthcare, education, preserving the environment, protecting us from poverty and hunger, and providing an infrastructure for us to live, work, and travel. A great government allows every individual to discover their own nature and path in life. This emphasis on human rights also implies that we should all participate in tailoring this government to ensure these rights and our needs. This process is known as democracy.

It is often observed that democracy contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction because democracy gives people the power to elect someone who does not respect human rights or democracy, and who works to tear down core institutions that are essential in preserving these traditions. If this election goes the wrong way, we are on the verge of witnessing this happen.

Donald Trump — to quote retired General Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — is “fascist to the core.” This is not name-calling. The ideology of fascism is a collection of abhorrent ideas that Trump has espoused and which much of the Republican Party has failed to denounce.

Fascism is opposed to democracy. After losing the 2020 election, Trump claimed that he had actually won, and if the numbers showed differently, that was because of widespread election fraud, or voting by illegal immigrants, or rigged electronic voting machines. None of this is true, and yet Trump has managed to sow enough doubt that many Trump voters now believe that he was the legitimate winner in 2020. This lie has critically damaged the fabric of American democracy. Any Republican politician who wants to stay in Trump’s good graces (including Trump’s own Vice-Presidential candidate) must concur with this Big Lie despite knowing the truth of Trump’s defeat. Under the guise of “voting integrity,” some states and local election boards are attempting to purge the voting rolls of legitimate voters, partially with the intent of sowing confusion on election day. Many Republicans now believe that democratic elections no longer work; this type of cynical nihilism is a prerequisite to eliminating elections altogether.

Fascism advocates nationalism and racial purity. Donald Trump has consistently promoted America First policies that are historically associated with nativist political movements. He has a long history of racism and xenophobia beginning when he and his father discriminated against Black families in his real estate business. His rise in politics was based on a false claim that President Obama was born in Africa. Against immigrants, Trump has used terms that echo European fascists of the 1930s, including the claim that people striving to come to America to seek a better life are “vermin” and are “poisoning the blood” of America. He allows his followers to become giddy about the prospect of mass deportation. His reckless and dangerous slander against Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, was yet another instance of Trump’s racism and his use of racist dog whistles.

Fascism is authoritarian and uses the power of government against its own people. Trump has often termed the press the “enemy of the people” and has recently begun referring to Democratic politicians as the “enemy from within.” He has expressed his affinity with tyrants such as Vladimir Putin and Victor Orban. Trump has made no secret of his desire to use the federal government to prosecute Democratic politicians and to revoke the licenses of television broadcasters whose coverage he dislikes. The Republican Party once purported to believe in small government, but apparently this applies only to business regulation and not to an imperial Presidency.

Fascism is opposed to human rights. In the history of the United States over the past century we have witnessed a continuing expanding sphere of human rights, with the women’s suffrage movement, the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, gay rights, marriage equality, and (more recently) transgender rights. Many of these rights are now on the chopping block. Already we’ve seen how a Trump-stacked Supreme Court reversed a longstanding decision on reproductive freedom, and it’s been suggested that birth control and marriage equality could be next. In this reversal of human rights, Republicans are using transgender rights as a wedge issue. When Trump claims that schools are performing gender-affirming surgeries, he’s not only lying but fostering hate.

Fascism advocates violence to achieve political ends. Trump’s political rhetoric has always been violent, but on January 6, 2021, he took joy in inciting a mob to storm the United States Capitol, search the halls looking for politicians they disliked, and chant about hanging the Vice President because he was doing his job. Since then, Trump has not rolled back the rhetoric. He has referred to convicted January 6 rioters as “hostages” and has vowed to pardon them on his reelection.

Historically, the Republican Party has been wrong about many issues. They’ve been wrong about climate change, wrong about healthcare, wrong about trickle-down tax cuts, wrong about college loan relief, wrong about immigration, wrong about deregulation, wrong about Iraq, wrong about abortion, wrong about unions, wrong about gay marriage, wrong about education, wrong about COVID, wrong about guns, wrong about race, wrong about gender.

But Donald Trump represents a whole new level of wrong. When a politician opposes democracy, promotes racial purity, and advocates violence to achieve political ends, we should recognize an ideology that shouldn’t come anywhere near American politics.

Trump’s fascism would be bad enough, but Donald Trump has repeatedly revealed an ignorance about history and core American principles, and his moral character is also abysmal. Many women have credibly accused him of sexual assault, and a court has found him guilty of defamation in denying his rape of E. Jean Carroll. Trump has been found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal payments to Stormy Daniels in violation of campaign finance laws. Two other major cases are pending against Trump, and anyone who thinks of themselves as an informed voter must read the indictments.

Republicans once prided themselves as valuing strong moral character, but they are now running perhaps the most immoral Presidential candidate in our history. Even more frightening are the signs of serious cognitive decline. Trump is sounding more and more like a babbling idiot. If the Republican Party had any integrity, they would never have allowed this demented and depraved man to represent the party of Lincoln.

We must force the Republican Party to take stock and reform itself. That can only happen if we vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, and to decisively vote Democratic down the line to give President Kamala Harris the Congressional and local support she needs.