In the United States, the Republican Party of 2024 is a place where we admire tough guys, thugs, gangsters… and their methods.
A party where the cult of the strong man, the distrust – as a whole – towards democratic institutions and the separation of powers, or even the threat of recourse to violence, are explicit and repetitive. From top to bottom, capo to supporters and grassroots activists.
Just like a century earlier in the Fascist Party of Benito Mussolini.
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Recently, on more than one occasion, Donald Trump has compared himself to Al Capone, a famous American bandit of Italian origin, a regular resident of the city of Miami like him.
“He was a tough guy, wasn’t he?” » he said to one of these crowds who drink in his words. “Anyone who looked at him with an evil eye, he would shoot them in the head!” » Applause. But I am superior to Capone, Trump insisted: “Capone was only indicted once. Me… four times! » Laughter, applause.
By the way, Capone, mafia boss and mastermind of serial assassinations, ended up in prison for the relatively minor crime of tax evasion: that’s how they caught him.
Trump was found guilty in a (small) case of falsification of papers… while he is indicted for other, more important crimes, for which he may never be tried: the events of January 6, 2021 which he directly provoked (5 deaths), an attempted electoral fraud (in Georgia), the alleged theft of documents (state secrets).
That’s how life goes: it never comes out the way we thought it would… and “immanent justice” can take unexpected paths (Stormy Daniels).
Trump is also the one who said, already in 2016: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone, and I wouldn’t lose a single voter. »
At the time, people said: it’s a joke, a provocation. Today, the register has changed. Trump’s tirades, despite their disjointed nature — without syntax or grammar, betraying mental degradation — have obsessive recurrences that say precisely what Trump is, what he wants, what he is going to do.
And then there’s Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota. To please the MAGA crowd, apparently in the hope of being chosen as Trump’s vice-president, she recounts in a book how she without qualms executed her dog, a 14-month-old pointer who had attacked the neighbor’s chickens.
Calm cruelty of this woman who kills her dog… but also: perversity of such a story, in a book which is intended to be a “promotional” self-portrait. MAGA: fascination and praise of violence.
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And at the base? Here are some messages collected this weekend by the Reuters agency on social networks close to Trump: Truth Social, Patriots Win And Gateway Punditin the wake of Trump’s conviction in New York:
“This is not a situation that can be resolved by voting; we must kill the liberals. »
“We need a million armed men to march into Washington and hang anyone they meet: that’s the only solution. »
“The United States has been destroyed by the Democrats: load your guns. »
“Trump, our army is ready; we are just waiting for your orders. »
With a few transpositions, for example by putting “socialists” in place of “liberals”, this is language that we could also hear in Rome or Milan in 1924.
Ultraviolent language, in a country where, today, a large number of politicians are under constant protection. Due to regular death threats, which sometimes also target spouses and children.
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A century ago, Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party came to power in Rome. One of the founding acts of this regime, and its transition to dictatorship, was the assassination – exactly one hundred years ago, on June 10, 1924 – of an eminent socialist opposition deputy, Giacomo Matteotti.
Supporting evidence, Matteotti had accused the fascists of fraud, intimidation and violence in their accession to power. In particular, by having tried to modify electoral results which were not favorable enough for them.
The Matteotti affair has echoes even in today’s politics in Italy… and beyond Italy.
The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has long and stubbornly refused to pronounce the words “fascist” and “antifascist”, under the repeated pretext that they would be outdated, would have no current relevance and that their totally anachronistic use would only serve a little “anti-fascist theater” of junk, for the benefit of the left. But last week, Thursday May 30, she took the plunge.
The one who has been variously described as a populist, a post-fascist (admirer of Mussolini at 18) or a right-wing extremist – which she is undoubtedly less than others – ended up giving in to pressure.
She paid tribute to Matteotti: “He was a free man killed by fascist squads – fascist squadristi – for his ideas. » Recognizing that it is not only a symbol for the left, but also for the Republic, for democracy. And that this commemoration of an affair from 1924… can still have meaning in 2024.
Except that in 2024, the main danger is not in Italy, nor even in Europe… but on the other side of the Atlantic.
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