I wrote about this in a small and fictional comparison last Friday in my post: “The Face of Authoritarianism is Everywhere.”
However, I want to expand upon this a little more based on a previous encounter I had on Facebook where a conversation I started with a post led to two other individuals going back and forth and on eventually calling the other “a Nazi.”
Now, I did not think nor do I normally like the idea of jumping to calling someone else “a Nazi” unless they really are trying to telegraph that themselves.
But why do tense conversations devolve to this kind of ad hominem attack?
So, how did we get here?
That is what I wanted to try and formulate an analysis/examination. Let’s start with Godwin’s Law.
Godwin’s Law
If you are unfamiliar, Godwin’s Law stands for Godwin’s Rule of Nazi Analogies.
“Godwin's Law is an Internet maxim formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990, which posits that as online debates progress, the likelihood of participants comparing others to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis increases. …He argued that such references often signify a breakdown in logical discourse, indicating that the arguers could no longer support their positions constructively. Godwin expressed concern that trivializing these comparisons undermined the historical significance of the Holocaust and the severity of the Nazis' actions.”
Now, this is a good starting point.
I don’t agree that in our current environment that this is exactly how the devolution into calling people online Nazis. What I think has changed though is that the world around us has changed.
We are living in a world now where more “nazi-like” figures and movements are emerging in the real world all around us.
So, how is it difference.
Authoritarianism
The problem with calling people a Nazi today is as Godwin feared, it has become so common place as to lose its potency as an accurate reflection of one’s interlocutor.
Nazism is itself a version of Fascism. Fascism is itself a unique version of Authoritarianism.
So, when people call someone today a Nazi, in many ways is a shorthand, one that ultimately undermines the argument of the person calling the other a Nazi, for referring to someone as an authoritarian.
Granted, it does sound cooler and easier to say Nazi.
Perhaps one explanation is the fact that using Nazi as a slur has become a commonplace to undermine its own power but also a shorthand for calling someone an authoritarian.
Why is that?
It is Recency Bias?
Recency Bias
Now, this is only a theory I am working on here, but this is one of the other reasons, I believe at least, that people aim to use it in arguments.
“Recency bias is a cognitive bias that causes a person to remember the most recent events, activities or people, among others, more clearly than the preceding ones. This bias can influence judgement and decision-making, because we overemphasize the importance of recent experiences or information.”
Because calling people a Nazi and because the events of Nazism and WWII have a deep cultural impact on America today (it’s been less that a century and represented America’s great leap onto the world stage) is why I think it has formed a kind of recency bias in minds of people today has elevated Godwin’s Law further.
While I see this as a part of the project Donald Trump and those around him are pursuing in America now, there is an even older form of authoritarian government that used to be the standard around the world before the American and French Revolutions.
Donald Trump is not really what we think of today as modern authoritarian either. What he aspires to is older and it is called patrimonialism.
Patrimonialism
I first really started contemplating this term after hearing about an article by Jonathan Rauch in The Atlantic magazine and then reading it for myself. Rauch writes that:
“Today, it is clear that what has happened since January 20 is not just a change of administration but a change of regime—a change, that is, in our system of government. But a change to what? There is an answer, and it is not classic authoritarianism—nor is it autocracy, oligarchy, or monarchy. Trump is installing what scholars call patrimonialism.”
Patrimonialism is one of two modes of legitimate government derived by Max Weber, a German sociologist in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Weber focused on the two modes for leaders to obtain political legitimacy. The first is one that boils down to a rational legal bureaucracy (also known as bureaucratic proceduralism) where leadership is established through institutions and rule of law.
That was America from its Constitution until January 20, 2025.
The second form is what we crossed over into with the beginning of Trump’s second term.
This second form is on that:
“…is more ancient, more common, and more intuitive—'the default form of rule in the premodern world,’ Hanson and Kopstein write. ‘The state was little more than the extended ‘household’ of the ruler; it did not exist as a separate entity.’ Weber called this system ‘patrimonialism’ because rulers claimed to be the symbolic father of the people—the state’s personification and protector. Exactly that idea was implied in Trump’s own chilling declaration: ‘He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.’”
To “rule” as Trump seeks now is antithesis to what America is, in fact, it is what we fought a revolution to escape.
Rauch writes, interestingly, that:
“Patrimonialism is less a form of government than a style of governing. It is not defined by institutions or rules; rather, it can infect all forms of government by replacing impersonal, formal lines of authority with personalized, informal ones. Based on individual loyalty and connections, and on rewarding friends and punishing enemies (real or perceived), it can be found not just in states but also among tribes, street gangs, and criminal organizations.”
Donald Trump’s aim is to Make America A Patriarchy Again. He wants to transform our government into his personal property or a family business.
Look at the way Trump talks about America. He talks like it belongs to him, that is him.
He told the Atlantic Magazine itself that “I run the country and the world.”
There are many examples and simply looking more closely at his psychology it’s pretty plain how vain and narcissistic this man is.
He might as well call himself Trump the 1st.
He and his style of “government” is one bent on undoing what our Founding Father’s fought to get away from.
Incompetence and corruption are at Trump’s core. They need to be the things that allow us to see the man hiding behind the curtain, trying to play Oz.
Now, there are ways to bring down patrimonialism. Rauch writes about this, and I encourage everyone to read his article, saying there are “two inherent and in many cases fatal shortcomings.”
Incompetence
Corruption
The incompetence is very present even now in Trump 2.0.
Rauch, writing and quoting from Hanson and Kopstein writes:
“‘The arbitrary whims of the ruler and his personal coterie continually interfere with the regular functioning of state agencies,’ write Hanson and Kopstein. Patrimonial regimes are ‘simply awful at managing any complex problem of modern governance,’ they write. ‘At best they supply poorly functioning institutions, and at worst they actively prey on the economy.’ Already, the administration seems bent on debilitating as much of the government as it can. Some examples of incompetence, such as the reported firing of staffers who safeguard nuclear weapons and prevent bird flu, would be laughable if they were not so alarming.”
So, when shit hits the fan…this will bear out and we are going to be the ones who pay. Sadly. If we still vote and how up, this will be of aid to gathering the majority to oppose this nonsense and 86 it (get rid of it).
Then there is the corruption. As Rauch writes:
“Patrimonialism is corrupt by definition, because its reason for being is to exploit the state for gain—political, personal, and financial. At every turn, it is at war with the rules and institutions that impede rigging, robbing, and gutting the state.”
Bitcoin dinners, personal deals, a new private plane…corruption is going stronger than ever and we are still in year one of the new administration.
What is important to note though is that:
“Corruption is patrimonialism’s Achilles’ heel because the public understands it and doesn’t like it. It is not an abstraction like ‘democracy’ or ‘Constitution’ or ‘rule of law.’ It conveys that the government is being run for them, not for you.”
That is the heart of Trump and his Make America Great Again and his America First. The reality is that Trump is always looking out for him. Make Trump Great Again and Trump First is the reality.
Incompetence and corruption are at Trump’s core. They need to be the things that allow us to see the man hiding behind the curtain, trying to play Oz.
Letting him show it off and all of us pointing it out needs to push through. We need to communicate what it is and call it out: ALL OF IT.
That is how we win back our country.