The Guardian

When Trump defends armed rightwing gangs, his rhetoric has echoes of fascism | David Renton

Signalling to his base, as he did referring to the Proud Boys on Tuesday, the president is following a playbook from 1930s Germany
A protester and a Proud Boy face to face at a rally in Portland, Oregon, on 26 September. Photograph: RMV/Rex/Shutterstock

You can imagine the men as they prepared for the showdown. For days, the papers had been predicting a “great sensation”. Press photographers besieged the entrance. No one could enter the building where the debate was due to take place without a special permit. In his dark blue suit, one question above all troubled the party leader, and with the help of his advisers, he puzzled how best to answer it. What if he was accused of links to fascist street gangs?

This wasn’t the United States in September 2020.

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