Trump using violence for political ends: Activist

Press TV has interviewed Eric Draitser, founder of stopimperialism.com in New York, about US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump threatening to set his supporters on Bernie Sander’s campaign, accusing the Democratic hopeful of disrupting his rallies.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: I am not going to get into describing Trump because I would like you to and also tell us, if you can tell us, what you think about what Sanders just said … if you heard it?

Draitser: Well yes indeed. What Bernie Sanders is referring to of course is absolutely accurate and while Bernie Sanders was particularly hitting on key groups I think the general concept here is that what Trump’s candidacy and what Trump’s campaign really is tapping into is a virulent hatred within the white middle class of the United States which feels because of the economic conditions, because of the eight years of the first black president, because of what they consider to be the so-called political correctness of the United States, that they feel that they are an oppressed group particularly white Americans. Of course this is seized upon by a demagogue like Trump who capitalizes on that and manipulates it quite cynically for his own ends.

But we have to keep in mind also there is a historical precedent here. We have seen this play out many times before. This is in no uncertain terms, this is how fascism operates. Donald Trump is not necessarily like a Hitler or a Mussolini, he is not a tried and true ideologically committed fascist but many of his supporters - be they white supremacists like David Duke, be they of the pro-police anti-Black Lives Matter Movement or any other segment that is supporting Trump, they are the representatives of what should be understood as the uniquely American variant of fascism and that sort of tactic, what we have seen from fascists in Europe, what we see from the Zionists in Israel, what we see in apartheid South Africa, that is what Donald Trump is threatening to unleash here in the United States when he talks about sending his people to other political rallies. You have no illusions about what that means. That does not mean peaceful protest. That means using violence for political ends, one of the standard cornerstones of fascist policies.

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