Of what is "Trump" the name? Response to (former Secretary of State) Madeleine Allbright

Comment published in New York Times, April 6, 2018, in reply to Madeleine Allbright, “Is it too late to stop Trump?”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/06/opinion/sunday/trump-fascism-madeleine-albright.html?comments (2 recommendations):

French Philosopher Alain Badiou wrote a book about France's then-President Nicholas Sarkozy, "Of what is Sarkozy the name?" That is the question about Trump. That is a different question from "Who is Trump and what does he want?" We need to ask systemic questions.

Impossible to speak of fascism without speaking of capitalism. Let's start a conversation that goes somewhere. 

What Allbright says about Trump is obvious. That it has more to do with style than policy means that Trump is modeling and selling an idea of leadership that is authoritarian.

The elements of the fascism we see were all present already during the Obama administration (and before that) almost as much as they are now. Certainly the militarized police state. The difference is that Trump represents their blatant justification. 

Fascism is a violent and blatantly authoritarian government exercising repression in the interests of capital. So too our neoliberal police state in the context of de-democratization. 

What are the causes, and why is this happening around the world? Allbright does not say. Yes, one cause is the channeling of anger. Another is the relatively aleatory election of certain individuals and their corruption or tyranny. But in every form of fascism so far the capitalist class wound up siding with the fascists in order to defend their interests, largely in the face of mass social movements on the left.

Yet, they alone, and no politician, will save us.