Donald Trump and America's immoderate moment

The 2016 race may turn on whether the country really believes that the GOP's immoderate, breathtakingly dire assessment of the present moment is correct

Donald Trump is taking advantage of the fears of the American people.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Scott Morgan)

Donald Trump's insurgent campaign for president has so scrambled our assumptions that we can't even decide how to describe it ideologically.

Is Trump an unalloyed extremist? Perhaps even a fascist? Or merely a proto-fascist? Or more Berlusconi than Mussolini? Or Adolf Hitler reincarnated? Or is he instead the heir to segregationist George Wallace? Or actually a would-be reformer in the mold of Ross Perot? Or a kamikaze attack on the Republican Party launched by the Hillary Clinton campaign to assure her victory next November?

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.