Mar 5, 2016 3 min read

It is common for presidential primaries to be about change. Time and money are often spent in support of marginal primary candidates who support fringe views. While such candidates usually don’t win a party’s nomination, the views of these candidates are often represented in party platforms and help shape the direction of the parties.

What is different about the 2016 Republican presidential contest is that personality has “trumped” conservative ideology. Instead of advocating change within a party framework, legions of supporters have abandoned and ridiculed the GOP establishment in favor of Donald Trump. There is an intuitive feeling among Trump backers that what traditional political leaders with strong views could not accomplish, a strong leader who appears to think and talk like they feel will accomplish. Better to move forward with a powerful leader than to get nothing done with a weak, right-thinking ideologue.

The Trump philosophy was summed up nicely when he retweeted the quote, “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” This statement is attributed to Benito Mussolini, the fascist dictator who got the trains to run on time in Italy by crushing all political opposition. Like Trump, Mussolini’s political slogan was “Make us great again,” with an eye toward returning Italy to the glory of the Roman Empire. Perhaps like Trump, Mussolini saw no need for coalition building after the electorate gave him an open mandate to create order from perceived chaos.

If Trump sees himself as a lion, the rest of us must ask who he sees as sheep.

Getting things done through a blitz of bullying and bravado at the expense of democracy is not an original political doctrine. It is a path to power most of us thought was buried at the end of World War II. Another fascist leader famously said, “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” Adolf Hitler captured the imagination of the German electorate as a straight-talking bully with the big lie he could “make Germany great again,” and went on to reduce large parts of Europe to rubble and kill millions. Hitler unified disgruntled Germans by attacking Jews and weak-kneed politicians. Trump is unifying disgruntled Americas by attacking immigrants, Muslims and weak-kneed politicians.

Those who are supporting Donald Trump in the hope of returning America to the promised land had better careful what they wish for. Their candidate may soon be trashing our constitutional republic as he seeks to have his yet-to-be-articulated vision for America trump all others.

Gary Stout is a Washington attorney.