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In this context , recent news of Trump ’ s past attempts to use the Justice Department to steal the election adds one new layer to the ongoing story of a defeated leader who would do anything to stay in power . Totalitarian lies , coups and full disregard for the constitution are part of the history of fascism but also of recent histories of authoritarianism . In terms of subverting the legal system Trumpism and its allies in the GOP reengaged with this politics of the fascist past .
To be sure , abusing the law is not exclusive of fascist regimes . Indeed , norms and politics do not always go hand in hand . But every time the law is absolutely subjected to the discretion of political leaders , democracy suffers or is destroyed .
This distortion of legality for the sake of the legitimacy of politics is not a new phenomenon .
For example , the first coup in the history of modern Argentina shows how easy it was to justify the most absolute illegality in legal terms . When General José Félix Uriburu made his fascist inspired coup on September 6 , 1930 , he only had to resort to his de facto power to varnish his dictatorship with a legal framework .
Can we think this would have been the most recent case in the United States with the Trumpian self-coup attempt on January 6 of
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Observing Memories Issue 5