Recommended: Donald Trump is not a fascist

The Telegraph (London, England) has a perceptive piece this morning that puts some perspective on the Trump phobia that is beginning to emerge: Donald Trump is not a fascist, and violence is nothing new in American politics.

As the author points out, most of the things people are afraid Trump would do as president have already been done by "establishment" Republicans and Democrats - get us into and keep us in endless Middle Eastern Wars (Bush and Obama), deport masses of illegal aliens (Obama), torture people (Bush), force us to buy stuff we don't want (Obama), kill innocent people with drones without a declaration of war (Bush and Obama), etc, etc.  The elites on the right don't like him because he isn't committed to pushing their religious and social views on everyone else.  The elites on the left don't like him because he isn't "politically correct" and doesn't subscriber to their "victim-centered" view of the world. (Looked at that way, he doesn't seem so bad).

Not mentioned in the article, but often mentioned in attacks on him is the claim that he is not very knowledgeable about foreign affairs. He admits it, and says he will hire smart people to tell him what he needs to know.  In fact, no recent president has been very knowledgeable about foreign affairs - they all rely on experts.  The only difference is that he admits it freely, while the rest try to cram briefing books before debates so they will look like they know more than they really know. Neither Bush nor Obama (nor Bill Clinton, for that matter) can point to outstanding results in their foreign affairs endeavors (Bush and the Middle East Wars, Obama and the "Russian reset" with the Crimea takeover, Bill Clinton ignoring Al-Qaeda's rise).

Anyway, it's a good, thoughtful article.