Post headline asks: ‘How fascist is Donald Trump?’

A headline in The Washington Post’s Outlook section on Sunday asks “How fascist is Donald Trump?” before outlining a formula in presenting its conclusion. 

The piece appears in the Post’s weekend opinion section and was posted online Friday on the “PostEverything” page that is used for outside contributors to the news organization. It was written by John McNeill, a history professor at Georgetown University. 

{mosads}The piece’s photo shows Adolf Hitler shaking hands with Benito Mussolini, the leader of Italy responsible for creating that country’s Fascist Party.

The story applies a version of the Washington Post fact-checking methodology of “Pinocchios,” with “Benitos” used to judge attributes of fascism in Trump.

McNeill grades the Republican nominee on “the 11 attributes of fascism,” including “glorification of violence and readiness to use it in politics” and “fetishization of masculinity.”

Trump gets four Benitos for the latter category, but zero for fetishization of youth. 

McNeill concludes that “in the fascist derby, Trump is a loser.” He amasses a total of “26 out of a possible 44 Benitos.”

Trump has complained repeatedly about media bias and collusion on the campaign trail.

“The most powerful weapon deployed by the Clintons is the corporate media, the press,” Trump said earlier this month at a Florida rally.

“Let’s be clear on one thing: The corporate media in our country is no longer involved in journalism. They are political special interest no different than any lobbyist or other financial entity with a total political agenda — and the agenda is not for you, it’s for themselves.”