As Donald Trump becomes more unhinged and mentally unstable as time goes on, so does his fanbase. His supporters are just like their president — hungry for violence and chaos, racist as hell, and willing to hurt others in order to get what they want.
Trump has refused to acknowledge that he is basically leading a cult of neo-Nazis, but an extremism expert has pointed out that there are serious parallels we as a country should be paying attention to. In an interview with SiriusXMProgress host Dean Obeidallah, extremism expert J.M. Berger stated that he felt Trump absolutely had the ability to get his supporters so riled up that violence would ensue.
Obeidallah began by expressing concerns over the influence Trump has on his senseless supporters. He said:
If he [Trump] called for violence, there would be violence. I think that is a pretty easy call. Where that puts him on the spectrum in between extremism and authoritarianism is a little more complicated.”
Obeidallah then brought up Adolf Hitler, an authoritarian figure that Trump has often been compared to.
I will not make the direct comparison, but if you looking at somebody like Hitler, he had a very well developed extremist ideology he was advancing. It was very specific … we don’t have that with Trump.”
Ultimately, Obeidallah stated that time will tell when it comes to Trump and how history recalls his presidency:
I think history will probably end up looking at him as an authoritarian who attempted to use extremism to his advantage. But there is still a lot that could happen.”
This interview is important because Trump constantly downplays the power of his words, even when he is actively encouraging violence. His supporters have proven to be just as unhinged as he is, and America needs to listen. Trump and his base are dangerous, and if an extremism expert confirms this, we need to listen. You can listen to the interview below:
Featured image via screen capture
