People are wisely reluctant to throw words like “fascism” around loosely, but it is hard to find a better word for the relationship between Trump the leader and his devoted following. Fascism is the malady to which modern democracies are particularly susceptible, and in an age of mass politics—the age we have been living in for the better part of the last two centuries—various forms of fascism have been the likeliest alternative to democracy. Modern nations are not about to establish monarchies. To have any legitimacy beyond the exercise of brute force, modern leaders must at least appear to
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