Often the egg of the serpent was used as a metaphor to express the finding of an evil in the process of elaboration in incubation. In it, in the development of the serpent's egg, one can follow the slow and inexorable evolution of the monster that is being created. On the basis of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in the United States, it can be seen that the "egg of the serpent" or fascism is in formation in the United States. Donald Trump presented a campaign based on the defense of law and order in which they show their traits of authoritarian personality. Donald Trump showed his ultranationalist character defending a principle: "America, first". Noam Chomsky, a philosopher and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), warned that fascism could happen in the United States. Chomsky drew a parallel between the Weimar Republic in Germany and the present-day United States. The Weimar Republic was crushed by Nazism in 1933. The same will happen again with democracy in the United States?
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The egg of serpent in formation in the united states
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THE "EGG OF SERPENT" IN FORMATION IN THE UNITED STATES
Fernando Alcoforado *
Ingmar Bergman's film "Egg of the Serpent" (1977) is the best cinematic reproduction
of the emergence of Nazism in Germany with a very faithful portrayal of the first steps
of German society that, already divided, would come into the hands of Nazism from
1933. The struggle for survival and fear accompany the faltering actions of a
decomposing society. In the movie "The Egg of the Serpent" one could already see, ten
years before the rise of the Nazis to power, a ghost prowling Germany and assume that
amid the disorder, the economic crisis and the political vacuum, a seed of radicalism
and violence was about to emerge.
In "The Egg of the Serpent," Bergman undertakes a work endowed with a strong social-
critical sense and a memorable exhibition of history showing a society, the German,
which lived under fear and denounces the "reasons why" the dark future would arise.
Often the serpent egg was used as a metaphor to express the finding of an evil in the
process of elaboration, in incubation. In it, in the development of the serpent's egg, one
can follow the slow and inexorable evolution of the monster that is being created,
Nazism.
Robert Paxton, an American historian, states in his book The Anatomy of Fascism (New
York: Vintage Books, 2005) that fascism arises through five stages. In the first stage, a
movement emerges in search of some kind of nationalist renewal. This is the case of the
United States in the face of a difficult economic crisis, such as the current one, of the
commitment of the American way of life and the loss of its world hegemony to China.
Paxton argues that the success of fascism depends on the weakness of the liberal state
that condemns the nation to disorder, decline or humiliation, and lack of political
consensus. Paxton adds that the depth of the political and economic crisis induces the
elite to cooperate with the fascists. This situation happened in Fascist Italy and Nazi
Germany.
The third stage - the transition to an openly fascist government - begins. According to
Paxton, this moment of the alliance among elite and fascists of the third stage is
decisive when there is an escalation of protests that result in beatings, assassinations and
the application of labels in certain social groups for elimination, like the Jews and
Communists in Germany, all directed by people at the top of the power structure. What
is the danger line? Paxton states in the above-cited work that the fascists as Tea Party
are rooted in the Republican Party which represents large corporate interests with wide
influence on the political scene in the United States.
According to Paxton, History tells us that when the alliance among corporations and the
fascist shock troop is formed it can destroy the last vestiges of a democratic
government. In stage four, when the duet (corporations and shock troops) take complete
control of the country, political struggles will emerge between the fascists and the
institutions of the conservative elite - church, military, professionals, and entrepreneurs.
The character of the regime will be determined by whoever wins this dispute. Paxton
characterizes stage five as "radicalization or entropy". Radicalization occurs when the
new regime gains a major military victory that consolidates its power and sharpens the
appetite for expansion as it did in Nazi Germany.
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Noam Chomsky, a philosopher and professor at MIT (Massachusets Institute of
Technology), warned that fascism could happen in the United States (See article
Chomsky Warns of Risk of Fascism in America! available on website <http:
//socioecohistory.wordpress .com / 2010/04/16 / chomsky-warns-of-risk-of-fascism-in-
america). Chomsky drew a parallel between the Weimar Republic in Germany and the
present-day United States. The Weimar Republic was crushed by Nazism in 1933. The
same will happen again with democracy in the United States?
On the basis of Donald Trump's presidential campaign in the United States, it can be
seen that the "egg of the serpent" or fascism is in formation in the United States. Donald
Trump presented a campaign based on the defense of law and order in which they show
their traits of authoritarian personality. DonaldTrump said during his election campaign
that he was the voice "of those who work hard while nobody speaks for them" victims
of a "manipulated system" that benefits only the "elites". Trump introduced himself as
the "champion of the people", the only one capable of changing everything.
The Republican candidate sought to draw the most distressing image possible in the
United States, fueled by recalling past crimes related to illegal immigration, violence
against the police, and a disastrous economic situation as there are more than 45 million
unemployed in the country, between 12 and 15 million people homeless and without
resources to pay for food and health insurance and in certain regions of the United
States like Louisiania poverty is immense. Looking beyond the frontiers of the United
States, Trump highlighted "the death, destruction and weakness" of the United States as
a great power. However, Trump buried two conservative creeds: free trade and
interventionism in foreign policy.
Donald Trump showed his ultranationalist character defending a principle: "America,
first". Against all forecasts, Trump will be the 45th president of the United States.
Donald Trump, who insults foreigners, women and people with disabilities, who preach
hatred and snub the world's most important partners in the United States, will command
the most powerful country on Earth. Trump scored points with odious slogans against
the so-called political establishment and the media. It conquered a white middle class
that became impoverished and destabilized by globalization. "Only I can fix this", it was
Trump's campaign motto.
It is rumored that Donald Trump's entire political strategy was drawn up by Stephen
Bannon, head of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, who will be the chief strategist
of his future government. Prior to the election campaign, Bannon established through its
website the Breitbart News, a "platform for the alt-right" - the "alternative right,"
umbrella for neo-Nazis. In taking over Trump's campaign, Bannon moved away from
the site he headed since 2012 after the death of founder Andrew Breitbart. Bannon will
set the tone for the future Trump government that will certainly have fascist
connotations as evidenced during the election campaign. This is an immense political
catastrophe for American democracy.
The world and the United States are now threatened by a dangerous phase of instability.
Donald Trump will make a government in which the Paris Agreement on climate
change and the hard-negotiated nuclear pact with Iran and various trade agreements will
be abandoned. Trump will work to endow Saudi Arabia and Japan with nuclear
weapons, weaken the "obsolete" NATO by forcing European allies to pay for US
military protection, thereby creating the risk of a Russian incursion into the Baltic
states, begin trade war with China through protectionism, build a 3,200-mile-long wall
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along the Mexican border, bar Muslims in the country, renegotiate all major trade
agreements, and raise military expenditures a great deal. This will trigger significant
conflicts, incite new rivalries and motivate new crises.
Domestically, Donald Trump proposed a radical reduction of taxes on companies, in
addition to an extensive tax simplification, either increase infrastructure spending which
would imply increasing public deficits. This would result in even faster growth of
interest rates. Trump will pursue the hostile media, attack women who have accused
him of sexual harassment, reduce taxes, especially for the super-rich, abolish Obama's
health reform by leaving 24 million uninsured people, will seek to generate 20 million
jobs in ten years, will overturn environmental regulations, relaunch the coal industry,
deport illegal immigrants to the millions, and fill the Supreme Court with ideological
conservatives as vacancies arise. Trump is prepared to launch his attack on liberal
democracy. Is it possible to control Trump with a mostly Republican Congress? Of
course, there is still hope that the US political system will be strong enough to curb a
president with fascist tendencies. But there is no guarantee of anything.
* Fernando Alcoforado, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor of Territorial
Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, a university professor and
consultant in strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is
the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova
(Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado.
Universidade de Barcelona, http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e
Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX
e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of
the Economic and Social Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller
Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe
Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora, Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e
combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011),
Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012),
Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV,
Curitiba, 2015) and As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo
(Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016) .