This past week, I watched the American Gaslighting Festival, known as the Republican National Convention. It was a despicable, yet perhaps successful effort to transform Donald Trump, a physical and moral coward, an anti-intellectual incompetent who spoke favorably of injecting bleach to cure COVID, a misogynist, and virulent racist into a Greek god-like mythical figure.

In 2015, at the time Trump announced his presidential candidacy, I began to author columns about his shameless and unabashed fascism and the threat to democracy he poses.  My first such column compared him with former Governor of Alabama George C. Wallace, whose unabashed racism, a central characteristic of fascism was virtually identical to that of Trump.

At the time I wrote that column up until the present, I often thought about the uncanny resemblance of Wallace campaign events with Trump rallies.  They both had the characteristic of generating unbridled passion, both from supporters and protesting adversaries.  And both Wallace and Trump campaign events were showcases of racism, including Trump incitement of white MAGA types to rough up Black protestors.

What frightened me since Trump’s entry onto the national stage was the possibility of a Trump assassination, similar to the Wallace assassination attempt.  There were two reasons for my fear.

First was my abhorrence of violence, particularly the use of violence to resolve political conflicts in a democracy.

Second was the likelihood that in the wake of a Trump assassination attempt, he would become a martyr.  As a fascist, racist, misogynist criminal, an opponent of the rule of law, and a mortal threat to democracy, Trump does not deserve the distinction of martyrdom.  Had he been murdered in the assassination attempt last Saturday, Trump would have entered history as the American Engelbert Dollfuss, the non- Nazi fascist former Chancellor of Austria who was murdered by Nazi assassins in 1934.

Yet I wondered what I could do to prevent the assassinations of leading political figures, even those whom I despise.  Inspired by the legacy of my late and treasured friend, Jim Florio, my focus was on the elimination of semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15, the weapon of choice of political assassins and mass shooters. Efforts to eliminate the uncontrolled purchase and use of the AR-15, however were thwarted by the National Rifle Association (NRA), an organization which in this era is controlled by gun manufacturers.

My worst fears were realized at the time of the Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13.  The assassin’s weapon indeed was indeed an AR-15.   And as I had feared, in the wake of the assassination attempt, Trump was venerated by Republicans throughout the nation at all levels.

As for me personally, I was affected in a different way.  Since the assassination attempt, efforts have been made by members of the MAGA thugocracy to intimidate me, claiming that because of my emphatic criticism of Trump over the past decade, I have “blood on my hands.”

These claims are vile, contemptible, and above all, blatantly false.  Yes, I am indeed proudly anti-Trump.  People are free to agree or disagree with my opinions.  Yet throughout my career, my character for integrity, factual accuracy, and ethics has been unimpeachable and above reproach.  I will not surrender this reputation to the intimidation efforts of MAGA authoritarian thugs.

Moreover, the assassination attempt against Trump had absolutely nothing to do with the intense political polarization in America. There is no evidence whatsoever of any political motive on the part of the would-be assassin.   He was a delusional individual with no fixed political ideology—more John Hinckley than John Wilkes Booth.

The MAGA racist thugs objected most vehemently to my assertions that Donald Trump is a fascist. These assertions are totally grounded in fact.  As a result of Trump actions during this campaign, his fascism is more evident than ever.

There are numerous characteristics and functional aspects of fascism.  In the case of Donald Trump, there are two characteristics and five functional aspects that indelibly and irrefutably establish his brand of fascism.

The characteristics of Trump fascism include 1) his virulent racism, both in his private and political life; and 2) his misogyny.

Trump has a lifetime record of blatant bigotry against African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. Examples abound: His leadership in the “birther” movement, including claims that Kamala Harris was ineligible to run for president or vice-president because her parents were immigrants, his campaign for the death penalty against the Central Park Five even after their innocence was proven, his discrimination against African-Americans in the rental of his housing units in Brooklyn in the 1970s, and  his attempts to bar a distinguished American jurist, Gonzalo Curiel from presiding over the Trump University fraud case on the basis of his Mexican ancestry.

As for his misogyny, the judicial determination that he raped E. Jean Carroll is the ultimate conclusive proof.

The functional aspects of Trump fascism are his 1) continuous attempts to rig and subvert elections, including his failed challenges to the 2020 election results and utilization of fake electors: 2) disregard for the rule of law, as confirmed by his recent conviction of 34 felony charges in New York State; 3). insurrectionary activity, most notably his fomenting of the violence of January 6, 2021 that endangered the life of his own Vice President Mike Pence, who courageously refused  to honor Trump’s unlawful request to overturn Joe Biden’s election as president;  4) his attempts as president to weaponize the Justice Department, including the facts contained in the House January 6 committee chaired by former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, and 5) Illegal retribution against political and journalistic adversaries.

It is the certainty of massive illegal Trump retribution that is the most terrifying and ominous aspect of the Trump fascism to come.

During Campaign 2020, Trump openly called on his Attorney General, Bill Barr to swiftly arrest Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton.  He gave special recognition to his Democratic presidential opponent, Joe Biden, saying he had committed “the greatest political crime in the history of our country.”

Yet to paraphrase Al Jolson, when it comes to the retribution aspect of Trump fascism, you ain’t seen nothing yet!

The conclusive irrefutable proof of the coming of Trump fascism can be found in the statement of Trump’s leading confidant Kash Patel, as follows:

” We’re going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections.  We’re going to come after you, whether it’s criminally or civilly. We’ll figure that out. But yeah, we’re putting you all on notice.”

Well, I am on notice.

Given my anti-Trump reputation which I proudly wear as a badge of honor, I find the Patel statement most chilling.  I will be 75 years old in November, and I doubt that I would survive more than a year in a Trumpian prison.

I am accused by the MAGA thugocracy of exaggerating the threat of Trump fascism.  To those individuals, I respond by giving you Trump’s statement accusing Liz Cheney of treason and calling for her to be tried in front of a televised military tribunal.  This is reminiscent of the 1944 Nazi show trials resulting in the execution of the German generals who failed in their plot to assassinate Hitler.  Any further questions?

So yes, I will continue to call Donald Trump a fascist threat to democracy.  Because he is.

Alan J. Steinberg of Highland Park served as regional administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush and as executive director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. He graduated from Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin Law School.