title:  Watch Donald Trump Go Full Fascist With This Weird Pledge (VIDEO)
text: Donald Trump, the Republican presidential primary front-runner and likely nominee, is under fire for making his supporters raise their right hands and pledge to vote for him. The pageantry of the pledge has led people to draw comparisons between Trump and Hitler.The pledge became known to the larger public after a campaign rally in Orlando, Florida. The language that Trump used during the event is worthy of analysis. During the campaign event, Trump asks his supporters to raise their right hand. Trump then tells them to pledge to  vote for Donald J. Trump for president.  Trump concludes the pledge, saying: Don t forget you all raised your hand. You swore. Bad things happen if you don t live up to what you just did. You can watch video footage of the event below:"Raise your right hand " Donald Trump makes FL crowd swear they'll show up to vote for him pic.twitter.com/9M2QRzrbpW  Michael C. Bender (@MichaelCBender) March 5, 2016So once again, it appears that Trump is using intimidation tactics, to crystallize support among his followers. Trump has previously used similar vague threats while speaking of those who are working against his campaign.After finding out that Marlene Ricketts had donated money to a Super PAC that is working against his campaign, Trump went to Twitter where he called the out the Ricketts family (misspelling their name), where he said: They better be careful. They have a lot to hide. Former federal prosecutor Arthur Ferguson has some thoughts on the legality of the matter which you can read here.Trump s campaign has prompted many think pieces on the rise of authoritarianism in the United States. While Trump s campaign may be the one of the loudest examples of right-winger s recent zeal for authoritarian figures and policies, it is by no means the only or even best example.Let s look at what has been going on in Michigan under the administration of Rick Snyder. Snyder and Trump could not be farther apart in terms of how they present themselves to public. Though they are both extreme authoritarian figures. The heart of the Flint water crisis is Michigan s emergency financial manager law. The law allows for the Snyder administration to erode a local government s ability to do anything. Enough voters gleefully cast their ballot in Snyder s name believe in his cause elect him twice. The results of this erosion of democracy are now known internationally.Given the fact that Trump is polling very well in Michigan, Trump will likely win Michigan s primary in a landslide. That also means we can assume that Snyder and Trump have a substantial overlap in their fan base. So what we are seeing right now is the rise of a right-wing that is both willing to respond positively to a presidential candidate who is happy to make vague threats towards them at a campaign rally, while willing to suspend their voice in local political affairs.This should lend more credence to the idea that Trump s supporters are supporting a fascist candidate, more than any endorsement from a has been hate preacher should. There are many interpretations of what a fascist and fascism are.  I prefer the interpretation that a fascist society is one where the means of production have been seized and perverted into a means of destruction. Or in other words, it is when a society s economy commits suicide. In Flint, and elsewhere across the U.S. we have seen that the right-wing is willing to destroy entire populations in the name of trickle-down economics while handing over their political agency to an authoritarian figure.Featured image from video screen capture via Twitter 