Musk calls Wikipedia ‘broken’ after page describing Trump as ‘fascist’ resurfaces

The “Comparisons between Donald Trump and fascism” page featured mainly left-wing academics and included an entire section comparing the January 6 riot to Adolf Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch.

Rindsberg noted that the page was created on September 21, 2024, the same day as the UK-based newspaper The Guardian. Guard “Is Donald Trump a Fascist?” He published an article titled.

Pirate Wires The article also included the Wikipedia page called “Trumpism”, which is the ideology and movement associated with Trump and defined in hostile terms.

“Trumpism has been described as authoritarian and neo-fascist. Trumpist rhetoric includes anti-immigrant, xenophobic, nativist and racist attacks against minority groups. Aspects identified include conspiratorial, isolationist, Christian nationalist, Evangelical Christian, protectionist, anti-feminist, and anti-LGBT beliefs.

Rindsberg found that there are many sources that contradict what is written on the “Trumpism” page.

An article published in 2016 Scientific American The article stated that psychology professors Stephen Reicher and Alexander Haslam support the claim that Trumpism is a political movement; but the article itself was primarily critical of media commentators who portrayed Trump supporters as Nazis, racists, and fascists.

The talk page of the “Trumpism” article contained many complaints from fellow editors.

“All 5 of the sources supporting the use of the phrase ‘authoritarianism’ in the introduction are opinion pieces that fail to establish a clear relationship between Trump’s policies or supporters and authoritarianism,” one wrote. “I think the editors are playing a little fast and loose here. Do we really want to claim here on Wikipedia that the ideology of Donald Trump and his supporters is authoritarian? “This seems so far from reality that I wonder if we’re saying it here in bad faith.”

“This is incredibly misleading and not at all representative of what Trumpism is. For example, Trump supporters support LEGAL immigration. That doesn’t make them ‘anti-immigration,'” another editor wrote. No matter how (whatever form) it’s authoritarian? Another editor wrote that Trump supporters fully support the constitution, which is a total lie.

“This article is completely false. There’s no other way to put this. That’s not what Trump supporters believe. This is what the far left labels Trump supporters as. “Wow, I have never seen this much misinformation,” they continued.

Rindsberg found that one editor who accounted for more than half of the edits on the “Trumpism” page removed contributions from other editors who offered a more neutral perspective.

The contribution “Some historians have argued that (characterizing Trump as a fascist) is an incorrect use of the term and point out that although there are parallels, there are also important differences” was replaced with a sentence stating that many scholars reject the term “populist”. ” hashtag instead sees Trumpism “as a new form of fascism,” citing far-left academics such as Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky, and Cornel West.

While anyone with an account can edit Wikipedia, some articles of interest are locked to Wikipedia. to prevent “vandalism.”

Although commonly used interchangeably, Nazism and fascism were two different phenomena. (Fascists and Nazis went so far as to engage in a civil war in Austria in 1934.) Fascism, although notoriously difficult to define, is characterized primarily by a totalitarian government, military mobilization of the entire society, and the organization of the economy into a single state. state-run “corporations” and extreme nationalism. Although it is said to have largely begun under Benito Mussolini in Italy, fascist governments were also established in Slovakia, Hungary, Vichy France, Greece, Belgium and Austria throughout the 1930s and 1940s. The last openly fascist government collapsed in 1945, and the ideology has failed to take significant root anywhere since.

Following World War II, it was used primarily as an insult. Author George Orwell drew attention to this phenomenon in an article in 1944. article “What is Fascism?” titled

“The word ‘Fascism’ as used will appear to be almost entirely meaningless,” he wrote. “It is used much more wildly in speech, of course, than in the print media. I’ve heard it apply to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox hunting, bullfighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley’s publications, Youth Hostels, astrology. , women, dogs and I don’t know what else.”

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In the final weeks of the 2024 election cycle, the Harris campaign and Democrats publicly sought to portray Trump as a fascist. comparisons with the former president and Hitler.

Republicans and some Democrats condemned this rhetoric. possible incitement to violence Following two assassination attempts on Trump.