Madeleine Albright criticized President Trump’s immigration policies as “un-American” and “offensive” in a weekend BBC interview, but she doesn’t consider Mr. Trump to be “a fascist.”
The former secretary of state promoted her new book on fascism during an interview on BBC’s “The Andrew Marr Show.” She explained that the work was intended to be “alarmist” and warn readers of “aspects of our society” that could lead to a new form of fascism.
When asked directly if her book, titled “Fascism,” implies that she believes Mr. Trump falls under that category, Ms. Albright strongly denied it.
“I don’t think he’s a fascist,” she said, “I do think he’s the most undemocratic president in modern American history and that troubles me.”
Ms. Albright said the same thing about Mr. Trump during a podcast interview with The Economist, saying that leaders like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan better fit that term. For her, a fascist leader is one that identifies with only one group and is a tribal-like leader.
While Ms. Albright said she doesn’t see the president as a fascist, she did criticize him for acting, as she described, above the law and using his rallies to deepen divides among the people.
During her BBC interview, Ms. Albright criticized Mr. Trump’s stance on immigration. She argued that immigrants are needed in the U.S., but said the “totally offensive” part was the president’s rhetoric, including terms such as “infesting” and “invading.”
“I thought it was un-American. I’ve never seen anything like that,” she said about the family separation at the border, “and it does remind one of things that happen in fascist countries.”
Ms. Albright was secretary of state in former President Bill Clinton’s administration.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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