• by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, December 11, 2015

Donald Trump is not the only ultra-nationalist and xenophobic political figure taking the Western world down an eerily familiar path.

Just in the past couple of weeks, we have seen the National Front in France, led by Marine Le Pen, receive the largest share of the first-round votes in regional elections.

Barely eight years ago, the National Front was a racist and anti-Semitic party on the fringe of French politics. After moving to eliminate the most extreme factions in the party, which eventually included Le Pen’s father and founder of the National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen, it may now be on the verge of controlling regional governments in large swaths of France.

Many have commented that the National Front's success in these elections is partly due to a backlash following the Paris attacks, not unlike Trump’s bump in the polls when security questions arise.

The New Yorker ran a piece this week on similarities between the far-right National Front and our own worrisome Republican example of neo-fascism, Donald Trump — and there were many. The cover of The Economist today depicts both politicians’ profiles with the cover article titled, “Playing With Fear.”

UKIP (Independence Party) in the UK is another of these far-right parties that has gained in recent elections. Last year, UKIP won a majority of votes for EU parliamentary elections beating out all traditional parties.

The aggressive physical attacks on protesters at Trump rallies are almost unheard of in 21st-century American political dialogue. Trump is no Nazi, but his inflammatory rhetoric could incite additional violence.

We have seen present day neo-Nazis in the United States fully support Trump. It’s truly frightening, and it may seem as though this would only happen in some twilight zone, but Andrew Anglin — a notorious neo-Nazi — wrote the following in a post earlier this week: “Finally: Someone speaks sense … Heil Donald Trump - THE ULTIMATE SAVIOR.”

Clearly, this Anglin guy is ultra-fringe and espouses views many Trump supporters would condemn. But when you get someone like this singing your praise, you’re moving in a certain direction.

As far as reasonable Republicans are concerned, there is little they can do to stem the Trump tide. Saul Anuzis, former GOP chairman for Michigan, said: “There is nothing we can do as a party at this stage of the game. The more they bash him, they’re only emboldening him further.”