Noam Chomsky: How 'Trump-led proto-fascism' and a 'deeply corrupt political system' could hand McConnell everything he wants

Noam Chomsky is shedding light on a number of political issues that could create a perfect Republican storm for Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to carry out his "strategy of harming the country as much as possible and blaming the outcome on the Democrats."

Speaking to TruthOut's C.J. Polychroniou, Chomsky highlighted the differences between the democracies of Europe and the United States, arguing the United States has declined into "Trump-led proto-fascism."

"It's beyond irony that now Europe is upholding a tattered social democracy while the U.S. declines to Trump-led proto-fascism, or that under Trump, the secretary of education sought to dismantle public education, carrying forward the neoliberal principles that underlie the sharp defunding of public education aimed at its elimination," Chomsky said.

Although Republican lawmakers are considered the minority party with no dominant power in either chamber of government, Chomsky highlighted the political chess strategy they are playing and how it continues to work in their favor.

"The Republicans have been pursuing a careful and well-thought-out policy of maintaining power as a minority party dedicated to great wealth and corporate power," Chomsky explained. "It has been openly announced by the most malicious and politically powerful of the gang: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, repeating what worked well for his reactionary cause during the President Barack Obama years."

He added, "So far, it's working. If it does work, with Trump and acolytes returning to power thanks to this malevolence, we will be well on our way to proto-fascism and to falling off the precipice."

Chomsky emphasized how the "deeply corrupt and undemocratic political system" in the United States could undermine the Democratic agenda and further the "signs of collapse of the social order."

"Failure of Biden's efforts to reshape federal priorities will have a terrible human cost," Chomsky said. "Beyond that, it will also provide a weapon for the McConnell strategy of harming the country as much as possible and blaming the outcome on the Democrats."

He continued, "Is there a way to fend off these grave political consequences? Not within the confines of the deeply corrupt and undemocratic political system. The only way that has ever worked, and can work now, is mass popular pressure — what the powerful call 'the peasants coming with their pitchforks.'"