A top strategist for President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign doesn’t think the president has been “fascist” enough.

Trump’s approval has plummeted since federal agents used tear gas to clear protesters from a park so he could pose for photos holding a Bible, but campaign’s new senior adviser for strategy Steve Cortes wishes the president had cracked down harder, reported The Daily Beast.

“If Trump were the fascist that they pretend that he is, wouldn’t he have cracked down much, much harder on the unrest in the American streets?” Cortes said on the June 25 episode of his self-titled radio program. “To be quite honest, you know, when there were people being bloodied, cops being attacked, businesses being smashed, I could have used a tad bit more of a fascist Trump.”

Cortes, a frequent cable news guest and former spokesman for the pro-Trump America First Action SuperPAC, has been fanning racist and anti-Semitic conspiracies on his radio program to encourage Trump to use authoritarian force.

“I think this is incredibly important that we talk about George Soros and others,” Cortes said on the June 9 episode of his show. “There are some very powerful, very well-financed actors, both individuals and groups, on the left, who have decided that they are going to use Black Lives Matter as their vehicle, as their vehicle to achieve — and I really don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say this—to achieve a nullification, really, of America, of our founding principles.”

Enjoy good journalism?

… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has cut advertising rates in half, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.

Value Raw Story?

… then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has cut advertising rates in half, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.