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Comparisons between Donald Trump and fascism

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A bar graph labeled with the text "Who's a Fascist? Results among registered voters." The graph shows that 44% of respondents describe only Donald Trump as a fascist, 18% describe only Kamala Harris as a fascist, 5% describe both as fascists, and 32% consider neither to be fascists.
An October 2024 poll held by ABC News and Ipsos indicated that of the candidates in the 2024 United States presidential election, 49% of registered voters[a] consider Trump to be a fascist.[1]

There has been significant academic and political debate over whether Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, qualifies as a fascist. Critics of Trump have drawn comparisons between him and fascist leaders over authoritarian actions and rhetoric, while others have accused critics of using the term as an insult rather than making legitimate comparisons.

During his 2024 presidential campaign, a growing number of scholars, historians, commentators, politicians, former Trump officials, and generals have described Trump as a fascist.[b] According to an October 2024 poll held by ABC News and Ipsos, 49% of American registered voters see Donald Trump as a fascist,[a] defined in the poll as "a political extremist who seeks to act as a dictator, disregards individual rights and threatens or uses force against their opponents."[1]

Background

An old woman holding a white paper sign mounted on a stick. The sign has hand-written text reading "FASCIST TRUMP".
A protestor with a sign describing Donald Trump as a fascist.

Donald Trump is an American businessman and politician who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2020.[2] He lost in the 2020 United States presidential election to Joe Biden, and is currently running as the Republican Party's candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election.[3]

Fascism is an ideological term which refers to a broad set of aspirations and influences that emerged in the early 20th century, exemplified by the European dictators Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Francisco Franco; and include elements of nationalism, enforcement of social hierarchies, hatred towards social minority groups, opposition to liberalism, the cult of personality, racism, and the love of militaristic symbols.[4][5] According to the anti-fascist and socialist writer George Orwell, the term fascist is oftentimes rendered meaningless in common parlance by its frequent use as an insult.[6]

Comparisons

Anti-democratic sentiment and illiberalism

During his 2016 campaign, Trump made it apparent that he would not accept the results of the 2016 United States presidential election if he did not win, preemptively claiming that he could only lose due to electoral fraud.[7] Following his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 United States presidential election, Trump and other Republicans tried to overturn the results, making widespread false claims of fraud.[8] Due to these false claims, in addition to the January 6 United States Capitol attack that Trump allegedly incited, political opponents have labeled Trump as a "threat to democracy".[9][10] Journalist Patrick Cockburn stated that Trump's politics risk turning the United States into an illiberal democracy similar to Turkey, Hungary, or Russia.[11]

During his 2024 campaign, Trump has made numerous authoritarian and antidemocratic statements.[12] Trump's previous comments, such as suggesting he can "terminate" the Constitution to reverse his election loss,[13][14] his claim that he would only be a dictator on "day one" of his presidency and not after,[c] his promise to use the Justice Department to go after his political enemies,[17] and his plan to use the Insurrection Act of 1807 to deploy the military in Democratic cities and states,[18][19] have raised concerns over Trump's fascist and authoritarian rhetoric. Trump has stated that he would deploy the military on American soil to fight "the enemy from within", which he describes as "radical left lunatics" and Democratic politicians such as Adam Schiff.[20] Trump has repeatedly voiced support for outlawing political dissent and criticism he considers misleading or challenges his claims to power.[21][22]

January 6 attack and the Beer Hall Putsch

A crowd of people outside and inside of the United States Capitol Building. Many are wearing red hats and carrying United States flags.
The January 6 United States Capitol attack has been compared to the Beer Hall Putsch by some academics.

The attack on the United States Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 has been compared by some academics to the Beer Hall Putsch,[23] a failed coup attempt in Germany by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler against the Weimar government in 1923.[24]

Robert Paxton, a political scientist and historian specializing in the study of fascism, previously denied that Trump was a fascist but changed his views following the January 6 attack, writing that "Trump's incitement of the invasion of the Capitol [...] removes my objection to the fascist label."[7][25]

Dehumanization and racism

Trump's embrace of far-right extremism[26][27] and several statements and actions have been accused of echoing fascism, Nazi rhetoric, far-right ideology, antisemitism, and white supremacy.[28][29][30]

Trump's comments comparing his political enemies to "vermin" who will be "rooted out" have been compared by several historians to fascistic rhetoric made by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.[31][32][33] During a rally in 2023, Trump stated:[34]

In honor of our great veterans on Veterans Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country—that lie and steal and cheat on elections, and will do anything possible; they'll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America, and to destroy the American Dream.

The comments were compared to comments made by Nazi politician Wilhelm Kube in February 1933 in a Nazi propaganda publication where he stated, "The Jews, like vermin, form a line from Potsdamerplatz until Anhalter Banhof ... The only way to smoke out the vermin is to expel them." They were also compared to Oswald Mosley's British fascists referring to Jews as "rats and vermin from the gutters of Whitechapel" and a 1934 Hitler interview where he stated "I have the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin!"[34]

Responding to critics, Trump's campaign later said that "their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House", which was also criticized for echoing the rhetoric of authoritarian leaders, along with Trump's statement that "the threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within."[35][36] According to The New York Times, scholars are undecided about whether Trump's "rhetorical turn into more fascist-sounding territory is just his latest public provocation of the left, an evolution in his beliefs, or the dropping of a veil".[37]

Since the fall of 2023,[38] Trump has repeatedly used racial hygiene rhetoric by stating that undocumented immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country", which has been compared to language echoing that of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.[39] He has also claimed that immigrants are genetically predisposed to commit crimes and have "bad genes",[40][30] which Politico reported is "what some experts in political rhetoric, fascism, and immigration say is a strong echo of authoritarians and Nazi ideology."[30] Other fascistic comments include statements that immigrants are the "enemy from within" who are ruining the "fabric" of the country.[30] Trump has stated that immigrants are "not people",[41] "not humans",[42] and "animals".[43] At rallies, Trump has stated that undocumented immigrants will "rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill" American citizens,[44] that they are "stone-cold killers", "monsters", "vile animals", "savages", and "predators" that will "walk into your kitchen, they'll cut your throat"[45][44] and "grab young girls and slice them up right in front of their parents".[44]

On October 27, 2024, Trump held a rally in Madison Square Garden that featured speakers making various racist and dehumanizing remarks.[46][47] The event drew comparisons to the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden.[48][49]

Connections to self-identified fascists

In the 2016 United States presidential election, Trump was supported by multiple self-described Nazi or fascist groups, including the National Socialist Movement and Ku Klux Klan. These groups engaged in voter intimidation by monitoring polling locations in 2016, claiming to have done so both "informally" and "through the Trump campaign".[50] In 2016, Trump was endorsed by self-identified Nazis such as David Duke,[51] though Duke went on to criticize Trump in 2024.[52] In September 2024, CNN reported that Mark Robinson, whom Trump endorsed in the 2024 North Carolina gubernatorial election, had previously identified himself as a "Black Nazi".[53]

In 1990, Ivana Trump, Donald Trump's former wife, stated that he kept a copy of My New Order, a collection of speeches written by Adolf Hitler, by his bedside.[54] John F. Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff, stated in October 2024 that Trump spoke positively of Hitler during his tenure as president.[55][56] Kelly also stated that Trump had told him that he desired military generals similar to the generals who served Hitler.[57][58][59]

Invocations of the comparison

A portrait photograph of John Kelly, an old man in a black suit.
A portrait photograph of Mark Milley, a middle-aged man in a military service dress uniform decorated with various badges and ribbons.
Former Trump staff members John F. Kelly (left) and Mark Milley (right) have both described Trump as a fascist.
Voice of America coverage of comparisons drawn between Trump and fascism by former Trump staff.[60]

Trump was described as a fascist in October 2024 by John F. Kelly, Trump's former chief of staff during his presidential tenure. Referring to the definition of fascism as a far-right authoritarian ideology with elements of ultranationalism and a dictatorial leader, Kelly stated that Trump "certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure".[55][61] This is the first time a president has been called a fascist by his former hand-picked top adviser.[62] Following the statements by Kelly, Karine Jean-Pierre stated that United States President Joe Biden agreed with the assertion that Trump is a fascist.[63] Kamala Harris, Biden's vice president and Trump's opponent in the 2024 election, also stated that she considers Trump to be a fascist.[64][65] Thirteen former Trump officials signed an open letter agreeing with Kelly's statements.[66] Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense under Trump, also agreed with Kelly, saying Trump meets the definition of a fascist and has fascist instincts.[67]

Additionally, Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described Trump as "fascist to the core".[68] JD Vance described Trump as "America's Hitler" in 2017, also calling him "reprehensible". Despite this, he went on to run alongside Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign.[69][70]

In 2017, Holocaust historian Timothy Snyder published On Tyranny, warning about the danger signs of fascism in the Trump era.[71] In 2023 and 2024, discussion of Trump and fascism spiked to record levels on cable TV, driven by Trump's rhetoric.[72]

Trump has also been described as a fascist by philosophers such as Judith Butler,[73] Noam Chomsky,[74] and Cornel West.[75] Additionally, American journalist Rich Benjamin stated in 2020 that Trump's political movement is "shot through with fascism".[76] However, the British Journal of American Legal Studies denied that Trump's movement was truly fascist as it was "too hostile to insider welfare", instead opting to describe it as "fascism-lite".[77] The Economist said it was reasonable to describe Trump as a modern iteration of fascism.[78] Howard French agrees that Trump is a fascist but wonders whether it is the best message for Democrats to win the 2024 election.[79] Peter Baker described Trump as the president who most aggressively discredited democracy at home while embracing autocrats abroad.[62]

Criticism of the comparison

A bust-length photograph of JD Vance, a middle-aged bearded man in a suit.
JD Vance described Trump as "America's Hitler" in 2017 but later criticized the comparison when he became Trump's running mate in 2024.

Following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance wrote that "[t]he central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination."[7] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. similarly stated that comparisons drawn between Trump and fascism could encourage opponents to attempt to assassinate him.[80] However, Trump has also described Harris as a fascist throughout his 2024 campaign.[81]

In a column published in The Guardian, Jan Werner-Müller argued, "it is perfectly possible to find the label fascism inappropriate (and possibly counterproductive), without in any way minimizing the dangers Trump poses, or turning a blind eye to fascist strands in US history, such as the KKK."[82] Geoff Boucher, writing for The Conversation, stated "[i]n my view, Trump is not a fascist. Rather, he is part of a “new authoritarianism” that subverts democracy from within and solidifies power through administrative, rather than paramilitary, means."[83]

Conservative commentators such as Ben Domenech, Roger Kimball, and Miranda Devine have criticized the characterization of Trump as a "threat to democracy", in particular claiming that such claims directly influenced the two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024.[10] Additionally, Trump's advisor Stephen Miller stated that Kamala Harris should "take accountability" for violence allegedly caused by comparisons drawn between Trump and Nazism.[84] Susan Benesch, founding director of the Dangerous Speech Project, has called such comparisons "a pot calling the kettle black", and noted that Trump's continued use of inflammatory rhetoric against Democrats has not stopped.[85] Jacob Sullum argues in Reason that Trump's reckless (and in his view, disqualifying) authoritarian impulses are guided only by self-interest and that he is not ideological enough to be labeled a fascist.[86]

In response to John F. Kelly and Mark Milley calling Trump a fascist, Vance dismissed their claims and characterized them both as "disgruntled former employees".[60]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b Including 44% that describe "only Trump" as fascist and 5% that describe both Trump and Harris as fascists.
  2. ^ Attributed to multiple references:
    • Homans 2024: "No major American presidential candidate has talked like he now does at his rallies—not Richard Nixon, not George Wallace, not even Donald Trump himself."
    • Bender & Gold 2023
    • Lehmann 2023
    • Basu 2023
    • Cassidy 2023
    • Lutz 2023
    • Browning 2023
    • Kim & Ibssa 2023
    • Ward 2024: "It's a stark escalation over the last month of what some experts in political rhetoric, fascism, and immigration say is a strong echo of authoritarians and Nazi ideology."
    • Applebaum 2024: "In the 2024 campaign, that line has been crossed. ... The deliberate dehumanization of whole groups of people; the references to police, to violence, to the 'bloodbath' that Trump has said will unfold if he doesn't win; the cultivation of hatred not only against immigrants but also against political opponents—none of this has been used successfully in modern American politics. But neither has this rhetoric been tried in modern American politics."
    • Rubin 2024
    • Brooks 2024: "Trump, however, has also used the term fascist to describe Harris as he has doubled down on his insults against Harris and ratcheted up the intensity of his own rhetoric against political opponents. "She's a marxist, communist, fascist, socialist," Trump said at a rally in Arizona in September. Johnson and McConnell made no mention of Trump's rhetoric in their statement, keeping the focus on their political rival."
  3. ^ Attributed to multiple references:[15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b Langer, Gary; Sparks, Steven (October 25, 2024). "Half of Americans see Donald Trump as a fascist: POLL". ABC News. Retrieved October 25, 2024.
  2. ^ Panton, Kenneth J. (August 23, 2022). "Trump, Donald John". Historical Dictionary of the United States. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-2420-8.
  3. ^ Zurcher, Anthony (September 11, 2024). "US election 2024: A really simple guide to the presidential vote". BBC News. Archived from the original on September 21, 2024. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  4. ^ Blackburn, Simon (2016). "fascism". A Dictionary of Philosophy (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-873530-4. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  5. ^ Illing, Sean (January 29, 2021). "American fascism isn't going away". Vox. Retrieved October 30, 2024.
  6. ^ Orwell, George (1944). "What is Fascism?". Tribune. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Runciman, David (September 21, 2024). "Is Donald Trump a fascist?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  8. ^ "Trump tries to leverage power of office to subvert Biden win". AP News. November 21, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
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  10. ^ a b Chait, Jonathan (September 16, 2024). "Donald Trump Is a Threat to Democracy, and Saying So Is Not Incitement". Intelligencer. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  11. ^ Cockburn, Patrick (November 4, 2020). "Trump's bid to stop the count risks turning America into an 'illiberal democracy' like Turkey". The Independent. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  12. ^
  13. ^ Ibrahim, Nur (December 5, 2022). "Did Trump Say Election Fraud Allows for 'Termination' of US Constitution?". Snopes. Archived from the original on May 31, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023. In sum, Trump posted on Truth Social that, what he believed to be, election fraud in the 2020 presidential election allows "for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution." For that reason, we rated this claim "Correct Attribution."
  14. ^ Astor, Maggie (December 4, 2022). "Trump's Call for 'Termination' of Constitution Draws Rebukes". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 4, 2022. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
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  19. ^ Fields, Gary (November 27, 2023). "Trump hints at expanded role for the military within the US. A legacy law gives him few guardrails". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 10, 2023. Retrieved December 10, 2023.
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  25. ^ Zerofsky, Elisabeth (October 23, 2024). "Is It Fascism? A Leading Historian Changes His Mind". The New York Times. Paxton, who is 92, is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history.
  26. ^ Baker, Peter (December 1, 2022). "Trump Embraces Extremism as He Seeks to Reclaim Office". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 16, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2024. Analysts and strategists see Mr. Trump's pivot toward the far right as a tactic to re-create political momentum ... Mr. Trump has long flirted with the fringes of American society as no other modern president has, openly appealing to prejudice based on race, religion, national origin and sexual orientation, among others ... Mr. Trump's expanding embrace of extremism has left Republicans once again struggling to figure out how to distance themselves from him. (subscription required)
  27. ^ Swenson, Ali; Kunzelman, Michael (November 18, 2023). "Fears of political violence are growing as the 2024 campaign heats up and conspiracy theories evolve". Associated Press. Archived from the original on May 11, 2024. Retrieved July 13, 2024. Trump has amplified social media accounts that promote QAnon, which grew from the far-right fringes of the internet to become a fixture of mainstream Republican politics ... In his 2024 campaign, Trump has ramped up his combative rhetoric with talk of retribution against his enemies. He recently joked about the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi and suggested that retired Gen. Mark Milley, a former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, should be executed for treason.
  28. ^ Oreskes, Benjamin (May 23, 2024). "Trump and GOP repeatedly echo Nazi and far-right ideology as they aim to retake White House". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved June 2, 2024.
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  30. ^ a b c d Ward 2024.
  31. ^ Kim & Ibssa 2023.
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  33. ^ Dorn, Sara (November 12, 2023). "Trump Compares Political Foes To 'Vermin' On Veterans Day—Echoing Nazi Propaganda". Forbes. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  34. ^ a b Cassidy 2023.
  35. ^ Gold, Michael (November 13, 2023). "After Calling Foes 'Vermin,' Trump Campaign Warns Its Critics Will Be 'Crushed'". The New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  36. ^ Basu 2023.
  37. ^ Bender & Gold 2023.
  38. ^ Astor, Maggie (March 17, 2024). "Trump Doubles Down on Migrants 'Poisoning' the Country". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. (subscription required)
  39. ^
  40. ^ Svitek, Patrick (October 7, 2024). "Trump suggests 'bad genes' to blame for undocumented immigrants who commit murders". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 7, 2024.
  41. ^ Iati, Marisa (March 16, 2024). "Trump says some undocumented immigrants are 'not people'". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  42. ^ Layne, Nathan; Slattery, Gram; Reid, Tim (April 3, 2024). "Trump calls migrants 'animals,' intensifying focus on illegal immigration". Reuters. Retrieved April 3, 2024. While speaking of Laken Riley – a 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia allegedly murdered by a Venezuelan immigrant in the country illegally – Trump said some immigrants were sub-human. "The Democrats say, 'Please don't call them animals. They're humans.' I said, 'No, they're not humans, they're not humans, they're animals,'" said Trump, president from 2017 to 2021.
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  48. ^
  49. ^
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  81. ^ Brooks 2024.
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Works cited

Further reading