Is Trump a fascist of the 1930s type? If you do not like to call someone a fascist because it is too inflammatory, then call it what you want and look at what he does. The similarity is hard to deny, however. At the very least, Trump is acting like a dictator (a tyrant, a king, an autocrat who rules by a single strong man and ignores or subverts the rule of law and lower court rulings, or creates his own rules and laws ), the very reason our form of democracy was constructed to prevent. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: So is Trump now running for dictator. Fools might hope so.
.The next question is what kind of dictator, a fascist one? Trump is acting like a dictator and, in many respects, like a fascist one, depending on the definition or criteria. An Australian political scientist in 2013 published a study of 1930s fascist dictators and identified some common characteristics. In any case, you do not have to have Nazi extermination ovens to still be called a fascist. Are those who support Trump fascists, too? Take the Britt test below. Dr. Lawrence Britt, an Australian political scientist, wrote "14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism" after studying the fascists of the 1930s.
Update: 8/14/2025https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/border-patrol-gov-gavin-newsom-news-conference-los-angeles/#:~:text=Chelsea%20Hylton%20is%20a%20web,WE%20WILL%20NOT%20BE%20INTIMIDATED!%22 This is what fascism looks like. Did the guards go rogue or were they acting on instructions from the White House or a Trump official? The issue was Texas's dirty trick of attempting to do a mid-decade carve-up of congressional districts so that Trump's minions could fix the 2026 midterms and get more GOP seats. Newsom was announcing his fighting fire with fire, and this show of Trump's paramilitary border guards, heavily armed, is engaged in pure military-like fear tactics. Welcome to fascism: 2025 style.
Update 8/15/2025 A recruitment poster/ad by ICE:" Join to defend our culture". Homeland Security on X: "Serve your country! Defend your culture! No undergraduate degree required! https://t.co/eKOWvUl2uK https://t.co/IflX0u9Tb8" / X That is an overt appeal to those who like using armed force and being secret masked armed men to "defend your culture". Whose culture? This is not even subtle. It is a dog whistle to those who want to rid our country of migrants who are not white, and so they would show no mercy to anyone, citizens, green card holders, or even those who have no criminal record, grabbing them without warrants, to heck with due process, if they even looked "Mexican" or Asian.. That is not my culture. The type of person this ad would have appealed to in the 1930s in Germany would have joined the brown shirts, the SS, and the Gestapo. This is what fascism looks like.
Update: 8/20/2025: As part of the White Nationalist influence ii the GOP as personified by Project 2025's anti-DEI purpose, now the Trump regime is trying to rewrite official history (revisionism like the Chinese and Russian communists undertook to justify their policies) by pressuring the Smithsonian to stop portraying slavery as so terrible. Trump says the Smithsonian focuses too much on 'how bad slavery was' If the Smithsonian complies, it will become the Trump Propaganda History icon. Its lies will be revealed by the preservation of the real history of slavery in America by many institutions not dependent on federal funding.
This recent outrage, coupled with recruitment appeals to racists to join ICE "to defend your culture", is the newest example of the racist nature of some of Trump's core supporters.. The setting up of those who are of a different color as a threat to the ruling race to rationalize such behavior is also a characteristic of fascism.
If you accept the idea that Trump is a dictator and probably a fascist one, are those who support Trump fascists, too? His support is holding firm with a very slight erosion. My guess is either those still in the GOP think this is a bunch of liberal noise or they are fine with having a dictator or even a fascist as their leader/president. He has a tiny slippage in the most reliable public poll I consult. Has Trump lost any support from Republicans? Here's what a new Pew poll found If there is any slippage in general polls o voters, it is that he has turned off significant numbers of independents who are not smitten with hero worship and blind faith in him or who fear his damage to the economy in the near future and/or still care whether democracy survives. Polls turn sour on Trump as he hits new lows with independents The worst stuff has not hit the economy yet. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: MAGA supporters cheer Trump's economy, but the stuff has not hit the fan yet
For those who wonder where they fit in, take the Britt test
In bold print are Britt's defining characteristics of fascism. In Italics, my reason for contending Trump is meeting or not meeting those characteristics.
Nationalism: saying one's own country is better than other countries. Not exactly: Trump contends the US is failing and other countries are taking advantage of us.
Disdain for human rights: The core issues are around due process, and cruelty in imprisonment and snatching off the street because a person looks like a "Mexican". Trump would welcome those from Norway, however, to migrate to the US. Obviously, white people are not targeted.
Scapegoating: blaming someone else for the country's problems: Trump is constantly whining about migrants from south of the border who are rapists and murderers and criminals; now he and his supporters are hinting they want to stop birthright citizenship and revoke refugee status, as well as revoke already granted citizenships.
Putting the military first: Only if it pledges loyalty to Trump, passes his test for that, or is not led by women, non white people, gays, etc. The assumption is that black and brown people and women are inherently not as competent as men. More faith is put in paramilitary ICE, masked, not in uniform, pardoning militias, unregulated, from violent acts that were found guilty by juries for insurrection. Insurrection is fine if it is done in support of Trump, is the message. His use of the national guard on streets does not address underlying problems of homelessness and crime, but is only for show, a temporary drama, and an attempt to see if he can get away with declaring a bogus emergency, nationally or locally as a way to assert his willingness to use the military against their own fellow citizens as his campaign of fear and suppression of demonstrations of opposition.
Sexism: saying men are better than women: End DEI, equal rights for genders, and a mantra incompetent in military (as above) and tolerates Hegseth's religion that women shouldn't even be able to vote; found in civil suit Trump was liable for rape, has: boasted of p grabbing and now his relationship with Epstein, his attempt to sidestep and hide evidence. is causing suspicion as he is hiding something and apparently fears exposure.
Control of mass media: telling newspapers and other sources of news what they can and cannot tell the people: Threatens to yank broadcast licenses, forces broadcast media mergers until they fire objectionable comedians; cuts funding the public broadcasting; stops access to White House briefings if he does not like the reporter.
Focus on national security: Crickets on this one. Trump undermines cybersecurity funding, trusts Russia's CRU more than the US CIA,... Uses bogus claims of national emergency to bring in active military and national guard; once, Trump tried to get the military to shoot black lives matter protestors in the legs. Ok if Russia interferes in elections or land-grabbing aggression, undermines NATO. Hints would not honor article 5, does not care if Europe feels threatened if Russia takes all of Ukraine, advocates peace at any price, even if it endangers world or regional peace. Thinks appeasement works.
Close ties between religion and government: Follows and achieves white nationalist Christian plan (Project 2025) to replace the personnel in the various branches and agencies with their ideologues..
Protection of businesses and corporations: Destroys or subverts consumer and environmental protection agencies; gives special tax breaks to corporations; tells lies that tariff costs are not passed on to customers in higher prices
Suppression of labor power: preventing labor unions from becoming powerful: against right-to-work laws; promotes non-union auto assembly shops, puts flunkies in charge of the NLRB
Disdain for intellectuals and the arts: telling people not to listen to scientists, scholars, and artists, took over the Kennedy Center; trashes White House historical decor with gold gilt; anti-science in control of scientific agencies like Robert Kennedy Jr.; calls any evidence of global warming a fraud; disbands key climate and weather forecasting agencies. Dictates to Harvard and Columbia what curriculum should be, or lose government contracts, and then uses them to cow every other research institute associated with a private university with similar threats
Focus on crime and crimefighting: Ignores crimes that are committed by supporters or pardons those convicted of crimes who he likes, January 6 rioters, and even criminals and murderers imprisoned in foreign prisons. Using "national security" bogus excuses to crack down on local enforcement agencies in DC and LA, while threatening other major cities that have black mayors.
Corruption: conducted in plain sight with his cryptocurrency, with sales and investments based on his name and position, selling access to foreign interests to him for dinners, etc, hiding campaign contributions in crypto; accepts gifts (747) from princes;
.Fraudulent elections: Claims any vote where the tally goes against him is always because the election was stolen or there was fraud, always without evidence. Tried to get loyalists to get control of voting machines; claimed over 60 state elections were fraudulent in 2020, and no court found evidence of it; Still claims the 2020 election was stolen but never coughed up evidence after 5 years of trying.. Instructed Texas to start gerrymandering districts to get 5 more House seats and in order to misrepresent voters' will, deprive racial minorities of Congressional representation, and fix the 2026 elections. They want to federalize elections and take the administrative power away from states, giving Trump the power to more easily control the outcome to benefit him. Trump wants to control the vote count by federal control of voting machines and banning mail in ballots. He got his advice from Putin, per the New York Times. MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump's newest attack democracy's rule by people via a vote. ban mail in ballots and voting machines
