When President Donald Trump‘s longest-serving chief of staff, John Kelly, declared he fit the definition of a fascist in 2024, Republicans called him crazy. They claimed there was no way fascism could’ve made its way to the U.S. But almost two years have passed, and fears of fascism continue to brew. Now, experts believe it’s finally time to call a spade a spade, bringing even more fears about the future of American democracy to the forefront.
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The textbook definition of fascism emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism and suppression of opposition for the benefit of the government. According to The New York Times, Trump fits the category to a T.
“If anyone had predicted back in 2024 precisely what Trump’s return to the White House was going to look like, I suspect they’d have been accused of suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote. “But the shrillest of Resistance libs have always understood Trump better than those who make a show of their dispassion.”
Take Trump’s recent capture of Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. The president skipped over the Constitution, which demands he ask Congress’ approval for military use, and essentially took over the nation’s oil reserves. Trump has also flirted with taking over other sovereign countries like Greenland and Canada– straight out of the playbook of fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Of course, news of Trump targeting Greenland has taken a back burner to the ongoing fallout after an ICE agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis last week. The administration has defended the agent, contradicting video proof of the tragedy.
“Both ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis and Trump’s threatened seizure of Greenland are part of the same story: An increasingly unpopular regime is rapidly radicalizing and testing how far it can go down the road toward autocracy,” the Times reported.
We also told you that Trump’s rapidly dropping approval rating is prompting fears ahead of the midterm elections, when Democrats are hoping to swoop in and change the tide in the Republican-and Trump-controlled Congress.
Democrats have long labeled Trump a fascist dictator. Former Vice President Kamala Harris famously predicted he’d go after his political enemies, use the military against the American people and target civil rights way before she lost to him in 2024. Now, it seems Harris’ nightmares are all coming true, and there’s no one to stop it.
That’s a clear difference between Trump’s first and second terms, as the Times pointed out. Then, the president was “restrained by the establishment types around him,” according to the outlet. His first cabinet was filled with long-time Republicans and experts who could check Trump. Now, the government is being run by Trump’s yes-men. But while that fact might have you thinking about changing your citizenship, the folks at The Times have hope that all is not lost.
“None of this means that America is destined to become a fully fascist country,” The New York Times clarified. Instead, Americans should focus on seeing the president for exactly what he is. The Times continued, “The important thing isn’t really the name we give to this political development, but our ability to see what’s happening clearly and make sense of its likely trajectory.”
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