Trump Is a Fascist, That's Clear. But What Kind Exactly?

With each passing day, the Trump administration becomes more authoritarian, shifting the country from a flawed democracy to some variant of fascism. What is President Donald Trump’s ultimate aim? Is he an old-fashioned authoritarian or some type of a new fascist or neofascist? What is the duty of democratic-minded citizens under an emerging dictatorship? Political scientist/political economist, author, and journalist C. J. Polychroniou addresses these and other questions about the current political climate in the United States in the interview that follows with the French-Greek independent journalist and writer Alexandra Boutri.

Alexandra Boutri: I’d like to start by asking you how worried you are about the collapse of “democracy” in the United States and whether it is worth defending a governing system that has worked almost exclusively for the super-rich and the privileged classes.

C. J. Polychroniou: This is a provocative but nonetheless gripping question! My own feeling is that everyone who cares about fundamental personal freedoms, such as freedom of speech, and basic human rights, such as the rights to health, education, a decent standard of living, and a clean environment, should be terribly worried about what is happening in the United States under the current administration. President Donald Trump and his cronies are a real menace to everything that defines a decent society in today’s world. First of all, they want to go back to a time when whiteness was dominant and there was a clear racial hierarchy. They despise racial equality and have nothing but contempt for poor and working-class people. They loathe the idea of an open society and find intolerable constraints on their powers to do as they please. Trump’s priority is concentrating wealth and power for himself and his family. It is a self-serving, special interest presidency unlike anything we have seen in contemporary U.S. politics. George W. Bush’s corrupt presidency, with its long-standing connections to the oil industry, pales in comparison to the way Trump is using the office of the presidency to increase his own personal wealth and that of his family. Donald Trump is the ultimate used car sales conman who will say and do anythig to make an extra buck. For him, democracy and the rule of law are meaningless concepts as evidenced by the way he is systematically targeting universities, courts, the press, and his political opponents. He is astonishingly corrupt, shockingly cruel, and all his political moves are out of the authoritarian playbook. I should add that he is also one of the dumbest presidents, profoundly ignorant of history, geography and scores of other subjects. As so many sources have pointed out, he most likely does have a “lethal aversion to reading.”

Resisting Trump’s authoritarianism is a must if there is to be any hope for a better future. We need to defeat the neofascists. That’s the number one priority. But we need to do this while advocating a real alternative for a sustainable future.

Now, you are right of course in pointing out that the system of government in the United States is one that has favored overwhelmingly the rich and the powerful. American democracy is a sham in many ways. The United States is best defined as an oligarchy rather than a democracy. Still, it has been a free country, up until recently, which means the pursuit of political alternatives were open to the citizenry, although the challenges of doing so were and remain unquestionably enormous. Now, unfortunately, we find ourselves at a stage where concerned citizens have to fight for the mere protection of personal freedoms. Resisting Trump’s authoritarianism is a must if there is to be any hope for a better future. We need to defeat the neofascists. That’s the number one priority. But we need to do this while advocating a real alternative for a sustainable future.

Alexandra Boutri: Why is Trump so keen to use the military on home soil? In Portland, he has even authorized troops to make use of “full force.” Has he gone completely bonkers?

C. J. Polychroniou: I see several reasons behind the wannabe dictator’s yearning to use the military to implement his domestic policies and enforce his dystopian view of America. First, he is doing it as a form of intimidation, which is of course an old fascist tactic. It is really his way of letting everyone know that there is a new sheriff in town who doesn’t tolerate dissent and refuses to accept challenges to the way he thinks the country ought to be run. After all, you should know that the “beloved leader” knows best how to run a country after having studied extensively the works of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and so on and so forth.

Second, he is doing it because Republicans are clearly behind his vision of using the military as a tool for his domestic policy goals but also because he is worried about the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections. His actions target Democratic-leaning cities, so it’s all part of a PR campaign and very little to do with some strategic crackdown on crime. In Washington, DC., the National Guard was not deployed to neighborhoods where crime is higher than in other areas but to tourist sites where there is very little crime. At any rate, his MAGA base loves this display of such authoritarian tactics in an alleged fight against crime in blue cities.
Third, he is doing it because it boosts his ego and makes him feel like a strongman. This was the purpose of the idiotic military parade in Washington, DC this past June to mark the Army’s 250^th anniversary, which, conveniently enough, coincided with the “beloved leader’s” 79^th birthday. We must not underestimate how important of a role psychology plays in Trump's behavior.

Finally, the intrusion of the military into civilian life could very well be for the purpose of normalizing such a situation in the event that a coup becomes necessary at some point down the road in order to keep Trump and the Republicans in power.

Alexandra Boutri: Old-fashioned authoritarian, fascist, neo-fascist, or proto-fascist? What’s the best way to describe Trump and his actions?

C. J. Polychroniou: There are subtle differences between authoritarian regimes, military dictatorships, fascism, and Nazism. What we are witnessing today is the decline of liberal democracies under the oppressive weight of 45 years of neoliberal policies and the rise of a new wave of right-wing authoritarianism that can be called neofascist or proto-fascist. In practical terms, it makes very little difference how we label Donald Trump’s dystopian vision of America and the actions of his administration as long as we are absolutely clear that they represent a real threat to the most fundamental human rights and values that were discussed earlier. He is an authoritarian bully carrying out policies with tactics that bear similarities to fascism and who undoubtedly would like to see in place some sort of a proto-fascist social order based on white supremacy and plutocracy. He is a racist to the core, and that alone makes him intrinsically some sort of a fascist. Moreover, if it was entirely up to him, he would remain in power till the end of his life and rule with an iron fist. I have no doubt whatsoever about that.

Alexandra Boutri: Out of plain intellectual curiosity, what’s the difference between fascism and Nazism?

C. J. Polychroniou: Fascism and Nazism are similar ideologies that rely on mass irrationality, the cult of personality, the supremacy of the state, mysticism and the rejection of Enlightenment values, and the glorification of violence. In crime, both regimes enforced the death penalty (Italy had abolished the death penalty in 1889 while pre-Nazi Germany came close to doing so on many occasions, but all such efforts were always overturned in the end) and both ideologies are deeply racist and antisemitic. Still, there were differences between Italian fascism and Nazism in racial matters. Biological determinism and “blood” played a much more central role in Nazi ideology than it did in fascism. In fact, it was America’s racial laws that shaped Nazi policies in Germany, as James Whitman has so convincingly shown in his book Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law. It was the Nazis who practiced mass extermination and genocide of groups deemed as “inferior races.”

Alexandra Boutri: How could democratically-minded citizens respond to an emerging dictatorial regime and protect democracy, even a flawed one?

C. J. Polychroniou: A soft dictatorial regime is emerging in the US, which could easily become a hard one if Trump is allowed to carry out to the end his reactionary agenda. When a country heads toward a dictatorship, rebellion becomes a duty. We need, first and foremost, solidarity. We need to protect those most vulnerable while at the same time taking political action through whatever legal means are available against presidential abuses of power. Protests, strikes, boycotting companies that support Trump, letting officials know where we stand, and joining groups advocating social change are useful tools and mechanisms of resistance. Educational work is also of critical importance in letting people know what is happening and raising public consciousness. General strikes are very difficult to organize in the US, and the closest the country has come to a national general strike was in 1886. But they can be a very effective form of direct action as they target the political regime itself as well as the system’s economy. Indeed, there have already been calls for the sort of direct action that will shut down the country from people like Democratic Representative Jim McGovern and Sara Nelson, head of the Association of Flight Attendants, and such calls may increase and become louder as the actions of the wannabe dictator become more threatening and increasingly more brutal.

I like to believe that we will not see in the US what Greece and Chile experienced in 1967 and 1973, respectively, but the United States is moving exactly in that direction. On September 22, Trump signed an executive order designating Antifa as a "domestic terrorist organization." Three days later, he issued a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7) on Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence, accompanied by a fact sheet. This memorandum, which is far more dangerous than the Antifa order, is a truly fascist blueprint that directs the federal government to go after "anti-fascist," "anti-capitalist" movements in the US. It basically targets anyone who is opposing Trump and his MAGA ideology.

One may say that these are "paper tiger executive actions" and that Trump doesn't have the legal authority to create new crimes, but such arguments miss the point. Trump has the entire repressive apparatus of the US state behind him, and he is someone who has shown us repeatedly that the Constitution and the rule of law mean nothing to him. He even has the Supreme Court backing his unlawful acts on immigration aids, political prosecutions, and withholding foreign aid. This is someone who does not hesitate to use the military to carry out deadly strikes against boats in the Caribbean and to order troops to use "full force" against American citizens protesting his fascist policies. The day when we see tanks rolling through the streets across America and curfews imposed may, perhaps, not be that far away after all.