Recently, prominent military figures like Generals John Kelly and Mark Milley, who worked closely with Donald Trump as his Chief of Staff and Joint Chief, have labeled him a fascist. In doing so, they have joined many WWII historians and experts on fascism who have said the same thing. (Even Trump’s own VP once called him America’s Hitler.) This, of course, has many wondering exactly what fascism is. (After all, John Kelley basically had to read the Wikipedia definition to know for sure how to define it.)

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Fortunately, there is no shortage of academic work on the topic, and correspondingly no shortage of bullet point lists of what fascism’s essential elements are. There is Chris Hedges’ (2006) book American Fascists which differentiates between historical (1920–30s Italian and German) fascism, and what he calls “Eternal Fascism” (the political ideology and approach of historical fascism that can be repeated by other movements) which has fourteen characteristics. Dunwoody (et al., 2022) lays out four components, and in How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us Versus Them, philosopher Jason Stanley (2018) defines fascism primarily by how it approaches politics and argues that it generally employs ten tactics. Georgetown University history professor John McNeill (2016) says fascism has eleven components.

Such lists usually have some unique elements, but also have a lot of overlap; if we were to paraphrase and combine them, we would get something like the following list. As you will see, Trump basically matches all but one — and it only take matching up to a few to make a person fascist — thus confirming Kelly and Milley’s evaluation.

1) Inaccurate Nostalgia: Fascism mythologizes the greatness of the past and promises a return to the days of traditional racial and gender hierarchies that favored the in-group. (Hitler did this in his promises to oust the Jews and rebuild the German empire that fell after WWI.)

Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan encapsulates this perfectly, as he wants to return America to a (mythical) era of bygone greatness. And his rhetoric makes it clear what aspects of the past he wants to return to: those that established racial and gender hierarchies, which disadvantaged minorities and women, and allowed men to dominate both economically and politically.

2) Authoritarian/Hero Worship/Leader Cult: Fascism embraces a cult like worship of a single leader, who is the final arbiter of what is good and evil, and thus can do no wrong. Followers of the leader see themselves as heroes as well, called to defend (and even die) for the leader’s cause, and think that everyone should submit to the leader’s authority. Hitler unquestionably inspired this kind of devotion, as does Kim Jung Il in North Korea.

Trump’s base demonstrates this exact kind of devotion. From “Jesus is my savior, and Trump is my president” to cheering for his defiance of laws and democratic norms, to thinking that he is the only person who tells the truth, his followers view him as a hero and believe they must defend him against all opposition. The crimes people were willing to commit storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021 are a prime example of this kind of devotion. Indeed, many republican politicians are scared to contradict him because of the cult like following he has.

3) Theatricality: Party leaders are verbose, with lots of big gestures and exaggerated facial expressions. Rallies become rituals for loyalists, with lots of slogans, catch phrases, and party paraphernalia. Military parades, and parades of the faithful, are common. (Both Mussolini and Hitler had verbose presentation styles; North Korea under the Kim’s has lots of parades of the military and the faithful.)

Trump’s rallies are the epitome of theatricality, filled with chants like “Lock her up!”, “Build the Wall,” and campaign signs calling for “Mass deportation.” His speeches are filled with dramatic gestures and language, and his larger-than-life persona, combined with MAGA hats, slogans, and paraphernalia, creates a ritualistic atmosphere. They are “pilgrimages” for true believers.

4) Deceptive Propaganda/Newspeak: Fascist propaganda undermines independent reporting and then creates its own that is not only un-factual, but uses universally accepted ideals such as freedom, free speech, and public safety as a way to gain power, and even undermine those very ideals. One major way of doing this is with a double standard: claiming that criticisms of the fascists are “censorship” (when in fact no effort to keep them from saying what they said are made), and then calling for the censorship of those who criticize them (thus making an effort to keep their opponents from saying what they say).

The term “Newspeak” comes from Orwell’s book 1984, and is a practice (related to semantic infiltration) that seeks to simplify language in a way that curtails critical thought, obscures bad things as good, and associates everything with the party as good (and everything against the party as bad.). Example: In 1984 Newspeak, “free” only means “the absence of”…as in “The dog is free of lice.” There is no word for “freedom of action/thought” and thus it can occur to no one that they lack it.[1] Mao did this in China. The world for “blood relative” was eliminated and replaced with a word that equated all members of the party as being brothers/sisters.[2]

Trump calls the press “the enemy of the people” and labels all news stories and organizations he doesn’t like “fake news.” (In true Newspeak style, he changed the meaning of that phrase, so that it no longer referred to the false news stories which he was repeating, and instead referred to news he didn’t like.) He repeatedly twists the truth and lies to suit his agenda — saying, for example, that he never told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” when audio of the phone call clearly proves otherwise. His administration frequently undermined freedoms, such as free speech and freedom of the press, all the while claiming to be a protector of such freedoms. In his 2024 campaign, after praising Elon Musk (who heavily sensors his social media platform X) as the savior of free speech, Trump called for ABC NEWS and 60 Minutes to be taken off the air, because they did things that he didn’t like. What’s more, Fox News, OAN, and now even Twitter (X), serves as a propaganda arm of his campaign, even going so far as to deny that he said things which he said on live television — like that he wants to turn the American military on the “enemy within,” which he defines as U.S. citizens who disagree with him. In true fascist style, Trump mistakes “freedom from criticism” with “freedom of speech.”

5) Unreality: Fascism, through its propaganda, creates an alternate universe of non-facts that not only fails to match the way the world is, but conceptualizes every issue as an “us vs. them” contest, and sees its leader as the protector of truth, even as that leader tells blatant and obvious lies. (For example, Hitler spread lies about the rates of Jewish crime, while he was simultaneously seen as a “speaker of truth.”)

Trump’s Big Lie about the 2020 election being stolen is a perfect example of creating such an alternate reality. His followers continue to believe in widespread election fraud despite a complete lack of evidence, and still view Trump as the only one telling the truth about that election. They also gullibly believe false rumors, like that legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio are eating pets, despite the fact that these rumors were not only false, but started by neo-Nazis and propagated by the KKK. Indeed, like Hitler did with the Jews, Trump has spread lies about crime rates being higher among immigrants when they are actually lower.

6) Anti-intellectual: Since respect for science, history, education, and expertise make it harder to spread lies, fascism must oppose science, history, education, and expertise. (Attacks on academics is one reason Einstein left Nazi Germany.)

Trump consistently dismisses science, from denying climate change to promoting unproven COVID-19 treatments. He attacked experts and undermined academic and scientific institutions, branding educated elites as enemies of the people. His followers do the same, even berating the experts on fascism that say Trump is a fascist. Project 2025 plans to do away with the Department of Education and The National Weather Service.

7) Racism/Inequality: Fascism fears difference, especially racial differences, and can’t tolerate diversity. It doesn’t see all people as created equal, but instead suggests that there are natural hierarchies that members of the party sit atop of. (Example: Stalin reversed the “inclusionary” policies of Lenin, and treated minorities as second-class citizens by deporting and exiling them.)[3] This often involves dehumanizing minority groups by equating them with pests, like rats and cockroaches.

From the beginning, Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants, referring to them as “rapists” and “criminals,” and his failure to disavow white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys, highlighted his embrace of racial inequality. More recently, he has taken to calling immigrants vermin. His policies, like the Muslim ban, were designed to privilege certain racial and religious groups over others. Add to this the aforementioned fact that the lies, which Trump amplified, about immigrants eating dogs and cats were made up by neo-Nazis and repeated by the KKK, and it becomes undeniable that Trump is engaged in the same kind of racist rhetoric as Hitler. His criticism of “criminal illegal immigrants” has shifted to all undocumented immigrants, and even to the documented ones. (He claimed that he considers the Haitian immigrants in Springfield to be illegal despite the fact that they unquestionably have documented status.)

8) Victimhood/Oppositional Identity: Fascism portrays the members of the party as victims of (social/economic/political) oppression (usually at the hands of other races) when, in fact, it is them who are doing the oppressing. Ironically, it also despises the weak and defines group identity in terms of rejecting “the weak” and “the other.” (Hitler cast Germany’s problems after WWI not as something they brought on themselves, but as something orchestrated by the Jews.) Fascist leaders also claim that they are under attack.

Trump and MAGA supporters often position themselves as victims, claiming they are being silenced by the media, social media platforms, or liberals. (Trump has claimed multiple times to be the victim of political persecution — “witch hunt, it’s a witch hunt” — when in fact he is merely being held account for crimes that he openly committed. Something that is also common among his supporters is an embrace of the fictional “evangelical persecution complex.”) At the same time, MAGA attacks marginalized groups, from immigrants to LGBTQ+ people, using their positions of power to oppress them.

9) Law and Order: Fascism professes to be the party of “law and order,” when in fact party members (and leaders) blatantly engage in criminal behavior. Their supposed goal to be “tough on crime” is usually an excuse to persecute their political and social enemies and impose their morals and way of life on everyone; and they usually infiltrate the police and military as a means to do so. (Examples of this include Mussolini’s Black Shirts, Hitler’s Brown shirts and SS, Mao’s Red Guard, and Stalin’s Internal Troops of the NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs). Indeed, the “stability” of Germany was one of Hitler’s goals, and he promised to crack down on crime — but used that as an excuse for his Brown Shirts to target Jewish neighborhoods.)

While Trump declared himself the “law and order” president, his administration was riddled with corruption, including obstruction of justice and election interference. Trump also incited illegal activities, like the Capitol insurrection, and has also been convicted of 34 federal level felonies. And, again, Trump has specifically said that he will use the military to deal with “the enemy within” — a phrase that was used by Hitler and other fascists, and which Trump has made explicitly clear refers to U.S. citizens that disagree with him. This blatantly illegal act will be done in the name of law and order. Trump even has his own “brown shirts” in militia organizations like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. There has also been a concerned effort, for years, by evangelicals, the majority of which are Trump supporters, to infiltrate the military at all levels.

10) Hyper Militaristic: Fascists are obsessed with the military and loyalty within it. (Hitler famously praised military service and was obsessed with having a large military that was loyal to him personally.)

Trump’s reverence for military parades and his desire to stage one in Washington D.C. mirrors the fascist obsession with the military. He also surrounded himself with military generals, while pushing for loyalty above all else, firing anyone he saw as insufficiently supportive. Indeed, it was recently revealed that, while in office, Trump said he wanted generals like Hitler had, which were loyal to the leader, and not the constitution or country.

11) Sexual Purity/False Accusations: Fascism plays on sexual anxieties by condemning any kind of sexual activity that violates proscribed norms (including chastity among men and sex outside of marriage in women) and (without evidence) accuses members of the “out-group” of participating in sexual activity that is not only outside those norms (e.g., homosexuality) but is violent and against the women (and children) of the in-group. (Mao did this. Putin does it now.

Trump played on fears of sexual deviance when referring to Mexicans as “rapists” and Muslim immigrants as threats to women’s safety. At the same time, his administration installed the judges that overturned Roe, with the express purpose of allowing states to pass laws which regulated women’s reproductive rights to control their bodies and sexuality. And the MAGA movement in general targets the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender persons, which it constantly berates with false accusations of child sex abuse.

12) Pro-Masculine/Anti-Feminine: Fascism idolizes masculinity (and sees critical reflection as emasculating), and neglects giving women equal rights. It sees women’s primary role as giving birth to children (to the men of the chosen race or in-group); Hitler actually gave an award (the Mother’s Cross) to women for having an abundant amount of Arian children.

Trump’s bragging about sexual conquests and denigration of women in leadership roles shows his embrace of this ideal. His administration rolled back protections for women’s rights, particularly in terms of reproductive health. MAGA acolytes are known for giving speeches that emphasize the idea that a woman’s place is in the home at her husband’s side.

13) Anti-Urban: Fascism demonizes large cities, and the people who live there, and casts them as one of the main causes of society’s ills. (This is universal for fascists: big cities is where “sin” happens.)

Trump frequently demonizes urban areas, especially cities with large minority populations, calling them “infested” and suggesting that only “real America” exists in rural areas. His attacks on cities like Chicago, Baltimore, and Detroit paint them as lawless and corrupt.

14) Selective About Benefits: Fascism portrays members of the in-group as hard working and deserving of the state’s benefits, while depicting members of the outgroup as lazy and undeserving.

Trump’s policies, like cuts to welfare and food assistance, disproportionately affected marginalized communities, while his administration framed immigrants and minorities as “takers” who didn’t deserve help. Conversely, he gave massive tax cuts to the rich, thus most benefiting those who need extra benefits the least.

15) Black and White Thinking: Fascism cannot tolerate nuanced distinctions and not only sees everything as black and white, but thinks the truth of all such matters has already been revealed and considers disagreement as heresy or treason. (One of the first things Nazis did after they took power was burn books on intersexuality, homosexuality, and transsexuality outside of the German Institute of Sexology.)

Trump’s approach to politics is consistently black and white. You were either with him or against him. His binary thinking extended to policies, seeing all immigrants as threats or portraying political opposition as enemies of the state.

16) Hyper Nationalism: Fascism views one’s identity as a member of a nation state as centrally important. (Nazi’s demanded loyalty to the “fatherland.” Stalin demanded loyalty to the Motherland.”) It also tends to put national pride and loyalty above all other concerns. The American organization that aimed to keep the U.S. out of WWII because of its sympathies with Hitler, was called “America First.”

Trump’s hugging of flags, and his idea that America must always come first, even at the expense of global cooperation, shows his embrace of hyper-nationalism. Key in this regard is his outdated economic philosophy of mercantilism, which aims to create national wealth by protecting the industries and businesses within the nation by taxing and lobbing tariffs on all those outside it. It has been known that this doesn’t work since Adam Smith debunked it, and replaced it with capitalism, in 1776. His embrace of Christian Nationalism, a movement which is popular in MAGA crowds, also helps show how Trump fits this criterion.

17) Conspiratorial Thinking: Fascism is obsessed with (imaginary) conspiratorial plots aimed at taking the nation state down. Paradoxically, its followers believe their enemies have untold wealth and power but also that their enemies will be easily overcome. (Hitler and the Nazis famously endorsed the Blood Libal conspiracy about Jews.)

Trump embraces conspiracy theories of all kinds, including birtherism, Pizzagate, the Clinton Body count, the Hunter Laptop conspiracy, the Big Lie (that he won the 2020 election), and conspiracies about FEMA Hurricane relief. The QAnon conspiracy, which was started and promoted by Trump supporters, is essentially an updated version of the Blood Libel conspiracy.

18) Violence: Fascists see life as a struggle, and mix violence with political action (and yet, paradoxically, believe that, once they have power, they will bring about a time of peace). This is why they usually are supported by militias. Fascist Holocaust deniers will even blame Churchill for WWII, claiming that he is to blame because he didn’t let Germany invade the rest of Europe without consequence.

Trump’s incitement of violence on January 6, and his defense of those who took part in it, shows how he used violence as a tool of political control. His rhetoric also often encouraged physical aggression against protestors and political opponents. During his 2024 campaign, not only did he suggest that he would use the US military against his political opponents, and also we learned that he tried to do so during his first term (and was only stopped by people like Generals Kelly and Milley.)

19) Purges the Disloyal: In fascism, there is a hierarchical party structure, and anyone who is not loyal enough (or who might replace the leader) is ousted.

Trump’s presidency was marked by a constant purge of those he deemed insufficiently loyal, from his firing of FBI Director James Comey to his public humiliation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Anyone who crossed him faced political exile. His Project 2025 strategy includes detailed plans for how to oust everyone not loyal to Trump from all government positions. It is the threat of such purges which has caused republicans who once berated him to embrace him. The same republicans that called him a “narcissist,” and “orange faced windbag,” “everything I taught my children not to be,” “a race baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” an exploiter of the working class, a “con-artist” whose every word is a lie, a crazy “kook” who is “unfit for office,” who has “not read the constitution,” … those same republicans not only now embrace him, but bend over backwards to excuse his misbehavior, even after he insults them. Dozens who said that Trump being directly responsible for the January 6th insurrection disqualified him from holding office, now make excuses for it and support his candidacy willingly.

20) Mass Mobilization: Fascism rises to power on a mass political wave that creates a new political party, like Nazism and Maoism.

Trump has rallied a base that became a political force, leading to the formation of a new, far-right movement within the Republican Party. Indeed, it is widely regarded that the republican party died as it was replaced with the party of Trump; this is why so many mainstream republicans have left the party and endorsed his opponent.

The only element of fascism you will find in academic work on fascism that may not fit the MAGA movement is “the Fetishization of the Youth.” Hitler famously targeted the young to brainwash them into loyalty; to date, Trump has not done that (although you do see this in the MAGA evangelical community). However, with the Trump campaign’s recent targeting of the voting block of young men, this may be changing.

Conclusion:

Fascism is a word that has been thrown around a lot since WWII; almost every American president has been called a fascist by someone or another. But only Trump has been called that by his own military generals and experts on the topic. Yes, the label can be misapplied — but The Boy Who Cried Wolf ends with the boy being killed by a wolf. We cannot let past hyperbole prevent us from calling a spade a spade.

The warning signs are all there, staring us in the face. Trump is a fascist leading a new American fascist movement. The fact that it hasn’t happened before, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening now. And his first term is no indication of what his second term will be like. There are no more adults (like Gen. Milley and Gen. Kelly) in the room to stop him from using the military on American citizens (like they did in his first term). He has surrounded himself with “yes-men,” plans to purge everyone who could stop him, and the supreme court has already granted him criminal immunity for everything he wants to do. If we do not stop him at the ballot box now, the United States — and indeed the world — may never recover.

[1] https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/33440

[2] https://www.iias.asia/sites/default/files/2020-11/IIAS_NL39_26.pdf

[3] Wikepedia: Soviet Racism