During the 1930s and 1940s, Mussolini and Hitler were worshipped. They both campaigned for political power as Fascists and they ran their country as Fascists. This Fascism included the hatred of certain religions, certain races, and certain countries as well as economic isolationism through things like tariffs. Donald Trump’s first wife, Ivana, once said that Trump used to keep a book of Hitler’s speeches in a cabinet by his bed. This was decades ago. Trump’s ex-wife had little reason to lie about this. When Trump was asked about it, instead of denying it, he asked how the reporter had heard about it.
I believe that Trump thought that Hitler’s words had great power, so he studied them over and over again. There is a website with Hitler’s translated speeches, and you can’t read them without realizing how much they sound like the speeches Donald Trump gave throughout his 2016 Presidential Campaign. In the 1930’s, Hitler learned to charm large audiences, and in 2016, so did Donald Trump. Hitler’s use of populist rhetoric contributed to his rise to power. Later, Trump used populist rhetoric to rise to power.
After Trump won the U.S. Presidency in 2016, some people said he won because of bigotry, and some said he won because of economics. However, the Fascism of Mussolini and Hitler dealt with both bigotry and economic isolationism, and that is what Trump ran on: bigotry, including keeping immigrants out of America (which is economic isolation from foreign workers as well as just plain bigotry), and tariffs, which reduces the number of purchases of foreign imports. Trump didn’t win on just bigotry or just economics. He won on both.
The American voters who were bigots loved Trump’s bigotry, and a number of union workers in the Industrial Midwest loved his promise of tariffs on China. In addition, Trump ran on Reagan’s traditional three legged stool by promising tax cuts, Conservative judges, and a build up of the military. The build up of the military was, of course, also done by Hitler and Mussolini. These various issues gave Trump five ways to woo voters Conservative voters as well as working class White voters—bigotry, tariffs, tax cuts, Conservative judges, and a build up of the military. In addition, Trump ran a highly sophisticated social media campaign that was miles ahead of Hillary Clinton’s social media campaign. In the CNN series “The 2000’s”, David Axelrod, one of Obama’s 2008 campaign advisors, said that that President Obama wouldn’t have won without his social media campaign on the Internet—that’s how big a difference a social media campaign can be.
So, I disagree with anyone who says that Trump won just because of bigotry or just because of economics. I believe that both were crucial to his win, so it was not just one or the other. In addition, when Fascists have been elected to Western nations, they have always been worshipped. Mussolini and Hitler were both worshipped—only to be reviled later because while they temporarily built up the economy, the combination of increased bigotry and increased debt that these Fascists created, along with the war that their nations ended up fighting, ended up crushing their countries. Oh, Trump wanted a war with Iran in early 2020, but too many of us rubbed his Twitter Tweet claiming that Obama wanted to start a war to win re-election in his face, so that helped make him back off that insane idea.
Fascism can win elections, and it can get a leader worshipped, but at a terrible price. In 2020, Trump was so focused on his Fascism plan that he completely ignored the dangers of COVID-19, and when he could not start a war to keep him in office, like George W. Bush did, the obvious flaws of Fascism, along with his complete inability to listen to scientists, did Trump in.
Some people have argued that Trump was not a Fascist because his Presidential term was not as bad or extreme as Hitler’s or Mussolini’s. However, I would argue that a lighter version of Fascism is still Fascism, just as light beer is still beer. Trump may not have given us the complete Fascist experience of massive war and millions dead, but he would have if he could have, so he was, at the very least, aspiring to be a world class Fascist. if Trump tripped up before he reached the world class Fascist finish line, he was still heading there. There is a good chance that Trump was unable to drag us into a war with Iran only because, after so many years of having troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and after the unending “War on Terror” these past 20 year, Americans were already sick of war.
In my opinion, Trump has been worshipped as other Fascists have been. In the long term, I believe that he will be just as reviled as the other Fascists were after World War II.
Is Trump a Fascist? The articles below might help you form an opinion:
Articles Saying Trump Is Not Much Of A Fascist:
Don’t Call Donald Trump a Fascist
How fascist is President Trump? There’s still a formula for that.
Fascism, Trumpism and the Left
Historian: Today’s Authoritarian Leaders Aren’t Fascists—But They Are Part of the Same Story
Articles Indicating Trump May Be A Fascist:
Trump’s War on the Press Follows the Mussolini and Hitler Playbook
Why Fascists Fail: History’s autocrats have been the architects of their own demise. Even if he seizes power, so will Trump.
Fear Not: Trump Isn’t Hitler. (But He Might Be Mussolini)
Trump explains tweeting Mussolini quote
Rise of Donald Trump Tracks Growing Debate Over Global Fascism
How Hitler went from fringe politician to dictator — and why it's a mistake to think it couldn't happen in the US
Articles About Fascism In General:
A Definitive Guide To Historical Fascism
Dictator Literature by Daniel Kalder review – the deathly prose of dic-lit
How Fascism Works
Normalizing fascists
How Journalists Covered the Rise of Mussolini and Hitler