Michael Higgins argues that opponents of U.S. President Donald Trump have been smearing him with the label 'fascist' for years, but have always resorted to being inventive when producing the evidence. Instead of incendiary accusations, they should focus on winning elections.
The Fascist Narrative
In November 2024, American historian Timothy Snyder accused Trump of 'talky fascism' and predicted he would change the system to remain in power until his death. However, commenting last December on the Republican nomination for president in 2028, Trump said, 'It’s not going to be me.'
In 2021, Robert Paxton, professor emeritus of social sciences at Columbia University, was at pains to point out the differences between Trump and Hitler and Mussolini, but declared him a fascist because of his support for the riot at the Washington Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
History professor Federico Finchelstein argued in 2021 that Trump stepped over from populism to fascism when he called the Joe Biden win of 2020 'the big lie.'
Rick Steves' Latest Attempt
The latest attempt at this fascist narrative genre is Rick Steves, an influential American travel writer and television host, whose speech last month illustrates the dangers of being recklessly inflammatory. According to Steves, Trump is not just a Hitler or a Mussolini, he is the epitome of a fascist dictator. He even gave a 20-point list to prove it.
No. 1 in Steves' 'fascist playbook' was: 'Establish a mythic past.' The slogan Make America Great Again was a perfect example of this fascist ideology, he said. Which means both Republican Ronald Reagan (who used the phrase in his 1980 campaign) and Democrat Bill Clinton (who used it in speeches during his 1991 campaign) have their feet on the first step of the fascist ladder.
No. 3 in the playbook was: 'Divide the World into Us versus Them.' Steves, who endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris against Trump in 2024, then proceeded in his partisan speech to divide the country into 'Them versus Us.'
'Build a paramilitary police force,' was also on the list and Trump had accomplished this with ICE agents, said Steves, forgetting to mention that ICE was created in 2003 as part of the Homeland Security Act, the response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. 'State terror is the infrastructure of fascism. Hitler had his Brownshirts, Trump’s got his ICE,' said Steves in his speech at Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle.
Context and Consequences
Steves commented on some of the controversial and tragic consequences of ICE operations such as the deaths in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. As sad as those deaths were, they were isolated incidents. To understand what a truly autocratic government can do, one needs only look at Iran this year which may have killed 20,000 protesters or more in mere days, according to UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in Iran Mai Sato in an interview.
Calling Trump a fascist as an insult is one thing, but attempts to categorize him with dictators like Hitler and Mussolini always appear to be an unsubstantiated hatchet job. The opponents of Trump would do better to focus on winning elections rather than indulging in fantasies of fascism.
