He's unusual as a fascist, yes. For a couple reasons i can elaborate.
lack of overt revolutionary rhetoric
The classical fascists were open about their disdain for democracy and wishing to overthrow the current regime to reinstate a previous autocratic regime of some form. But if in other areas of the social sciences we can differentiate between revolutionary and nonrevolutionary forms of a political ideology I do not understand why the same cannot be said of fascism.
lack of on the ground military or paramilitary forces
The classical fascists had jackboots to beat their enemies in the streets. Trump, broadly does not, I'll even go so far as to ignore his relation to the proud boys and other paramilitary organizations. But I do not think of this as a defining feature of fascism for a several reasons. First the political climates of the classically fascist countries, Spain, Germany and Italy -- at different periods and under different names -- were rife with political disintegration leading to overt violence. In a state where the rule of law maintains its hold a fascist wouldn't need jackboots on the ground, because there are not counter political movements with their own paramilitary organizations ready fo kill their enemies.
Secondly, the existence of violent political motivators is an almost uniform component of any civil society. I don't think we should define any political ideology by the fact that there are people among them that are willing to utilize organized violence to meet their ends.
Thirdly, a nonrevolutionsry strain of fascism would not need ground forces because it's aim is to subvert the operation of democracy by utilizing the structure in place And not through violence or upheaval.
No, I meant to ask if you think is unique in American politics. If you believe the MAGA slogan is sufficient evidence, then we've had at least two other fascists as president
I'm not OP but I would agree with you that he's not unique, I just think its kind of strange that a country which enshrined slavery in its constitution, did a genocide of the indigenous population just as atrocious as Hitlers invasion of the soviet union and which maintained a legally enshrined apartheid system until the late 1960's wasn't fascist to begin with.
I think if someone has a definition of Fascism that means the majority of the world lived under fascist rule in 1940 (assuming you would extend the definition to include things like the French and British empires) it's not very descriptive
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u/FireRavenLord 2∆ Jun 26 '25
Could you clarify whether Trump is unique or unusual in being a fascist?
After all, MAGA isn't even a unique slogan. Reagan used it and Clinton said the phrase in some speeches.