We need to redefine America’s understanding of fascism

President Trump poses a dangerous threat to our liberal democracy and the safety and well being of marginalized groups, but he does not quite fit the description of an authentic fascist leader, for now

Brittany Lang / Feature Editor / The USD Vista

The United States is currently consumed by internal divisions and polarization, which have been drastically heightened by Donald Trump’s presidency. Americans, in an attempt to comprehend the detrimental threat that his administration poses to our liberal democracy, marginalized groups, and our standing on the world stage, have fashioned the notion that fascism is here, right in our own country. However this is a misanalysis of the truth, at least for the time being.

Trump has stoked the fires of white supremacy, nationalism, and xenophobia throughout his entire time in office. He can be called a racist, a xenophobe, an oligarch, or even an authoritarian, but he’s not a fascist. This is a title that is often bestowed upon him by his opposition and is frequently seen in social media posts of people voicing their dissent to his policies and behavior. It is crucial that Americans redefine their understanding of fascism — a fascist government is one that seeks to overthrow the entire political system and the fact of the matter is, Trump is manipulating our current democratic system to enforce his own discriminatory ideology.

The question of whether Trump can be branded as a fascist leader has been thrown around since his 2015 speech during which he rallied against Mexican immigrants and later when he ordered a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the country. Over the course of these past five years, the fascism label has only become more popular.

His anti-immigration and anti-Black policies along with his refusal to denounce Neo-Nazis and white nationalists during the first presidential debate on Sept. 29 with his statement to the far-right, Neo-Fascist group “The Proud Boys” to, “stand back and stand by,” have only added fuel to the fire. However, what is commonly misunderstood is the fact that you can be a completely xenophobic and racist leader and still not be a fascist. The problem is that Americans have lost sight of how true fascism manifests itself.

To be a fascist, by definition, one must support a revolutionary overthrow of the central government, constitution, and democracy in its entirety, none of which Trump has explicitly voiced support for. Trump has used some fascist political tactics and sought out “fascist solutions” like targeting minorities and mass incarceration, but he is not leading a fascist government.

Drawing parallels between Trump’s behavior and other dictators can illuminate how some of his policies parallel those of these fierce and oppressive leaders of the past and present. However, equating Trump to Benito Mussolini or Adolf Hitler is wrong in the sense that it leads to a misanalysis of our current political situation.

Nevertheless, being “not fascist” is setting the bar very low for Trump. He has in fact said and done many abhorrent things and it is likely that if re-elected he could become more extreme in his right-wing policies, especially in his growing willingness to use physical violence.

Trump has expressed hyper-nationalistic tendencies, defined his political essence through opposition, employed theatricality, used the presidency to further advance his business interests, has a disdain for international agreements, and has recently been inciting violence. He tweeted on May 29 in a response to the public outcry over the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matters protests that followed, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

The main aspect that removes Trump from fascism is his relationship with democracy and how he has never called for an overthrow of the Constitution. Therefore, he does not pose a challenge to constitutional democracy but instead to liberalism. Trump demonstrates a disregard for the rules, evident from his current refusal to commit to accepting the results of the presidential election on Nov. 3 if he loses, but he does not want to change the core system as he profits from it.

The fact is, fascism is unable to exist in a country with a federal, decentralized state with constitutional checks and balances. Although Trump makes continuous attempts to discredit and silence opposition by branding every negative news story about him as “fake news” and has set records for presidential dishonesty, the government has not shut down media sources or jailed journalists.

Additionally, there are some other criteria of fascist leaders that Trump does not fit. He does not advocate for war as a way to rejuvenate the nation, he has never focused on the fetishization of the youth, he has no coherent cultural policy, nor has he arranged for the murder of political opponents. 

Instead of trying to equate the Trump administration to other fascist governments, we should try to focus on the ways in which he is perverting democracy and how he has and continues to use the Constitution to rationalize his abuses of power. Trump has much more in common with right-wing populist leaders in Europe today. If he is voted in for a second term it is possible that, considering his most recent actions, he would try to convert the U.S. into a more repressive dictatorship.

As students of USD, we need to understand how the terminology that we employ means something and that it carries a great power. If we continue to incorrectly use fascism to define Trump’s presidency, which is seen as the most extreme and oppressive form of governance, then we are equating our position to that of the citizens of other countries who are facing more extreme forms of violence and oppression. If we don’t understand what fascism is, then we will struggle to identify it when it is taking millions of lives elsewhere.

The views expressed in the editorial and op-ed sections are not necessarily those of The USD Vista staff, the University of San Diego, or its student body.