A theoretical outlining lends credence to the visceral reality of fascism’s resurgence within the North American context. Unfortunately, as has been the case throughout its history, fascism’s proliferation is emboldened under its ability to hide in the shadows under the guise of many names with an aura of gaslighting when its opponents are staring it in the face.
Therefore, due diligence requires that I explain what I mean by fascism within our current context and how it operates both subversively and overtly in the political sphere. To construct a summary definition of fascism in its contemporary “nuances,” I draw on three scholars: Matthew Lyons’ Insurgent Supremacists: The U.S. Far Right’s Challenge to State and Empire, Devin Zane Shaw’s Philosophy of Antifascism: Punching Nazis and Fighting White Supremacy, and Mark Bray’s Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook. Fascism is a political ideology based in right wing populism which rejects democratic values as the central undergirding principles of the polis; is revolutionary, insurrectionary, violent, and extralegal in its modus operandi; promotes a hegemonic national identity rooted in white supremacist ableist patriarchal heteronormativity counter-distinct from the attacks of the outside Other; has the goal of (re)establishing a totalitarian nation state reflecting these proper hegemonic hierarchies socially, politically, and economically; justifies its goals and praxis via amorphous religious symbolism and allusions to a “natural order”; and is usually centered around a singular cult figure.
This definition justifies labeling Donald Trump’s current campaign/political platform as fascist in essence. By extension, this reiterates that his supporters are placing their hopes in a fascist vision for society—i.e., are fascists.
“You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this?”: Making America Fascist Again
We saw blatant examples of fascist rhetoric and action throughout the lead-up to Trump’s first term and frequently in his tenure as president, but these have been further emboldened in his recent re-election campaign. Drawing parallels to the above definition, Trump’s use of “America First” as a foreign policy marker (a nod to Charles Lindberg’s pro-fascist America First Committee); his handling of the media—the casual mocking of pool reporters with disabilities, the blacklisting of credentialed media from his pressers for being “enemies of the people”, and coining the phrase “fake news” to describe reporting he doesn’t agree with; the labeling of the Black Lives Matter movement as a bunch of “thugs” (coded racist language); and referring to women as dogs, bimbos, pigs, simply “pieces of ass”—to the extent of blaming the 26,000 unaddressed cases of sexual assault in the military in recent decades on women entering the workforce instead of performing domestic duties.
Others include the Muslim ban, the Make America Great Again promise to undo globalization and ethnic dilution via border walls in a return to some idyllic jingoistic past; the espousing of Great Replacement Theory (an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory claiming global economic control on the part of Jewish elites); and his anti-intellectualism and wariness of critical thought manifesting in book bans, school budget cuts, and the famous Turning Point “professor watch list”.
The persistence and growth of these facets of fascism is evident in a series of political rallies held in November and December of 2023 to ramp up the current campaign season. Pointing to what he categorized as a rising tide of “internal enemies”, Trump alluded to stamping out political adversaries “like vermin”; praised the authoritarian strength of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the dictatorship of Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladamir Putin with regards to combating immigration and opposition parties; and also declared that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” (a remark that is seen verbatim in Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf).
Lest this quotation of Nazism be seen as a slip up, Trump doubled down on the phrase via a post on Truth Social after the event and utilized the same language in an interview with Right Wing media outlet The National Pulse at his Mar a Lago home in September.
All of this is in addition to the most blatant comment regarding his fascist platform, the declaration that he will become a “dictator just for one day” to close the border and send military forces to secure it on his first day in office should he be elected in 2024.
A unique encapsulation of these tendencies is a Freudian slip from Trump at his Iowa rally in December where he proudly declared, “We’ve been waging an all-out war on American democracy” where his advisors assured the public he meant to say, “for American democracy”. This moment of accidental honesty reminds us that fascistic rhetoric is not novel for Trump, but it is increasing in frequency and vitriolic nature.
This phenomenon is rooted in religious symbolism and gaining support among Christian communities. Recent PEW poll results reflect Trump’s widespread support amongst Christians whose faith is seen as formative for their political affiliations, continuing trends seen in the 2020 iteration of those polls. The only demographic categories of religious adherents where Trump had and continues to have a majority of favorable support are 1. White Catholics (51%) and White Evangelicals (67%) with the most closely contested demographic being amongst White non-Evangelical Protestants (48%).
Overall, two-thirds of self-identified Evangelicals, regardless of race, back Trump as both a worthy leader and a suitable candidate for re-election. Agnostic and Atheist persons polled overwhelmingly reject Trump’s presidency and bid for re-election (82% and 88% respectively). Trump’s supporters see a correlation between their faith and his political vision.
Trump has embraced religiously symbolic acts and ideological references: the infamous march through Lafayette Park to hold up a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church during the George Floyd Protests (a stunt which saw the removal of peaceful protesters from outside the White House via deployment of tear gas by the National Guard); his frequent declarations of upholding America as a Christian nation (most recently his statement to the February 2024 National Religious Broadcasters International Christian Media Convention that the radical left will no longer tear down the Cross of Christ to replace it with social justice flags); the ideological, albeit funny, nod to the Bible being his “favorite book”—perhaps best exemplified by his recent release of the God Bless the USA Trump Bible, which is available for just $59.99 as he seeks to raise funds for various legal defenses and settlement payments.
The former president has even gone so far as to compare himself with Christ, as seen in this year’s Easter weekend post on Truth Social (the social media application that he and his followers flocked to in the wake of his and their violations of hate speech rules on Twitter) where he shared an article entitled “The Crucifixion of Trump”—a comparison between Christ’s crucifixion and what is described as his own political scapegoating. Both overt and subliminal religious language and symbolism are thus intertwined in a theologically incoherent but politically powerful bend towards fascism.
For the final piece of the puzzle—the extra-legal orientation of fascist ideology—two examples should suffice. First, Trump’s vehement support of the January 6th insurrection aimed at overturning the legitimate democratic election of Joe Biden in 2020; and second, his ongoing legal defense related to various federal crimes, law suites, and breaches of policy (not limited to involvement in the insurrection) being rooted in the belief that those parameters do not apply to him. In both instances, he has shown that he is ready to operate in any manner he sees fit to hold onto power and personally benefit himself not just politically but financially as well.
As an encapsulation of this ethos, at the March 2023 CPAC convention where Trump announced his current presidential campaign, he dog whistled to those very insurrectionists by stating, “In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today, I add, I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution” which has been followed by promises to appoint a special prosecutor to go after President Joe Biden and “all others involved in the destruction of our elections, borders, and our country itself” in a June video from Mar a Lago.
The plan to strengthen extra-legal executive powers outside of judicial jurisdiction is clear and foregrounds the reality that should Trump be elected again, fascist actions will continue on his part; that his authoritarian rule will reinvigorate fascistic actions on the part of his supporters against their fellow citizens; and that democracy itself within the United States will be undermined, threatened, and attacked under his leadership. There is no question that what we are dealing with is a specter of religiously based fascism. The question remains, what will we do about it?
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