What is fascism and why does Kamala Harris say Donald Trump is a fascist?

WASHINGTON (AP) Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thinks Donald Trump is a fascist, and she replied: Yes, I do. She then treated him the same way herself, saying voters don't want a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.

But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word change when viewed through a historical or political lens, especially so close to the end of a tense presidential race?

Here's a closer look:

What is fascism?

An authoritarian and ultranationalist ideology and political movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military force to help suppress political and civil opposition.

The two most famous fascists in history were Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or the Duke, Mussolini led the National Fascist Party, symbolized by an eagle clutching a bundle of rods with an ax among them.

At Mussolini's request, in October 1922, thousands of blackshirts, or squadristi, formed an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler's Nazis also relied on a militia, known as the Brownshirts. Both men ultimately imposed one-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civil unrest that pitted loyalists against political opponents and broader parts of everyday society.

Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and spread sophisticated propaganda. They exploited racist fears and manipulated not only their active supporters but also ordinary citizens.

Today, the term fascism has adopted a looser political definition and is often invoked as a catch-all to refer to efforts to spread oppression and racism as well as to denounce dictators or leaders who adopt totalitarian tactics .

It's not just the left that has used the term, denouncing a rightward push in the United States and many parts of the world. Some conservatives have called lockdowns imposed during the coronavirus pandemic fascist.

What are other historical examples of fascism?

Hitler and Mussolini are its two biggest names, but things get murkier from there.

Did military dictator Augusto Pinochet rule Chile with an iron fist for 17 years? What about the Indonesian strongman Suharto or the Spaniard Francisco Franco? Were the regimes of Ferenc Szlasi in Hungary and Plnio Salgado in Brazil fascist? What is the place of American neo-Nazi leader David Duke?

Indeed, critics sometimes describe modern American extremist groups, including movements that applauded Trump, such as the Proud Boys, as fascists or neo-fascists. These labels are perhaps more steeped in political ideology than clear historical parallels.

Why is Harris calling Trump a fascist?

The vice president has long criticized Trump as mentally unstable and not a true believer or defender of the country's founding democratic principles.

She notes that Trump has suggested deploying the military to target political opponents, including people he has called enemies within. The former president has long talked about attacking his enemies and told his supporters he would be their revenge.

He's talking about the American people. He's talking about journalists, judges, nonpartisan election officials, Harris said Wednesday night during a CNN town hall.

What you need to know about the 2024 elections

Trump has threatened to take action against television networks and news outlets for coverage he considers unfavorable. And, when now-President Joe Biden challenged him during a 2020 debate to denounce the Proud Boys, Trump responded: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by your side.

A mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, seeking to overturn Trump's loss to Biden after Trump gave a speech spreading lies about the election and urging the crowd to stand down. beat like hell. Among those jailed in connection with January 6 was the leader of the Proud Boys, accused of orchestrating a failed plot to keep Trump in power.

Harris moved toward characterization. During an interview with her in Detroit on October 15, radio host Charlamagne Tha God said Trump was increasingly embracing fascism and asked: Why can't we just say it? Yes, we can say that, Harris replied.

Then Trump's former chief of staff, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, warned that the former president met the definition of a fascist. He said Trump, when in office, suggested Hitler did good things and that Trump valued personal loyalty above the Constitution.

The Trump campaign accused Kelly of lying and brushed off Harris' criticism, with spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responding that Kamala will say anything to distract from his open border invasion and record inflation. Trump described January 6 as a day of love.

Trump himself rejected the fascist label in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.

Everyone knows that's not true, he said. They call me everything until something sticks.

How do fascism experts view Trump?

They are divided.

Robert Paxton, professor emeritus at Columbia University and author of The Anatomy of Fascism, cited the Jan. 6 attack as evidence of Trump's fascism.

It's bubbling up from below in a very disturbing way, and it looks a lot like the original fascisms, Paxton told the New York Times Magazine in an article published this week. It's the real thing. It really is.

Some do not see Trump as meeting the classic historical definition of a fascist, but rather moving increasingly toward politics with fascist leanings.

David Kertzer, a Brown University professor and Italian historian, said he was a little horrified to hear Harris call Trump a fascist given the historically resonant terms. He said there are some similarities, including the mass movement, a cult of the strongman. He noted that Trump sometimes lifts his chin, although he is not inclined to rip off his shirt and bare his chest, as Mussolini did.

Kertzer said that fascism involved a one-party state, the banning of all opposition newspapers and the imprisonment of those who disagreed, and that although Trump has spoken of imprisoning his opponents , it has not progressed towards other key facets of the movement.

There are some echoes, but when it comes to turning the Republican Party into a one-party state, that seems rather far-fetched at the moment, said Kertzer, author of The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the rise of fascism in Europe.

David Clay Large, a senior fellow at the University of California's Berkeley Institute for European Studies, said the alarm bells currently ringing may be somewhat exaggerated.

Our democratic institutions, while under siege, remain far stronger than those of European nations that turned fascist in the 1920s and 1930s, Large said. Still, he added, there would be real danger for these institutions in a second Trump presidential term.

The rise of far-right parties across Europe and Trump's control of the Republican Party, Large said, create an entirely new situation: The center can no longer hold on like it used to.

Added to this is social media, which in the digital age reflects the use of propaganda, exacerbating emotions and divisions, he added.

Where everyone is an expert, we have lost respect for reality, objectivity and the real opinion of experts, Large said.

– Kellman reported from London.

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