“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”  – JD Vance, 2022

October 29, 2024

There’s an old adage called Godwin’s Law that states that when an argument reaches the point where somebody is compared to Hitler, that argument is officially over.

But what about somebody that compares himself to Hitler?

The fall of 2024 will forever be known as the moment in American history when a leading candidate for the presidency was outed by his former Chief of Staff for praising Adolf Hitler and not losing a single point in the polls. America, what have we become?

After not one but two of “his generals” confirmed Trump’s praise for the German fascist, Trump headed to off to Madison Square Garden for a fascist rally of his own. Yes, MSG is the site of a thousand historic concerts (Maybe Trump even knew about Elvis’s famous 1972 show there). The Garden was also the site of a hate filled Nazi rally in 1939, organized by an American pro-Hitler group. And 70 years ago, Madison Square Garden hosted a rally for Joseph McCarthy that highlighted anti-Semitic, racist, and anti-communist speakers. Mark Twain once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” and boy was the world’s most famous arena rhyming Sunday night.

The coverage of the MAGA hate rally revealed just what you would expect of a celebration of America’s wannabe Fuhrer – The triumph of the shill. “Comedians” and “celebrities” degraded Puerto Ricans, Latinos, black people, women, and called Vice President Harris a prostitute. There was Putin fan boy Tucker Carlson mocking Harris’ ethnicity and other Putin fan boy Trump vowing to round up all undocumented immigrants on “Day 1” of his administration. (How, he, nor his loyal generals, have yet to tell us.)

Those of us who are scholars of fascism have been screaming from the mountain tops, like Julie Andrews, that Trump’s authoritarian fantasies present an existential threat to the very existence of the United States. I first wrote about it on August 24, 2015 (while working in Mexico). Here’s just a sample of the many pieces I’ve written about Trump and fascism.

“Donald Trump is the new face of white supremacy,” says hate crime expert. (August 24, 2015)

Trump Part 2 – This is what fascism looks like. (September 14, 2015)

I told you Donald Trump was a fascist! (December 9, 2015)

Who the hell is supporting Donald Trump? (March 10, 2016)

Fascists Fall for Trump, their Nazi Dream Date (August 4, 2017)

President Trump is not smart enough not to throw America into a civil war (October 29, 2018)

Globalization and Nationalism: Get Ready for More Fascist Violence (April 29, 2019)

The Barbarians at the Gate: Confronting MAGA Terrorists Post Trump (January 12, 2021)

Foreshadowing Fascism: The Spike in Anti-Semitism is Bigger than Trump and Kanye (December 7, 2022)

We Defeated Fascism 80 Years Ago, We Must Defeat Trump Now. It’s Go Time! (May 27, 2024)

I Remember America: It Was a Good 248 Years (July 24, 2024)

Fascism on America’s Doorstep (and are your pets safe?) (September 14, 2024)

Guilty Jews, Black Nazis, and Pet-eating Immigrants: Donald Trump’s Not So New Brand of Racism (September 21, 2024)

So we know that Trump has all the hallmarks of a fascist. (4-star General John Kelly, Trump’s longest serving Chief of Staff, has enumerated the qualifications.) We know that Trump’s MAGA base qualifies as a fascist moment, with its fervent religiously justified nationalism and racist xenophobia. We know all this and the perpetual question remains; Why is this still so close?

In this final week, Trump could say he plans on throwing undocumented immigrants in ovens and not lose a single supporter (not even Speaker of the House Mike Johnson). Trump could say he plans to nuke Gaza and give Ukraine to Putin and not lose a single cheerleader (not even Senator Lindsey Graham). Trump could eat a baby on live TV and not loose a single MAGA minion (not even Kid Rock). His base is locked in and it’s ride or die with the billionaire from Queens.  How do we explain this fanatical obsession with a man who can barely speak in complete sentences?

I’ve studied fascism for 40 years, both its historical cases and its real time manifestations (including over five years embedded inside white supremacist groups). I could write a dissertation on MAGA. The first attempt to psychoanalyze fascist movements was Wilhelm Reich’s 1933 classic, The Mass Psychology of Fascism, that argued that the emerging German Nazi movement was made up repressed homosexuals. While that might go a ways to explain MAGA’s obsession with drag queens and transgender athletes, sexual repression ain’t what it was in the Weimar Republic.

Put most simply, MAGA is a cult of personality. They could care less about Trump’s foibles or failed policies. His poorly educated base couldn’t define “fascism” if Elon Musk paid them. They just love Trump. He’s rich but, like them, he don’t speak right. His puffed-up faux masculinity gives them an imagined fighter, with a new mail-order-bride on his arm. They see themselves in him and they will follow him into the gates of hell, wrapped in American flag, made in China. His racism, rape charges, and his hyper-nostalgia for a mythical American past just serve to inflate his “fuck the world” strong man con act. MAGA knows their emperor has no clothes, but, as my mother used to tell me, if you stop believing in Santa, he will stop bringing you presents.

So we’ll head into Election Day with half of voters fully aware they are the grip of a madman, finding an intoxicating comfort in feeling like the oppressor instead of the supposed oppressed. And like many of those arrested at the January 6th attack, when it all goes sideways, they may way up from their fever dream, as did Hitler’s willing executioners. But the damage will be done.