Is Donald Trump a fascist?

Read time: 4 minutes

In brief…

• Kamala Harris this week agreed that Donald Trump is a “fascist” during a CNN town hall interview, after months using much lighter attack lines against the former president.
• It comes after Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly made the same allegation, claiming his ex-boss respected how military commanders treated Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany.
• The News Agents say Harris’ shift in tone comes after she exhausted all other avenues, but note there is arguably a case to be made in calling Trump a fascist.

What’s the story?

Until now, the most offensive insult Kamala Harris could dish out to her opponent in the presidential race was “weird”.

She has taken it up a notch, or a few notches, for the first time agreeing with claims Donald Trump a “fascist”.

When asked in a CNN Town Hall event whether she considered the former president a fascist, she offered a simple response: “Yes I do.”

Harris added that Trump is becoming “increasingly unstable” and “unfit to serve”.

It marks quite the departure from the early days of her campaign, which was dominated by optimistic political messaging and a less combative approach.

So why the change in tone from the Democratic nominee, and what does it tell us about the presidential race?

Is it accurate to call Trump a fascist, and after eight years of the former president on the political scene, why is it so hard to land an effective blow on Trump?

Why now?

This week, John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, described his ex-boss’ politics as “far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterised by a dictatorial leader, centralised autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy.”

He added: “Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that.

“So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”

Kelly, a former general, also claimed Trump despised not having generals who swore loyalty to him in the same way military commanders who served Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany did.

Harris acknowledged Kelly’s remarks, saying they show Trump “does not want a military that is loyal to the United States constitution”.

She said: “He wants a military who will be loyal to him, personally, one that will obey his orders, even when he tells them to break the law or abandon their oath to the constitution of the United States.”

Kelly also claimed Trump would not want to be seen with military amputees.

Lewis Goodall describes this as “absolutely astounding.”

“These are people who claim to revere and venerate the American military, American soldiers, and they've got a former general literally saying that this guy does not respect the military, and actually won't even be seen with amputees,” he says.

So is Trump a fascist?

“The very fact that it's an open question with Trump as to whether he's a fascist or not, the very fact that we could be having that debate, tells you everything”, says Lewis.

While calling Trump a fascist is up for debate, Lewis argues it is clear Trump is authoritarian.

He says: “Ultra nationalism - America First.

“Suppression of opposition - he says he wants to lock up his political opponents.

“Militarism and violence - we know he's literally created an insurrection.

“Anti-communism and anti-liberalism - check. Propaganda and cult of personality - check.”

So while calling Trump a fascist may be up for debate, Lewis says it is clear he is a unique political figure.

How does it affect the presidential race?

Talk of fascism is genuinely terrifying for everyone here in the UK, says Emily Maitlis.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a strong attack line for Harris that will chime with American voters.

Emily adds: “If she just talked about the tariffs that he's trying to bring in, if she just said his tariffs will make all your goods much more expensive and you will be in trouble, it will hurt.

“That would arguably be a far more effective message for the last 10 days.”

Jon agrees: “She's got to land the argument. Joe Biden kept on saying the economy has turned a corner, it's doing great.

“There was dissonance, because it didn't relate to people's lives.

“She has tried to navigate it more carefully, to say, ‘this is what America can be, this is what America will be’, and that economic message has got to land.”

Lewis argues we won’t find out whether calling him a fascist as a piece of political strategy will work until after the election.

It comes after Harris’ “burnt through approaches” in taking on Trump.

“She's burnt through stories that she's telling about herself and her opponent”, Lewis says.

That is not necessarily all Harris’ fault.

Partially, Lewis says, Harris has been hindered by entering the campaign at a late stage after replacing Joe Biden.

“She's paying the price for the early momentum she got from coming in and being fresh and being different. The cost of that has been that she didn't have a primary campaign.

If she did, perhaps she could have sharpened her message, honed a narrative about herself and her opponent, and a strategy for how she was going to win the race, Lewis says.

“What we've seen, particularly over the last two or three weeks as Trump has become somewhat stronger and Democrats have started to worry and panic, is that she has not had that ballast for the primary period a long run for a campaign would have provided her with.”

Listen in full on The News Agents.