Photo source: Deans Charbal – CC BY-SA 4.0

Let’s not wait for historians to analyze the Trump era and ask the question: Are Trump and his MAGA supporters aberrations in American history or manifestations of an important autocratic leitmotif of American historical fascism? Individuals may experience bad days and periods of unusual and destructive behavior. But what about societies that democratically choose to be autocratically ruled? When Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly claims the former president fits “within the general definition of fascist” and “certainly prefers the dictatorial approach to government,” there should be immediate concerns after the election from November 5. Democracies can become fascist. We know that Hitler came to power in 1934 through Germany’s legal political processes, an Austrian plebiscite approving the Anschluss. And in the United States? Donald Trump and his supporters wonder if the United States will follow a charismatic and authoritarian leader on the path to fascism.

The recent elections gave Trump control of the executive branch, the legislature and the Supreme Court. Over the next four years, there will be no separation of powers, no checks and balances, no safeguards.

There is precedent in the discussion of how fascism arises. Germany had a debate in the 1980s about how Hitler came to power. THE street of historians focused on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust within broader German history. Many questions have been raised: was National Socialism an anomaly due to pressure from the Soviet Union and political failures after World War I or a linear continuation of underlying facets of the “German national character” ? What did the average man know and when did he hear about the extermination camps? Why were Germans so enthusiastic about Hitler and the Nazis? Was there a fundamental Aryan mentality that Hitler appealed to?

It is important that the United States has a street of historians now, before the worst happens. Why wait forty years? Questions are expected to be raised today about the place of Trump and his MAGA supporters in the broader context of American history. After all, someone who rejected the officially confirmed results of the 2020 election and did everything in his power to prevent the peaceful transfer of power is now president again.

How did this happen? Why were MAGA followers so enthusiastic about Trump? How do you analyze your campaign to occupy the highest office in the land while awkwardly dancing for forty minutes to a bizarre mix of music at a rally? How can we understand the enthusiasm of the MAGA public for its disjointed, disjointed, misogynistic, homophobic and violent language? How will the obscenely vulgar Madison Square Garden rally be evaluated compared to previous presidential campaigns?

Can we compare Trump to Hitler’s march to power? Could fascism come to the United States? For those who think I’m going too far, please read the 2018 collection of essays. Can this happen here? Authoritarianism in America edited by Cass R. Sunstein, in which leading scholars examine U.S. history and how democracies can collapse in the continuation of Sinclair Lewis’s 1935. This can’t happen here.

A Trump-like experience in American history occurred on a smaller scale during the McCarthy era. Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy held a series of congressional hearings on the role of the Soviet Union and its spies in the U.S. government. The period, which reached its peak between the late 1940s and 1950s, was filled with hysteria about communist influence. “Were or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” resounded in the halls of Congress, in Hollywood and elsewhere. During the same period, Richard Nixon used the fear of “fellow travelers” in 1950 when he referred to one of his early political opponents, Helen Gahagan Douglas, as a “Pink Lady, pink down to her underwear.” “. (For Trump, Harris is Pink Lady 2.0.)

It’s important to remember that the turning point of the McCarthy era came when Lawrence Welch asked the senator, “Have you finally no sense of decency, sir?” on national television. The bubble had burst, and it was the beginning of McCarthy’s personal downfall.

I’ve often wondered if a similar moment might happen with Trump. Probably not. In the current context, the question of Trump’s decency is no longer relevant. As Maureen Dowd astutely noted: “Republican politicians who bend to Trump’s will don’t know what shame is. And Trump, brazenly projecting every bad thing he does onto his rivals and boldly selling sneakers, Bibles and cologne like a late-night cable salesman, has no shame.

McCarthy had his communists. Trump has migrants and his “enemies within.” Both played on the fear of the Other, those who are not considered real Americans. Trump, like McCarthy, represents himself as the guarantor of public safety.

Hitler’s rise to power. The McCarthy era. The Trump decade. The rise of National Socialism led to World War II and an estimated 30 to 40 million deaths. This fascist era ended in military defeat. The McCarthy era caused no direct deaths, but it left a permanent scar on American democracy and the image of a free, open and inclusive society. This Cold War mentality has not receded. This remains the foundation of American foreign policy, whether it is Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, migrants or any other enemy that currently appears to be the Axis of Wrong.

And the Trump decade? Trump has already left national scars through his Supreme Court appointments. The number of deaths from the overturning of Roe vs. Wade is difficult to calculate, but they are there. The international system has also suffered. US leadership in global cooperation has been replaced by a transactional and interest-driven mentality, which sees more and more countries withdrawing from the US sphere of influence. What country could count on the support of the United States when its potential future leader hints at a withdrawal from NATO and downplays any form of international cooperation that would not be in America’s interests?

Trump is unique. “No similar figure in American history has ever had such a strong hold on so many people,” as presidential historian Jon Meacham wrote.

How can we get the United States back to normal? With his victory and control of Congress, there is no guarantee that the scars of his era will ever disappear. The McCarthy era is still with us in the background. It took Germans decades after 1945 to return to some measure of normality.

So let’s not wait for historians to analyze the Trump era or have a big debate like this. street of historianson Trump’s place in American history. The November 5 election could mark the start of a prolonged Trump phenomenon. The election failed to place Trump and his supporters as footnotes in history. Their power was amplified and expanded.

What to do? We want normalcy, and we want it NOW. The problem is how to get there.