Historian on Trump "We are dealing with a wannabe fascist"
According to the historian Finchelstein, Donald Trump's populist positions are moving ever closer to extremist views. His supporters have long since become accustomed to the ex-president's far-right rhetoric - this is a warning signal.
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- Historian Federico Finchelstein has specialized in extremism and fascism in his research and analyzed the US presidential election campaign.
- He sees Trump as a populist who is moving ever closer to fascism.
- His core voters have now become accustomed to his far-right rhetoric, says Finchelstein.
Historian Federico Finchelstein has specialized in extremism and fascism in his research and analyzed the US presidential election campaign. He recently published the book "The Wannabe Fascists - A Guide to Understanding the Greatest Threat to Democracy".
In an interview with the AFP news agency, Finchelstein gives his assessment of the behavior of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump: he once started out as a populist and then gradually became more and more extreme.
How extremist is Trump?
"He embodies an extreme version of populism that approaches fascism," says Finchelstein. The historian defines four key elements of fascism: political violence, propaganda and disinformation, xenophobia and dictatorial leadership.
These characteristics may be present in populism, but are much more pronounced in fascism, with Adolf Hitler representing the most extreme case, says the New York historian. "History does not repeat itself, but it is a warning signal that we are even considering this question. There is a danger that Trump will actually become as authoritarian as he would like."
Why are US citizens voting for Trump?
"There are a lot of people in the United States who are unhappy with the economy or the changes the country is going through. And sometimes a combination of grievances leads people to vote for an authoritarian politician," says Finchelstein, who works at the New School for Social Research in New York.
His voters overlook the fact that Trump only offers magic tricks to solve real problems - and that he "considers his will to be more important than reality".
Are his supporters extremists?
A major problem is that Trump's core voters have apparently become accustomed to his far-right rhetoric, says Finchelstein. "The real problem is the way this extremism is becoming normalized in society, often in the media, but ultimately among voters as well," says the historian. "It used to belong in the poison cabinet of politics, but now it suddenly doesn't."
The public is dealing with a candidate who is planning mass deportations because, in his opinion, migrants bring "bad genes" into the country. "That's definitely extreme."
How far would Trump go if he won the election?
"We're dealing with a wannabe fascist. But the question remains to what extent he will be able to do all the things he would like to do," says Finchelstein. The fact that the election result will be close at all is "the result of the crisis of American democracy".
The historian points to the example of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who instigated a similar scenario to Trump 2020 in the USA after losing the 2022 election in his country.
Bolsonaro was found guilty of abuse of office following the attempted coup d'état in January 2023. The Brazilian judiciary stripped the far-right ex-president of his political rights for eight years, meaning he can no longer stand as a candidate.
Trump, on the other hand, has been charged but not convicted in connection with the events of January 6, 2021, when his fanatical supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington - and he can run for office unchallenged.
"Either the justice system didn't work here or it was too late. How can it be that someone with so many legal problems is allowed to run for office?" asks Fichelstein. "The January 6 uprising was technically an (attempted) coup d'état. But the question is how many times it was even labeled as such."
