Let’s not beat about the bush: is Donald Trump, the man who will be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States on Monday, a fascist? It wasn’t just political opponents such as Kamala Harris who labelled him that, referring amongst other things to him openly flirting with anti-democratic and nationalist ideas, some academics did too. “However, that mostly happened before the first time Trump was elected in 2016, driven by political motivation, in the hope to damage his chances and warn voters,” says Del Hierro. “A strategy that failed, by the way. The word ‘fascist’ resonates much less in the United States than it does in Europe, where fascism was born and where it is more firmly lodged in our collective memory. Although you can see that weakening among younger generations here, too. And if we label everybody a fascist, from Trump to Putin, from Wilders to Orbán, the word starts to lose its meaning.”
Del Hierro is also reluctant academically to label Trump and his movement, Trumpism, as fascist. “Yes, there are similarities with fascists like Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco. But I think there are also differences. Fascists were concentrated in a single party, a huge organisation with memberships and paramilitary groups. You don’t see that type of mobilisation anymore. People are more concerned with changing politics from within. Furthermore, the revolutionary rhetoric is missing. It’s always about a new movement or a new wave, never about revolution. The antisemitism has also lessened, for example, Trump supports Israel unconditionally.”
Worldwide phenomenon
These are characteristics that apply to many other right-wing parties in Europe and South America. “It is very clearly a worldwide phenomenon,” says Del Hierro. “It is often labelled the ‘New Right’ or simply ‘far right’. While the term fascism may have disappeared, the current movement is a derivative of it, the historian says. “After the Second World War, fascism gradually evolved into neo-fascism. Proponents of the latter maintained that the fight should be taken to the streets, using bombs and coup d’etats. But that strategy failed. Gradually, in the 1970s and 80s, the realisation grew: we have to win the voters’ trust.”
According to Del Hierro, the foundation of French political party Front National (since renamed Rassemblement National) by Jean-Marie le Pen in 1972 is a perfect example of this. “Their tactic, devised by French philosopher Alain de Benoist, was ‘de-demonisation’, making their ideas mainstream, deliberately not using the word fascism.” The results of that can now clearly be seen, although it took a long time. “More research is needed to understand how it was achieved. For example, what was the influence of the end of the Cold War? I think that after the loss of communism as a significant threat, people had to find a new enemy, which mainly became Islam.”
Clever strategies
What history has shown us, in Del Hierro’s opinion, is that the image of far-right politicians as less intelligent, incompetent and isolated is wrong. “There are clever strategies behind it and they’ve shown themselves to be very adept at adapting. If a strategy doesn’t work, they can easily drop it. They’re very pragmatic and opportunistic. Nobody talks about leaving the European Union anymore, now that it’s clear that Brexit hasn’t worked out as they had hoped. Instead, politicians like Viktor Orbán and Georgia Meloni are now talking about changing Europe from within and there is more collaboration between right-wing parties in Europe.”
After this “long process of trial and error”, the far right now has the wind in its sails, with successful elections in Europe and America. “They’ve found the right formula, whereas traditional parties don’t really know how to deal with it. That formula is being applied in different countries in different ways, but they’re after roughly the same results. It’s an evolved, altered version of fascism. They long for a homogenous, nationalist society without ethnic or cultural diversity. Although they do believe in economic diversity, in a class system. They think it will return them to some mythical past which never really existed.”
Authoritarian democracy
Hollowing out democracy is also on their wish list. “The far right is not keen on liberal democracy. They don’t want drawn-out processes, they prefer quick decisions, no negotiations or system of checks and balances. They would prefer a more authoritarian democracy in which the separation of power is blurred, with less power for parliament and the judiciary. Very little pluralism, no protests. Trump is fairly open about it, I think he would partly like to follow the example of Orbán in Hungary. It’s illuminating that a tech entrepreneur like Elon Musk is going to advise him on government efficiency. After all, corporations are more efficient than governments, because ultimately the boss is the one in charge.”
The budget cuts to universities and limiting the number of international students in the Netherlands should also be seen in that light, says Del Hierro. “Of course there are other factors at play, but it is heading in the direction the far right wants. They don’t want diversity, they don’t want critical thinkers. They feel that universities should train people to be apolitical workers. There’s a reason that the social sciences and humanities are being hit the hardest.”
Brace yourself
How effective politicians like Trump are going to be in realising their ideas is a question of time, says Del Hierro. “Historians are bad at predictions, but I would say, brace yourself. There are countries where they will attempt it more slowly, more carefully, but there are places – like the United States – where it might be a lot quicker.”
What can other parties do to stop it? “Historically, radical parties are more successful when other parties fail to clearly distance themselves from their positions. So it is important for centre-right parties to be very careful about embracing extreme right-wing policies. And this applies to all parties: don’t just focus on demonising political opponents, instead offer hopeful alternatives and take the fears and concerns of your electorate – which the far right often masterfully capitalises on – seriously. But it isn’t just the responsibility of politicians. The importance of liberal democracy should be emphasised in the wider public discourse through demonstrations, books, movies. The demonstrations against the education cuts were hopefully merely the beginning.”