VP Harris is 100% correct that Trump is a Fascist—but that’s only half the alarming story.

MAGA is a full blown fascist movement!

Vice President Kamala Harris bluntly declared during her CNN Town Hall on Wednesday night that Donald Trump is a fascist. That exchange came after Harris first laid out that retired Generals John Kelly and Mark Milley, who had both worked for Trump, had called him a fascist. As Harris stated, Trump “The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [Milley] has said he is a fascist to the core.” She added, “Don’t take my word for it in fact, go online and listen to John Kelly’s voice.”

That is when Anderson Cooper—who was hosting the Town Hall—asked, “You yourself have not used that word to describe him. Let me ask you tonight, do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?” To that question, Harris point blank stated, “Yes, I do. Yes, I do.”

That was truly a watershed moment not only for this campaign--but for American politics. Here we have the sitting Vice President of the United States very calmly—and while citing compelling voices that back her up—declare that the GOP nominee for President is a “fascist.” True, Trump has called Harris all sorts of names, but this was different given that Harris is a far more thoughtful, better educated and intelligent person than Trump.

Harris is 100% correct about Trump being a fascist—but that’s only half the story. In fact, the other half of the story is far more alarming and that is MAGA is a fascist movement.

Now first as to Trump embracing fascism, his former chief of staff John Kelly laid out the definition of fascism Tuesday in the NY Times interview, “Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy.”

Kelly – a retired four-star U.S. Marine Corp General--added, “So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he [Trump] thinks would work better in terms of running America.”  This echoes the recent comments of Retired Gen. Mark  Milley who warned that Trump is a “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.”

There’s no denying this given Trump has copied the fascist playbook—and especially Hitler’s who Kelly told us Trump admires. Trump—like Hitler—demonized people to stir up anger, blaming these people for the problems the masses were encountering. With Hitler it was the Jews, with Trump it’s migrants who he claimed—quoting Hitler’s words—were “poisoning the blood” of the nation.  Trump has also called his political opponents “vermin” and the “enemy within”—again echoing Hitler’s propaganda.

Trump like Hitler also attempted a coup and celebrated the people who waged that attack. With Hitler, there was his 1923  Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler would later publicly honor those killed in that failed attempt to seize power by making them martyrs for the cause and celebrating them publicly as heroes. With Trump, it was the Jan 6 attack—and like Hitler—he has celebrated the attackers as “patriots,” made Ashli Babbitt who was killed in the attack a martyr for the cause and has kicked off his events by playing a song recorded by the Jan 6 choir of prisoners.

However, the reality is Trump could be a wannabe fascist all day. But without followers, he is just a guy screaming out anti-American garbage.  

That is why to me it’s far more alarming that millions of Americans see Trump for who he is and love it. They want “America’s Hitler”—as JD Vance warned in 2016 Trump could become. MAGA is what a modern day fascist movement looks like.

As Madeline Albright explained in 2019 when discussing her great book, “Fascism: A Warning,”— “Fascism is not an ideology; it’s a process for taking and holding power.” And MAGA embraces two of the most defining characteristics of a fascist movement:

1.  Violence: Albright stated that, “What differentiates fascism from other ideological movements is the use of violence and anger to achieve political ends.” She added, “Whatever else it is, fascism involves the endorsement and use of violence to achieve political goals and stay in power.”

The most concerning evidence that backs this up is the support of Trump’s base for the violent Jan 6 attack. A CBS poll from in 2022 found that 56% of Republicans—not just Trump supporters—view the Jan 6 attack as an act “defending freedom.” That same poll found nearly 50% of GOP now see what happened on Jan 6 as “patriotic.”

And if you watch Trump’s rallies, the crowd cheers loudly when Trump celebrates the Jan 6 attackers.  To be fair, not all Trump supporters view violence as acceptable, but a big swath clearly does.

2. Blind loyalty to an “infallible leader.” Yale Professor Jason Stanley, author of the book “How Fascism Works,” explained in July 2020: “Fascism is based on power, loyalty, and fear of the other. The fascist leader is infallible.” He added, “And anyone who opposes him is immediately a traitor to the nation.”

Stanley also noted about Trump: “The connection he has forged with his supporters ever since he first ran, remember the comment, ‘I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight and I wouldn't lose a single supporter?’, adding, “That's a fascist connection of total loyalty.”

We have all see that whatever Trump does, his core base will support. If Trump wins, that will continue—even if Trump engages in conduct that is unthinkable today.

For example, Hitler came to power as the chancellor of Germany in January 1933. By March, the Nazis set up the first concentration camps for political prisoners including Social Democrats, union leaders and other political opponents. If Trump did the same, his MAGA base would not only support it-but they would cheer the same way they now cheer at his rallies when Trump calls his political critics the “enemy within.” Please understand that because that is what fascist movements do.

After Hitler’s failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 and the short prison sentence that followed, he decided to no longer openly support violence to gain power. Instead, he made a conscious decision to use democracy to undermine democracy. As historians noted, “The Beer Hall Putsch proved to Hitler that the regime could not be toppled by a direct assault, that it had to be undermined from within.” But Hitler never changed his beliefs, only his tactics.

Once Hitler came to power in January 1933, he then worked to end the democratic Republic to make himself what he had always sought: To become the unchallenged Fuhrer of Germany.  If you don’t think that is exactly what Trump and his MAGA core want, you are denying history at your peril.

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