Harris finally calls Trump a fascist. But don’t take her word for it. Take it.

When asked directly if she thought former President Donald Trump was a fascist V CNN Town Hall Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris’ answer was simple.

“Yes, I do,” the Democratic presidential candidate told Anderson Cooper. Later in the evening, she used the term when asked what she would tell someone considering a third-party candidate, given her stance on the war between Israel and Hamas.

“Many people who care about this issue also care about lower food prices,” Harris said. “They also care about our democracy and making sure that the United States does not have a president who admires dictators and is a fascist.”

I was surprised to hear her use such a meaningful word during the presidential campaign, even though people had called Trump that word before. Historians And scientists There has been debate for years about whether Trump is a fascist, and the answer has changed over time. So I decided to just ask the question. Is Trump a fascist?

Is Trump a fascist? This professor says yes.

Jason Stanley, professor of philosophy at Yale University, is the author of “Erasing history: how fascists are rewriting the past to control the future” He calls Trump’s rhetoric and actions fascist since 2018. Vox interview from that time on, he described the key components of fascism as “identifying enemies, appealing to the ingroup (usually the majority group), destroying truth and replacing it with force.”

“The thing is, it was right then and it’s right now,” Stanley told me this month. “And if you understood that Trump is a fascist, you would know that he would try to stay in power.”

I asked him what he thought of Harris’ use of the term.

“Finally, the Democratic candidate is using an accurate description of reality,” Stanley said. “This is very important. Is this enough? No. Is this necessary? Yes.”

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Trump’s former chief of staff, General John Kelly, considers himself a fascist

This is not the first time a Democratic candidate has called Trump a fascist on the campaign trail. In an interview in early October Charlemagne, God asked Harris if they could use the word “fascism” describe the other side. She said they could.

Harris also used the CNN town hall to highlight revelations from former White House chief of staff John Kelly. In recent interview with The New York TimesThe retired four-star Marine general said Trump “fits the general definition of a fascist.”

In history for AtlanticTwo anonymous sources recently reported hearing the former president say he wanted “generals like Hitler had.” Kelly confirmed this.

President Joe Biden agrees with Kelly’s assessmentThe White House reports this. Apparently Harris does too.

Trump has used similar language in the past to describe Harris. He often calls her “Comrade Kamalaand said she was a “Marxist, communist, fascist, socialist.” at a September event in Arizona. These claims are unfounded and represent tactics used by real fascists.

“Hitler called the entire Social Democratic Party ‘Marxists’ and put them in concentration camps,” Stanley said.

Trump’s own words and policy proposals signal fascism

It’s not enough to call Trump a “fascist,” Stanley said. Democrats should back up their claims by pointing to what the former president says and does.

“To explain that he is a fascist, all you have to do is piece together what he proposed,” Stanley said.

This has a lot to do with Trump’s stance on immigration. He has repeatedly stated that if re-elected he will beginthe largest deportation operation in the history of our country” Hitler shared similar anti-immigrant ideas in “Mein Kampf,” Stanley said.

He stressed that Trump’s deportation plans would change the structure of the nation: “People will rat out their neighbors, that’s what will happen.”

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Democrats have finally realized that they need to point out fascism every chance they get.

Trump threatened to punish political opponents more than 100 times. He wants to increase the use of “stop and search» across the country. He wants protect public schools that allow their transgender students to be who they are.

All of these things, Stanley said, are evidence Democrats can use to point to Trump’s fascism.

Notably, in the final days of her presidential campaign, Harris’ final message to voters is to take a firm stance on the threat posed by Trump. I’m not sure if this matters to voters. Trump has already weathered scandals that would have jeopardized the career of any other politician; The MAGA crowd doesn’t seem to care.

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IN Trump rally at Madison Square Garden On Sunday night, the comedian called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and joked about black people “cutting watermelons” on Halloween. Trump spoke of an “enemy within” and called the media “the enemy of the people.”

None of this is normal. This is fascism.

I’m sure some voters will quickly reject this because Trump is just Trump. It doesn’t change that he said those things and seemed to mean them. Even if none of Trump’s demands come to fruition, that doesn’t change the fact that he made them. It is unacceptable for Trump to say and do what he does.

Finally, Democrats are not afraid to speak their quiet parts out loud. Trump and the Republicans have been doing this all this election.

Follow USA TODAY election columnist Sarah Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter. @sara__pequeno

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Democrats call Trump a fascist. This is true