Even during the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, many scholars of fascism were sharply divided over whether Trump should be characterized as a fascist based on the vision he articulated — or lack thereof. University of Wisconsin historian Stanley Payne argued that Trump shouldn’t be described as such because, among other things, he never embraced “a coherent new revolutionary ideology.” (Personally I’d call Trump’s first term proto-fascist and say his second presidential run could mark the maturation of that tendency.)
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