This is a very timely article. With the assassination attempt on Trump many are arguing that the violent rhetoric was what lead to the actual violence. This is, of course, speculative, as, thanks to the intelligence community, we know next to nothing about the shooter‘s motive. It would be different if we knew what the shooter was thinking. But if asked who would have killed Baby Hitler, most would say „yes.“ It‘s the classic Pascal wager of positing a catastrophic consequence with an unlikely possibility, and hence making the expected outcome significant in people‘s minds. Let‘s be real here, it is more likely that „nothing happens“ when Trump gets elected than that Trump is becoming the next Hitler. Yet Trump has been „made“ Hitler countless times, despite not having done what Hitler did. In fact, even by his enemies, I don‘t think Trump is being accused of having done what Hitler did. Instead, the idea is to give room and attention to the idea and catastrophic vision of Trump becoming Hitler, right? But ignoring the dichotomy Joan spans, is Trump a fascist? I have been asking myself this seriously and I cannot answer it conclusively. There are certainly elements of him and his party embodying it. The deportation threats, the nationalist agenda, his vibe, etc. Still, a lot of the republican talking points don‘t match this: - They strongly believe in individual rights - They want to scale back foreign wars; that is opposed to militarism - As per legal rights, Trump is going to be president, not dictator - Trump‘s Roe vs. Wade appeal is unaligned with building a centralizing autocracy as it gives sovereignty on the issue to states; not centralizing power But: - Trump is promoted as strong leader - MAGA is nationalist - The believe in American exceptionalism is essentially chauvinism - etc