In four days, Americans will go to the polls with Donald Trump as a presidential candidate for the third time. In the nine years since he came down the escalator in Trump Tower to announce his run to become the Republican nominee for President, the Democratic Party has wavered over how to deal with him, veering between laughing at the undeniable weirdness of MAGA Republicans and attacking him as a wannabe strongman and a threat to democracy.

Two weeks ago, John Kelly - a retired US Marine Corps General and Chief of Staff to President Trump between July 2017 and December 2018 - stated in an interview with the New York Times that he believes President Trump fits the definition of a "fascist", and would govern as a dictator if he could. The Harris campaign seized on his comments, and a fierce argument over them has erupted on both sides of the Atlantic.

The suggestion that President Trump is a fascist is not a new one. It was a routine accusation during his first term, and gained greater currency after his supporters stormed the US Capitol in 2021 to prevent the certification of the 2020 Presidential Election result. And General Kelly is not the first ex-officer to level the accusation. According to Bob Woodward, General Mark Milley, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under both Presidents Trump and Biden, has said that President Trump is “a fascist to the core.”

The American (and British) political right have characterised accusations of fascism as hysterical. Tim Stanley, writing in The Telegraph, has called the comparison tenuous and amounting to calling President Trump’s opponent, Kamala Harris, a communist. I have very little time for his brand of pedantry - the comparison between MAGA Republicanism and the fascist movements of the 1920s and 1930s is perfectly valid. But MAGA Republicanism........

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