Is Donald Trump a fascist or isn’t he? His critics say he is, his supporters say he isn’t. There’s no surprise in that.

A recent commentary by "Liberal Fascism" author Jonah Goldberg captures the nub of the problem: “For every voter who wants Trump to be a ‘fascist’ … there are probably dozens, or hundreds, or, most likely, tens of thousands of Trump voters who think it’s unfair to call him an authoritarian, never mind a fascist. Why? Because they don’t think he is one and don’t want him to be one.”

As described by Goldberg, the debate can only wind up in a dead end. I think so-and-so is a fascist (or democrat, liberal, communist, conservative); you don’t. And that’s that.

Is there no way to resolve this disagreement? Are we doomed to talk past each other? Yes, but only if the term remains an undefined epithet. After all, how can we say that someone is a fascist if we don’t know what fascism is?

Perhaps academics who have studied fascism can help. Here are a few of their definitions:

Hans Buchheim: “The essence of fascism is rebellion against freedom.”

Adrian Lyttleton: “Fascism, reduced to its essentials, is the ideology of permanent conflict.”

Michael Mann: “Fascism is the pursuit of a transcendent and cleansing nation-statism through paramilitarism.”

Stanley G. Payne: “Fascism may be defined as a form of revolutionary ultra-nationalism for national rebirth that is based on a primarily vitalist philosophy, is structured........

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