WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied, “Yes, I do.” He later told her the same thing, saying voters did not want “a fascist US president who admires dictators.”

So what exactly is a fascist? And from a historical or political perspective, does the meaning of the word change, especially this close to the end of a fraught presidential race?

Here’s a closer look:

What is fascism?

An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and is characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to suppress political and civil dissent.

The two most famous fascists in history were Germany’s Nazi chief Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or “The Duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, symbolized by an eagle holding a fascia consisting of a bunch of sticks with an ax between them.

In October 1922, at the urging of Mussolini, thousands of “Blackshirts” or “squadristi” formed armed fascist militias who marched on Rome promising to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on militias known as the “Brownshirts”. Both men eventually imposed one-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used troops but also fueled civil unrest that pitted loyalists against political rivals and broader segments of society.

Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and published sophisticated propaganda. They expressed racist fears and manipulated not only their active supporters but also ordinary citizens.

Today, the term fascism has taken on a looser political definition and is often referred to as a set of efforts to spread oppression and racism, as well as efforts to condemn dictators or leaders who embrace totalitarian tactics.

It’s not just the left that uses this term to condemn movement to the right in the United States and many parts of the world. Some conservatives have called the lockdowns imposed during the coronavirus outbreak “fascist.”

What are other historical examples of fascism?

Hitler and Mussolini are its two biggest names, but things get darker from there.

Are military dictator Augusto Pinochet’s 17-year iron-fisted rule in Chile appropriate? What about Indonesian dictator Suharto or Spanish Francisco Franco? Were the regimes of Ferenc Szálasi in Hungary and Plínio Salgado in Brazil fascist? Where does American neo-Nazi leader David Duke fit in?

Indeed, critics sometimes describe extremist groups in the modern United States (including Trump-supporting movements such as the Proud Boys) as fascist or neo-fascist. These labels may have more to do with political ideology than clear historical parallels.

Why is Harris calling Trump a fascist?

The vice president has long criticized Trump as mentally unstable and not a true believer or defender of the country’s founding democratic principles.

It notes that Trump has proposed deploying the military to target political opponents, including those he describes as “enemies from within.” The former president has long talked of attacking his enemies, declaring to his supporters that he would be their “revenge.”

“He’s talking about the American people. “He’s talking about journalists, he’s talking about judges, he’s talking about non-partisan election officials,” Harris said at a CNN town hall Wednesday night.

Trump has threatened to take action against television networks and news organizations for coverage he deems negative. And when now-President Joe Biden challenged him to condemn the Proud Boys during a 2020 debate, Trump responded: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”

A mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn Trump’s loss to Biden after Trump gave a speech spreading lies about the election and urging the crowd to “fight like hell” . Among those imprisoned in connection with Jan. 6 was the leader of the Proud Boys, who is accused of orchestrating a failed plot to keep Trump in power.

Harris moves towards characterization. In an interview with him in Detroit on October 15, radio host Charlamagne Tha God said that Trump was increasingly embracing fascism and asked, “Why can’t we say this?” he asked. “Yes, we can say that,” Harris replied.

Then, retired Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving former chief of staff, warned that the former president fit the description of a fascist. He said Trump suggested Hitler “did some good things” while in office and that Trump values ​​personal loyalty above the Constitution.

Trump’s campaign accused Kelly of lying and brushed aside Harris’ criticism; spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responded: “Kamala will say anything to distract from the open border invasion and record high inflation.” Trump called January 6 a “day of love.”

Trump himself rejected the fascist label in an interview with Fox News on Thursday.

“Everybody knows that’s not true,” he said. “They call me anything until something sticks.”

How do fascism experts view Trump?

They are divided.

Columbia University retired professor Robert Paxton, who wrote the book “Anatomy of Fascism,” cited the January 6 attack as evidence of Trump’s fascism.

“It’s bubbling up from below in a very worrying way, and it’s very similar to the original fascisms,” Paxton told The New York Times Magazine in an op-ed published this week. “This is a real thing. “It really is.”

Some don’t think Trump fits the classic historical definition of fascist; instead, he sees himself increasingly turning to politics with fascist tendencies.

Brown University professor and Italian historian David Kertzer said he was “somewhat horrified” to hear Harris call Trump a fascist, given the “historical resonance” of the term. He said there were some similarities, such as “mass movement, dictatorship cult.” He noted that Trump sometimes juts his chin out, but is not prone to ripping his shirt and exposing his chest as Mussolini did.

Kertzer said fascism involves “a one-party state, banning all opposition newspapers, and jailing those who disagree” and that while Trump has talked about jailing dissidents, he has not moved to embrace other key aspects of the movement.

“There are some repercussions, but turning the Republican Party into a one-party state seems pretty difficult right now,” said Kertzer, author of “The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History and Rise of Pius XI.” Fascism in Europe.”

“The alarm bells that are ringing right now may be a bit overblown,” said David Clay Large, a senior researcher at the Institute for European Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

“Our democratic institutions, however beleaguered, are far stronger than those of the European nations that became fascist in the 20s and 30s,” Large said. Still, he added, there could be “a real danger to these institutions” in Trump’s second term as president.

Large said the rise of far-right parties across Europe and Trump’s control of the GOP has presented “a completely new situation: The center cannot hold on as it once did.”

Add to the mix social media, he said, reflecting the use of propaganda in the digital age, fueling emotions and division.

“We have lost respect for truth, objectivity and true expert opinion, where everyone is an expert,” Large said.

—- Kellman reported from London.