THE HITLER AND TRUMP GOVERNMENTS - SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

THE HITLER AND DIFFERENCES TRUMP GOVERNMENTS: SIMILARITIES AND Fernando Alcoforado* This article aims to present the similarities and differences between the governments of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945, and that of the current president of the United States, with aspirations of dictatorship, the neo-fascist Donald Trump. To this end, it was analyzed what Nazism and fascism were, what neo-fascism is in the United States, and the similarities and differences between Hitler's government and Trump's. 1. Nazism and Fascism Fascism was a political movement that emerged in Italy after World War I, in the 1920s, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini [1]. In addition to Mussolini's regime in Italy, the Nazi regime in Germany under Adolf Hitler and the dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain, among others, which were established between World War I and World War II, in the 1930s, are considered fascist. Fascism and Nazism represented a reaction by conservative forces, respectively from Italy and Germany, against the rise of workers to power after the victory of socialism in the Soviet Union in 1917 and were based on strongly nationalist conceptions and the totalitarian exercise of power, therefore, against the democratic and liberal system, and repressive towards social democratic, socialist and communist ideas. Fascism, established during the 1920s, and Nazism, established during the 1930s, were based on a strong, totalitarian state that claimed to embody the spirit of the people, with power exercised by a single party whose authority was imposed through violence, repression, and political propaganda [1]. The fascist leader is a person who stands above the common person. Mussolini was called Il Duce, which derives from the Latin Dux (General), and Hitler was called Fuehrer (Conductor, Guide, Leader, Chief). Both were messianic and authoritarian leaders, with power that was exercised unilaterally without consulting anyone. In Germany, fascism was called Nazism. This movement also had a strong racial component, which defended the superiority of the Aryan race and sought to exterminate Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and Black people. Fascism and Nazism were also characterized by aggressive nationalism, militarism, and imperialism in the service of the ruling classes of their respective countries, the cult of leadership, anti-communism, and dictatorship [1]. To put their principles into practice, fascism and Nazism ignored the individual rights of citizens, transformed Parliament into a mere advisory body, and created a political police force to crush all opposition to the regime. Fascism and Nazism served as models for several other dictatorships that emerged in Europe between the two World Wars, including the dictatorships of Franco in Spain and Salazar in Portugal, which is why fascism also came to be classified as a totalitarian, far-right dictatorial regime. Both fascism and Nazism were considered by Marxism in the 1920s and 1930s essentially as counterrevolutions to counter the danger of socialist revolution in Europe, where revolutionary situations destabilized liberal-democratic regimes after the 1917 socialist revolution in the Soviet Union, which inspired workers to fight for power. At that time, 1 all fascist parties advocated the need for a totalitarian dictatorial regime. The elimination of democratic freedoms was essential to destroy workers' organizations that adhered to socialism. 2. Neofascism in the United States In the contemporary era, in the United States, neofascism grew in the soil of a mature democracy in crisis. The emergence of neofascism under Donald Trump in the United States resulted fundamentally from its economic decline and the country's loss of hegemony on the world stage in a very short period of time. The United States' global relations have undergone profound changes in recent times, forcing it to share global power with other countries. The era in which the United States sought to impose its will on the international stage in economic and military terms is over. This is what happened after the Great Recession of 2008 in the United States, which accelerated the general crisis of the global capitalist system and the long-term geopolitical shift heralding the decline of American power and European influence, and the rise of China as an economically dominant power. Donald Trump represents a US reaction aimed at reversing this trend. Donald Trump is part of a neo-fascist far-right International being built around the world, with robust funding from some large economic groups, aiming to resist China's rise as a hegemonic power. Neofascism in the United States emerged as a response to the preservation of American supremacy in the global market and the international system, poisoning the consciousness of tens of millions of Americans with an exalted nationalism [4]. Neofascism in the United States responds to the resentment of sectors of the middle classes in the face of their impoverishment and the end of the American dream of prosperity. Neofascism in the United States is a manifestation of racism against immigrants, sexist resentment against a new wave of feminism, homophobic hysteria against LGBT people, and denial of global warming. Trump is a neofascist leader and the expression of a reactionary mass movement, supported by fractions of the American bourgeoisie, in the face of the United States' uninterrupted world decline. The MAGA (Make America Great Again) slogan of Trumpist neofascism is a typically neo-Nazi expression. Trump's neo-fascist government is responsible for the atrocious mass deportation of "illegal immigrants" from the United States [4]. MAGA is a Trumpist slogan of radicalized and dangerous nationalism. It is an implicit message of purge and an obvious proposal for the hygienic ethnic cleansing of the country. MAGA is a clear exaltation of Trump's ethnocentric egocentrism. Trump, therefore, responds to the demand for strong leadership to deal with the decline of the United States in the world, resistance to immigration pressures emanating from the Mexican border, resentment over unemployment, low wages, and precarious employment among middle-income workers, the ruin of small business owners and the burden of taxes in the face of economic regression, the impoverishment of the population in the face of inflated housing, education, and health care costs, the need to combat organized crime, the imposition of authority in political disputes between existing institutions, the loss of national pride in the face of the United States' economic regression and the rise of China. Trump's political project for the United States is the establishment of a Bonapartist regime [4]. This means subverting the liberal-democratic presidential system established in the United States over the past two hundred years. Bonapartism, derived from Bonaparte, 2 means an authoritarian regime in which the presidency elevates itself above other institutions—Congress and the Judiciary—and concentrates exceptional powers in the name of defending the unity of the nation. Capitol Trump’s project, supported by the mobilization of a mass movement of resentful and desperate people in the United States, driven by the slogan "Make America Great Again," suggests the plan for an authoritarian regime that, depending on the conditions of the socio-political struggle, could nullify the historical checks and balances of the democratic regime in the United States. Trump has been improvising a hybrid economic and social plan, simultaneously protectionist and ultra-liberal, with an emphasis on the application of extremely high customs tariffs against all countries that trade with the United States and the expulsion of at least eleven million illegal immigrants [4]. His strategy is to reposition the United States in the global market against China. Trump does not rely on a fascist party. He used the Republican Party, which is becoming increasingly fascist, as an electoral tool. However, this organic weakness was largely offset by the mobilization of a mass movement, the MAGA movement, which has a neo-fascist character. Trump will be able to build a party from control of the American state, unlike Hitler in Nazi Germany, who established the party before seizing power in the German state. An example of the brutality of neo-fascism in the United States was presented on January 6, 2021, when a neo-fascist mob, instigated by Trump during his first presidential term, invaded the U.S. Capitol, causing a shutdown of the session held to count the Electoral College votes and certify Joe Biden's victory in the November 2020 presidential election. This was the final formal stage of the electoral process before the Democrat's inauguration on January 20, 2021. Donald Trump gave a speech inciting a mob to storm the Capitol and prevent the certification of his opponent's victory. The January 6, 2021, insurrection in the United States bears many similarities to Hitler's Munich Putsch on November 8 and 9, 1923, and the attempted coup d'état in Brazil by neo-fascists led by Jair Bolsonaro on January 8, 2023. The Capitol rioters, some in costume and others carrying weapons, occupied the chambers of both houses of Congress, destroyed equipment and furniture, and forced members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the session as President of the Senate, to hide in their rooms under the protection of security agents. One woman was shot and killed. Three other people also died from "medical emergencies". Donald Trump crossed a line never before crossed by an American president. It was an attempted coup d'état, with Trump attempting to prevent the normal flow of American democracy. Under the current Trump administration, many constitutional rights are being eroded, if not directly attacked, in the United States [2]. Trump undermines the interests of working people, the poor, Black and Indigenous people, undocumented immigrants, and transgender people, while simultaneously granting billionaires and the richest 1% even more power and control. The Trump administration is not only consolidating the position of the ultra-rich in the United States, but it is doing so in ways similar, in some respects, to those used by fascists and Nazis in the 1930s. 3. Similarities and Differences Between Hitler and Trump An analysis of the evolution of neo-fascism in the United States reveals that Donald Trump is not the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, but there are many similarities between 3 some of the actions of the Trump administration in 2025 and the Nazi government in 1933. The periods in which Hitler and Trump came to power display many sinister similarities, but also clear differences during their respective early days of repressive rule. Hitler managed to implement a series of policies and decrees that dismantled the democratic institutions of the Weimar Republic in Germany in a relatively short period of time. Trump is attempting to do the same thing in the United States during the current presidential term. To identify the similarities and differences between Hitler and Trump, it is important to note that, regarding Hitler, on February 27, 1933, a fire destroyed and seriously damaged the parliament building (the Reichstag) in Berlin. In response, Hitler, then Chancellor, issued a series of decrees, chief among them the "Reichstag Fire Decree for the Protection of the People and State," which abolished many civil liberties and was used to arrest those deemed enemies of Nazism. He banned publications declared enemies of the Nazi state and, in addition, suspended habeas corpus, the privacy of mail and telephone, freedom of speech and of the press, the right to public assembly, and protections against searches and seizures of homes and property [2]. Six days after a nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses, Hitler enacted a law that removed Jews and anyone else deemed disloyal to the regime from public service and teaching positions [2]. On May 2, 1933, the day after the International Workers' Day, Hitler dissolved all free trade unions. The Nazis created the German Labor Front, which all workers were required to join. Strikes, collective bargaining, and any other actions initiated by workers were banned. The Nazis passed laws against homosexuals, imposed restrictions on admission to higher education institutions, rewrote textbooks to reflect the Nazi racist view of history and culture, and began rearming Germany. In 1935, the Nazis enacted the "Nuremberg Laws," which systematically denied the Jewish people an equal position in society. As for Trump, his early days in office have been characterized, like Hitler's, by a flurry of authoritarian executive orders issued since his inauguration on January 20, 2025, many of which the courts have deemed illegal. Trump has torn up trade agreements the United States had with several countries by imposing tariffs on American-imported goods in the vain hope that his tariff policies will improve the American economy, force companies to relocate to the United States, offset the government's budget deficit, and increase federal revenue, as he has promised his billionaire supporters that he will deliver tax cuts for the super-rich by the end of this year. To fulfill his election promise on immigration, Trump did everything possible to increase the number of deportations of undocumented workers, allegedly expelling immigrants convicted of crimes first. He promoted the deportation of pro-Palestinian international students, and invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1796, claiming that the Venezuelan Aragua Train gang invaded the country and is at war with the United States in flagrant disregard of due process. Trump attempted to interfere in higher education institutions like Harvard University, Columbia University, and others, and in large law firms that represent clients he considers enemies. There is no doubt that there are clear similarities between the Hitler administration and the Trump administration, and between the Nazi movement and the Trumpist MAGA (Make America Great Again) cult. It is important to highlight what John Kelly, a retired Marine general and chief of staff who worked longest with Trump, told The New York Times and The Atlantic magazine. During Trump's first term as president, he made it 4 clear that he admired Hitler and desired his authoritarian power [3]. Kelly reported that Trump repeatedly said, privately, that Hitler "did some good things" and that Trump wanted to have the kind of "German generals" who served Hitler and committed unspeakable war crimes during World War II. Kelly has stated that he is convinced that Trump is a fascist. In his interview with the New York Times, Marine General John Kelly conceptualized what it means to be a fascist and said that Trump fits the bill. John Kelly stated that fascism is an authoritarian and ultranationalist far-right ideology and movement characterized by dictatorial leadership, centralized autocracy, militarism, suppression of opposition through force, and a belief in a natural social hierarchy. Trump certainly fits the general definition of a fascist, without a doubt. Kelly told The Atlantic that Trump would like American generals to act like Hitler's Nazi generals. General John Kelly said he decided to reveal what he knows about Trump because he was alarmed by his statements that he wants to use the United States military against his political opponents and dissidents. Donald Trump's recent action of sending the National Guard to Democratic Party-run cities confirms John Kelly's assertion, as he has already done in California and Washington, D.C., and intends to do in Maryland, Chicago, and New York under the pretext of fighting crime. He also sent the Marines to Caribbean waters and ten F-35 fighter jets to an air base in Puerto Rico, heightening military tension in the region under the pretext of combating drug trafficking and intervening in Venezuela. Kelly confirmed that Trump wants to be a dictator and that he poses an existential threat to American democracy. 4. Conclusions From the above, it can be stated that Italian fascism was not the same as German Nazism and its anti-Semitic obsession, or Spanish Francoism and its formal preservation of the monarchy, or Portuguese Salazarism and its Catholic fanaticism. Each had its own peculiarities. Fascist movements in many other nations, including Brazil, with Integralism, existed during the same historical period. However, despite their differences, they were all expressions of the same current and deserve the label "fascist". As for the differences between fascism and neo-fascism, the most important are, first, that neofascism does not rely on paramilitary forces like the Nazi SS and SA that characterized the old version of fascism—not in the sense that it is devoid of them, but rather maintains them in a reserve role behind the scenes. Second, that neo-fascism does not claim to be "socialist" to attract workers, as fascism and Nazism did. It can be argued that neofascism is not a copy of fascism. Neofascism's program does not lead to the expansion of the state apparatus and its economic role, but draws inspiration from neoliberal thought in its call to reduce the state's economic role in favor of private capital. However, the need to suppress resistance movements may lead it to move in the opposite direction. While 20th-century fascism grew in the context of the severe economic crisis that followed World War I and reached its peak with the "Great Depression" of 1929, neofascism grew with the worsening crisis of neoliberalism, especially after the "Great Recession" resulting from the 2007-2008 financial crisis. While 20th-century fascism emerged to combat the advance of socialism on the European continent, neofascism emerged as a consequence of the failure of neoliberal capitalism and racist and xenophobic resentment against the growing waves of immigration that accompanied neoliberal globalization and resulted from the wars it fueled, parallel to the collapse of the rules of the international system. 5 Based on the above, it can also be stated that Donald Trump is a neofascist, or a fascist of the historical period in which we live. Trump poses a danger not only to democracy in the United States but also to the stability of the international system. The tariff hikes imposed on all countries that maintain trade relations with the United States and the Trump administration's interference in the internal affairs of Brazil and other countries are just one facet of this danger to the international system and world peace. The recent name change from the Department of Defense to the Department of War demonstrates the warmongering nature of the neofascist Trump administration. In short, Trump poses a very great danger to the United States, the international system, and humanity itself. Trump's rise to power in the United States represents a very strong reactionary shift worldwide. It will take a struggle unlike any other in history to defeat neo-fascism in the United States and the world. Trump is a modern-day Hitler who must be defeated within and outside the United States. REFERENCES 1. ALCOFORADO, Fernando. Fascism and its evolution through history. Available on the website <https://www.academia.edu/37569566/FASCISM_AND_ITS_EVOLUTION_THR OUGH_HISTORY>. 2. CAVENDISH, David. Trump e Adolf Hitler, os primeiros cem dias. Available on the website <https://radiopeaobrasil.com.br/trump-e-adolf-hitler-os-primeiros-cemdias/>. 3. RISEN, JAMES. Não podemos ter medo de comparar Trump a Hitler. Available on the website <https://www.intercept.com.br/2024/11/05/trump-hitler-imprensa/>. 4. ARCARY, Valério. Trump é um neofascista? Available on the website <https://operamundi.uol.com.br/opiniao/trump-e-um-neofascista/>. * Fernando Alcoforado, 85, condecorado com a Medalha do Mérito da Engenharia do Sistema CONFEA/CREA, membro da SBPC- Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência e do IPB- Instituto Politécnico da Bahia, engenheiro pela Escola Politécnica da UFBA e doutor em Planejamento Territorial e Desenvolvimento Regional pela Universidade de Barcelona, professor universitário (Engenharia, Economia e Administração) e consultor nas áreas de planejamento estratégico, planejamento empresarial, planejamento regional e planejamento de sistemas energéticos, foi Assessor do Vice-Presidente de Engenharia e Tecnologia da LIGHT S.A. Electric power distribution company do Rio de Janeiro, Coordenador de Planejamento Estratégico do CEPED- Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento da Bahia, Subsecretário de Energia do Estado da Bahia, Secretário do Planejamento de Salvador, é autor dos livros Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revoluções Científicas, Econômicas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Invenção de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017), Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associação Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018, em co-autoria), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019), A humanidade ameaçada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência (Editora Dialética, São Paulo, 2021), A escalada da ciência e da tecnologia ao longo da história e sua contribuição ao progresso e à sobrevivência da humanidade (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2022), 6 de capítulo do livro Flood Handbook (CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, United States, 2022), How to protect human beings from threats to their existence and avoid the extinction of humanity (Generis Publishing, Europe, Republic of Moldova, Chișinău, 2023), A revolução da educação necessária ao Brasil na era contemporânea (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2023), Como construir um mundo de paz, progresso e felicidade para toda a humanidade (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2024) e How to build a world of peace, progress and happiness for all humanity (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2024). 7