The Luminary: Robert Paxton explains fascism is a collective feeling. And it's transactional
“It’s not Trump's doing, it was already there.”
In The Luminary, we close each month by highlighting a read that illuminates the major events of the past weeks. This November—as Donald Trump was elected president of the United States after a campaign where many labeled him a fascist—let’s see what historian Robert Paxton had to say in the New York Times Magazine.
When Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, some commentators quickly called him a fascist. Writing in the French newspaper Le Monde, Robert Paxton—a 92-year-old historian, Professor Emeritus at Columbia University, and one of the leading scholars on fascism—warned against applying the fascist label too hastily.
“Everyone you don’t like is a fascist.”
Yes, Trump’s “scowl” and his “jutting jaw” recalled “Mussolini’s absurd theatrics,” and Trump’s rhetoric blaming minorities for national decline echoed fascist themes. However, Paxton argued that the term had become overused and “toxic.” “Everyone you don’t like is a fascist,” he wrote, pointing out that such labels risked losing their analytical value.
The January 6, 2021, Capitol attack changed his view, Paxton told Elisabeth Zerofsky of the New York Times Magazine. The violence, intent on overturning an election, reminded him of Mussolini’s Blackshirts in 1922 or the violent 1934 French riot aimed at overturning a left-wing government. The insurrection marked a shift in Trumpism. Paxton told Zerofsky: “The turn to violence was so explicit and so overt and so intentional, that you had to change what you said about it.” The fascist label, once avoided, now seemed necessary.
What struck me most in Zerofsky’s interview with Paxton wasn’t just his perspective on Trumpism but his clear articulation of some of the core characteristics and dynamics of fascism:
“Trump didn’t create fascism, it was already there.”
Fascism is more about collective feelings than its leaders. Leaders adapt.
Paxton argues that fascism is driven more by popular sentiment than by its leaders. He says fascism is not shaped by the ideology of its leaders but by the collective feelings of the people, particularly a sense of victimhood and a desire for domination. Leaders like Mussolini and Hitler didn’t invent fascism—they adapted to it. “Fascism comes from below,” Paxton told Zerofsky. Trumpism, too, arose from the discontent of many people, not from Trump’s ideas. “It’s not Trump’s doing,” Paxton says. “He didn’t create it, it was already there.”
Fascism is not defined by its program. Instead, it’s political behavior. Promises are transactional.
Finally, Paxton asserts fascism isn’t so much defined by its program or ideology. He describes fascism as a “political behavior” characterized by a focus on community decline and victimhood rather than a specific set of beliefs. Once in power, fascists abandon their original ideals to stay in power, making compromises with elites and using any means necessary to maintain control. Paxton explains that fascists’ promises are often “transactional”—designed to gain followers but disconnected from their actions once they’re in power.
Paxton’s insights help us understand fascism, how to deal with it, and how to counter it. That, however, is for another episode of the European—or for you to share in the comments section. Thank you for your readership last month.
—Anderson
Photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash
Notes and further reading:
Is It Fascism? A Leading Historian Changes His Mind. (the New York Times Magazine)