I write from the Harbor Inn in Philipsburg PA (pop. 2770). First thing I saw when coming into the room last night was two roaches in the sink. So, the toothbrush stayed in the bag (the “Kulturbeutel” as the Germans call it). The American motel is not what it used to be.

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I’m on the road to Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin. Tonight, I will be in Detroit. A great trip. The foliage in the Pennsylvania forests takes your breath, leaves falling like snowflakes. This morning the car was iced up. The first frost.

I am sliding off on a tangent here. The topic at hand for the next ten days is the elections. And the World Series a little bit. The Dodgers vs. the Yankees, first time in ages that the two best regular season teams face off.

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The elections – we need to talk about Adolf Hitler. Ever since it came to light that Donald T. apparently has a soft spot for him, the nasty Austrian has a cameo role in the last act of the before the closing of the polls. Two monumental former Generals call Trump a fascist, the Harris campaign warns that he will be a dictator, the Trump campaign says it’s all invented to scare the people. Etcetera.

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The Hitler thing came up courtesy of John Kelly, a retired US Marine General and for two years Trump’s chief of staff. He told the “Atlantic” magazine on the record that Trump complained about the lack of obedience by the US military brass and longed for “German Generals”. Kelly asked him what he meant – whether Bismarck’s generals or those of the Kaiser, and surely did he not mean the Wehrmacht generals of Adolf Hitler, did he? Trump replied: «Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals».

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There we have it. You certainly will read a wide gamut of assessments of the Hitlerei, from dismissing it as a campaign plot over tsk-tsk-ing an inappropriate analogy (the Germans call this «Faschismuskeule») to full adoption of the same. Here is my take:
Of course, it is not by accident that Mr. Kelly, who was fired by Trump, came out two weeks before the election. The race is in a dead heat, and the Democrats are jittery. Surely they try to demonize the opponent as much as they can.
And of course, Donald Trump is a fascist. His propensity in the department – more below – is clear for some time, and you don’t need a Hitler quote to get to the conclusion. Hitler is just the spark to light a fire of disdain. For a not-so-partisan skeptical citizen it is hard to swallow that a presidential candidate is an un-democrat with fascist appetites and hence ineligible. «Hitler» is the spoonful of syrup that makes the bitter medicine go down.

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But no, Donald Trump is no Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a crazy maniac who believed that there is on superior race of humans destined to rule and enslave (or, in the case of the Jews, exterminate) the rest of the world. He started a war of conquest in the East and followed through no matter what. Adolf Hitler was an idealist in the worst sense. Donald Trump is a crazy maniac who very probably believes that there is a superior race of humans (we have tons of evidence) destined to rule the United States. He will hit hard when and where he sees America’s interest threatened, and not where he does not, like in Ukraine. I doubt that he will start a war. He plays buddy with the Russian, needles China with tariffs (like the Democrats) and and he cuddled and burped the guy in North Korea. Donald Trump is not an idealist. He has no ideals but himself.

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So – is this fascism? The answer is: Yes, some of it and to the extent that it advances Donald Trump’s ego. The core idea of fascism is the life-and-death struggle for survival. You, as an individual, a family clan, a country, a class or a race, perhaps even a gender, have to fight in a deadly competition against an enemy. Fascists feed on the distinction between «us» and «them». They fetishize the «fighter», the manly prowess and the military. They hate deviation from their own norms. They venerate hierarchy in their own context. As bosses, they demand absolute control, and as subordinates, they cower in front of their higher-ups. They profess rugged individualism and live the opposite. They despise democratic decision-making and democratic dissent, and they idolize «leadership» all the way up to the say-so of a dictator. Some of this applies to Trump. He feeds on the distinction between «us» and «them». He routinely characterizes his opponents as «enemies». He plays the macho man. He poses as a genius and supreme leader. He demands absolute authority and will get it. The Supreme Court has confirmed that a US President literally can do in his official capacity whatever he or she wants to without any judicial review ever. These traits make Donald Trump a fascist. But not all-out like the Hitlers or even the Mussolinis of this world. More like the smaller calibres who coup-d’-etat democratically elected governments and try their hand as strongmen. This is why I call Trump the Caudillo.

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All fascism needs a Führer. But the main man is only one thing. The other is the following. In its absence the Führer is reduced to clown. He can only grow into a serious political figure if enough people believe in «us» versus «them», in an existential threat that is to be battled with at all costs, in the bankruptcy of democracy and the promise of an all-empowered leader. These were the conditions of Germany in the 1930s. Listening to Adolf Hitler’s speeches and watching him on film, I always wondered how normal German folks could warm up to such an odd bird. Enough of them did. Too few resisted. I can’t believe that the Americans of the 2020es will be the Germans of the 1930es.