The next election won’t be decided at a Ballot Box.
It’ll be decided at the ammo box.
— American Patriots Three Percent
In 2018, Donald Trump appointed Gen. Mark Milley as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In Bob Woodward’s new book "War," Milley told him that Trump was “fascist to the core.” In an interview on Oct. 22, Gen. John Kelly said that Trump fits “the general definition of fascism.”
Milley fears that if Trump becomes president again, he will arrest him and other military leaders who have crossed him. In a September 2023 Truth Social post, Trump threatened Milley with execution for treason. The triggering event was a phone call that Milley had made to his Chinese counterpart, one that had been authorized by Trump administration officials.
Trump has declared that “the enemy from within is more dangerous than China, Russia and all these countries.” (He boasted that he could easily “take care of them.”) Trump said that “we have some very bad people ... radical left lunatics. They should be very easily handled by the military.”
Fascism and communism were the two foremost totalitarian political movements of the 20th century. The main difference is that fascist leaders sought support from corporate interests while the communists eliminated, with devastating consequences, private business. The threats are the same from both: no free press, no democracy, and general political, cultural and personal oppression.
Trump continues to praise the dictators of the world. They are “at the top of their game, they’re tough, they’re smart, they’re vicious, and they’re going to protect their country.” He idolizes Chinese Communist President Xi Jinping, saying that he is “brilliant” and “controls his people ruthlessly.”
When Gen. Kelly heard Trump say that Hitler “did some good things,” Kelly, incredulously asked, “Well, what?” Trump answered that Hitler had “rebuilt the economy.” Kelly was shocked that he said nothing about the Holocaust.
Trump admires North Korea’s Kim Jong Un because his people give him unconditional allegiance, and he commended Hitler who got total loyalty from his generals. Kelly reminded Trump that Hitler’s generals tried to assassinate him three times, but Trump, ignorantly, responded that was not true.
In his retirement speech, Gen. Milley declared: “We don’t take an oath to a king, or to a tyrant, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We take an oath to the Constitution.”
Both Hitler and Trump promised that, if they would win, as Trump told evangelical Christians recently, “you won’t have to vote again” because “everything will be fixed.” When, on Jan. 30, 1933, German President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as chancellor, he moved, spreading terror with his stormtroopers, to eliminate communists, labor leaders and all other internal enemies.
Although we have now learned that “trucks of militia were out hunting FEMA personnel” turned out to be one armed individual who was arrested, there are still dozens of militias that are ready to throw the election to Trump.
In July 2024, according to the Counter Terrorism Group, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon “claimed there was a MAGA army that would persist until Trump regained the presidency. Three Percenter militia members have reiterated that they would be willing to use violence against voting centers to support Trump.”
Dictators seek total control — hence the term totalitarianism. For the U.S., it would mean eliminating the separation of powers doctrine and the complete takeover of the military, the economy, and the government. At the end of his administration, Trump attempted to remove employment protections for the government’s civil servants.
Trump’s executive order for this action was rescinded by incoming President Joe Biden, but the goal was that these nonpartisan, well-trained professionals would be replaced by Trump loyalists. One commentator argued that it would undermine a system that “has existed for more than a century and severely impair the integrity and effectiveness of the federal government.”
In an interview with Politico, vice presidential candidate JD Vance suggested that “If the elected president says, ‘I get to control the staff of my own government,’ and the Supreme Court steps in and says, ‘You’re not allowed to do that,’” Vance proposes that Trump simply ignore the ruling.
The supreme irony is that Trump would not be an effective dictator. First, he is not smart enough and is obviously in mental decline; and second, as Gen. Kelly has said: “He’s not a tough guy by any means, but in fact quite the opposite.” He has been easily manipulated, especially by Vladmir Putin. As president he would be a pawn for the world’s dictators.
Gier is professor emeritus at the University of Idaho. Email him at ngier006@gmail.com.
