Within the past few weeks, President Donald Trump and his administration have threatened to invade Greenland, referred to a U.S. citizen killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a domestic terrorist and released a racist video of Barack and Michelle Obama. In the past few months, the administration has threatened universities with federal funding cuts, grabbed thousands of people off the streets and engaged in trade wars with dozens of countries. Within the past year, it has pulled out of over 60 international agreements, pardoned those with Jan. 6 related convictions and purged federal websites of information Trump deemed ‘DEI.’ This paragraph barely covers the overwhelming actions of Trump’s second term, and doesn’t even cover anything he did in his first.
It is completely clear that Trump is becoming increasingly authoritarian in his presidency. His administration and allies have aggressively attacked political opponents, spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and persecuted minority groups — all classic tactics of authoritarians. He has also become more fascist, using propaganda to excite his supporters, polarizing the country and dehumanizing minority groups.
When trying to understand our current political moment, journalists, political pundits and ordinary Americans have all looked to one specific historical movement: Nazi fascism in 1930–40s Germany. People who make this connection aren’t wrong; for example, Hitler severely limited citizen access to information, with his followers conducting massive book burnings to rid the country of ‘un-German’ ideas. Book bans, online document purges and efforts to close libraries are all done with what appears to be the same ferocity by Trump and his followers.
But calling everything Trump does a copy of Nazi tactics is a false equivalency. What is happening in America is a uniquely American brand of authoritarianism, one that Americans need to identify, name and fight against.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve compared Trump to Nazism in articles before; I am not immune. Even so, I feel strongly that the current administration is using U.S. history as an authoritarian playbook. Here are some examples.
Trump and Greenland: Since taking office in his first term, Trump has continuously stated his intentions to buy Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. Ramping up in intensity, Trump has begun to vaguely threaten military force. He argues that Greenland is militarily necessary for protection against Russia and China. Similar tactics were used to gain territory by former President James Polk, who provoked war with Mexico to take the territory of California. He had tried to buy California, declaring war when his proposal was shut down, just as Trump is threatening to do with Greenland now.
Immigration: In both his first and second terms, Trump has engaged in anti-immigrant rhetoric. He has built detention camps across the country, limited immigrant qualifications based on religion and country of origin and dehumanized migrants, comparing them to trash. Immigration is one of the most contentious political issues of American history, with presidents limiting immigration based on race, nationality, political affiliation and more. Former President William McKinley allowed for the government to punish political opponents with deportation. Similar to Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban,’ former President Woodrow Wilson signed the Immigration Act of 1917 into law, creating a zone of countries in which all immigrants were to be turned away. Former President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order which rounded up Japanese immigrants and placed them in internment camps. It does not take much imagination to see that Trump is using all of these past tactics in his immigration crackdown.
Fake news: Since 2025, Trump has taunted and disparaged journalists covering the administration, while simultaneously attacking press institutions. He has cut billions in funding to public broadcasting corporations and tried to suppress late night show hosts. Additionally, he has attacked the Associated Press for not changing its style guide to comply with Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Trump is by no means the first president to attack the press. Former President John Adams passed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which aimed to suppress news editors critical of the president. Even former President Abraham Lincoln ordered the jailing of journalists and closing of newspapers that criticized the Civil War effort. And former President Richard Nixon labelled journalists as enemies while he was in office.
By looking at Trump’s actions through the lens of American history, we can see how he’s just one in a line of presidents that uses authoritarian tactics. This perspective also unlocks something we don’t see when comparing to Nazi Germany: a long line of American protest. Americans have fought, and will always fight, back against authoritarianism, even if that means fighting the president. “No Kings” protests against Trump are mirrored by the Boston Tea Party, the March on Washington, Occupy Wall Street, Kent State and more. Pushing against authority is part of being American.
Our country is facing a terrifying political future. And when we look to Nazi Germany, we engage in a kind of fatalism. We see an inevitability of authoritarian fascism winning. I refuse to believe that to be true. Instead, I look to American history, with all its goods and all its evils, and I see power. And we will wield it — are wielding it — against this president, like we have to all the presidents before.
