The list stops short of racism, a defining attribute of fascist rule. No interwar fascist movement benefited from a preexisting racist heritage as powerful as white supremacy in the US. In Weimar Germany, formal and informal quotas against Jewish Germans had nothing in common with three centuries of systemic racism in the USA. Jewish Germans constituted barely 1 percent of the population; more Jews married non-Jews than Jews; Jews were better educated and overrepresented in distinguished categories, ranging from Nobel laureates to front soldiers who died in World War I. National Socialists had to create phobic anti-Semitism among masses of citizens; Trumpists have only to release the white supremacy that pervades “post-racial” America.
There are, however, parallels. All racisms expel members of targeted groups from the mainstream community of moral obligation. I’ll emphasize some persuasive techniques common to Trumpism and Hitlerism: Deepening perceptions of vulnerability among the “left behind.” Deploying flexible, incremental tactics. Segmenting audiences, using “dog whistles” for some and unapologetic racism for others. Demolishing and demeaning the responsible news media and “always tell a big lie.” Immiserating victim populations so they come to resemble stereotypes. And promoting the respectable collaborators who enhance perpetrators’ righteousness.
I’ll conclude with an ominous contrast. Hitler ruthlessly centralized the federal government; Trump is dismantling it. After 1933, the hierarchical NSDAP and government institutions controlled the dissemination of racist indoctrination, whereas social media today defies vertical control and hatreds metastasize horizontally.