Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign rally in Greenville, North Carolina; Donald Trump at a 2016 rally in Arizona; armed supporters of Trump at a Minnesota demonstration, September 2020;[note 1] a supporter kneeling in prayer at a 2016 Trump rally in Tucson; a supporter holding a sign that reads, "Fuck your feelings!" at a rally in 2019; Trump supporters storming the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021[note 2]
Trumpism has authoritarian leanings,[52][53] and is associated with the belief that the President above the rule of law,[54][55][56][57] A theory also known as unitary executive theory exhibited by presidents such as Andrew Jackson and Richard Nixon. This is seen as the American political variant of the far-right[58][59] and the national-populist and neo-nationalist sentiment seen in multiple nations worldwide from the late 2010s[60] to the early 2020s. Though not strictly limited to any one party, Trump supporters became the largest faction of the United States Republican Party, with the remainder often characterized as "the elite" or "the establishment" in contrast. In response to the rise of Trump, there has arisen a Never Trump movement.
Some commentators have rejected the populist designation for Trumpism and view it instead as part of a trend towards a new form of fascism or neo-fascism, with some referring to it as explicitly fascist and others as authoritarian and illiberal.[61][20][63][note 3] Others have more mildly identified it as a specific light version of fascism in the United States.[67][31] Some historians, including many of those using a new fascism classification,[note 4] write of the hazards of direct comparisons with European fascist regimes of the 1930s, stating that while there are parallels, there are also important dissimilarities.[69][70][note 5] Certain characteristics within public relations and Trump's political base have exhibited symptoms of a cult of personality.[72][73][74][75][76] Certain activists of Trumpism have used authoritarian tactics such as big lie.
The label Trumpism has been applied to national-conservative and national-populist movements in other democracies. Many politicians outside of the United States have been labeled as staunch allies of Trump or Trumpism (or even as their countries' equivalent to Trump) by various news agencies; among them are Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Rodrigo Duterte and Bongbong Marcos of the Philippines, Shinzo Abe of Japan, and Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea.
^ abcAdler, Paul S.; Adly, Amr; Armanios, Daniel Erian; Battilana, Julie; Bodrožić, Zlatko; Clegg, Stewart; Davis, Gerald F.; Gartenberg, Claudine; Glynn, Mary Ann; Gümüsay, Ali Aslan; Haveman, Heather A.; Leonardi, Paul; Lounsbury, Michael; McGahan, Anita M.; Meyer, Renate; Phillips, Nelson; Sheppard-Jones, Kara (2022). "Authoritarianism, Populism, and the Global Retreat of Democracy: A Curated Discussion"(PDF). Journal of Management Inquiry. 32 (1): 3–20. doi:10.1177/10564926221119395. S2CID251870215. Archived(PDF) from the original on January 14, 2024. Retrieved January 14, 2024. The decoupling of the man from the movement suggests that authoritarianism can continue well beyond the authoritarian's rule. The most enduring vestige—apart from the democratic institutions attacked—is Trumpism. It has metastasized from Trump's delusional framing on his inauguration day in 2017—with the biggest crowds ever—to a widespread and ambient movement, amplified by disinformation and distortion, broadcast in social and right-wing media, aggressively militant, and framed with falsehoods.
^ abCite error: The named reference Shapiro-2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Irwin, Douglas A. (April 17, 2017). "The False Promise of Protectionism". Foreign Affairs. 96 (May/June 2017). Archived from the original on January 27, 2024. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
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