Tom Nichols on Trump’s Recent Rhetoric: “An Actual Fascist Has Shown Up” | Amanpour and Company

What amazes me is that Tom Nichols did not see Jan 6th as a classic Facist move. Hitlers early facisit moves were relatively clownish, but he honed it over the eyars. Same with Trump.

Calling out genuine fascism at the point that it's full-blown is too little too late. It's very similar to the climate issue.

It wasn't a mistake to call Trump a fascist early on, Nichols simply wasn't seeing what was really there. He was only seeing what he wanted to see, and the people calling Trump a fascist could see where this was all headed. And Nichols wasn't. Better late than never, I suppose.

I’m Venezuelan and the very first time I saw Trump in his infamous announcement that he was running for president I knew right away how dangerous he was. Us Venezuelans know a dictator when we see one, we’ve been there, done that. Most Americans don’t realize how dangerous he is because they’ve never had to deal with somebody like him. If he’s president again this will be a very hard lesson for the US.

Welcome to Germany in 1933. Everyone had lives and more important things to worry about back then, too.

Trump's rhetoric has Stephen Miller's and Steve Bannon's fingerprints all over it. Excellent questions and answers. Thanks for an informative and fascinating interview.

The problem is no one is or has held that man accountable. He should be in jail

Good grief. Just because his eyes were closed to Trump doesn't mean he all of a sudden became something he wasn't. Maybe, just admit you were wrong and move on and do something about it? Trump didn't become a racist in the last month.

Good grief: In 2016, folks I knew here, in the Philippines, where I'm a voter, gave essentially same reason for why they would choose Duterte, 'to see what would happen.' I argued against that idea, without the benefit of hindsight, or any clear idea of how a candidate's horrendous words could be enacted as policy. Well - Duterte did deliver on the promise of murders, and erased trust in the idea that government is a citizens' tool to achieve a good life for all. Duterte did diminish us as a people. Trump has, and promises to do the same for Americans.

Imprisoning immigrant children and separating them from their parents wasn't enough? He had to literally hit the fascist quotes before academia takes note?

My hair burst into flames the first time I ever saw Trump…on the 3rd debate (I had never watched the Apprentice and don’t buy rags). Even more upsetting than the monster on the stage were the commentators calmly analyzing the debate post event…as though they’d just witnessed something NORMAL …and not screaming, like I did: Good God, WHAT was THAT!?

America has a history of dancing with this issue in the 1930's and 1940's. Maybe it's time to bring back the idea of teaching history so people are better informed.

You know ... some of us -- including a member of the Irish Senate -- tried to tell Tom Nichols when Trump had shown up a fascist had shown up ... BACK IN 2016 when there would have been time to actually do something about it. He blocked us.

Sorry Tom! You’re late to understanding Trump’s danger as a fascist! Glad you finally woke up!

I noticed back in 2016 that Trump was using peculiar hand motions during his speeches. So I watched the videos I could find of Mussolini and Hitler and seemed to me that Trump must have watched them and copied some of the mannerisms of both dictators. So, I used the word fascism in my writing because it felt to me that there is some kind of planning around Trump and that he is being coached to play the "Strong Man" role.

"as long as he hates the same people they hate" seems an apt description of what motivates many of the former president's supporters. When a political figure or an entire party leads with resentment and desire for retribution, run the other way.

So, according to this guy, we shouldn't start worrying until the person in question starts using the actual words in the actual contexts that Hitler used? That's a pretty high bar for tolerance. How could that possibly go wrong? Oh wait. This. This is how.

Tom says - "An actual fascist shows up!" Me - "Told you so !!"

There should be no "impartiality" about a candidate who dehumanises whole groups of people and talks like a fascist. The media HAS TO make a choice to stand up against this guy.

Nichols is a real 'Johnny Come Lately' on realizing Trump's fascist ideology. Those who spotted it years ago weren't playing with words. Glad to see Nichols woke up!