It's high time commentators stopped trying to shoehorn the American polity into a paradigm that doesn't fit. Donald Trump's brand of government is as new and unique as it is volatile and disturbing. Sometimes, history neither repeats nor rhymes. Sometimes, a whole new species bursts onto the scene.
What we're seeing today with Trump isn't dictatorship. Dictators control their countries. They don't rely on the opposition party to pass budgets; they dictate where money is spent. They don't get bludgeoned every hour in the press; they dominate the media. And they don't have their key initiatives stymied in the courts; they control the judiciary.
Nor is this Nazism. Nazis don't make Nazi salutes at rallies and then try (with mixed success) to downsize the government. Nazis make Nazi salutes at rallies and then go kill a bunch of innocent people. Nazis, moreover, don't just slap tariffs on their neighbors. Nazis invade their neighbors.
This isn't fascism, either. Fascists enforce a coherent vision of government through a murderous, totalitarian regime. They don't flail around pursuing incoherent and contradictory policies that get blocked as frequently as they get implemented.
Sure, there are similarities between Trump’s presidency and these historical forms of government. Trump's rhetoric, for example, is often lifted from the lips of history's worst tyrants. His abuses of executive power, moreover, often resemble certain dictatorial techniques. But, overall, these political pegs don't fit into the American hole. Having similarities with something is different from being the same thing. Both the mouse and the elephant have four legs and a tail.
No, what we have in America today is different. It's new. It’s unprecedented. What we have in America today is Trumpism.
There are four defining elements of Trumpism. First, Donald Trump is the sitting president and dominates the Republican Party. His cabinet includes people with varied pedigrees and ideologies who share one common trait: slavish loyalty to Trump. The same Trump-first, person-over-party ethos pervades Republicans in both houses of Congress.
Second, several essential pillars of American democracy no longer function. For example, Trump's executive branch doesn't respect legal precedents or traditions in its daily workings. Trump ignores rules regarding government ethics, such as avoiding conflicts of interest. An impulsive and profiteering businessman, he naturally gravitates toward, instead of away from, these conflicts. He also ignores other long-held norms and legal requirements governing executive action. Under Article 2, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, the president must “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Yet Trump and Elon Musk have brazenly confiscated valid federal funding to serve their political goals and settle personal scores.
Third, other essential pillars of American democracy do continue to function. As Trump's recent deal with Democratic senator Chuck Schumer illustrated, a majority of Congress is still required to pass a budget. The judiciary still operates independently from and consistently rules against the president. State and local governments still control vast portions of America's legal and political systems. A diverse and free press still vociferously criticizes the president every minute of every day.
So we find ourselves today charting new territory as a nation. Some parts of our democracy still work, some don't, and some of our fears have been realized. We are not under the yoke of a fascist dictator. We are, rather, neck-deep in the dysfunctional scramble of a constitutionally illiterate and shameless bully.
Which brings us to the fourth and final element of Trumpism: unpredictability reigns. Will Trump start systematically violating court orders? Will he and Musk illicitly unwind foundational programs like Social Security? Will Republicans keep both chambers of Congress in 2026? Will Trump try to stay in office after the next presidential election?
These are big open questions. And we shouldn't understate the predicament we’re in. But we also shouldn't confuse where things stand or make them worse than they are. This isn't dictatorship, nazism, fascism, or any other familiar political paradigm. This is something different. This is something new. This is something as odd, as unique, and as troubling as the man who gives it its name. This is Trumpism.
William Cooper is the author of How America Works … And Why It Doesn’t
