The Danger of the Trumpian Revolution: Some Historical Analogies

The tariff war has diverted public attention from a deeper analysis of the Trumpian revolution. Indeed, a true revolution is happening before our amazed eyes : Trump and his administration openly aim to destroy the American “deep state” – in other words, the state itself – and to completely overhaul foreign policy in the name of restoring America’s greatness and ushering in a coming “golden age.”

This destruction is being carried out with disconcerting speed: in February 2025 alone, 172,017 federal employees were dismissed from sectors such as health, education, sanitary inspections, and humanitarian operations worldwide. The objective is twofold: to save massive sums (a trillion dollars) and to fight the “progressive ideas” promoted by these agencies.

While Trump can count on a majority both in the Congress and the Senate are in Trump’s camp, he prefers to govern by decree to move quickly and to demonstrate that debate is pointless. His contempt for the judiciary is blatant, and court rulings are not always enforced. Opposition is difficult: although people are not yet imprisoned for their ideas (though foreigners who dare to protest are being deported), the nerve centers of dissent are being heavily penalized, such as Harvard and Columbia Universities. The media are at least partially muzzled, and adherence to Trump’s conspiracy theories has become the sine qua non for federal employees to keep their jobs.

The traditional goals of U.S. foreign policy have been abandoned: longtime allies in Europe and elsewhere have been betrayed and left behind, while traditional enemies like Russia are well treated. Only “deals”, including the ones with Russia, in spite of her long aggression war against Ukraine, now dictate the country’s political direction.

Even though Trump’s America is neither a totalitarian nor even an authoritarian country – despite a notable reduction in civil liberties – certain fundamental features of the current regime should alert us as to the direction the American society might follow. I would like to compare the Trumpian revolution and the regime it has produced to two other major revolutions of the 20^th century: the Bolshevik revolution and the Nazi revolution. There are at least three key traits that unite them.

The first trait is resentment and hatred, deliberately cultivated within society toward a segment of that same society and toward external “enemies” who must be eliminated or defeated in order to move toward a “bright future.” In the case of the Bolsheviks, it was class hatred: the industrial and landowning “exploiting class” had to be destroyed, along with all the elements that supported it – such as the press, the administration, the military, the education system, etc. In the case of the Nazis, the primary enemies were the Jews and the alleged global Jewish conspiracy, but also homosexuals, the mentally ill, and, of course, all political opponents. Both the Bolsheviks and the Nazis shared a ferocious hatred of the democratic system, which is based on the rule of law, free elections, alternation of power, freedom of speech, and so on.

In both cases, the resentment was rooted in real causes. In Tsarist Russia, it stemmed from the exploitation of workers and peasants, the legacy of serfdom, and the incompetence and corruption of the military high command during World War I, which resulted in massive Russian casualties. The oppression of colonized peoples and Jews also provided fertile ground for resentment, which was fueled by propaganda from leftist – especially the Bolsheviks, who were the most radical.

In Germany, resentment arose not only from the defeat in World War I, but more importantly from the draconian conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which condemned the German population to hyperinflation and misery. Hitler successfully channeled this resentment and sense of injustice by blaming “world Jewry” and the Allied countries for the suffering of the German people.

Resentment is also well-founded in the American case. Deindustrialization, the shift to a financial capitalism that has little or nothing to do with the actual production of goods, stock market speculation, the failure of the public healthcare system, increasingly difficult access to homeownership, the scourge of drug addiction, and the staggering national debt – whose interest payments weigh heavily on the national economy – this is the reality that has driven so many Americans into Trump’s arms. The White House occupant has deliberately stoked this resentment by blaming the American bureaucracy for massive waste and the rest of the world for taking advantage of American “generosity” at the expense of the American people. In his demagoguery, he even claimed that the European Union was created specifically to harm the United States!

The second common trait: spoliation as a way to address some of the above-mentioned problems and to “get back on track.” The Bolshevik regime eagerly abolished private property and nationalized the means of production and land. It expropriated not only major capitalists but millions of peasants and city-dwelling members of the middle class. Institutionalized plunder was also carried out by the Red Army in all the “liberated” countries, before the establishment of the fraternal communist regimes. The Nazi regime plundered Jewish property but did not seize the means of production from its own people (the Jews were not considered part of it). Their plunder was directed abroad: the conquest of Lebensraum and the shameless looting of occupied countries allowed Germans to live in relative comfort for a few years, until the turning point of the war in 1942–1943.

Spoliation is also a fundamental characteristic of the Trumpist regime. The prohibitive and unjustified tariffs imposed on American imports are a form of spoliation. Trump has openly stated his intention (despite a 90-day suspension) to plunder 160 countries around the world, in varying degrees, to rake in massive profits and begin repaying the debt. The rapacious imperialist nature of the American regime has been revealed in the “deal” proposed to war-ravaged Ukraine. To repay the unconditional aid granted by the Biden administration, Trump intends to take control of Ukraine’s raw materials and infrastructure, effectively turning it into a colony. And blackmail is the perfect tool for this plundering: if you don’t do as I say, I will cut off all aid.

The third common trait is messianism. The Bolsheviks envisioned communism – a classless society without exploiters – while ruthlessly exploiting their own population. All while sending millions of their own people to die and exterminating Jews and other undesirables, the Nazis dreamed of a thousand-year Reich in which the Aryan race would reign supreme and live in opulence.

To establish the “golden age,” Trump calls for the expulsion of millions of immigrants accused of being “criminals” (just like Jews under Hitler), the dismantling of the bureaucracy that ensures the state’s functioning, the imposition of penalties on the entire world, and the restoration of the American Empire – including his desire to annex Canada or occupy Greenland. This “golden age,” which, incidentally, never existed, is supposed to allow Americans to return to full employment and prosperity, in the outdated atmosphere of conservative ideas such as LGBTQ-bashing, abortion bans, racist and discriminatory practices, etc.

It is worth noting that the messianic idea, in all these regimes, is deliberately vague and serves only to make the masses dream, thanks to omnipresent propaganda explaining that tightening one’s belt is necessary in order to build a better society for children and future generations. Faced with plunging stock markets and the prospect of massive price increases, Trump does exactly the same: he urges the American people to be patient so that his measures can bear fruit and the “golden age” can arrive.

Needless to say, such regimes do not allow for power transitions. It took the Bolsheviks 70 years and millions of deaths in the Gulag for their regime to collapse; it took a war and 50 million deaths to defeat the Nazi regime. Trump has more or less already announced a third term, and everything will be done (including massive algorithmic manipulation on social media) to ensure that the Democrats never return to power.

I haven’t discussed Putin’s regime here, which – although it shares some similarities with these three examples (Bolsheviks, Nazi Germany, Trump’s America) – does not belong in the same category. The Russian regime is counter-revolutionary, not revolutionary, because it has failed to produce any true messianic idea capable of mobilizing the masses. In this sense, Trump’s regime is far more dangerous – for the American people and for the world.

There is still time for Americans to wake up, but will they do so before it’s too late?