What do we actually mean when we say “fascism,” and who gets to decide?

In this episode, Michael Moynihan is joined by Professor Roger Griffin of Oxford Brookes University, one of the world’s foremost scholars of fascism, for a careful and unsparing look at a claim now ricocheting through American media and politics: that Donald Trump represents a fascist turn in U.S. history.

The conversation engages directly with Jonathan Rauch’s recent Atlantic essay, “Yes, It’s Fascism,” and uses it as a jumping-off point to interrogate the term itself. What distinguishes fascism from authoritarianism, populism, or demagoguery? How do historians and political theorists define it? And when those definitions are applied rigorously, does Trump qualify?

This is not a debate by slogan or vibe. It is an attempt to slow the moment down, clarify the language, and examine the charge with scholarly precision rather than panic or partisanship.

Atlantic essay referenced:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/america-fascism-trump-maga-ice/685751/

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EXPLAINED: The process behind Forest’s points deduction appeal