After a cordial meeting with President Trump, newly elected New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was asked whether he still views Trump as a fascist. Before Mamdani could reply, Trump casually stepped in:
“That’s OK. You can just say it… I don’t mind.”
Later, Mamdani was asked again—this time by NBC News—whether he still stood by his view. His answer was simple and direct:
“That’s something I’ve said in the past, I say it today.”
What’s striking is that Mamdani isn’t using the word fascist as an insult. He is using it as a description. He is saying Trump is a fascist by definition, not because he wishes to demean Trump.
But that raises the real question:
Is Trump actually a fascist?
The term fascist is emotionally charged because of its association with Hitler, Mussolini, and the losers of World War II. Strip away the emotion, however, and fascism can simply be understood - if you ask me at least - as an ultranationalist with international ambitions.
The way I see it , a nationalist is someone who holds his home or homeland to be sacred. An ultranationalist is someone who believes that their nation’s interests override everything—be it God, human rights, universal values, or even basic decency.
But as long as a nationalist's views stop at the nation’s borders, no matter how extreme their views are, we can only define them as an ultranationalist, not a fascist.
The Line Between Ultranationalism and Fascism
You only cross over from the realm of ultranationalism to fascism when your devotion to your homeland starts developing an international ambition.
In other words, as long as Trump only wanted to build a wall and expel foreigners, he was just a nationalist, or at best, an ultranationalist. But the minute he wants to seize Greenland, absorb parts of Canada, rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America" and even hint at territorial moves in Gaza, we can say that he is showing signs of becoming a budding fascist.
So, Is Trump a Fascist?
If we apply a clean, textbook definition—free from historical trauma or partisan emotion—then yes, we can say that Trump is a fascist, or at least shows the potential of being a fascist, or someone who mixes ultranationalist instincts with expansionist ambitions, or someone whose devotion to upholding the sanctity or supremacy of his nation tempts him to act aggressively against the rest of the world.
Mamdani’s description, then, is not a slur.
It is a classification.
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