by
Win
McNamee/Getty
Images)
Axios
reported back
in
2019,
even
before
President
Donald
Trump
had
finished
his
first
term
in
office,
that
Trump
had
accused
his
political
opponents,
government
officials,
and
members
of
the
media
of
having
committed
“treason”
at
least
24
separate
times. Since, as
Trump likes
to
mention, treason
is
a
crime
punishable
by
death, that’s
a
pretty
serious
accusation. And
24
is
a
pretty
decent
number
when
you
haven’t
yet
spent
four
years
in
office.
If
you’re
a
Republican
who
gives
offense,
Trump
goes
lighter
on
you. When
former
attorney
general
Jeff
Sessions
recused
himself
from
the
Russia
investigation,
Trump
accused
him
only
of
being
a
“traitor,”
as
opposed
to
having
committed
“treason.”
Those
couple
dozen
occasions
are
of
course
not
alone. Here’s
a
link
to
15
other
times
when
Trump
used dehumanizing
language —
“garbage,”
“vermin,”
“human
refuse;”
you
get
the
idea
—
to
describe
people.
But
those
are
mere
insults. How
about
the
times
when
Trump
called
people
Marxists,
and
communists,
and
the
like?
Google
is
a
wonderful
thing.
Let’s
start
with
“Marxists”
and
“communists.”
In
June
2023,
after
Trump
had
been
indicted
by
a
New
York
grand
jury,
he took
aim at
President
Joe
Biden
and
Democrats: “[Trump] was
being
persecuted,
he
said,
by
‘Marxists’
and
‘communists.’”
A
few
days
later,
“Trump
told a
crowd
of
his
supporters
at
his
golf
club
in
Bedminster,
New
Jersey,
that
Biden,
‘together
with
a
band
of
his
closest
thugs,
misfits,
and
Marxists,
tried
to
destroy
American
democracy.’”
At
roughly
the
same
time,
many
of
Trump’s
campaign
emails
and
Truth
Social
posts insisted that,
under
Biden’s
leadership,
America
would
become
a
“third
world
Marxist
regime”
or
a
“tyrannical
Marxist
nation.”
Trump
added,
“If
the
communists
get
away
with
this,
it
won’t
stop
with
me.”
OK.
The
man
was
hot. He’d
just
been
indicted.
But
surely
he’d
calm
down,
no? And,
to
the
extent
that
it
matters,
Trump
was
drawing
parallels
only
to
Marxists
and
communists,
not
fascists.
Oh,
wait:
We
will
demolish
the
deep
state.
We
will
expel
the
warmongers
from
our
government.
We
will
drive
out
the
globalists.
We
will
cast
out
the
communists,
Marxists,
and
fascists.
And
we
will
throw
off
the
sick
political
class
that
hates
our
country.
(Donald
Trump, campaign
speech
in
Michigan,
June
25,
2023.)
Well,
at
least
we
haven’t
yet
gotten
to
the
Nazis.
Oh,
wait
again:
The
lawlessness
of
these
persecutions
of President
Trump and
his
supporters
is
reminiscent
of
Nazi
Germany
in
the
1930s,
the
former
Soviet
Union,
and
other
authoritarian,
dictatorial
regimes.
(Trump
campaign
post
on Truth
Social,
August
2023.)
That’s
not
just
Nazis: Trump’s
campaign
picks
up
Nazis,
the
former
Soviet
Union,
and
the
umbrella
of
“other
authoritarian,
dictatorial
regimes”
all
in
one
post. The
man
covers
a
lot
of
ground.
There’s
still
a
hedge
in
that
last
accusation
—
“reminiscent
of.”
Perhaps
that’s
too
indirect. How
about
this?
“She’s
a
fascist,
OK?
She’s
a
fascist.”
(Donald
Trump, campaign
speech
in
Georgia,
October
28,
2024.)
But
now,
with
the
death
of
Charlie
Kirk,
Trump
promises
to
fix
all
that:
For
years,
those
on
the
radical
left
have
compared
wonderful
Americans
like
Charlie
to
Nazis
and
the
world’s
worst
mass
murderers
and
criminals.
This
kind
of
rhetoric
is
directly
responsible
for
the
terrorism
that
we’re
seeing
in
our
country
today,
and
it
must
stop
right
now.My
administration
will
find
each
and
every
one
of
those
who
contributed
to
this
atrocity
and
to
other
political
violence,
including
the
organizations
that
fund
it
and
support
it,
as
well
as
those
who
go
after
our
judges,
law-enforcement
officials,
and
everyone
else
who
brings
order
to
our
country.
(Donald
Trump, video
address to
the
country,
September
10,
2025.)
Good
idea,
Donald. Go
for
it.
Mark Herrmann spent
17
years
as
a
partner
at
a
leading
international
law
firm
and
later
oversaw
litigation,
compliance
and
employment
matters
at
a
large
international
company.
He
is
the
author
of The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law and Drug
and
Device
Product
Liability
Litigation
Strategy (affiliate
links).
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected].