Radical right populusm, fascism, or...?

Abstract: This talk builds on my Cambridge Element Populism and Fascism to compare Trump’s two administrations. Whereas his first term fits into any definition of populism, after his denial of the legitimacy of Biden’s election and the insurrection carried on his behalf scholars are debating whether he ought to be better classified as a fascist. This talk will compare the elective affinities and differences between populism and fascism. It argues that Trump’s second administration has built total enemies such as the “illegal alien”, promoters of “gender ideology”, and “Marxist lunatics” that occupied the deep state and universities. What are the pros and cons of using these categories? Are we facing a new historicity that requires new concepts?

Carlos de la Torre is professor at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from the New School of Social Research. His research focuses on populism, democratization, and authoritarianism. His most recent books are Populism and Fascism, Elements in the History and Politics of Fascism Cambridge University Press, 2025; Global Populisms, with Treethep Srisa-nga, Routledge Press, 2021 (Thai translation 2025, Spanish translation 2024); Populist Seduction in Latin America, Ohio University Press 2000, second edition 2010. He is the editor of The Routledge Handbook of Global Populism, Routledge Press, 2019, and with Oscar Mazzoleni, Populism and Key Concepts in Social and Political Theory, Brill, 2023. He was a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.