Historian Anne Applebaum sounds the alarm on Trump's words mirroring Hitler and Stalin

Anne Applebaum, a prominent historian and journalist, accused President Donald Trump of borrowing the language of "fascists" and "communists" in his repeated descriptions of his opponents as “radical-left thugs” who “live like vermin.” The 61-year-old did not mince her words, pointing out that the purpose of Trump's rhetoric was to deprive his detractors of rights, exclude them from society, or even kill them. 

Writing in The Atlantic, Applebaum said this language was not a "normal part" of American politics, and even the worst offenders, like George Wallace’s inaugural speech as Alabama governor, and the prelude to his first presidential campaign, steered clear of such language. Her piece, originally published in 2024, has resurfaced as Trump faces a fresh wave of criticism over actions his opponents have labelled "dictatorial" in nature.

Applebaum reshared the clip in which she is discussing her article; she is careful to clarify that she is not calling Trump Hitler, nor predicting a new Holocaust. The threat the author of Gulag: A History identifies is different: Trump's assault on institutions, judges, courts, and the bureaucracy, which, she argues, is precisely how most democracies fail today. Trump made headlines recently after attacking Judge Casey Cooper, who ordered his name removed from the Kennedy Center, and dismissing him as an "Obama judge."

The Pulitzer Prize winner sought to highlight parallels between Trump's rhetoric, which included phrases like "enemies within" and migrants "poisoning the blood" of America, and the documented language of Nazi and Stalinist regimes. The staunch Trump critic, who has spent decades studying authoritarianism, warns the comparison is forensic in nature: such dehumanising language has historically preceded the systematic stripping of rights and humanity from marginalized groups.

This is not the first time Applebaum has been critical of the president. She previously slammed the Trump administration's strategy around Iran, saying he was leading the world into recession without appearing to care about it. "I imagine he was being told that this was something that was going to be easy. If there were people in the room telling him that it wasn't going to be easy, he ignored them," she said in an interview.

The comparisons have not gone down well with Trump's supporters. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) argued that such rhetoric bears responsibility for encouraging assassination attempts on the president. It did not take long for critics like Democratic activist Harry Sisson to point out that Vice President J.D. Vance remains the "only major figure" in American politics to have likened Trump to Hitler.