> characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,

Well none of those, so why don’t you explain which ones since they are so obvious to you.

Have you ever read "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"?

Militarism and ‘strong regimentation of society’ are two that very obviously don’t apply to Trumpian politics. Trump was an isolationist militarily in his first term - an expansionist nationalist military is a sine qua non of fascism.

And Trump’s fetish for deregulation works against the second one.

> Fascism rejects the view that violence is inherently negative or pointless but rather views imperialism, political violence, and war as means to national rejuvenation

Trump has advocated for nationalist, North Korean style military parades and the use of the military against protesters etc. And there this myth of him being anti-interventionist but America was very active in Syria during his term.

I think you are conflating nationalism and fascism.

Nationalism has a lot of gradations, and while it can be a subset of fascism it isn't inherently fascistic. Fukuyama said: "But it is not clear that nationalism represents an irreconcilable contradiction in the heart of liberalism. In the first place, nationalism is not one single phenomenon but several, ranging from mild cultural nostalgia to the highly organized and elaborately articulated doctrine of National Socialism."

And using the military against mobs of people that are ransacking cities is not under any construction 'fascism' - property rights are after all pretty important in the Western Anglo-Saxon tradition and using force to protect property rights is not 'fascism'.

Not sure what you mean by America being active militarily in Syria, either - are you referring to Trump ordering the bombing of ISIS targets? By that logic when Obama ordered the Navy Seals to kill bin Laden the US was engaged in a fascistic military adventure in Pakistan which... would probably make you the only person in the world to think that.

Trump is a lot of things. A fascist as that word is understood by historians is not one of them.