How Are Trumpism, Maoism and Peronism Alike?

In the short term, what’s important is the role Trump plays as leader of the opposition.

The most enthusiastic supporters of Mao Zedong, Juan Perón, Charles de Gaulle, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez produced more enduring political movements than the leaders who inspired them.

Donald Trump will be the first U.S. president to enjoy a huge political movement named for him. Trumpism, characterized by its pugnacious rhetoric against the elite and immigrants, nostalgic nationalism, autocratic tendencies and narcissistic media manipulation, has much in common with other political movements that have elevated the name of their leader. Consequently, Trumpism will have a long life that will transcend Trump himself.

Some of these movements, like Maoism for example, had international influence, while others, like Cuban Castroism, were predominately regional. Others, like French Gaullism and Argentinian Peronism, were purely national.

These movements have much in common. Some of the traits they have in common include the routine transgression of established political norms, rampant opportunism, authoritarian propensity, anti-intellectualism and hostility to the rules and institutions that limit the concentration of government power. There’s also the fierce hostility for rivals that aren’t seen as fellow countryman with different ideas, but as mortal enemies.

The ideologies of these movements have proven to be particularly malleable. Maoism was used to legitimize the communist totalitarianism of its origins and, decades after, to support the economic opening-up that created the current Chinese capitalist model. In France, Gaullism − which never reached the extremes of other movements − served to justify the problematic nationalism of Gen. Charles de Gaulle and, later on, the democratic centralism of Jacques Chirac. Argentinian Peronism was made famous by its plasticity. It originally justified the light fascism of Juan Perón and, decades later, Carlos Menem’s neoliberal reforms that later served as a base for the leftist populism of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez. In Venezuela, Chavism turned the richest Latin American country into one of the poorest, but, nevertheless, opinion polls revealed that half the population supported Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013.

Trumpism is heading toward becoming part of this list, independent of the legal and political problems affecting its leader over the next few years. With or without Trump, Trumpism will continue. He will have more or less political success, but the strategies, tactics and tricks used to obtain and retain power will endure. Through his behavior and undeniable political success, the 45th president of the United States revealed to the world, and above all to the most ambitious and irresponsible politicians in the country, that it’s possible to gain power by doing and saying things that no politician has dared do or say before. To describe Mexican immigrants as rapists, or to put immigrant children in cages, insult his rivals or other heads of state, lie routinely and openly, and above all, do what it takes to widen the existing social divisions or create new sources of polarization − these are actions that have had no political cost for Trump. On the contrary, they’ve led him to the White House, and later, to receive the most votes of any presidential candidate in the history of the United States, after Joe Biden.

Every politician without any major ties to ideologies and values, and whose ambition is only surpassed by his opportunism, is taking note. In the next few years, there will be many Trump imitators, in the United States as well as in other parts of the world. Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, whose followers call him “the tropical Trump,” is one of the first and most successful imitators. There will be many candidates who will declare themselves Trumpists in the United States, who will copy the style of the ex-president, but who will also be careful to avoid his disastrous policies.

In the short term, what’s important is the role Trump plays as leader of the opposition to Biden’s government. Once outside the White House, the former president will have to defend himself against the avalanche of lawsuits of every kind waiting for him. He’ll have to dedicate a lot of time to his lawyers, and the judges and attorneys prosecuting him.

He’ll also be simultaneously raising funds, consolidating his Trumpism machinery and creating a new media platform similar to Fox News. At the same time, he’ll be fighting for control of the Republican Party. The clash between his allies and adversaries in the party could lead to a division in this political organization, founded in 1854. Or, simply, the resignation of those who don’t accept Trump as the leader of the party or as the Republican candidate for president in 2024.

Political uncertainty will continue to reign over the United States. What is not uncertain is that former President Trump now has a huge political movement that will serve as a base for him to continue his fight to take back power. Whatever it takes.