Right now, there is a lot of turmoil in the United States due to politics. However, this unrest is not the same as what is normally seen when there is an administration change. Usually there is reluctance at the changes being made, but right now in the US there is more than just reluctance at play.
Several words are being commonly used right now to describe the current state of the government: one of these words is Nazis and the other is fascism. These two words are being used to describe the current administration within the government, especially among Generation Z populations.
Nazi is not a word to be thrown around lightly, but with a rise of Nazi ideations in both the government and then general US public, it is cause for a lot of public outcries. The main instance that caused this comparison is the use of a sieg heil, or the Nazi Salute by President Donald Trump’s affiliates and supporters.
This started after Elon Musk did a motion where his hit his chest and then quickly put his arm straight out in a slight upward motion with palm down at a celebration of Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election. He did this gesture twice and proceeded to say, “my heart goes out to you.” This immediately sparked public outcry in the US and in other countries around the world.
Many Gen-Z, left leaning, and foreign people recognized this gesture to be similar to that of Hitler during the rule of the Nazi party in Germany. Musk did not deny this gesture being a Nazi salute, however, he did post on X hours after the incident saying, “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The “everyone is Hitler” attack is sooo tired” in response to the accusation.
The lack of responsibility that Musk was held to for the Nazi salute and the fact that he did the gesture twice has been cause for many people to continue calling Musk a Nazi. The lack of responsibility has also led to a U.K campaign group to call Tesla’s, the electric vehicles which Musk is the CEO of a company by the same name, the “swasticar.”
Along with the lack of responsibility that Musk has taken for doing a Nazi salute, other right wing political figures and their supporters have taken to doing this gesture. There have been instances of other political figures doing the Nazi salute, like Steve Bannon who at one point helped lead Trump’s 2016 political campaign. He did the salute at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and while some say he was merely waving, others insist on it being a Nazi salute.
People who are close to the current President of the United States doing an apparent Nazi salute has caused unrest in the U.S. among people who do not want to see Trump in power. This is especially because in his past term Trump had already been compared to Hitler himself by a Holocaust survivor.
In 2016 Eva Schloss, the stepsister of Anne Frank and a survivor of Auschwitz herself wrote in a column on Newsweek comparing Trump to Hitler. She said, “If Donald Trump becomes the next president of the U.S. it would be a complete disaster. I think he is acting like another Hitler by inciting racism.”
The rise in worries of Nazi’s in the government and white supremacy in the United States has not been lessened by some of the actions that the Trump administration has been taking. Many people have even taken to asking themselves if the United States is entering a constitutional crisis.
By definition, a constitutional crisis is when one branch of the government blatantly and often exceeds the authority it holds under the constitution and the other branches of the government are not able or are not willing to stop it. Often, if a constitutional crisis is occurring, it is because the Executive branch (the branch the President heads) is the one doing it.
A constitutional crisis and the intense worries about fascism are some things on a lot of American’s minds right now. Fascism is characterized by a dictatorial leader and forced oppression of any opposition to the dictatorial leader and their way of doing things. How many people in the U.S. see things that Trump is doing seems to lean toward a fascist agenda.
There have already been several Executive Orders where Trump has reached beyond his domain to try and push them through. Things like, freezing federal funding, ending birthright citizenship, and cutting certain public aid programs have been blocked by judges due to them being considered beyond what the President can dictate, often because it goes against the Constitution. This further extending reach is worrying people because many do not know if he is willing to defy court orders to get his ideas through.
There is worry that in the future of this administration there will be a stronger pull toward a dictatorship. There has already been a bill introduced by a Tennessee Representative, Andy Ogles, that would Amend the 22nd Amendment which states that a president can only serve two terms. This would allow Trump to serve a third term as the U.S. president.
The fears many of the American people have right now have especially evident on social media and through protests all around the United States on various occasions. As the administration and their values begin to become more and more obvious, there are sure to be more fears made and more public outcry against them.
