Authoritarianism and Centralization of Power
Trumpism, Putinism, and the Nazi regime under Hitler all share the defining feature of strong authoritarian tendencies with a centralization of power in the hands of a single dominant leader. In the United States, Trumpism is noted for its authoritarian leanings, where the President is often regarded as above the rule of law and wields significant unchecked power. This mirrors the political architecture of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where political and financial power is heavily concentrated within the executive, and loyalty to the President is paramount. In Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler instituted the Führerprinzip, advocating for the absolute authority of the leader, and demanded unconditional obedience from both the government and society. Across these systems, the state apparatus is shaped in such a way that opposition is suppressed, checks and balances are weakened or disregarded, and the executive dominates policy and public life.
Nationalism, Populism, and Cult of Personality
All three political systems deploy intense nationalist and populist rhetoric, positioning the leader as a defender of the nation’s true essence against both internal and external threats. Trumpism is built around nationalist populism, the slogan "Make America Great Again," and a cultivated personality cult centered on Donald Trump. In Putin’s Russia, the promotion of Russian exceptionalism, national greatness, and nostalgia for past empire (Soviet or Tsarist) are essential elements, alongside the cultivation of Putin’s image as a heroic national savior. Hitler’s Germany was similarly defined by aggressive expansionist nationalism, the mythos of Aryan racial superiority, and a near-religious adulation of Hitler as the Führer who embodied the destiny of the volk. Across all three, the personality cult serves not only to mobilize support but to delegitimize opposition and forge a unifying emotional bond between the leader and the people.
Suppression of Dissent and Control of Media
A notable comparison lies in these regimes’ consistent efforts to suppress dissent, restrict freedom of press, and manipulate media narratives. The Trump era in the U.S. saw the denouncement of critical news outlets as "fake news," while promoting networks favoring the administration’s agenda and limiting legitimate press interactions. Putin’s government exerts substantial control over both state and independent media, outlawing or branding dissenting voices as “foreign agents,” and systematically limiting legal and civil freedoms for opponents. Hitler’s Nazi Germany was infamous for its complete domination of the press, coordinated propaganda, and persecution of journalists who did not conform to the party line. The result in each case is a highly politicized media environment, state-sponsored narratives, and punitive measures for those challenging the regime.
Scapegoating and Oppression of Marginalized Groups
Central to the politics of Trumpism, Putinism, and Nazi Germany is the scapegoating, demonization, and systematic oppression of minority and marginalized populations—most saliently the LGBTQAI+ community. All three have used culture-war tactics and exclusionary rhetoric to justify social policy and foster loyalty among traditionalist or nationalist sectors of society.
LGBTQAI+ Persecution in Putin’s Russia
Under Putin, the LGBTQAI+ community faces severe legal, social, and physical persecution. Laws banning "LGBT propaganda" and, more recently, designating the "international LGBT movement" as an extremist organization, have led to raids, arrests, the closure of safe spaces, and the criminalization of advocacy or mere expression of LGBTQ identity. Hate crimes against LGBTQ people have surged, coordinated attacks by vigilante groups are often ignored or tacitly encouraged by authorities, and the legal system offers no meaningful protections against discrimination or violence. The state ideology brands LGBTQ people as threats to Russia's traditional values, further legitimizing social hostility and violence.
LGBTQAI+ Persecution in Nazi Germany
The Nazi regime under Hitler systemically persecuted LGBTQ individuals, especially gay men, who were arrested en masse under revised and aggressively enforced statutes such as Paragraph 175. Tens of thousands were imprisoned, and thousands were sent to concentration camps marked by pink triangles, where they faced brutal conditions, torture, medical experimentation, and high mortality rates. Although lesbians and other queer individuals faced slightly different legal treatment, their communities were also dismantled, social spaces destroyed, and many women were detained for ‘asocial’ behavior or political opposition. Nazi ideology conflated homosexuality with degeneracy and social decay, legitimizing extreme violence and permanent exclusion from national life.
LGBTQAI+ Persecution and Policy in Trumpism
Trumpism has similarly fostered an environment of growing hostility toward LGBTQAI+ Americans, particularly transgender people. The Trump administration initiated executive actions that rolled back workplace, healthcare, housing, and civil rights protections for LGBTQ individuals, banned transgender people from military service, and sought to erase the legal recognition of transgender and nonbinary identities at the federal level. Rhetoric at campaign rallies and in policy frameworks decried “gender ideology,” promoted bathroom bans, ended support for transgender youth in schools, and fueled an upsurge of state-level and local discrimination. This pattern drew explicit inspiration from similar anti-LGBTQ messaging in Russia, and referenced strategies of excluding marginalized groups from the legal and public sphere.
The cumulative effect in all three regimes is to portray LGBTQ people as a societal threat, incite public fear and resentment, and justify policies of legal exclusion, repression, and violence.
Comparative Table: Authoritarian Politics and LGBTQAI+ Repression
Leadership style Authoritarian, personality cult Authoritarian, personality cult Totalitarian, Führerprinzip
Control of opposition Media delegitimization, loyalty Media crackdown, lawfare, repression State terror, one-party rule
Scapegoating/minorities Anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ Anti-LGBTQ, ethnic minorities Antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ, racial laws
LGBTQAI+ persecution Executive rollbacks, legal bans Extremism designations, criminal bans Imprisonment, camps, extermination
Propaganda/emotional appeal Populism, “Make America Great” Neo-imperial, “traditional values” Aryan mythology, “national rebirth”
Use of State Power to Enforce Ideology
In all three contexts, state power is deployed to enforce ideological conformity and redefine citizenship according to rigid nationalist or traditionalist notions. Apparatuses such as law enforcement, secret police, or the judiciary are mobilized to repress dissent and punish those seen as politically or socially deviant, including LGBTQAI+ persons. Broad and vague legal categories—“extremism” in Russia, “asocial” in Nazi Germany, “gender ideology” or “critical race theory” in Trump-era rhetoric—are used to justify crackdowns and stoke mass mobilization or complicity.
Ideological Homogeneity, Mobilization, and Emotional Politics
Trumpism, Putinism, and Hitler’s regime are all characterized by ideological homogeneity, the suppression of pluralism, and the emotional mobilization of supporters. Each uses mass rallies or highly orchestrated events to create group solidarity, manufacture consent, and direct public anger toward scapegoated groups. Emotional appeals, slogans, and symbolism foster a sense of existential threat and collective defense of the nation, rendering minority groups—especially LGBTQAI+ individuals—easy targets for state-supported exclusion and violence.
Conclusion: Patterns of Repression and Scapegoating
The politics of Trumpism, Putin’s Russia, and Nazi Germany under Hitler display powerful similarities in their governing style, methods of repression, and approaches to social control, particularly concerning their treatment of the LGBTQAI+ community. All marshal state power and nationalist rhetoric to suppress dissent, promote ideological uniformity, and justify the scapegoating and marginalization of vulnerable groups, most notably through persistently repressive measures against LGBTQAI+ individuals. This cycle of exclusion, violence, and top-down ideological enforcement forms a clear continuum across these political traditions, underlining the dangerous resonance of such strategies across different times and places.
