Authoritarian Scholar Sees Echo of Mussolini in Trump's UN Remarks

On Tuesday, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a New York University history professor and author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, drew a parallel between a line in President Donald Trump’s United Nations address and Mussolini-era propaganda. In a post on X, she noted that Trump’s warning against the green-energy push and his boast about being “really good at predicting things” echoed language once used to bolster fascist narratives.

The remarks at the United Nations featured a broad attack on energy policy, with Trump telling world leaders to distance themselves from what he called the “green scam.” He asserted, “If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail.” He also invoked his own record, saying, “I’m really good at predicting things,” and adding, “I’ve been right about everything, and I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail.” Ben-Ghiat’s post highlighted how those lines aligned with Mussolini’s propaganda, including the era’s slogan “Mussolini is always right.”

Ben-Ghiat, a scholar of authoritarianism, has written that Trump’s approach displays what she and other historians describe as “personalist rule” — a dynamic in which leaders orbit around a central figure and subordinates become instruments of the leader’s will. The professor has previously described Trump’s administration as characterized by a concentration of power and loyalty to the individual at the top rather than adherence to formal norms or institutional constraints.

Her analysis appears in the wake of a broader debate about how contemporary political figures borrow techniques from 20th-century authoritarian movements. Critics have argued that Trump’s rhetoric—framing policy disputes as loyalty tests, casting opponents as enemies of the people, and elevating personal charisma over institutional process—maps onto patterns seen in other strongman regimes. Supporters, by contrast, describe his messaging as a challenge to established policy dogmas, particularly on climate policy and global trade.

The HuffPost report situates Ben-Ghiat’s observations within a longstanding scholarly conversation about the persistence of fascist-era rhetoric in modern politics. While it does not claim that Trump is Mussolini reborn, it notes that components of his public speaking—evocation of fear, repeated claims of infallibility, and personal loyalty dynamics—are elements long associated with authoritarian governance. The piece emphasizes that the discussion is part of a broader effort to understand how leaders cultivate personal loyalty and rally followers while curtailing traditional checks and balances.