Democrats are refusing to back away from calling President Donald Trump and his allies “fascist,” even as Republicans intensify warnings that the rhetoric is reckless, dangerous, and fueling political violence.

“Fascism,” a right-wing system of government led by a dictator, is historically tied to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, an association that makes the label especially provocative in U.S. politics.

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The debate is unfolding against a backdrop of violence. A gunman opened fire this week at a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, killing one detainee and injuring two others. Less than two weeks earlier, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated, with officials saying the suspect left behind ammunition etched with a reference to fascism.

From the House floor to campaign rallies, Democratic lawmakers and leaders have embraced the label, arguing that Trump’s conduct in office leaves them no choice but to call it the way they see it. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, on her recent book tour this week, compared Trump and his allies to “a communist dictatorship” for quashing dissent. 

That defiance was echoed last week at a press conference where Democrats denounced what they described as an assault on free expression, held after ABC suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for remarks about Kirk’s assassination.

“Fascism is not on the way. It is here,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) said at the event. “The First Amendment is how generations of Americans, from civil rights activists to labor organizers, American workers, LGBTQ+ activists, have fought for progress, and it is our power.”

At the same press conference, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) was asked by a reporter whether Democrats’ rhetoric was partly to blame for political violence. He said candor was essential.

“Donald Trump is trying to destroy our democracy. He is trying to silence free speech. He is acting in a way that is scarily similar to many would-be despots all across history,” Murphy said. “We have no obligation to sugarcoat the gravity of this moment. The only way we save this nation is if the people of this country rise up in peaceful protest, if they mobilize all across America.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) was equally blunt in a House Oversight Committee hearing that same day. “We need to stand up against this fascist takeover,” she said. “That’s not a bad word, it’s a fact.”

Democrats have steadily escalated their warnings about Trump by invoking the language of fascism. Back in 2022, former President Joe Biden described Trump’s governing philosophy as “semi-fascist.” By the next year, Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate, dropped any qualifiers, calling Trump a fascist outright. 

The message sharpened further in August 2025, when Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin delivered a fiery address at the party’s summer meeting, declaring Trump represented not just partisan opposition but an existential threat. “This is not politics as usual, my friends,” Martin told the crowd. “This is authoritarianism. It’s fascism dressed in a red tie. And we, each of you in this room, and all of the Democrats throughout this country, we are the only thing standing in his way.”

Martin has not backed away from the “fascist” label. But in a statement after the ICE shooting this week, he struck a different tone, condemning the violence and urging unity. “It will take all of us — not just one side of the aisle or the other — to quell this epidemic of violence, which has no place in our democracy,” he said.

A Democratic strategist, speaking on background to reflect candidly on the situation, acknowledged the risks of that approach. “I think there’s no doubt that the political temperature in our country is a bit too hot right now,” the strategist said. “At this moment, I would advise any Democratic candidate or politician I work with not to use the word fascist or dictator in their jargon, especially after what has played out lately.” 

Even so, Democrats and their allies argue the president’s actions aren’t making it easier to hold back. They denounced Thursday’s move by federal prosecutors to indict former FBI Director James Comey, a longtime Trump target, as politically motivated and lacking merit. “The Comey stuff makes this all really complicated,” the strategist added. “But I think two wrongs don’t make a right, and Democrats need to take the high road.”

Republicans argue the Democratic language is incendiary and dangerous. “If you want to stop political violence, stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you politically is a Nazi,” Vice President JD Vance told a crowd in North Carolina on Wednesday, a reference to both the ICE shooting in Dallas this week and Kirk’s killing two weeks earlier as proof of rising risks. 

Strategists echoed the warning. “They are inciting crazy people to do crazy things through their very words,” GOP strategist Dennis Lennox said. “Democrats aren’t going to win next year by pouring gasoline on the fire.”

Greg Manz, another Republican strategist, argued Democrats were guilty of projection. “Their history, especially during the Biden administration, is riddled with censoring free speech and weaponizing the government,” he said, speaking to the Washington Examiner. “Now they stand idle as law enforcement faces surging assaults. This smear tactic won’t stick, it’ll backfire.”

The National Republican Congressional Committee recently cited polling showing liberals are more likely than conservatives to say political violence is sometimes justified. “For far too long, Democrats have excused riots, smeared conservatives as ‘fascists,’ and winked at violent rhetoric from their own ranks,” spokesman Mike Marinella said. “Now the numbers prove it: the left has normalized hate and turned political violence into just another talking point.” 

And a super PAC aligned with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), the Congressional Leadership Fund, has begun targeting Democrats in vulnerable districts who have used the term, accusing them of crossing a line and abandoning “decency and morality.”

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Trump, speaking at Kirk’s memorial on Sunday, tied the killing to the broader fight over rhetoric. He said the same people now “screaming fascism” had implied Kirk deserved his fate.

“No side in American politics has a monopoly on disturbed or misguided people,” Trump said. “But one part of our political community believes they have a monopoly on power, thought, and speech. Well, that’s not happening anymore.”