“Those who do not learn history are condemned to repeat it.” – Spanish-American writer and philosopher, George Santayana (1863-1952)
If you were asked a few weeks ago who the US President was when one of the most powerful people in the world performed a Nazi salute to a cheering crowd, you’d probably find yourself looking up who held the presidency in the 1930s.
Now, you would likely say it’s Donald Trump.
Inauguration outrage
On 5 November, 2024, the United States elected Donald J Trump for a second term as president. He was inaugurated on 20 January, 2025, despite being twice impeached during his first term, and being a convicted felon. This is who the American electorate have chosen to put in charge of their country. Trump may well be seen as bigoted, misogynistic, racist, and anti-LGBTQ, but this appeared to have no impact on his electability.
To make matters worse, within the first few weeks of coming into office, he’s already causing a mass outcry. Trump has already decided to declare there are only two genders and that this is going to be codified into the law. Members of the transgender community online are outraged and fearful, with a number of non-binary people defiantly stating that it wasn’t going to stop them from being who they are. As damaging as this law would be, a series of controversial and arguably unconstitutional announcements have really turned heads – including Trump’s executive order that the Gulf of Mexico is to be redubbed the Gulf of America.
None of this is entirely surprising considering Trump’s infamous speech during his first run for president, where he said he was going to build a wall to stop Mexicans coming into the US. Trump made his xenophobia and disdain for Mexican immigrants very clear. This will likely only serve to worsen tensions at the US-Mexico border. No doubt many US immigrants and descendants of immigrants will now be feeling terrified at the prospect of being detained by ICE.
Musk’s Nazi-style salute
However, it is not only the LGBTQ+ community and immigrants who are, or who should, be scared. Trump’s nascent fascist ideals (indicated by his refusal to call out the ‘Proud Boys’, a gang of white supremacists, terrorists and so much more besides) are encroaching into the US political system already. That’s to say nothing of the event referenced above, at the beginning of this article, when Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, and now one of the most powerful, performed what appeared to be a Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration rally.
The way the mainstream media is reporting on this is disappointing but hardly surprising. News outlets have been vague, calling it an ‘alleged’ Nazi salute. To many, this is no innocent gesture, and nor is it a ‘Roman’ salute as many media outlets have portrayed it. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a history professor at New York University, stated plainly: “Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too.” As Maya Angelous’s oft-quoted saying goes, “When somebody tells you who they are, believe them”.
We could ask ourselves ‘what sort of world is this?’; where people cheer on the obscenely wealthy who are content to allow the world’s poorest to die; where those brazenly imitating a salute – most notoriously signified by a man responsible for the Holocaust – are lauded?
The recent rise of the right
There has been a recent trend in which countries are moving further-right. Even though the UK voted the Conservatives out of office in July 2024, electing The Labour Party, in an alarming trend, many parties themselves have shifted further to the right. Thatcher was once famously quoted as having said that Tony Blair and New Labour were her greatest achievements, because she “forced” her “opponents” to “change their minds”. Our current Labour prime minister, Keir Starmer, described his tenure as Blair’s Clause Four moment (ending the call for “ownership of the means of production” in the UK) “on steroids”.
What does that say about the current state of UK politics? Consider especially the emergence of Reform, an extreme right-wing party headed by Nigel Farage. They attracted 15% of the vote share, equating to around five million votes back in July – before the racist riots. How many more people would vote for them now, especially in the light of Trump being elected? And, given the rise of the right across the globe, would it be possible for the Reform Party to take power if Labour don’t get it right? There is a growing concern over whether Trump and the Republicans’ policies, including those in the much-discussed Project 2025, will influence the UK political sphere, especially given their close proximity to both Reform and the Conservative Party.
What can we do?
In light of Musk’s ‘Nazi salute’, reading The Diary of Anne Frank seems more integral than ever, not to mention the likes of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. YouTube has some brilliant resources, as do certain individuals on social media.
There are also ways to take tangible action. Signing global petitions that are against specific motions that Trump will put into place, whether on immigration, the environment, or other issues, is quick and easy. You can write to your MP, asking them to condemn a certain law proposed. On a community level, you can start discussions about Trump and what sort of person and president he truly is. You could raise a complaint to Ofcom about certain media coverage if you feel the bias favours Trump. You can go out onto the streets and protest – but take care to abide by the constraints detailed in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 – protest is nowhere near as easy as it used to be.
You can elevate other people’s voices, particularly those of marginalised people (the disabled community, the LGBTQ+ community, people of colour, immigrants, people of various faiths), who are going to be most affected by this presidency. You can express your own voice, through art, writing, videos, podcasts. Talk about how damaging and despicable his rhetoric is, how misguided those who support these same views are. Speak, before you are forcibly silenced. Our voices are more important than they want us to think.
Concluding thoughts
To conclude, I think that dark days are ahead. Trump has already moved to restrict protections on women’s rights and bodily autonomy, LGBTQ+ people will likely be continually attacked (in legislation and speeches), and his policies will also massively affect people of colour, Muslim people, Jewish people, immigrants and other marginalised groups in the US. This may cause copycats to emerge across the globe and empower sympathetic groups here in the UK. The Trump presidency will likely cause damage to the environment, and a rise in international and global tensions. It’s safe to say that it’s going to be a long four years. Still, we must keep fighting. It is more important now than ever
“Those who do not learn history are condemned to repeat it.”
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