Donald Trump has embraced fascist rhetoric and made bald declarations of his desire for dictatorial powers as he seeks a return to the White House in 2024. This is not politics as usual. The inflammatory language puts Trump a world apart from any presumptive, major-party nominee in modern American memory.

And it’s getting worse.

At a March 16 rally near Dayton, Ohio, the former (guy) wove two potent strands of far-right extremism, when he twinned the dehumanization of marginalized populations — referring to migrants as “animals” — and predicted a “bloodbath” if he fails to win in November.

In 2024, Trump has gone from playing footsie with fascists to quoting them openly.

He has repeatedly used the same words Hitler did about immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the country — privately bragging it’s a “great line.” And he has painted the criminals who stormed the Capitol, attempting to reinstall Trump as president through violence, as patriots and heroes.

Experts caution that dismissing Trump’s extremism is a mistake. “He’s becoming as explicit as it’s possible to be rhetorically,” says Jason Stanley, a Yale scholar and author of How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them.

“Some people think he’s trolling, but we know that the worst regimes in history, people also thought they were joking. It wouldn’t be fascism without that feature.”

Stanley adds that the only open question is whether Trump will succeed in matching his rhetoric to action in a return to the White House, warning: “We may have to find out.”