It’s clear what costume former President Donald Trump donned for Halloween. He has been frightening millions in his getup as a fascist.

What makes him so scary is not just his white shirt, blue suit, orange hairdo and floppy red tie — it’s the sound effects that go with them. No werewolf’s growl, witch’s cackle or ghost’s boo could be as menacing as the rhetoric emerging from Trump’s mouth.

Let’s take a look at how Trump playing a fascist matches up against the criteria for the real thing.

Umberto Eco, the Italian philosopher and novelist born in 1932, actually won a prize at age 10 for his essay on “Should we die for the glory of Mussolini and the immortal destiny of Italy?” The antifascist adult Eco wrote in 1995, “The first appeal of a fascist… is an appeal against the intruders.”

In announcing his candidacy in 2015, Trump warned that immigrants from Mexico “were bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” This October, he played that tune of untruths again: “Kamala has imported criminal migrants from prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions from all around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo. A lot of people are coming from the Congo prisons.”

Eco also points to “machismo” and “disdain for women” as fundamental facets of fascism. Trump recently admiringly cited Arnold Palmer’s physique as “all man.” And of course, the thrice-married Trump was caught on videotape boasting he could grab beautiful women by their private parts because “when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.”

In 2019, the late Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, “The important thing is that fascists aren’t actually trying to solve problems; they’re invested in exacerbating problems and deepening the divisions that result from them.” When Republican Sen. James Lankford won bipartisan support for a tough border bill, Trump made a call or two and deep-sixed it. GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah lamented Trump’s message “that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it….”

Albright went on to say a fascist rejects the free press. Trump has denounced the press as “truly the enemy of the people.”

Trump’s former chief of staff Gen. John Kelly called fascism a “movement characterized by a dictatorial leader.” Trump said that the results of the 2020 election allowed “for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” He’s threatened to be a dictator on “Day One” of a second term. He told a crowd to “get out and vote, just this time.” He continued, “It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote any more, my beautiful Christians.” Hitler suspended elections, too.

Fascists hark back to days of glory. For Mussolini, it was to the grandeur of the Roman Empire. Hitler was drawn to the rule of Charlemagne over much of Europe in medieval times. And Trump, of course, wants to “make America great again,” implicitly promising a return to an era of white, male, Christian predominance.

Trump didn’t have to fly to Rome or Berlin to get the right background for his cosplay as a fascist. On Oct. 27, he held a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Eighty-five years earlier, 22,000 Americans had filled the Garden with pro-Nazi cheers and salutes. Fritz Kuhn, “national Fuehrer” of the American fascist movement, thundered that members of his organization were determined “to protect themselves, their children and their homes against those who would turn the United States into a Bolshevik paradise.” At his rally, Trump promised to “protect our great families. And I will protect the birthright of our children to live in the richest and most powerful nation on the face of the Earth.”

Trump sure is playing his Halloween role as a fascist up to the hilt, isn’t he?

Remember that Trump was once a pro-abortion registered Democrat. He made contributions to Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the New York senate in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007 and also invited her to his 2005 wedding to Melania at Mar-a-Lago. Heck, he even donated $6,000 to Kamala Harris’s campaign for reelection as California attorney general.

And now we’re supposed to believe he’s a true-red fascist? Well, Gen. Kelly, his former chief of staff, says he does fit “the general definition of fascist.” Former Secretary of Defense Mike Esper spoke out in support of Kelly’s statement. Dr. Benedetta Carnaghi, a historian of totalitarianism in Italy, France and Germany at England’s University of Durham, wrote that “Trump would act as fully-fledged fascist if he could.”

So, I am wondering: Is Trump a true fascist or is he just acting? Does it matter if he implements his policies as someone playing a role or as someone committed to deeply held beliefs?

No, I don’t think it really does.

— Keith Raffel is a syndicated columnist with Creators.