Geoff Diehl 'is a proven fighter who successfully pushes back on the ultraliberal extremists,' said the former president. 'He'll do what has to be done.'
The former U.S. president's authoritarian rhetoric generated alarm, with one historian noting that the term"iron fist" was favored by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and used to describe Germany's Nazi Party.
Diehl is not favored to beat Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in the state's gubernatorial race this November, but Trump's embrace of fascist symbolism and reference to doing"what has to be done"—a vague but ominous message that could be interpreted as a threat of violence against political opponents—has raised alarm bells.
As presidential historian Michael Beschloss noted on Twitter,"iron fist" was Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's preferred descriptor of fascism, and the term was also used to describe Germany's Nazi Party, led by genocidal demagogue Adolf Hitler.
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