What a Fascist Landscape Looks Like Under Project 2025

And how Donald would put his own spin on it

We talk a lot about how Donald is changing the political landscape, but there is considerably less focus on how he has changed the physical landscape. Other than climate policy, there is not much discussion on what the relationship between his administration and the natural environment would be.

For those of us working toward green and environmentally resilient communities, it would be wise to ponder this and prepare our response.

Luckily, there has just been some great analysis of how fascist regimes influenced and were influenced by nature. Looking at Trump’s former and proposed policies, the same telltale signs are all there. We can take lessons from two murderous dictators, Italy’s Mussolini and Germany’s Hitler, and we can forecast what might happen if Trump reigns again.

Pride in Homeland

Mussolini spoke passionately about the mountains, the trees, and the need to be more closely connected to them. He asserted that the closer people were to nature, the stronger they would be; they could tame the wilderness. He argued they would be less constrained, be able to love freely, and would be fearsome fighters for their country. In reality, people in his wilderness towns faced immense hardship and women were grossly misused.

For Trump, I believe homeland= unrestrained American capitalism and the related development of the land. Among the things he calls “beautiful” are tariffs, the wall, World Wars, clean coal, and the Dakota pipeline. There may be a hint of pride in the actual environment when he adds in as a sidenote that ‘his’ air and water were the cleanest ever.

But other than that, it’s development of the land he’s so in love with, and he sells that brand of American pride to his followers.

In fact, in 2016, when the Times asked what made America great in the past, he replied, “If you look back, it really was, there was a period of time when we were developing at the turn of the century which was a pretty wild time for this country and pretty wild in terms of building that machine, that machine was really based on entrepreneurship.” Then government got involved with all its pesky regulations. Trump wants to get back to what he sees as natural and wild.

In his 2024 RNC speech, he made it clear what his focus is for the land. He said money would be allocated to “important projects like roads, bridges, dams, and we will not allow it to be spent on the meaningless Green New Scam.”

Domestication or Destruction of Nature

Mussolini and Hitler both created national wild lands or parks, but they were set aside for hunting. The green spaces were transformed to further their visions for their dictatorships, i.e. to help them be independent and prepare for war. Mussolini built rails through his prized landscape, and he established primal towns to hone his citizen force.

As a symbol of how he was stronger than nature, he raised a lioness and then caged her in his personal zoo.

Project 2025 includes plans to open up protected lands to timber harvesting, development, hunting, and mining. It also proposes limiting regulations and implementing new policy to make certain that this may all happen rapidly. Donald himself repeats the line, “Drill, baby, drill!” at rallies and talks about deregulating industry. He says that he, and only he, can tame the markets and make them profitable.

Devaluation of Science

Dictators’ words, knowledge, and instincts must be all powerful. Supernatural stories and legendary power are part of the spell they use to further their influence. Actual natural science doesn’t fit into that very well, and in fascist Italy, the entire natural sciences curriculum was removed by the Ministry of Public Education.

Project 2025 includes plans to defund scientific research institutions and instead center research on challenging existing regulations and disproving “scaremongering” findings. In line with this, Trump and Vance deny the effects of climate change, ridicule efforts to combat it, and undermine the belief in scientists and their research.

I could go on much further here in talking about Trump and Project 2025’s proposed deregulations of industry and farming, and removals of environmental protection policies and programs. I could talk about how they would take us back decades in environmental health. But I’ll save that for another post.

Already, with little imagination, we can see how Trump’s brand of climate change denial and gaudy development inclinations would put his distinct American spin on environmental degradation.

He advocates in almost every way for quick, cheap development of natural land. His narratives of deregulation are imbued with the rationale of isolationism, nationalism, and profit over everything. His rejection of environmentalism and climate change policy is ever-tied to his belief that nature is meant to be conquered, controlled, and used up for his benefit.

Donald is a salesman, and he’s so ready to cash in on every bit of real estate that belongs to the American people. We must be ready for his conman moves, as much as possible. We must push for Project 2025 policies to be rejected immediately and whole heartedly, knowing they are created in the vision of fascism.

With love and hope for the future,

Stephanie

Resources:

Armiero, M., Biasillo, R., and von Hardenberg, W. G. (2022). Mussolini's nature: An environmental history of Italian fascism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Conversi, D. (2024). Eco-fascism: an oxymoron? Far-right nationalism, history, and the climate emergency. Frontiers in Human Development, (Apr 9, 2024). doi. 10.3389/fhumd.2024.1373872

Wall Street Journal Trump Calls Tariffs the ‘Most Beautiful Word’

Trump: 13 things the US President calls beautiful

CNN The 2 word phrases President Trump relies on most.

Picture