Some weeks before the American presidential election, Robert Paxton, the most distinguished American historian of 20th century France — and author of a classic book on fascism — abandoned his previous scepticism about designating Donald Trump as a fascist. What changed his mind was 6 January. To Paxton, the assault on the Capitol was dangerously reminiscent of the anti-parliamentary riots that took place in Paris on 6 February 1934, an event that many on the French Left saw as a botched ...
