It was President Donald Trump who framed the question. “In one case they say, ‘He’s [Trump is] a fascist. He’s taking over government?.?.?.?we can’t stop him,’” Mr Trump recently said in mockery of his critics. “That didn’t work. The next week, they said, ‘He’s incompetent.’ I said, ‘Well, wait a minute.’ In one case, I’m taking over the world, and the other case, he’s incompetent.” Fascist or joker: which is the better description?

Students of authoritarian politics could be forgiven for being confused. As the US midterm elections approach — and a possible Republican defeat looms — Mr Trump’s invective has leaned towards the fascist end of the spectrum. Depicting opponents as enemies of the people is a core trait. At one rally alone, Mr Trump called Democrats “evil”, “the party of crime” that wants to “destroy our country”, and “turn it into Venezuela”. Liberals are “very very bad people”, he said. The crowds chanted “lock her up” at the mention of both Dianne Feinstein, the 85-year-old Democratic senator, and Hillary Clinton.

Another key element is to propagate lies, preferably big ones. Mr Trump induced laughter when he told an assembly of global leaders that he had achieved more in two years than any US president in history. Plenty of voters agree with him. Many also believe Mr Trump is indeed building that wall with Mexico, has signed more bills than any other US president, and that the FBI is an arm of the Democratic Party. At one rally last month, Mr Trump told 74 verifiable falsehoods, according to the Washington Post’s fact checker. His average rate of lies per day has more than doubled since his first year in office.