Rick Steves Says Trump Is Taking 'From The Fascist Autocrat's Playbook'

The travel writer and television personality said the president reminds him of Hitler and Mussolini.

Rick Steves, travel writer and host of PBS’s “Rick Steves’ Europe,” said when he reads the news about President Donald Trump, he’s reminded of Adolf Hitler.

“Every time I read the news, I think, Well, that’s exactly what Hitler did, or that’s exactly what Mussolini did,” Steves told Vanity Fair in an interview published Wednesday. “You’ve got to intimidate people at the voting booths. You’ve got to be able to disappear people into some kind of concentration camp or a prison in another land. You just look at any news flash that deals with how Trump is taking or consolidating his power, and you can see that it is from the fascist autocrat’s playbook.”

In the interview, Steves — who, in 2018, released his one-hour special “The Story of Fascism in Europe” — said countries that struggled with democracy 100 years ago have things in common with countries struggling with it today. He listed out the things someone would have to do to overthrow the government, like “tell lies repeatedly,” “discredit journalism,” target higher education and the courts, and “create an external enemy.”

Trump has threatened to cut federal funding for public media, which includes PBS and NPR, claiming they are “biased” media. According to his May executive order, “Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.” In response, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations are suing Trump.

Steves told Vanity Fair that public media, which he said is meant to educate the people, is a “hurdle” and threat that Trump has to get rid of in order to accomplish his goals.