“History does not repeat, but it does instruct,” writes historian Timothy Snyder in his essay On Tyranny.

Synder is one of the world’s leading experts on authoritarian regimes. He left the US for Canada last year.

With the news Donald Trump had succeeded in his long running quest to have someone bring charges against former FBI director James Comey – a personal vendetta of the US stretching back to 2017 – it would be foolish to not heed the lessons of history.

Author Umberto Eco, who spent time among fascists in his youth, spent his life warning against fascism.

He identified 14 most common elements of a fascist regime and anyone who cares to look through it will recognise Trump’s latest regime among them:

The cult of tradition. The rejection of modernism. The cult of action for action’s sake. Disagreement is treason. Fear of difference.  Appeal to a frustrated middle class. The obsession with plot. Enemies who are both too strong and weak. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. Contempt for the weak, with a populist elite serving the leader who despises them. Everybody is educated to become a hero. Machismo and a disdain for women and ‘nonstandard sexual habits’, along with a fascination with weapons. The emotional response of a selected group representing the ‘voice of the people’. Newspeak as the official language.

This is who Australia shares a ‘special relationship’ with.

Let’s just take a look at the last two weeks, shall we? Around the time of Anthony Albanese’s selfie with the ‘veneers-in-chief’, Trump had:

• Alleged “triple sabotage” at the UN because an escalator stopped (likely caused by a member of his own delegation), the teleprompter allegedly didn’t work and his wife couldn’t hear his address.
• Told allied nations they were going to hell.
• Called climate change a hoax on the world stage.
• Sacked a career prosecutor for not pursuing charges against his political enemies (like Comey) and then appointed a crony who would.
• Turned a memorial service into a stage to threaten his enemies with vengeance.
• Claim it was illegal for the media to criticise him.Threaten a broadcaster for reinstating a suspended talkshow host who stated reality.
• Allow a lawyer turned wellness quack to issue his facebook-style ramblings as a medical announcement, despite the lack of evidence.
• Continued extrajudicial killings in international waters with no evidence of threat.
• Hung a picture of an autopen in place of his predecessor at the White House.
• Threatened to sack the public service if his funding demands were not met.
• Gave his billionaire mates financial control of a major social media platform, with an undertaking its algorithm would be ‘retrained’.
• Once again used the US’s security council veto to stop opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Trump is only nine months into his second term and is not wasting any time. By pretending it can move forward with the United States, Australia is.

Albanese has moved on to the UK, where Keir Starmer has come to the same conclusion as most defence experts not captured by the US apparatus – the AUKUS deal is not happening.

Reading between the lines, the UK wants Australia to pay for its shipyards and defence building, as AUK becomes the stop gap for a misanthropic US.

Albanese’s meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron no doubt included another offer to build Australia’s submarines, an offer in the back of the minds of those imagining a nuclear powered submarine future without the US.

All of this is taking place as Albanese makes public his pitch for a spot on the UN Security Council.

There is no reason the pitch could not become a reality, and while the media and security hawks have focused on the Prime Minister’s ability to secure a meeting with the ‘Commander-in-Huff’, it’s obvious a Plan B is at least being sketched out.

The success of that, however, relies on a leader willing to stare down the Americanophile Renfields in his cabinet.

But at the very least, Albanese’s push for a seat at the table should finally put to bed any claim Australia does not have power.

Albanese and his government have spent the past almost two years claiming it had very little power in response to a genocide, only to stand up in front of the world and declare Australia had a role to play in ending world wars. Which is true.

Australia has always had influence and power, it has just been too cowed to use it.

Will it use any of it now, or continue to fold?

Again, history is instructive. And depressing.

This article was originally published in The New Daily.