Nazi is an abreviation [sic] of National Socialism.

The emphasis for the Nazis was on the National. They wanted a nationalist society: i.e., they were national socialists. They didn't want us to see ourselves as just people, like millions of others all over the world. They insisted that we see ourselves as a nation. They thought that a national identity was absolutely essential.

The Nazis, of course, were always rabidly opposed to what is normally called "socialism."

There were large numbers of people here in the US who were horrified when Germany declared war against the US. The Nazis here in the US (who really did wave swastika flags and give fascist salutes) had made an uneasy coalition with pacifists to oppose US entry into WWII. Their figurehead leader, Charles Lindbergh, confidently told us that, come what may, the US could not possibly defeat Hitler.

After the US and its allies did defeat Hitler, comprehensively, and hung all the Nazi leaders, the America First Committee and the German American Bund quietly disappeared from view, but the Americans who dedicatedly worked against the war effort from the 1930s on, did not change their opinions. They just moved into other already existing organizations like the KKK, and formed new groups like the John Birch Society. Powerful government officials, including J. Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy, were part of this. They shared Hitler's racism (though not always with such emphasis on Jews), but they were most worried by the movement to diffuse power rather than concentrate it.

The Nazis, now and 100 years ago, were convinced that we all need strong leaders to trust and obey. They may be shy about advocating dictatorship, but that is really what they want because that is what they think we absolutely need.

Trump, Vance, and Musk are part of the same tradition as the America First Committee and the German American Bund. During the 1930s, people like them admired Hitler. Now they admire Putin and Victor Orban. It's still Nazism, only the names have been changed.

"Nazi is an abreviation [sic] of National Socialism."
...words strung together in service of an agenda much like "partial birth abortion". A poorly or uneducated population is prey to just this kind of manipulation. There's far more than one so nazis !!!

"The Axis were united in their far-right positions and general opposition to the Allies, but otherwise lacked comparable coordination and ideological cohesion."
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_p…

"Fascist Italy (Italian: Italia fascista) is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Italian Fascists imposed totalitarian rule and crushed political opposition, while simultaneously promoting economic modernization, traditional social values and a rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church."
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascis…

Xenophobia can come with the American character for sure, it's not a character trait that should be nurtured however especially in a country made up of a diverse & non-indigenous population...