Atlas / Comparisons / Islamic State vs MAGA / Trumpism
Islamic State and MAGA / Trumpism
Measured distance across six axes
Different families with real common ground. They agree within three points on EC, CU, ID. They diverge by eight points or more on CH.
Axis by axis
| Axis | ISIS / Daesh | MAGA / Trumpism | Gap | Reading | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EC · Economic organisation | +01 | +04 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CU · Social and cultural order | +10 | +08 | 2 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| AU · Organisation of power | +10 | +06 | 4 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| SC · Scale of decision | +09 | +02 | 7 | Differs | Real difference, but not the dividing line. |
| ID · Rule of membership | +10 | +07 | 3 | Agrees | Effectively the same position. Not what an argument between them is about. |
| CH · Method and tempo | +10 | +01 | 9 | Diverges | Carries the disagreement. Any claim that these two are alike has to explain this. |
Each axis runs from −10 to +10; the distance is the straight-line separation across all six at once, out of a maximum of 49.0. How the scoring works →
The evidence behind the widest gaps
A distance figure is worth nothing unless the scores behind it can be checked. These are the artefacts supporting the axes that separate these two most.
ISIS / Daesh · CH +10
At the ceiling: mass violence as constitutive rather than instrumental.
- Documented act or statutePublic executions and their filming were a central instrument of governance and recruitment.
MAGA / Trumpism · CH +01
Coded +1, the lowest of the axes here, and the reason the entry sits far from the interwar coordinates.
- Documented act or statutePower has been sought and held through elections, primaries, litigation and appointments throughout.
- ScholarshipThe events of 6 January 2021 are the single fact that keeps this above zero, and specialists divide on how much weight it carries.
What this comparison does not establish
Proximity means similarity of stated position. It carries no claim about competence, circumstance, scale of operation, or what either organisation actually did to the people under it. Two organisations can sit close together and produce entirely different histories, because those things are not on any axis and could not be.
Islamic State
2013– · Iraq, Syria
Restoration of a universal caliphate through mass violence, with obligatory allegiance and death for dissent.
MAGA / Trumpism
2015– · United States
National restoration through a leader who claims to embody the real people against a corrupt establishment; borders, tariffs and sovereignty.
Distance is not the whole answer. Two organisations can sit the same distance apart for entirely different reasons, and the reason is the content of any claim about them. Open the comparison in the atlas to weight the axes yourself.
Open in the atlas