I think you're right and I was incorrect to use phrasing that suggested Trump is more brutal. As we often end up back on w/ regards to him, one of the key differences is that he's mask off in doing the things that others were already doing before him - as in, previous brutality made more of an effort to build up to and massage narratives justifying it. Trump/admin does some of that, but he's also more prone to saying the quiet part out loud and proud, making a mess of the work of propagandists in the process. But this is also in comparing him to the modern liberal order. If we go back far enough in US history, I'm not sure he is even stand out as being mask off.