The Rise of American Fascism

Since the beginning of last year, there's been a sharp increase in ugly comments attempting to justify every mistake Trump has made and vilify everyone who fails to see things their way.  I refuse to publish some of the more vulgar attacks or ignorant remarks, but the ones I do are bad enough. It's finally dawned on me that the persons making these comments might call themselves patriots or conservatives, but they are noting of the sort. They are actually fascists. 

Fascism is defined as "[a] form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."

This is classic Trump. He has given us a cult of the leader promising national restoration (Make America Great Again) after decades of corrupt government ("Lock her up") from democrats, a dishonest media ("fake news"). elitists in the deep state. His fascism was, like it or not, legal until January 6. That's when, just as Mussolini marched on Rome in 2022 to seize power, he nearly succeeded in engineering a coup at the capital. 

Since that time, there have been a multitude of arrests of those who breached the capitol. But there have been no consequences at all for Trump and those in his inner circle who actively plotted to undermine our democracy. If our representative democracy is to survive, there must be consequences for those who tried and are still trying to destroy it.  This is why the January 6 hearings are so important. 

It might surprise you to know that Socrates was highly dubious about democracy. His chief concern was that it was too easy for someone who is utterly incompetent to win an election based purely on popularity. This in turn leads to demagogues like Trump or, on a more local level, Steve Lynch. 

Many of you who voted for Trump did so because you thought he was conservative (he's not) or because  you hated the alternative. But many of you have been swallowed up by this cult. 

Here are some warning signs from Jason Stanley's How Fascism Works.: 1) A mythic past in which we were great, but his has been taken from you by "demon," "subhuman" Democrats (terms that have been applied to me). 2) Propaganda presenting the "other", be they liberals or illegals, as relentless enemies to your very existence.  3) Anti-intellectualism rejecting science and other experts. The leader will tell you what to believe, not Dr. Faucci. If he wants you to inject bleach, you better do it.  4) Get people used to lies. Tell them what they want to hear instead of the truth. 5) The leader will tell you that you are a victims of illegals taking your jobs, elitists telling you what to say, 6) You will be told that you are better and higher on the pecking order than the other. Germans were better than Jews and Trump supporters are patriots who are better than illegals, Democrats, etc. 7) Loyalty to the leader. This tops everything. It is why Cassidy Hutchinson was so severely attacked. Loyalty matters more than truth, 8) Patriots who want to Make America Great Again are necessarily law abiding even if they breach the capitol. This is because the leader exhorted them to do so, and by definition, the leader can do no wrong. As Trump him self has said, he could shoot someone on a public street and would suffer no consequences.  9) The role of fear. - The leader will warn you that transgenders plan to change the sex of your children, and you need toxic masculinity to stop these woke people from ruining this great nation. 10) Cities are scorned. The cities are portrayed as Sodom and Gomorrah, where the elitists congregate and BLM destroys infrastructure. Outside of the cities, hard-working Americans do the real work.