Synopsis:
- MAGA politicians, their enablers, and supporters have adopted the policies and tactics of fascists.
- These polices and tactics are designed to discredit experts, polarize Americans, and weakened democratic institutions.
- The future of democracy in America is no longer a forgone conclusion
A short version of this article is here. Jump to conclusion.
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During the first seven decades of my life I was a naive, political optimist believing that long arc of American history would forever bend toward a more equitable America, albeit with minor detours.
I am now very concerned that my worst political nightmare, fascism (or some variant of an illiberal democracy) has a statistically meaningful probability of coming to America and it could force me, my descendants, other Jewish Americans, and many others to flee America for our safety.
While some will think I am being histrionic, many highly reputable political thinkers have come to a similar conclusion. See 1, 2, 3, 4 among many others.
I believe most Americans are moral people, who simply want to raise their children in a safe environment and with their values, allowing them and their children to achieve the maximum of their inherent abilities, and to be treated equitably by others. Thus I expect that if more Americans understood the political threat that confronts their children, Americans will rise-up en-mass to force the fascist back into the holes and dark recesses of America from which they recently emerged.
FASCISM can be defined (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) as:
- control of government by a dictatorial leader
- centralized control of the economy and industry
- centralized control of thought and education
- societal regimentation based on race, ethnicity, immigration
- suppression of criticism from journalists and individuals
- suppression of the rights of the individual
- a willingness to use force to achieve the fascist’s ends
Starting from the definition of fascism, I will attempt to demonstrate, based on our contemporary history, that fascism has already meaningfully contaminated our political and social systems.
Control of Government by a Dictatorial Leader
Using Government to Protect a Dictatorial Leader
While the President appoints the head of the US Department of Justice, the US Attorney General, the AG “does not act as an attorney for individuals in their private legal affairs or lawsuits,” per DOJ guidelines.
Abuse of Power Example 1:
Nevertheless, Trump’s Attorney General William Barr became Trump’s personal attorney for sexual assault charges which had occurred in two decades prior to Trump assuming the Presidency.
Abuse of Power Example 2:
The Mueller special counsel investigation “identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign” and “resulted in charges against 34 individuals and 3 companies, 8 guilty pleas, and a conviction at trial.” The only reason Trump was not indicted was because DOJ guidelines prohibited the Federal indictment of a sitting president.
AG Barr was responsible for informing Congress and the public about the contents of the Mueller Report as the full report has not been made public. In both instantaneous Barr intentional misconstrued the contents of the report to indicate Trump had committed no crime.
Robert Mueller, in a letter AG Barr, asked Barr to immediately release the full report as the
“The summary letter (Barr) sent to Congress and released to the public late … did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office’s work and conclusions.”
Federal Judge Reggie B. Walton said Barr’s public comments on the report to the Court were ““distorted,” “misleading” and “The differences between the report and Mr. Barr’s description of it “cause the court to seriously question whether Attorney General Barr made a calculated attempt to influence public discourse about the Mueller report in favor of President Trump”. (NYT)
Cleary, President Trump, in the mold of prior fascists, had no reservations about using the Federal Government to do his personal bidding.
A President Unconstrained by Law
Like all fascists, Trump demonstrated that he believes that there are no constraints on the President, when he said “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s got to be. It’s total.” He also tweeted “As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself“.
Using his own words, Trump believes there are no constrains on his power and he is untouchable by our legal system.
With regard to a potential second Trump Presidency, he has already said:
- he would accept assistance of foreign adversaries to help advance him to the White House.
- he believes it is appropriate to use DOJ to prosecute his political adversaries
- his Executive Branch employees may ignore Federal laws
- After his speech to his insurrectionist and immediately prior to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol building, Trump told his driver “I am the effing president, take me up to the Capitol now!”
Using the Military to Advance Personal Power
Steve Bannon, who transiently served as Trump’s White House chief strategist, has been planning for Trump’s return to the White House. He said he will employ former “Navy, the Marine Force Recon, the Green Berets, all our special operators, and the CIA paramilitary… (who) fought … (in)… foreign countries, but we would come back here and teach it to our troops and be ready for these cultural revolutions of Marxism” (his term for Democrats). Bannon also said he will use “4,000 shock troops” to “deconstruct” the federal government “brick by brick.” and “We’re destroying this illegitimate regime” and “We will govern for a hundred years.”
Unfortunately, there are many current and former, senior military personnel who support Trump. Trump’s National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty and then was pardoned by Trump had:
- endorsed a military coup in the US
- said “(Trump) could immediately on his order seize every single one of these machines around the country on his order. He could also order, within the swing states, if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election in each of those states
Trump has learned how to use the power of the Presidency during his first term as president. He will be a much more effective fascist should he return to the White House, he has said so and he has a mob of people who are ready to kill for him, as we saw January 6.
And even Trump does not retake the Oval Office, his most likely Republican successor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, even further to the right than Trump (see below), has a road map to the Oval Office which he has already begun to follow.
Centralized Control of the Economy and Industry
While the GOP was historically considered to be pro-business and against business regulations, the current iteration of the Republican party is now actively trying to force private and publicly owned businesses to modify their business practices in accordance with the priorities of the Republican party.
Example 1: Disney World and Governor DeSantis
In late February 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that newly restricts Walt Disney World’s ability to manage their property as punishment for the company’s opposition to DeSantis “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Example 2: Private Investment Firms and Republicans
Despite private investment firms choosing to invest $18 trillion, in part, based on environmental, social and governance factors, Republican state and federal politicians have introduced legislation to force these private business to modify their investment practice to conform with the politicians’ political agendas.
It is now illegal for private businesses in Kentucky to consider the environmental consequences of when making investment decisions.
West Virginia Republican Treasurer announced that private banks and assets managers would be prohibited for doing business with the state if they failed to invest in the coal industry.
Texas bars the state’s retirement and investment funds from doing business with companies that the state comptroller has determined “boycotts fossil fuels.”
Dozens of other Republican controlled states, Republican Presidential candidates VP Mike Pence and Gov. DeSantis have similarly indicated that they would introduce legislation to prevent private business from considering environmental and social consequences of their investment strategy, regardless of the intention of the investor.
On February 28 and March 1, 2023 every Republican member of the House and Senate voted to prohibit private “fiduciary retirement fund managers to consider climate change, good corporate governance.”
Example 3: Electric Grid Operators and Trump
In 2018, President Donald Trump, lamenting the fact that electricity derived from renewable energy and newly designed gas fired energy facilities was less expensive than electricity obtained from older energy generating technologies directed the Federal Government to “force grid operators to buy power from uneconomic coal and nuclear plants.”
Present day Republicans have aggressively adopted fascists’ tactics of forcing private business to accept fiscally unsound investment strategies when it advances their political agenda. JPMorgan described this as an “anti-free market law.”
The Societal Regimentation Based on Race, Ethnicity, Immigration
To be politically successful, fascists first have to partition the body politic into an “us” vs. “them” demographics. They then repeatedly demonize the “them” demographic as being a fundamental threat to “us” group, using the propaganda techniques known as “The Big Lie,” and “The Firehose of Falsehoods.”
This was how Germany’s Hitler and Italy’s Mussolini rose to power and how Putin maintains his power. It was also the campaign strategy employed by President Trump and is the strategy being used by Gov Ron DeSantis and a slew of lesser known Trump wannabes who have divided America into “us” (white males) and “them” (African-Americans, women, disabled, immigrants, LGBTQ+, Muslims, and Jew).
The “them” demographic is repeatedly condemned for being either disloyal to America, not an American, and/or a drain on America.
Whenever possible, fascist also implement policies that ensure the “us” demographic has privileges which are not accessible to the “them” demographic (e.g Blacks / Redlining, Blacks / GI Bill.)
Demonization of Immigrants
On November 1, 2018, from the White House, Donald Trump said:
“Illegal immigration hurts American workers; burdens American taxpayers; and undermines public safety; and places enormous strain on local schools, hospitals, and communities in general, taking precious resources away from the poorest Americans who need them most. Illegal immigration costs our country billions and billions of dollars each year.”
These statements, which are created by authoritarian politicians with the intent of generating hatred of the “them” demographic and riling up their political supporter are false according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report “The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration” which found:
- Immigrants do not take jobs away from natives:
- “The literature on employment impacts finds little evidence that immigration significantly affects the overall employment levels of native-born workers”
- “immigrants locate in areas with relatively high labor demand and wages for the skills they possess and that immigrants are more willing than natives to relocate in response to changes in labor market conditions.”
- Immigrants do not depress wages of natives:
- “When measured over a period of more than 10 years, the impact of immigration on the wages of natives overall is very small.”
- In the long run, immigrants are not a fiscal drain society:
- “individuals in the first generation are more costly to governments… however, immigrants’ children… are among the strongest economic and fiscal contributors in the population … and… (they) are a net positive for the states…”
- “The contributions of immigrants to the labor force reduce the prices of some goods and services, which benefits consumers in a range of sectors including child care, food preparation, house cleaning and repair, and construction.”
- The American economy would be diminished without immigrants:
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- “The prospects for long-run economic growth in the United States would be considerably dimmed without the contributions of high-skilled immigrants… (and) …immigration is integral to the nation’s economic growth.”
As to his statement that immigrants “undermines public safety,” the right-leaning CATO Institute has demonstrated that in Texas, the legal and illegal immigrant criminal conviction rate was significantly lower, respectively 38% and 45%, of the criminal conviction rate of native‐born Americans.
Demonization of Disabled
Fascist denigrate the “us” demographic as a means to strengthen their affiliation with the “us” demographic. Ableism: video.
Demonization of Women
The fascist view women as reproductive vessels. Misogyny: video
Demonization of Blacks
The 400 year history of Blacks in America clearly demonstrate that there always has been, and there continues to be institutional barriers which are designed to prevent full equality in America; and these barriers have consequences that last for generations. (See South to America, by Imani Perry.)
With the rise of the authoritarianism, we are seeing the fascists stoking racial divisions as a means of recruiting supporters.
For example, the Black Lives Matter movement was simply a plea that Black men should be treated the same as non-Black citizens. The fascist twisted this plea for help to make it appear that advocating for BLM is tantamount to being “pro-crime,” “anti-police” and “anti-white male”.
In Mississippi, court officials are elected by the local citizens. Mississippi House Bill 1020 creates a new court jurisdiction in Jackson, a majority Black community but gives control of the new jurisdiction to the state legislature which is controlled by Republicans, which are all white. Jackson Mayor Lumumba said “It reminds me of apartheid…They are looking to colonize Jackson, not only in terms of them putting their military force over Jackson, but also dictating who has province over decision-making….Some of the other legislators, I was surprised that they came half-dressed because they forgot to wear their hoods.”
Demonization of Transgender Children
One of the newer targets for the fascists, who must create an “us” and “them” demographic, has been to direct their hatred at children who are receiving transgender-affirming medical care and their parents.
This is a very serious medical issue as “82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves and 40% have attempted suicide, with suicidality highest among transgender youth.”
As a physician, I can state with confidence that when a medical issue is this complicated, it will require a highly individualized treatment plan. Thus the treatment decision must be left up to the person(s) who have the child’s best interests at heart (parents) and the medical professional. Putting the legal system and politicians between these patients and their physician will certainly result in the unnecessary death of children.
The Texas Attorney General has initiated investigations of parents whose children have been receiving transgender-affirming medical care under the expertise of appropriate medical experts.
On 3/3/2023 Florida “GOP lawmakers submitted SB254, which allows the state to seize custody of children when they “at risk” or “being subjected” to gender-affirming medical care, including from families where the child at question may reside outside of Florida.”
Thus the Texas AG and Florida GOP either believe they know more than all the medical experts, American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society or they are fascist who are willing to sacrifice the lives of children so as to recruit more political supporters.
The Centralized Control of Thought
Fascist employ a multi-prong strategy which they use to influence the thoughts of their supports and the national topic of conversation.
Before we delve into their modus operandi, we first must understand how modern society decides what is the “truth.”
In Jonathan Rauch’s book The Constitution of Knowledge, Mr. Rauch attempts to define how we know what we know and how we separate fact from fiction – a philosophical dilemma that dates back 2 millennia.
Mr. Rauch defines the concept of a “reality-based community” which is composed of academic institutions, professional organizations, journalistic and legal institutions.
Each reality-based community collects data and analyzes it for “truth.” If appropriate, the information which is judged to be “truthful” is passed up the hierarchy until it reaches the most senior members who issue a final judgement.
This is an endless, iterative process which serially approximates “truth,” with ever more precision, as new information is submitted by lower members of the reality-based community.
This community is governed by two rules:
- no person gets the final say as to what is “true”
- the method used to determine “truth” must yield the same result regardless of the person who employs the truth-seeking methodology.
This methodology has served humanity extraordinarily well over that last few centuries and has succeed in exponentially advancing the well-being of humanity.
Fascist have a propaganda technique (Firehose of Falsehoods, discussed below) to disrupt this process and that enables them to influence the thoughts of their constituents and, in so doing, to retain political power.
Propaganda Technique: The Big Lie
The big lie was a propaganda technique created by Adolf Hitler, in Mein Kampf, to describe a lie so preposterous that nobody would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.”
The United States Office of Strategic Services explained Hitler’s propaganda methodology, in part as “…people will believe a big lie … and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”
Hitler repeatedly told the German people that they lost World War I, not as a result of their military’s failure, but because German’s Jews sabotage Germany. Ultimately this led to Hitler’s concentration camps, the death of 70-85 million people, and World War II.
The big lie propaganda technique had been used by Republicans against John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, in the 2004 Presidential campaign in their anti-Kerry “swift boat campaign.” It succeeded in putting George W. Bush, a man who never served in the military, into the Presidency for eight years.
Donald Trump used the big lie against Barack Obama stating Obama is not an American citizen and he is a Muslim. Today, 72% of Republicans still believe Obama is not a US citizen and 43% say he is a Muslim.
Donald Trump also used the big lie against Biden, claiming Biden lost the 2020 election to Trump. The technique has convinced 71% of Republicans that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
Of course, the effectiveness of this propaganda technique is predicated on having the ability to repeatedly distribute the big lie of the day to the eyes and ears of Americans. That is the role of America’s most popular “news” network, Fox News as well as numerous other right-wing media outlets.
Lest some believe that I am being hyperbolic in accusing Trump of using the same propaganda tactics as Hitler, the eminently rational and Republican political analyst and bipartisan Presidential advisor to four presidents, David Gergen said that Trump’s propaganda technique is “following in the footsteps of Adolph Hitler.”
Propaganda Technique: The Firehose of falsehoods
Vladimir Putin created a propaganda technique knows as “The Firehose of Falsehood.” In essence, the propagandists issue statements that may be partial truths, outright fictions, internally inconsistent, conspiracy theories on a given subject. These statements are distributed frequently and rapidly over every possible communication channel to the public and overwhelm the “Constitution of Knowledge’s” ability to sort fact from fiction (see figure above.)
As the public is either unable to, or does not have the time to, sort truth from fiction, they cease to trust most media outlets and the knowledge experts. They then allow their “reality” to be defined but their tribe and the individual with the biggest megaphone, their leader.
“The firehose of falsehoods was adopted and used effectively by the Donald Trump administration. In 2018, Steve Bannon, one of Trump’s key strategists, colorfully referred to this tactic when he said, “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” The Washington Post documented 30,573 false claims made by Trump during his presidency. This is a deliberate authoritarian tactic and should be considered as one of the key psychological mechanisms by which liberal democratic norms are undermined.” See reference.
The author of a study published in the prestigious journal Science, said “We found that falsehood diffuses significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, in all categories of information, and in many cases by an order of magnitude.” The rapidity of dissemination of the lies makes the Firehose of Falsehood propaganda technique particularly effective, especially when social media refuses to exert any reasonable semblance of editorial control, as would any newspaper editor and as deemed essential by the Constitution of Knowledge.
One of the more egregious examples of this propaganda technique occurred when President Trump, during a White House Covid press conference, recommended people inject bleach as a means to treat covid infections in the lungs.
Adverse Consequences of Though Control
The combination of these two propaganda techniques (The Big Lies and The Firehose of Falsehoods) has been extremely effective in destroying the public’s ability to learn the “truth” and undermining the recommendations of the scientist, physicians, foreign policy experts, economist, journalist, Federal Government experts, etc.
Trump alluded to this negation of the reality-based community of experts when he said of Biden: “He’ll listen to the scientists. If I listened to the scientists, we’d have a country in a massive depression…”
As a physician, I have seen the ramifications of ignoring the reality-based community of experts many times. The covid vaccination rate and mask utilization rate are lower in communities who voted for Trump (a population who reject the opinion the reality-based community of experts) vs politically Blue communities. As a result there is a disproportinately large number of Covid deaths in Red State America.
When the fascists’ propaganda techniques are successful in convincing the public to ignore the recommendations of the reality-based community of experts, professionals who have literally spent their entire lives studying a subject, many people will needlessly die.
The Centralized Control of Education
Fascists must control of the content of the educational system and personnel within the system if they hope to retain power for three reasons:
- The unrestricted discussion of ideas by students is an immediate threat to the fascist’s control of society and is a source of protestors.
- There is an “inverse relationship between authoritarianism and education, research clearly shows that a liberal arts education has an impact on reducing authoritarian attitudes.
- By accusing colleges and universities of promoting values and ideas of the “them” demographic group, the authoritarians “radicalize their followers for political gain” and can then “justify the expanded powers that authoritarians say they need to effectively counter those threats”
Viktor Orban of Hungary took over a democracy and is now its dictator. “Under Viktor Orban’s autocratic rule, no independent institutions are tolerated,” said Kim Lane Scheppele a professor at Princeton.
Central European University in Hungary promoted open, democratic ideals and was funded by American billionaire and Jew, George Soros. For all of those reasons, Orban forced CEU to close its doors in Hungary.
In primary schools, community colleges, colleges, and universities across the US, we are seeing a similar dynamic play-out between the fascists and the educators.
Example 1: Authoritarian Control of the Educational System
For the last two years, the Board of Trustees of North Idaho College, a community college, have been controlled by trustees who were chosen by the county’s Republican Party. North Idaho College will likely lose its national accreditation as “actions by the board of trustees do not align with the eligibility requirements and standards for NWCCU accreditation” agency and this may necessitate closing N.I.C.
The closing will adversely impact its students, as they will no longer qualify for student loans and their class credits will not be transferrable to other colleges. The community will be adversely impacted as N.I.C was a source of skilled labor and is the sixth-largest employer in Kootenai County.
Example 2: Authoritarian Control of the Educational System
Gov. Ron DeSantis (FL) has forced the College Board, administrators of the high school Advanced Placement African American Studies course to alter the curriculum so that it comports with DeSantis’ view of American history. In response, more than 800 African American Studies academicians wrote:
“The contention that an AP curriculum in African American Studies ‘lacks educational value’ is a proposition supported by white supremacist ideology, because it fundamentally demeans the history, culture, and contributions of Black people. … This is censorship and a frontal attack on academic freedom. We categorically reject DeSantis’s autocratic claim to knowing what college-level material should be available in an AP African American Studies course.”
DeSantis has already limited what can be discussed in the Florida public schools on the subjects of race, sex and gender.
Example 3: Authoritarian Control of the Educational System
Recently, DeSantis’s legislative allies have introduced legislation that would prohibit the following on the state’s higher education campuses:
- Discussion or consideration of diversity in classes and hiring
- Discussion or consideration of equity in classes and hiring
- Discussion or consideration of inclusivity in classes and hiring
- Discussion of how laws, social and political movements, and media impact social conceptions of race and ethnicity. (critical race theory)
- Discussion of how aspects of a person’s social and political identities result in different forms of discrimination and privilege (intersectionality)
- Disallow teaching history “contrary to the creation of a new nation based on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.”
- Disallow Black student organizations
- Give political appointees final authority over hiring/firing of faculty and personnel.
Fascist are trying to take control of the United States’ educational system one school, city, and state at a time. It is only a matter of time before this happens at a national level.
Banned Books
Fascists must control the thoughts of the members of society as a means of ensuring their grip on power. Thus banning “inappropriate” books was integral component of Hitler’s regime.
In America, librarians have the training and knowledge to select books which are appropriate for the diverse members of their community. The books they purchase are an important source of knowledge and comfort, especially for minority and disfavored members of a community who do not have local roll models. To meet the needs of all community members “Many school libraries already have mechanisms in place to stop individual students from checking out books of which their parents disapprove.”
Fascists, both left and right, believe that they have the moral authority to decide which ideas are allowed in the library and which should be suppressed. As a result, we have seen members of the right wing / MAGA community (and to a lesser extend left wing) attempt to banned books, especially books that discuss race, sexuality and gender identity, and, in one community, all versions of the Bible.
When librarians challenge the book banning as unAmerican, some have faced intimidation, harassment and being fired. As a result, many are quitting.
Shortly prior to the first day of school in Fort Worth, Texas, principals and librarians received an email that said:
“Attached is a list of all (41) books that were challenged last year. By the end of today, I need all books pulled from the library and classrooms.” Jennifer Price, executive director of Keller ISD’s curriculum and instruction
Unfortunately, fascists are banning books across America at an ever increasing rate.
The Suppression of Criticism from Journalists and Individuals
Fascists need to ensure they are not publicly criticized as it might tear a hole in their carefully crafted propaganda message, which is also intended to hide and prevent a robust discussion of inequality.
Thus they may choose to:
- avoid or minimize attending press conferences
- insist all journalist submit questions prior to a press conference
- denigrate journalists who asks them an embarrassing question
- legally prohibit any criticism of their government
Both President Trump and Governor DeSantis have minimized their exposure at unstructured press conferences, as do many national Republican politicians, so they can avoid being asked question they preferred were not asked.
Trump has a history of insulting journalist, especially if the journalist is a woman or African-American who asks him a question which would throw him off message.
He also denigrates the press en masse by referring to them as “fake news” and he literally corrals them in a box at his rallies so he has a target for his criticism of the press.
Moving even further down the fascist trend, Florida Republican Senators and House members (under the control of Gov DeSantis) have submitted bills to their respective legislatures (SB 1316 and 1220, HB 991 and SB 1220) that would require blogger:
- who write about elected officials to register with the State of Florida
- file monthly reports, including who paid them and how much
These bills would also redefine a statement as defamatory if it is:
- only attributed to an anonymous source
- is “inherently improbable or implausible”
The bill also include language which states “anonymous source should be presumed to be false” and “unaltered photograph, video, or audio recording” could be considered defamatory
The purpose of this egregiously un-American legislation is to setup a case that will allow the Supreme Court to overturn the six decade precedent, The New York Times Company v. Sullivan, which protects journalist from defamation lawsuits initiated by public figures. Currently this type of defamation lawsuit is only possible if the information was published with a “reckless disregard” for the truth.
This precedent “has empowered journalists to investigate and criticize public figures without fear that an unintentional error will result in crippling financial penalties” and weakening this precedent would significantly enhance the power of already politically powerful politicians, the famous, and the extremely wealthy.
The Suppression of the Rights of the Individuals
The Right to Reproductive Autonomy
Italy’s Benito Mousslini was the first fascist (1919) and according to Professor Wingenter, professor at Loyola University Chicago, “For the fascists, the main role of women was to be the … mothers of many future soldiers.”
Thus, fascists limited the number of women in the workplace, in high schools, and in university and criminalized performing an abortion and providing information about abortions. All to increase the number of births.
In 1973, the US Supreme Court concluded that the criminalization of abortion violated a woman’s constitutional right of privacy.
In 2023, consistent with fascists beliefs, the US Supreme Court concluded a woman does not have the right to control her own bodily functions.
Today’s fascist have, as had their predecessors, shown a contempt for the rights of women and some of spoken of even banning contraception. This contempt for women is likely part of the reason the US has still has not passed the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution, which was first proposed in 1923.
The Right to Receive Medical Care
We also see the same disregard for bodily autonomy by today’s fascist in their attempt to prevent the medical treatment of transgender children.
The fascists reject the fact that medical experts and professional societies know more about this subject than non-experts and they reject the premise that the person who has the child’s best interests at heart is the child’s mother.
They believe that they alone know what are the child’s best interests and that it is appropriate to put the politician and legal system in the middle of this incredible difficult, complicated, and intimate medical problem.
Gov. DeSantis has made it difficult for these children to receive gender affirming health care, which is based on national, professional guidelines. He has also prohibited any discussion of the topic in the public elementary schools.
Gov. Abott of Texas has ordered the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents of transgender adolescents for child abuse.
Vanderbilt University’s Pediatric Transgender Clinic was accused of child abuse by Tennessee’s Republican politicians. Despite being a nationally recognized medical institution, the Pediatric Transgender Clinic in response, said it was “pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under age 18 while we complete” a review of new, national treatment guidelines.
The Right to Own Property
Although fascist support private property rights, they do not believe that the “them” demographic group, specifically the African-American community, have the same property and individual rights as the white majority.
Policemen in America have literally have killed, unarmed African-Americans in their homes, cars, while walking down the street, without a search warrant, without cause, and without consequence.
When this issue is brought to the national attention, the fascists slap it down with a “The Firehouse of Falsehoods” accusation that the complainant are anti-police or pro-crime or anti-white or… Unfortunately, this “Firehouse of Falsehoods” propaganda technique is successful almost every time.
Counter-terrorism experts report that “the number of domestic terror plots and attacks are at the highest they have been in decades“.
From 2015-2021, American right-wing extremists have been responsible for “267 plots or attacks and 91 fatalities”, which is about four times the rate of left-wing extremists. The attacks have been directed against Blacks, Jews, Muslim, immigrants, LGBTQ, Asians, other people of color, mosques, synagogues, Black churches, Black owned businesses, abortion clinics, government buildings, police officers, government officials, and politicians.
“Any expert is going to tell you that this is the most serious security threat to the American people today” Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.)
Multiple studies suggest that the underlying cause for this up-swing in right-wing domestic terrorism is a belief in the “Great Replacement theory.” This conspiracy theory contends that the white population is being replaced by people of color and minorities have or will have more rights than whites. It has been repeatedly pushed on Fox News by Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson and is now accepted as a fact by about 50% of Republicans. A variation of it has appeared around the world since the mid-2010s.
The Britannica wrote “Replacement theory has been widely ridiculed for its blatant absurdity.” It has also been rationally and statistically debunked by others.
Nevertheless, histrionic right-wing propagandists have been incited by it to:
Attempt to kidnap the Governor of Michigan.
- Drive a car into a group of peaceful, anti-Nazi, anti-KKK protestors, killing one person and injuring fifteen.
- Attack the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 so as to prevent the counting of the electoral votes, and with some participants intent on killing members of Congress and the Vice President.
- And there have been innumerable other attacks on Americans.
Despite the irrationality and American death toll, fascists like former White House advisor Steve Bannon and House Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida still state that their “army of patriots” and “shock troops” are prepared to do their bidding.
I have attempted to demonstrate that a disturbingly large percentage of the America’s most prominent federal GOP politicians, local GOP politicians, and MAGA enthusiasts have either promoted fascist ideas and/or employed tactics used by fascists.
Donald Trump has made it very clear that should he retake the White House, American democracy as we have known it, will end and a fascist Trumpocracy will rise in its place. He tried and failed to accomplish this on January 6; given a second opportunity, he will succeed.
Historian Michael Beschloss, who has written nine books about the presidency, has described Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for President, as “a local Mussolini in Florida… We have to call this what this is, this is fascism and authoritarianism that goes even beyond what Trump has talked about…”
Regardless of the political successes of Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, or other contemporary neofascists, recent American and international politicians have demonstrated that a fascist campaign tactic can be used successful in America. This same fascist, political roadmap has been used successfully around the world and will remain an option for authoritarian inclined American politicians for the foreseeable future.
While I hope I am wrong, I believe a rational assessment of the data inescapably leads to the conclusion that there is at least a reasonable probability that fascism is coming to the U.S.A.
There is only one way to avoid this horrific outcome…
First they came for the socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me
And there was no one left to speak for me.
Hayward Zwerling
10 March 2023
Note: An abbreviated version of this article is here.
Addendum 5/25/2023
While many believe I am being histrionic in my accusation that Trump, DeSantis and their supporters have become “fascists,” I want to call your attention to a 3/24/23 tweet from Bill Kristol, who is the “godfather of conservatism” and a thought leader for Republicans.
Addendum 4/3/2023:
Political Thinkers Who are Concerned That Fascism is Coming to America
Addendum: 3/10/2023
To: MAGA and GOP audience
Watch this video from The Terminator: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Addendum: The Face of Fascism
