American Fascism, Billionaires, And You

The point of everything Republicans do is to undermine democracy, with a huge helping of self-interest on top.

America is already in the legal phase of pre-fascism. This is not meant to be alarmist, but rather to clarify that there is actually a point to what Republicans are doing.

If people are waiting for the arrival of Russian-style fascism here in the United States, they are not looking for the right symptoms and signs. It’s Hungary style “soft-fascism” that we must be looking for. And that involves using the legal system to seize power from opponents.

Sure, Republicans are using some of Putin’s tricks, like using Christianity and “traditional morals,” as a cultural weapon, but so does Hungary.

What does legal fascism look like? One big sign is what we tepidly call “election denialism,” also known as eroding trust in small d democracy. It’s not just Trump who does this, and while the 2022 midterms offered a beating to Republicans’ slate of election deniers, so…