7 ms·

Ten Signs of Fascism. America has all of them

232 points by fredski42 5mo ago

ngruhn 5mo ago
The parallels to the rise of Nazi Germany are striking. But it can be much worse. Read "February 1933" if you want to get a feel. Pretty much daily reports of people getting killed in clashes between Nazis and Communists. Hitler almost immediately suspends right to assemble, free speech etc, and orders police to kill dissidents on sight. Prominent artists and journalists are getting arrested or are fleeing the country. All of that within a month of Hitler taking power. There is still hope for the US. The press is still critical, the opposition is not arrested, the courts are still giving push back, and it's not civil war level violence.
- smt88 5mo ago
  The midterms will be a landslide if allowed to run fairly. Trump’s response to that landslide will tell us whether there’s hope. I don’t expect Civil War levels of violence because the country is mostly united in its hatred of how the GOP is running it. No large group of people will pick up arms to support Trump’s right to invade countries and ruin the economy.
  - reactordev 5mo ago
    The National Guard may end up having a decision of a lifetime
  - exceptione 5mo ago
    Disclaimer: I don't want to make people despair nor do I want to install fatalism. People should take action, no matter the bad chances. > if allowed to run fairly. > Trump’s response to that landslide will tell us whether there’s hope. The fairly part is already out of the window, we have had the fake bomb threats at the polling stations. But as you have seen in Hungary, an autocrat has to fear a mass revolt. So an outsized signal can still make it through, despite the rigged elections. But that isn't even the most important part. Imagine the Dems win next round. What then? I have the impression that the Americans do not fully grasp the structural damage that has been done. The Dems won't be able to clean up the mess that the conservatives had left them as they have been doing traditionally. This time the US is highly isolated, the economy is under severe threat from the GOPs own doing; Iran, almost unlimited lawless access to European markets (contrary to popular belief) for the tech oligarchy, institutional knowledge gone, soft power gone. Also imagine throwing the owners of fake news blasters like Fox News in jail, would you think that would be possible? When an outsized portion of the populace think this is Free Press, there is a cultural problem that prevents root causes to be dealt with. The commercial apparatus is necessary for "flooding the zone", but doesn't function as the Fourth Estate, a required function the general population would not even know about. The Heritage Foundation at alii have a large time horizon, they have been working on overthrowing democracy for decades. The asymmetry of having no regards for the rule of the law versus having to follow it is another disadvantage for the Dems. It is a seduction to join the dark side, to let the Dems play the game the other party is good at. The Dems are setup for failure; they need a bizarre effort to overcome the structural damage and the corporate occupation of culture. Notwithstanding the neoliberal factions inside, which are equivalent to the "GOP of older times sliding into autocracy but not there yet". The GOP is bad, but I don't want to portray the Dems as 100% good, on the contrary. The Democratic Party is a big tent, and should rather be broken up in different parties, so Americans have something to choose from actually. In short: people should not hope that the other party will fix their problems; they should start to question themselves, the cultural beliefs they have been fed and most importantly, they need to understand their own and their peers role in this mess. The change should come from bottom up, grassroots style.
    - soco 5mo ago
      Please correct me if I'm wrong and I would hope to stand corrected, but my impression from across the pond is that the Dems in general would enjoy being in the same lead and would gladly use similar mechanisms - so they wouldn't change structurally that much even when they get to the levers. Many techbros and other personalities would also simply swear new allegiances, get celebrated for "their" win and continue to erode at everything because money is money in the end and the GOP lead demonstrated there's good money to be made this way. Of course there are and will be exceptions to this, but significantly many? Time will tell.
      - exceptione 5mo ago
        > would gladly use similar mechanisms - so they wouldn't change structurally that much even when they get to the levers. To address the first part, «similar mechanisms», the Dems realize too late that the GOP had stopped playing the same 'game', as in: the rule of law, respecting institutions, not overstepping the boundaries. They would not gladly use similar mechanisms, because it would mean that no party in the USA would be a democratic rule-abiding party. You would end with a Russia governance style, where 'might makes right' rules instead of the law. In other words: maffia governance. That is why rules alone wouldn't save a democracy. If you can get away with ignoring them, the rules are dead The second part, «so they wouldn't change structurally», is a real problem. There is quite a bunch of senators and people clinging to their position and their networks, standing in the way of real chance. Franklin D. Roosevelt had the same problems. The moneyed interests are a big problem too. From a distance I think AOC is the most clear-headed and general interest driven person, but she has to overcome established interests in the Democratic Party. That requires money and backing from influential people. And frankly, the press might sometimes sound critical about current affairs (out of necessity, they have to maintain strata-specific degrees of credibility), but they don't raise the alarm (which has been several years overdue). For some politicians and power brokers, just facing up to the consequences of their (in)actions would be too unpleasant, let alone they would want to give up their interests. So they gladly let themselves be lulled to sleep. If the editorial boards would stop down-playing and bullshitting, those "all is more or less fine" people would start to face electoral heat, but you can safely bet the corporate incentives aren't aligned with that.
  - thrance 5mo ago
    > The midterms will be a landslide if allowed to run fairly. SCOTUS just repelled the "voting rights" part of the civil rights acts, allowing states to gerrymander the black vote out. Which all red states immediately did. The midterms already won't be fair, and it can get worse until then. > the country is mostly united in its hatred of how the GOP is running it. It really isn't, 30% of the country is still diehard MAGA. They may be disappointed about the results (or lack thereof), but nothing will make them reconsider their support for Trump. And these people have disproportionately more firearms than the rest of the population.
    - sheikhnbake 5mo ago
      That 30% have also been in a decades long information silo that has convinced them that anyone marginally to the left of them is either mentally ill or demons. I grew up with Michael Savage on the radio.
    - throwawaypath 5mo ago
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        throwawaypath 5mo ago
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        thrance 5mo ago
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fenix1851 5mo ago
Wonder how many times i saw this article with different countries…
- smt88 5mo ago
  Which countries? Can you be specific about two or three of them? And what point are you trying to make?
- wartywhoa23 5mo ago
  The fascism is worldwide now.
- aswegs8 5mo ago
  Reddit-style spin posts leaking into HN.
- vkou 5mo ago
  [flagged]
deleted 5mo ago
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DavidPiper 5mo ago
Another opportunity to recommend "They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45" by Milton Mayer. The audiobook is great too. A critical but empathetic look at how fascism rises and spreads through, and alongside, ordinary people in ordinary society. Excellent book, incredibly relevant. An excerpt, if you don't want to commit to the whole thing: https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html
- dh2022 5mo ago
  I am reading this book now and from reading the book to me it seems there are some differences between 1930s Germany and 2026 US: 1. Germans back then were conformist people and following other Germans; especially authority figures. Americans are anything but. 2. Germans did not know what was going on; today there is a ton of media. 3. Nazi party took care of the “good” Germans: Nazis gave Germans jobs (anyone else, Jews, Romas, communists had to fend for themselves). Trump and his goons openly shit on American people. 4. It took about 8 years from boycotting Jewish businesses to burning synagogues, then another 2 years to start implementing the Final solution. Trump’s goons shot and killed Americans less than 1 year since taking power. (Also important is that Adolf Hitler became chancellor at 44 years old, Trump’s most consequential presidency started when he was 79.) Similarities to today’s situation that I got from the book are charisma both Hitler and Trump have, and how people seem to identify themselves with Hitler and Trump (for ex: which other American president had people put his name on flags, tattoos, cars, houses?) Freedom is fragile and needs constant support. Trump touched a raw nerve but he is too vain, greedy and old to follow through with a full blown dictatorship. The goons around him are dangerous but lack his charisma and connection to the average person (do you see JD Vance filling up stadiums while spouting non-sense?)
  - smackeyacky 5mo ago
    Americans are astonishingly conformist. Don’t let the myth making of American exceptionalism blind you to the amazing cult of MAGA or the reach of evangelical churches. It only takes a small minority of violent thugs to make a bigger population of people who only want to stay out of trouble compliant.
drdrek 5mo ago
It's funny how much democracies with free speech are always self critical with rampant doom saying while actual autocracies that crack down on this kind of speech are quiet and content when economic times are good only really cracking at the seams during distress. I know its a healthy part of democracy but it is very draining.
- Schmerika 5mo ago
  Just to be clear: Are you twisting the fact that America hits every metric for fascism into saying it must therefore be a healthy vibrant democracy full of free speech - because someone pointed that out? In a flagged story, that isn't anywhere near mainstream news? ... You know we have people getting thrown in camps and deported for saying maybe genocide is bad, right? And like, students and faculty in Ivy league schools getting beaten and/or fired for saying maybe we shouldn't be complicit in the mass murder of children? Apologies if I've misread your remarks - deep and biting sarcasm doesn't always play well in text.
  - drdrek 5mo ago
    No, I'm actually saying that while the US is getting worse, it is in fact not fascist. You obviously disagree, and the fact that you do proves the point that it can get a lot worse. Did you know Germany has really fascist laws on regarding displaying Nazi symbols even more than the US? You can get deported for it! In China you can disappear talking about Taiwan, In the UAE you can by saying something anti Islam. There is a long way to go until you reach real bad places... You obviously do not like the USA, but just because you do not like it does not mean its fascist... its just clearly not perfect and free enough for you to be able to point it out.
    - Schmerika 5mo ago
      > You obviously disagree, and the fact that you do proves the point that it can get a lot worse. Are people being thrown in camps for what they say? Are they being gunned down in broad daylight in the street for peaceful protest? ... If so, maybe my disagreement is backed up by facts. And maybe "it can get worse" isn't pulling much weight here. Right now we have a ~100% pro genocide party, and a roughly 90% pro genocide party. That's... not a good sign bro. > Did you know Germany has really fascist laws on regarding displaying Nazi symbols even more than the US? You can get deported for it! Did you know every day there's a new video of German police brutalizing peaceful protesters? Or that they're a major arms supplier to Israel; second only to the US? > In China you can disappear talking about Taiwan Citation needed. Let's compare people disappearing per capita too. Let's talk about the Epstein files, lots of people disappearing there. > In the UAE you can by saying something anti Islam. If your argument is that we're not the UAE, then buddy... What? > There is a long way to go until you reach real bad places... Oh America can fall very far from where it is, for sure. That's not what we're talking about though. > You obviously do not like the USA It's not about me, or my likes (freedom, truth, liberty, equality - the things the US says it's all about) and dislikes (genocide, forever wars, deportations, coups, extortion, blackmail, people getting shot in the back in the street - the things the US is actually doing). This conversation is about fascism, and how the US is ticking every single box for it. You are claiming the US isn't fascist, as if that were just my opinion; but you're not engaging with any of the actual facts in the article, or any particular points about fascism, just claiming that people are free to critisize therefore we can't possiblybe fascist. Which is manifestly untrue from any number of angles. If you like, we can also discuss how this community, the tech bros and venture capitalists, the DOGE cheerleaders and the Thielites, are deeply complicit in that fascism, and profiting from it. > its just clearly not perfect and free enough for you to be able to point it out. "Sure, we arm and enable genocide, but you're free to point that out as long as you don't mind the possibility of being thrown in a camp, shot, treated as a terrorist, deported, etc - because we're not the UAE"... I'm not sure those arguments are as strong as you seem to think they are.
GardenLetter27 5mo ago
[flagged]
- vkou 5mo ago
  Pinochet didn't start by murdering thousands of people on day one. It takes time and work to dismantle every part of the system that will stop you from doing that. Less time in weak democracies, more time in stronger ones. The republican party is currently doing it's traitorous best to turn Trump into an above-the-law-king, and to turn the country into a place where nobody could stop him from doing that. Every one of them is complicit.
  - Rekindle8090 5mo ago
    No he literally did start murdering thousands of people on day one.
    - vkou 5mo ago
      He murdered a few people on day one. The thousands happened over decades of his rule.
- cryo32 5mo ago
  I wasn’t aware fascism was defined by a body count.
- jampekka 5mo ago
  Not all authoritarian regimes are fascist. Pinochet and Videla regimes were more military juntas and bureaucratic-authoritarian states.
- cosmicgadget 5mo ago
  Perhaps attempted fascism is also bad.
- deinonychus 5mo ago
  So should we wait for it? Is avoiding the embarrassment of calling a Fake Fascist a fascist worth it? Whats the EV on that decision? What’s the body count going to need to be before it’s Real Fascism?
itsnotchow54 5mo ago
Donald Trump strikes me as a low-level antichrist who's more honest and upfront about everything, whereas other politicians are more cute and polite about their agendas, or are just stupid in their policy making. But then again, most of politics is corrupt. You really are voting for the lesser of two evils, in that, the choices you're given are all actually evil, no matter what party, platform, or side of the aisle you're dealing with. I think Donald Trump is especially popular though because of bad handling of immigration in the USA, and any politician that is serious about dealing with waves of immigration in the same way in Western countries has the ability to take advantage of a similar trend. In other words... ...90% of illegal immigrants are probably genuinely seeking a better life or even desperate for it, but then you have demographics such as devout Islamist populations, criminals / bad actors who take advantage of, and the fact that if people can flood across borders, it seems that they will. And then border towns in whatever country will bear the brunt of the issues that causes, or you will have literal replacement and a huge uptick in violent crime like what's happening in the UK... ...not to mention local citizens and legal immigrants tend to notice that illegal denizens get a fast track toward government benefits and legal protections they themselves have not and do not receive. Now, are Donald Trump and those like him bad? At best they are a step backward due to real and serious policy failures by more "Left" politicians, and at worst they are just as awful, but a realistic backlash, according to Horseshoe theory, that extremes on different ends of a spectrum wind up being functionally the same, for example, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Soviet Union during World War II and the Cold War, despite having arguably antithetical ideological beliefs. In the USA too, its worth pointing out that our Democrat party is heavily influenced by hardcore leftists, that is, not reasonable people who want high tech trains, better healthcare, and a strong social safety net, but rather people who literally are alright with items like transgender "medicine" and pornography for young children, rioting, and think terrorists are justified openly calling for rape and murder. I think its worth pointing out too that actual historical fascism is openly violent, xenophobic, war-positive, genocidal, and eugenic. I really don't like Donald Trump, but I would describe him as a moderately right populist that isn't a complete idiot when it comes to dealing with real problems, which is perhaps what makes him dangerous, is that he actually is correct on certain prominent issues, and again, just as antichrist as most politicians, which generates a fair amount of detached cynicism within me. I'm one of those people too that sort of thinks that a lot of differences between Left-and-Right or Conservative vs. Liberal actually collapse into nothing on a lot of simple problems, for example, gun rights, healthcare, border security, and that a lot of it is just meant to divide us. For example, why shouldn't we trust private, law-abiding citizens with guns after they take a one-day or two-day class in safety, have laws that prevent someone from buying weapons during a day long random bi-polar episode, and have police officers or security guards in schools? Why not have quality government provided healthcare and a welfare state, as well as private alternatives in healthcare and an understanding that opportunity and attitude is the biggest factor in persons lifting themselves out of poverty? Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFcf5RQqVEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFcf5RQqVEM -- Elephants in Rooms discusses these very issues, even the Texas governor in the US getting mad and bussing illegal immigrants to liberal cities like New York who then said they couldn't handle the influx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJNTnA2UvWw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJNTnA2UvWw -- A discussion on the harms on Islamism as it pertains to the fact that the ideology of a reasonable amount of persons who claim to follow Islam is not compatible with Western societies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrM78ZigyPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrM78ZigyPE -- A Republican senator in the US makes the argument that for the same reason you lock the front door of your house at night, a nation should have a secure border and properly vet anyone entering into the country I would suggest doing your own research into what's happening in the UK for example, don't just take my word for it obviously.
picsao 5mo ago
[dead]
stephbook 5mo ago
The Führerkult also has a problematic conclusion: Everything needs to happen during the Führer's lifetime, for only he can restore the nation. That's obviously a problem when your Führer is 80+ years old and overweight. It means the Führer will try and fix everything as soon as possible.
- k310 5mo ago
  He is hurrying, but his $1.7 Billion militia and ICE will soon be fighting behind an El Cid propped up rider. It looks like he has had repeated strokes. Not the golf kind. But fight they will because he will fully become a chatbot. FIRST DECEASED LEADER. The Hallucinating ChatGPT Presidency[0] Tue, Apr 29th 2025 09:34am - Mike Masnick > We generally understand how LLM hallucinations work. An AI model tries to generate what seems like a plausible response to whatever you ask it, drawing on its training data to construct something that sounds right. The actual truth of the response is, at best, a secondary consideration. > But over the last few months, it has occurred to me that, for all the hype about generative AI systems “hallucinating,” we pay much less attention to the fact that the current President does the same thing, nearly every day. The more you look at the way Donald Trump spews utter nonsense answers to questions, the more you begin to recognize a clear pattern — he answers questions in a manner quite similar to early versions of ChatGPT. The facts don’t matter, the language choices are a mess, but they are all designed to present a plausible-sounding answer to the question, based on no actual knowledge, nor any concern for whether or not the underlying facts are accurate. > This is not the response of someone working from actual knowledge or policy understanding. Instead, it’s precisely how an LLM operates: taking a prompt (the question about job losses) and generating text based on some core parameters (the “system prompt” that requires deflecting blame and asserting greatness). > The hallmarks of AI generation are all here • Confident assertions without factual backing • Meandering diversions that maintain loose semantic connection to the topic • Pattern-matching to previous responses (“ripped off,” “billions of dollars”) • Optimization for what sounds good rather than what’s true [0] https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/29/the-hallucinating-chatgpt-presidency/ https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/29/the-hallucinating-chatgp...
bzzzt 5mo ago
Seems like a needed rehash of Eco's article about "ur-fascism" https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/ Also, don't get the [flagged]. For what it's worth: Rutger Bregman is a historian and best-selling writer from the Netherlands. While you don't have to agree with everything he says most is thought provoking at least.
jupiterelastica 5mo ago
With the risk of sounding naive: How come this post is flagged? Reading the guidelines I can't see how this is off-topic or does _not_ "[gratify] one's intellectual curiosity." Edit: spelling
- ruicraveiro 5mo ago
  My thoughts exactly.
- g-b-r 5mo ago
  And it's not even possible to vouch fot it
  - krapp 5mo ago
    If you could, you would just lose vouching privileges.
  - WithinReason 5mo ago
    It's not possible to vouch for articles that are not dead
    - GeoAtreides 5mo ago
      what a lovely loophole
      - AnimalMuppet 5mo ago
        Comments, when they say "flagged", are also dead. But articles say "flagged" for some number of flags, but they aren't dead yet. It takes more flags to kill them. "Flagged" is just a notification that an article has received some flags, but it doesn't actually change anything yet.
        GeoAtreides 5mo ago
        wrong, [flagged] removes it from the front page
klamann 5mo ago
As a German, I started wondering if every nation has to experience a fascist catastrophe on its own, before a majority agrees that a fascist takeover is possible at home (surely the peoples who failed to stop all the other fascist regimes were just dumb). Then again, 30% of German voters would vote for the fascist AfD party today, so there's that... I agree with the premise of the article wholeheartedly. Minor nitpick: > The German dynasties behind Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW pretty much merged with the Nazi regeime. Volkswagen was founded by the Nazi regime after they have already taken over. While support by car companies was relevant, there were far more important supporters of the war effort in the chemical and steel industry.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 5mo ago
  Its sad thing but in every society there appears to be a significant portion of people who support the tenants of fascism. The whole 'that minority group over there is wrecking things for you, we will punish them' vibe seems to really strike a chord time and time again.
  - derbOac 5mo ago
    There's a peer-reviewed study of this that appeared in the last couple of years that showed the percent support for authoritarian rule tends to hover around 20% worldwide regardless of country, plus or minus some fuzz amount. I can't find it now because I keep finding other papers but this is another report that's is pretty consistent with it: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/28/who-likes-authoritarianism-and-how-do-they-want-to-change-their-government/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/28/who-likes... Once you get that group control is when you have problems. This is kind of an interesting deeper dive into why people support fascism. Maybe not surprising but highlights the two main reasons: something like "we need a strong leader to take control of the government away from corrupt elite and put it back into the hands of the people" and "the government needs to be in the hands of the real, true, competent people, and not the other, fake, lesser people". https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1605460/full https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/artic... Personally I'm past the point of "what does fascism look like" and want to have a realistic discussion about "how do you reestablish a democracy when you're in a fascist regime?" So far the historical examples at my fingertips are all basically some variant of "people get tired of it, the cult leader passes away and everyone kind of magically agrees that fascism isn't working".
spwa4 5mo ago
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, ACTUAL facists (as in no serious discussion possible, nobody needing to be convinced) were in power from 2023 to 2025. The country of the author has had a fascist prime minister for 2 years ... And the main reason that stopped is that a bunch of his party members ran off and started a new party. As a reaction voters became more extreme. The FvD (forum for democracy) is making big strides forward and they lack the (very few) positive qualities the PVV did have. PVV was anti-violence and pro-democracy. Oh, and FvD is anti-democracy in the sense of they're against "1 person 1 vote", and looking for ways to limit who can vote (and going to lengths that Trump and Republicans are not even daring to mention (yet?) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_Freedom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_Freedom
- vanviegen 5mo ago
  While some* of that is true, does that matter to the argument being made by the author? And yes, that author also opposed fascist forces in the Netherlands. : Former prime minister Schoof was was not* a fascist, but basically just an independent bureaucrat hired to attempt to hold a very brittle coalition together. He failed at that miserably. Also, the 'main reason that stopped' was that the PVV party went from 23% of the votes to 17% of the votes in the next election, and none of the other parties was willing to work with them again in a coalition.
  - spwa4 5mo ago
    Last week I was at Amsterdam station and I became 100% sure of one thing: this will happen again. Hopefully not with FvD on top this time. But it's going to happen again, for sure.
    - AnimalMuppet 5mo ago
      Mind telling us what happened at Amsterdam station that made you sure of that?
lostmsu 5mo ago
[flagged]
- peter-m80 5mo ago
  > support for a dictatorial leader Yes. Trump > centralized autocracy Totally. Wars without congress permission, illegal tariffs, etc > forcible suppression of opposition Yes. Rigging elections. Making difficult for oppositors to vote > belief in a natural social hierarchy Totally. White supremacism. Proud boys, ICE... > subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race Yes. ICE. > strong regimentation of society and the economy Yes. DOGE shit. Cuts to healthcare programs, etc. ...
  - lostmsu 5mo ago
    [flagged]
    - cosmicgadget 5mo ago
      > Trump is not authoritarian The better discussion is: 1. Does he aspire to be authoritarian or does he prefer to do work with congress, scotus, and independent agencies? 2. Has he expanded presidential power, formally or informally?
      - lostmsu 5mo ago
        It is not a better discussion in context, because the topic says "America has signs of fascism", not "Trump wants more power". The later topic is not very intellectually engaging.
        cosmicgadget 5mo ago
        Constitutional law is pretty engaging actually. You are welcome to feel otherwise.
peter-m80 5mo ago
[flagged]
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
penguin_booze 5mo ago
See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV8KGcFqeLc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV8KGcFqeLc.
amai 5mo ago
Given that this is written by a historian it should be taken seriously.
xg15 5mo ago
Remarkable how much of this fits Israel as well. 6 and 7 didn't, until Netanyahu took it upon himself to fix that.
mdrzn 5mo ago
"This isn’t ordinary lobbying or corruption. It’s structural fusion: the same bargain the industrialists made in 1933." "These paramilitary squads didn’t just protect the movement, they were the movement." It's not just X, it's definitely Y.
nacozarina 5mo ago
The consequences of replacing Jefferson’s Union with Lincoln’s Republic in 1861 were foreseen at the time, but the ‘copperheads’ were shouted down. ‘Fascism’ emerged in Europe from different causes much later. Only casuals find this insightful.
vga1 5mo ago
Funny how well these fit into the terminally online far leftist framing too. 1. Mythic past and rebirth: dreaming of the lost socialist utopia of USSR etc. which was taken from us all by force and deception. 2. Victimhood and humiliation: working class is the victim of a rigged system, exploited by capital elite. 3. Hierarchy and dehumanization: world is split into oppressors (landlords, rich people, etc) and oppressed (workers). 4. Contempt for weakness: "liberals" let this happen due to their limp-wristedness. 5. Cult of action: revolts, strikes, protests, even violence against oppressors. 6. The leader as savior: Mamdani, Sanders, AOC? This admittedly doesn't quite work in the same way as in fascism. 7. Purification of institutions: Universities, media, and governments must be purged of "reactionaries" or "liberals" who resist the revolution. 8. Propaganda and assault on truth: dissent is violently suppressed. Various kinds of Big Lies (e.g. "the genocide") are spread as absolute truths and are repeated at every possible point. 9. Merger of state and corporate power: seizing both the corporations and state for the proletariat. 10. Violence and terror: glorifying murderers when they murder those "who deserve it".
- mindslight 5mo ago
  I've long described the bureaucratic authoritarian corporatist state as building fascism from the other direction, ala inverted totalitarianism. But your list is a conflation of a lot of things - some valid critiques, straightforward responses to the open fascism of the Republican party, and some flat out straw men (eg there are no significant numbers of people "dreaming of the lost socialist utopia of USSR"). And right from the start you've set up a motte and bailey with "terminally online far leftist". So this list reads more as partisan flamebait/rationalization of the current open fascist dynamics rather than a serious critique aimed at any kind of reform.
  - vga1 5mo ago
    >eg. there are no significant numbers of people "dreaming of the lost socialist utopia of USSR" You seem to be in the happy group of people who have never visited the Lemmy main site. Although you may be right about "significant numbers" even if that site seems to be full of them. They might literally all be there.
dplesh 5mo ago
As a non-American observer, it does look like America has all of these signs, but you shouldn't forget Fascism is one of the tools, not the goal. I think current administration got the goal correctly to achieve American interests, but their use of Fascism is inherently worrying. Especially when US got a lot of influence on my country, and it seems to me that ever since this administration got the keys, things got good for my country's interests, but not for my country's democracy.
b3nji 5mo ago
I'm no Trump fan, I have to say that many of these evidences have been debunked and quantifiably false. The raw and hours upon hours of Capitol Hill footage odeant show what the media historically lies about for example.

232 points by fredski42 5mo ago

The parallels to the rise of Nazi Germany are striking. But it can be much worse. Read "February 1933" if you want to get a feel. Pretty much daily reports of people getting killed in clashes between Nazis and Communists. Hitler almost immediately suspends right to assemble, free speech etc, and orders police to kill dissidents on sight. Prominent artists and journalists are getting arrested or are fleeing the country. All of that within a month of Hitler taking power. There is still hope for the US. The press is still critical, the opposition is not arrested, the courts are still giving push back, and it's not civil war level violence.

smt88 5mo ago
The midterms will be a landslide if allowed to run fairly. Trump’s response to that landslide will tell us whether there’s hope. I don’t expect Civil War levels of violence because the country is mostly united in its hatred of how the GOP is running it. No large group of people will pick up arms to support Trump’s right to invade countries and ruin the economy.
- reactordev 5mo ago
  The National Guard may end up having a decision of a lifetime
- exceptione 5mo ago
  Disclaimer: I don't want to make people despair nor do I want to install fatalism. People should take action, no matter the bad chances. > if allowed to run fairly. > Trump’s response to that landslide will tell us whether there’s hope. The fairly part is already out of the window, we have had the fake bomb threats at the polling stations. But as you have seen in Hungary, an autocrat has to fear a mass revolt. So an outsized signal can still make it through, despite the rigged elections. But that isn't even the most important part. Imagine the Dems win next round. What then? I have the impression that the Americans do not fully grasp the structural damage that has been done. The Dems won't be able to clean up the mess that the conservatives had left them as they have been doing traditionally. This time the US is highly isolated, the economy is under severe threat from the GOPs own doing; Iran, almost unlimited lawless access to European markets (contrary to popular belief) for the tech oligarchy, institutional knowledge gone, soft power gone. Also imagine throwing the owners of fake news blasters like Fox News in jail, would you think that would be possible? When an outsized portion of the populace think this is Free Press, there is a cultural problem that prevents root causes to be dealt with. The commercial apparatus is necessary for "flooding the zone", but doesn't function as the Fourth Estate, a required function the general population would not even know about. The Heritage Foundation at alii have a large time horizon, they have been working on overthrowing democracy for decades. The asymmetry of having no regards for the rule of the law versus having to follow it is another disadvantage for the Dems. It is a seduction to join the dark side, to let the Dems play the game the other party is good at. The Dems are setup for failure; they need a bizarre effort to overcome the structural damage and the corporate occupation of culture. Notwithstanding the neoliberal factions inside, which are equivalent to the "GOP of older times sliding into autocracy but not there yet". The GOP is bad, but I don't want to portray the Dems as 100% good, on the contrary. The Democratic Party is a big tent, and should rather be broken up in different parties, so Americans have something to choose from actually. In short: people should not hope that the other party will fix their problems; they should start to question themselves, the cultural beliefs they have been fed and most importantly, they need to understand their own and their peers role in this mess. The change should come from bottom up, grassroots style.
  - soco 5mo ago
    Please correct me if I'm wrong and I would hope to stand corrected, but my impression from across the pond is that the Dems in general would enjoy being in the same lead and would gladly use similar mechanisms - so they wouldn't change structurally that much even when they get to the levers. Many techbros and other personalities would also simply swear new allegiances, get celebrated for "their" win and continue to erode at everything because money is money in the end and the GOP lead demonstrated there's good money to be made this way. Of course there are and will be exceptions to this, but significantly many? Time will tell.
    - exceptione 5mo ago
      > would gladly use similar mechanisms - so they wouldn't change structurally that much even when they get to the levers. To address the first part, «similar mechanisms», the Dems realize too late that the GOP had stopped playing the same 'game', as in: the rule of law, respecting institutions, not overstepping the boundaries. They would not gladly use similar mechanisms, because it would mean that no party in the USA would be a democratic rule-abiding party. You would end with a Russia governance style, where 'might makes right' rules instead of the law. In other words: maffia governance. That is why rules alone wouldn't save a democracy. If you can get away with ignoring them, the rules are dead The second part, «so they wouldn't change structurally», is a real problem. There is quite a bunch of senators and people clinging to their position and their networks, standing in the way of real chance. Franklin D. Roosevelt had the same problems. The moneyed interests are a big problem too. From a distance I think AOC is the most clear-headed and general interest driven person, but she has to overcome established interests in the Democratic Party. That requires money and backing from influential people. And frankly, the press might sometimes sound critical about current affairs (out of necessity, they have to maintain strata-specific degrees of credibility), but they don't raise the alarm (which has been several years overdue). For some politicians and power brokers, just facing up to the consequences of their (in)actions would be too unpleasant, let alone they would want to give up their interests. So they gladly let themselves be lulled to sleep. If the editorial boards would stop down-playing and bullshitting, those "all is more or less fine" people would start to face electoral heat, but you can safely bet the corporate incentives aren't aligned with that.
- thrance 5mo ago
  > The midterms will be a landslide if allowed to run fairly. SCOTUS just repelled the "voting rights" part of the civil rights acts, allowing states to gerrymander the black vote out. Which all red states immediately did. The midterms already won't be fair, and it can get worse until then. > the country is mostly united in its hatred of how the GOP is running it. It really isn't, 30% of the country is still diehard MAGA. They may be disappointed about the results (or lack thereof), but nothing will make them reconsider their support for Trump. And these people have disproportionately more firearms than the rest of the population.
  - sheikhnbake 5mo ago
    That 30% have also been in a decades long information silo that has convinced them that anyone marginally to the left of them is either mentally ill or demons. I grew up with Michael Savage on the radio.
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fenix1851 5mo ago

Wonder how many times i saw this article with different countries…

smt88 5mo ago
Which countries? Can you be specific about two or three of them? And what point are you trying to make?
wartywhoa23 5mo ago
The fascism is worldwide now.
aswegs8 5mo ago
Reddit-style spin posts leaking into HN.
vkou 5mo ago
[flagged]

deleted 5mo ago

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DavidPiper 5mo ago

Another opportunity to recommend "They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45" by Milton Mayer. The audiobook is great too. A critical but empathetic look at how fascism rises and spreads through, and alongside, ordinary people in ordinary society. Excellent book, incredibly relevant. An excerpt, if you don't want to commit to the whole thing: https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html https://press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html

dh2022 5mo ago
I am reading this book now and from reading the book to me it seems there are some differences between 1930s Germany and 2026 US: 1. Germans back then were conformist people and following other Germans; especially authority figures. Americans are anything but. 2. Germans did not know what was going on; today there is a ton of media. 3. Nazi party took care of the “good” Germans: Nazis gave Germans jobs (anyone else, Jews, Romas, communists had to fend for themselves). Trump and his goons openly shit on American people. 4. It took about 8 years from boycotting Jewish businesses to burning synagogues, then another 2 years to start implementing the Final solution. Trump’s goons shot and killed Americans less than 1 year since taking power. (Also important is that Adolf Hitler became chancellor at 44 years old, Trump’s most consequential presidency started when he was 79.) Similarities to today’s situation that I got from the book are charisma both Hitler and Trump have, and how people seem to identify themselves with Hitler and Trump (for ex: which other American president had people put his name on flags, tattoos, cars, houses?) Freedom is fragile and needs constant support. Trump touched a raw nerve but he is too vain, greedy and old to follow through with a full blown dictatorship. The goons around him are dangerous but lack his charisma and connection to the average person (do you see JD Vance filling up stadiums while spouting non-sense?)
- smackeyacky 5mo ago
  Americans are astonishingly conformist. Don’t let the myth making of American exceptionalism blind you to the amazing cult of MAGA or the reach of evangelical churches. It only takes a small minority of violent thugs to make a bigger population of people who only want to stay out of trouble compliant.

drdrek 5mo ago

It's funny how much democracies with free speech are always self critical with rampant doom saying while actual autocracies that crack down on this kind of speech are quiet and content when economic times are good only really cracking at the seams during distress. I know its a healthy part of democracy but it is very draining.

Schmerika 5mo ago
Just to be clear: Are you twisting the fact that America hits every metric for fascism into saying it must therefore be a healthy vibrant democracy full of free speech - because someone pointed that out? In a flagged story, that isn't anywhere near mainstream news? ... You know we have people getting thrown in camps and deported for saying maybe genocide is bad, right? And like, students and faculty in Ivy league schools getting beaten and/or fired for saying maybe we shouldn't be complicit in the mass murder of children? Apologies if I've misread your remarks - deep and biting sarcasm doesn't always play well in text.
- drdrek 5mo ago
  No, I'm actually saying that while the US is getting worse, it is in fact not fascist. You obviously disagree, and the fact that you do proves the point that it can get a lot worse. Did you know Germany has really fascist laws on regarding displaying Nazi symbols even more than the US? You can get deported for it! In China you can disappear talking about Taiwan, In the UAE you can by saying something anti Islam. There is a long way to go until you reach real bad places... You obviously do not like the USA, but just because you do not like it does not mean its fascist... its just clearly not perfect and free enough for you to be able to point it out.
  - Schmerika 5mo ago
    > You obviously disagree, and the fact that you do proves the point that it can get a lot worse. Are people being thrown in camps for what they say? Are they being gunned down in broad daylight in the street for peaceful protest? ... If so, maybe my disagreement is backed up by facts. And maybe "it can get worse" isn't pulling much weight here. Right now we have a ~100% pro genocide party, and a roughly 90% pro genocide party. That's... not a good sign bro. > Did you know Germany has really fascist laws on regarding displaying Nazi symbols even more than the US? You can get deported for it! Did you know every day there's a new video of German police brutalizing peaceful protesters? Or that they're a major arms supplier to Israel; second only to the US? > In China you can disappear talking about Taiwan Citation needed. Let's compare people disappearing per capita too. Let's talk about the Epstein files, lots of people disappearing there. > In the UAE you can by saying something anti Islam. If your argument is that we're not the UAE, then buddy... What? > There is a long way to go until you reach real bad places... Oh America can fall very far from where it is, for sure. That's not what we're talking about though. > You obviously do not like the USA It's not about me, or my likes (freedom, truth, liberty, equality - the things the US says it's all about) and dislikes (genocide, forever wars, deportations, coups, extortion, blackmail, people getting shot in the back in the street - the things the US is actually doing). This conversation is about fascism, and how the US is ticking every single box for it. You are claiming the US isn't fascist, as if that were just my opinion; but you're not engaging with any of the actual facts in the article, or any particular points about fascism, just claiming that people are free to critisize therefore we can't possiblybe fascist. Which is manifestly untrue from any number of angles. If you like, we can also discuss how this community, the tech bros and venture capitalists, the DOGE cheerleaders and the Thielites, are deeply complicit in that fascism, and profiting from it. > its just clearly not perfect and free enough for you to be able to point it out. "Sure, we arm and enable genocide, but you're free to point that out as long as you don't mind the possibility of being thrown in a camp, shot, treated as a terrorist, deported, etc - because we're not the UAE"... I'm not sure those arguments are as strong as you seem to think they are.

GardenLetter27 5mo ago

[flagged]

vkou 5mo ago
Pinochet didn't start by murdering thousands of people on day one. It takes time and work to dismantle every part of the system that will stop you from doing that. Less time in weak democracies, more time in stronger ones. The republican party is currently doing it's traitorous best to turn Trump into an above-the-law-king, and to turn the country into a place where nobody could stop him from doing that. Every one of them is complicit.
- Rekindle8090 5mo ago
  No he literally did start murdering thousands of people on day one.
  - vkou 5mo ago
    He murdered a few people on day one. The thousands happened over decades of his rule.
cryo32 5mo ago
I wasn’t aware fascism was defined by a body count.
jampekka 5mo ago
Not all authoritarian regimes are fascist. Pinochet and Videla regimes were more military juntas and bureaucratic-authoritarian states.
cosmicgadget 5mo ago
Perhaps attempted fascism is also bad.
deinonychus 5mo ago
So should we wait for it? Is avoiding the embarrassment of calling a Fake Fascist a fascist worth it? Whats the EV on that decision? What’s the body count going to need to be before it’s Real Fascism?

itsnotchow54 5mo ago

Donald Trump strikes me as a low-level antichrist who's more honest and upfront about everything, whereas other politicians are more cute and polite about their agendas, or are just stupid in their policy making. But then again, most of politics is corrupt. You really are voting for the lesser of two evils, in that, the choices you're given are all actually evil, no matter what party, platform, or side of the aisle you're dealing with. I think Donald Trump is especially popular though because of bad handling of immigration in the USA, and any politician that is serious about dealing with waves of immigration in the same way in Western countries has the ability to take advantage of a similar trend. In other words... ...90% of illegal immigrants are probably genuinely seeking a better life or even desperate for it, but then you have demographics such as devout Islamist populations, criminals / bad actors who take advantage of, and the fact that if people can flood across borders, it seems that they will. And then border towns in whatever country will bear the brunt of the issues that causes, or you will have literal replacement and a huge uptick in violent crime like what's happening in the UK... ...not to mention local citizens and legal immigrants tend to notice that illegal denizens get a fast track toward government benefits and legal protections they themselves have not and do not receive. Now, are Donald Trump and those like him bad? At best they are a step backward due to real and serious policy failures by more "Left" politicians, and at worst they are just as awful, but a realistic backlash, according to Horseshoe theory, that extremes on different ends of a spectrum wind up being functionally the same, for example, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and the Soviet Union during World War II and the Cold War, despite having arguably antithetical ideological beliefs. In the USA too, its worth pointing out that our Democrat party is heavily influenced by hardcore leftists, that is, not reasonable people who want high tech trains, better healthcare, and a strong social safety net, but rather people who literally are alright with items like transgender "medicine" and pornography for young children, rioting, and think terrorists are justified openly calling for rape and murder. I think its worth pointing out too that actual historical fascism is openly violent, xenophobic, war-positive, genocidal, and eugenic. I really don't like Donald Trump, but I would describe him as a moderately right populist that isn't a complete idiot when it comes to dealing with real problems, which is perhaps what makes him dangerous, is that he actually is correct on certain prominent issues, and again, just as antichrist as most politicians, which generates a fair amount of detached cynicism within me. I'm one of those people too that sort of thinks that a lot of differences between Left-and-Right or Conservative vs. Liberal actually collapse into nothing on a lot of simple problems, for example, gun rights, healthcare, border security, and that a lot of it is just meant to divide us. For example, why shouldn't we trust private, law-abiding citizens with guns after they take a one-day or two-day class in safety, have laws that prevent someone from buying weapons during a day long random bi-polar episode, and have police officers or security guards in schools? Why not have quality government provided healthcare and a welfare state, as well as private alternatives in healthcare and an understanding that opportunity and attitude is the biggest factor in persons lifting themselves out of poverty? Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFcf5RQqVEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFcf5RQqVEM -- Elephants in Rooms discusses these very issues, even the Texas governor in the US getting mad and bussing illegal immigrants to liberal cities like New York who then said they couldn't handle the influx https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJNTnA2UvWw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJNTnA2UvWw -- A discussion on the harms on Islamism as it pertains to the fact that the ideology of a reasonable amount of persons who claim to follow Islam is not compatible with Western societies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrM78ZigyPE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrM78ZigyPE -- A Republican senator in the US makes the argument that for the same reason you lock the front door of your house at night, a nation should have a secure border and properly vet anyone entering into the country I would suggest doing your own research into what's happening in the UK for example, don't just take my word for it obviously.

picsao 5mo ago

[dead]

stephbook 5mo ago

The Führerkult also has a problematic conclusion: Everything needs to happen during the Führer's lifetime, for only he can restore the nation. That's obviously a problem when your Führer is 80+ years old and overweight. It means the Führer will try and fix everything as soon as possible.

k310 5mo ago
He is hurrying, but his $1.7 Billion militia and ICE will soon be fighting behind an El Cid propped up rider. It looks like he has had repeated strokes. Not the golf kind. But fight they will because he will fully become a chatbot. FIRST DECEASED LEADER. The Hallucinating ChatGPT Presidency[0] Tue, Apr 29th 2025 09:34am - Mike Masnick > We generally understand how LLM hallucinations work. An AI model tries to generate what seems like a plausible response to whatever you ask it, drawing on its training data to construct something that sounds right. The actual truth of the response is, at best, a secondary consideration. > But over the last few months, it has occurred to me that, for all the hype about generative AI systems “hallucinating,” we pay much less attention to the fact that the current President does the same thing, nearly every day. The more you look at the way Donald Trump spews utter nonsense answers to questions, the more you begin to recognize a clear pattern — he answers questions in a manner quite similar to early versions of ChatGPT. The facts don’t matter, the language choices are a mess, but they are all designed to present a plausible-sounding answer to the question, based on no actual knowledge, nor any concern for whether or not the underlying facts are accurate. > This is not the response of someone working from actual knowledge or policy understanding. Instead, it’s precisely how an LLM operates: taking a prompt (the question about job losses) and generating text based on some core parameters (the “system prompt” that requires deflecting blame and asserting greatness). > The hallmarks of AI generation are all here • Confident assertions without factual backing • Meandering diversions that maintain loose semantic connection to the topic • Pattern-matching to previous responses (“ripped off,” “billions of dollars”) • Optimization for what sounds good rather than what’s true [0] https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/29/the-hallucinating-chatgpt-presidency/ https://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/29/the-hallucinating-chatgp...

bzzzt 5mo ago

Seems like a needed rehash of Eco's article about "ur-fascism" https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/ Also, don't get the [flagged]. For what it's worth: Rutger Bregman is a historian and best-selling writer from the Netherlands. While you don't have to agree with everything he says most is thought provoking at least.

jupiterelastica 5mo ago

With the risk of sounding naive: How come this post is flagged? Reading the guidelines I can't see how this is off-topic or does _not_ "[gratify] one's intellectual curiosity." Edit: spelling

ruicraveiro 5mo ago
My thoughts exactly.
g-b-r 5mo ago
And it's not even possible to vouch fot it
- krapp 5mo ago
  If you could, you would just lose vouching privileges.
- WithinReason 5mo ago
  It's not possible to vouch for articles that are not dead
  - GeoAtreides 5mo ago
    what a lovely loophole
    - AnimalMuppet 5mo ago
      Comments, when they say "flagged", are also dead. But articles say "flagged" for some number of flags, but they aren't dead yet. It takes more flags to kill them. "Flagged" is just a notification that an article has received some flags, but it doesn't actually change anything yet.
      - GeoAtreides 5mo ago
        wrong, [flagged] removes it from the front page

klamann 5mo ago

As a German, I started wondering if every nation has to experience a fascist catastrophe on its own, before a majority agrees that a fascist takeover is possible at home (surely the peoples who failed to stop all the other fascist regimes were just dumb). Then again, 30% of German voters would vote for the fascist AfD party today, so there's that... I agree with the premise of the article wholeheartedly. Minor nitpick: > The German dynasties behind Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW pretty much merged with the Nazi regeime. Volkswagen was founded by the Nazi regime after they have already taken over. While support by car companies was relevant, there were far more important supporters of the war effort in the chemical and steel industry.

Eddy_Viscosity2 5mo ago
Its sad thing but in every society there appears to be a significant portion of people who support the tenants of fascism. The whole 'that minority group over there is wrecking things for you, we will punish them' vibe seems to really strike a chord time and time again.
- derbOac 5mo ago
  There's a peer-reviewed study of this that appeared in the last couple of years that showed the percent support for authoritarian rule tends to hover around 20% worldwide regardless of country, plus or minus some fuzz amount. I can't find it now because I keep finding other papers but this is another report that's is pretty consistent with it: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/28/who-likes-authoritarianism-and-how-do-they-want-to-change-their-government/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/28/who-likes... Once you get that group control is when you have problems. This is kind of an interesting deeper dive into why people support fascism. Maybe not surprising but highlights the two main reasons: something like "we need a strong leader to take control of the government away from corrupt elite and put it back into the hands of the people" and "the government needs to be in the hands of the real, true, competent people, and not the other, fake, lesser people". https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/articles/10.3389/fpos.2025.1605460/full https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/political-science/artic... Personally I'm past the point of "what does fascism look like" and want to have a realistic discussion about "how do you reestablish a democracy when you're in a fascist regime?" So far the historical examples at my fingertips are all basically some variant of "people get tired of it, the cult leader passes away and everyone kind of magically agrees that fascism isn't working".

spwa4 5mo ago

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, ACTUAL facists (as in no serious discussion possible, nobody needing to be convinced) were in power from 2023 to 2025. The country of the author has had a fascist prime minister for 2 years ... And the main reason that stopped is that a bunch of his party members ran off and started a new party. As a reaction voters became more extreme. The FvD (forum for democracy) is making big strides forward and they lack the (very few) positive qualities the PVV did have. PVV was anti-violence and pro-democracy. Oh, and FvD is anti-democracy in the sense of they're against "1 person 1 vote", and looking for ways to limit who can vote (and going to lengths that Trump and Republicans are not even daring to mention (yet?) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_Freedom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_for_Freedom

vanviegen 5mo ago
While some* of that is true, does that matter to the argument being made by the author? And yes, that author also opposed fascist forces in the Netherlands. : Former prime minister Schoof was was not* a fascist, but basically just an independent bureaucrat hired to attempt to hold a very brittle coalition together. He failed at that miserably. Also, the 'main reason that stopped' was that the PVV party went from 23% of the votes to 17% of the votes in the next election, and none of the other parties was willing to work with them again in a coalition.
- spwa4 5mo ago
  Last week I was at Amsterdam station and I became 100% sure of one thing: this will happen again. Hopefully not with FvD on top this time. But it's going to happen again, for sure.
  - AnimalMuppet 5mo ago
    Mind telling us what happened at Amsterdam station that made you sure of that?

lostmsu 5mo ago

[flagged]

peter-m80 5mo ago
> support for a dictatorial leader Yes. Trump > centralized autocracy Totally. Wars without congress permission, illegal tariffs, etc > forcible suppression of opposition Yes. Rigging elections. Making difficult for oppositors to vote > belief in a natural social hierarchy Totally. White supremacism. Proud boys, ICE... > subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race Yes. ICE. > strong regimentation of society and the economy Yes. DOGE shit. Cuts to healthcare programs, etc. ...
- lostmsu 5mo ago
  [flagged]
  - cosmicgadget 5mo ago
    > Trump is not authoritarian The better discussion is: 1. Does he aspire to be authoritarian or does he prefer to do work with congress, scotus, and independent agencies? 2. Has he expanded presidential power, formally or informally?
    - lostmsu 5mo ago
      It is not a better discussion in context, because the topic says "America has signs of fascism", not "Trump wants more power". The later topic is not very intellectually engaging.
      - cosmicgadget 5mo ago
        Constitutional law is pretty engaging actually. You are welcome to feel otherwise.

peter-m80 5mo ago

[flagged]

deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

penguin_booze 5mo ago

See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV8KGcFqeLc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV8KGcFqeLc.

amai 5mo ago

Given that this is written by a historian it should be taken seriously.

xg15 5mo ago

Remarkable how much of this fits Israel as well. 6 and 7 didn't, until Netanyahu took it upon himself to fix that.

mdrzn 5mo ago

"This isn’t ordinary lobbying or corruption. It’s structural fusion: the same bargain the industrialists made in 1933." "These paramilitary squads didn’t just protect the movement, they were the movement." It's not just X, it's definitely Y.

nacozarina 5mo ago

The consequences of replacing Jefferson’s Union with Lincoln’s Republic in 1861 were foreseen at the time, but the ‘copperheads’ were shouted down. ‘Fascism’ emerged in Europe from different causes much later. Only casuals find this insightful.

vga1 5mo ago

Funny how well these fit into the terminally online far leftist framing too. 1. Mythic past and rebirth: dreaming of the lost socialist utopia of USSR etc. which was taken from us all by force and deception. 2. Victimhood and humiliation: working class is the victim of a rigged system, exploited by capital elite. 3. Hierarchy and dehumanization: world is split into oppressors (landlords, rich people, etc) and oppressed (workers). 4. Contempt for weakness: "liberals" let this happen due to their limp-wristedness. 5. Cult of action: revolts, strikes, protests, even violence against oppressors. 6. The leader as savior: Mamdani, Sanders, AOC? This admittedly doesn't quite work in the same way as in fascism. 7. Purification of institutions: Universities, media, and governments must be purged of "reactionaries" or "liberals" who resist the revolution. 8. Propaganda and assault on truth: dissent is violently suppressed. Various kinds of Big Lies (e.g. "the genocide") are spread as absolute truths and are repeated at every possible point. 9. Merger of state and corporate power: seizing both the corporations and state for the proletariat. 10. Violence and terror: glorifying murderers when they murder those "who deserve it".

mindslight 5mo ago
I've long described the bureaucratic authoritarian corporatist state as building fascism from the other direction, ala inverted totalitarianism. But your list is a conflation of a lot of things - some valid critiques, straightforward responses to the open fascism of the Republican party, and some flat out straw men (eg there are no significant numbers of people "dreaming of the lost socialist utopia of USSR"). And right from the start you've set up a motte and bailey with "terminally online far leftist". So this list reads more as partisan flamebait/rationalization of the current open fascist dynamics rather than a serious critique aimed at any kind of reform.
- vga1 5mo ago
  >eg. there are no significant numbers of people "dreaming of the lost socialist utopia of USSR" You seem to be in the happy group of people who have never visited the Lemmy main site. Although you may be right about "significant numbers" even if that site seems to be full of them. They might literally all be there.

dplesh 5mo ago

As a non-American observer, it does look like America has all of these signs, but you shouldn't forget Fascism is one of the tools, not the goal. I think current administration got the goal correctly to achieve American interests, but their use of Fascism is inherently worrying. Especially when US got a lot of influence on my country, and it seems to me that ever since this administration got the keys, things got good for my country's interests, but not for my country's democracy.

b3nji 5mo ago

I'm no Trump fan, I have to say that many of these evidences have been debunked and quantifiably false. The raw and hours upon hours of Capitol Hill footage odeant show what the media historically lies about for example.