Fascism in America

Ever since I took a Fascism and Nazism class my Junior year of college, I’ve been writing reading and writing about fascism. I’ve always been very careful not to call someone a fascist who didn’t legitimately earn the title. Unfortunately, fascism has reared it’s head in the United States since the turn of the millennium, and it’s accelerated it’s takeover of US politics since the 2016 election.

I’ve linked my various pieces at Scholars & Rogues below, and I’ll be adding more as I publish them here as well.

Generic fascism

• The best class I have ever taken: HIST143, the History of Fascism and Nazism: In the spring of 1994, I was a junior studying electrical engineering at Penn State. I had two general education credits left if I was going to graduate in four years, but I figured that it was time to try and sign up for HIST143, The History of Fascism and Nazism, taught by Jackson J. Spielvogel. It was one of the most popular classes on campus, taught by a professor whom I’d heard literally brought Fascism and Nazisim to life in the classroom.
• Time to get serious, people – fascism is coming to America unless we stop it soon:  Fascism is on the rise in America and our “experts” either don’t see it or don’t know what to do about it.
• The early days of American fascism:  The Holocaust ended with the mass murder of millions of Jews, but it started with hatred and laws. We forget this fact at our peril.
• American Fascism Aside: If you ever wondered what you’d do as the Fascists took over Italy in the 1920s, you were doing it over the summer of 2020.

Donald Trump is a fascist (the original 2016 series)

• Donald Trump is a fascist, Part One : Why Donald Trump is a fascist, part one of an eight part essay. Fascism according to a definition acquired during a college class in 1994.
• Donald Trump is a fascist, Part Two: Why Donald Trump is a fascist, part two of an eight part essay. Fascism according to historian Stanley G. Payne’s definition.
• Donald Trump is a fascist, Part Three: Why Donald Trump is a fascist, part three of an eight part essay. Fascism according to historian Roger Griffin’s definition.
• Donald Trump is a fascist, Part Four: Why Donald Trump is a fascist, part four of an eight part essay. Fascism according to historian Kevin Passmore’s definition.
• Donald Trump is a fascist, Part Five: Why Donald Trump is a fascist, part five of an eight part essay. Fascism according to historian Emilio Gentile’s definition.
• Donald Trump is a fascist, Part Six: Why Donald Trump is a fascist, part six of an eight part essay. Fascism according to historian Robert Paxton’s definition.
• Donald Trump is a fascist, Part Seven : Why Donald Trump is a fascist, part seven of an eight part essay. Fascism according to Italian intellectual and author Umberto Eco’s definition.
• Donald Trump is a fascist, Part Eight: Why Donald Trump is a fascist, the conclusion.

Donald Trump is still a fascist (revisit started in 2018)

• Donald Trump is still a fascist – 2018 (Part 1): In 1994 I learned a set of characteristics that apply to authentic fascists and under what conditions they can come into power. Based on this definition, I said Donald was a fascist before the 2016 election. Since he’s been in office, the evidence in support of that contention has grown much stronger.
• Donald Trump is still a fascist – Part 2 (update): Since taking office, Donald has become noticeably more fascist (in an authentic 1930’s, Benito Mussolini way), at least according to the characteristics that historian of fascism Stanley G. Payne researched and described.
• Donald Trump is still a fascist – Part Three: Historian Roger Griffin’s definition of fascism – palingenesis, populism, and ultranationalism – is deceptively simple. There are literally hundreds of examples of things that Donald has done since he took office that support each of the three main points of Griffin’s definition.
• Donald Trump is still a fascist – Part Four: Kevin Passmore’s definition of fascism has ten characteristics split across five main areas. Donald matches or partially matches all of the characteristics.

Donald Trump, his Administration, and the Republican Party are fascist (the final 2020 series)

• Trump, his Administration, and the Republican Party are fascist according to four different definitions of fascism: Donald Trump, his Administration, and the Republican Party have become fascist according to four historians’ definitions. Specifically, the definitions I was taught in college and the definitions of Stanley G. Payne, Roger Griffin, and Kevin Passmore.
• Trump, his Administration, and the Republican Party are fascist according to three additional definitions of fascism: Donald Trump, his Administration, and the Republican Party have become fascist according to three additional definitions. Specifically, the definitions of Emilio Gentile, Robert Paxton, and Umberto Eco.
• Trump, his Administration, and his followers are fascists. So what happens now?: We’re in for a rough period even if Biden wins, and it may well require mass protests by We the People for Biden to be inaugurated. And anti-Biden Administration violence may well continue for months after his inauguration.