No Home For Fascism 🐍

WHAT IS FASCISM? 
• Robert O. Paxton (historian): fascism is a political movement that emerges in crisis, seeks to create a new national community by excluding and mobilizing against enemies, builds a single-party mass movement with a charismatic leader, and uses violence and the state to remake society. (See Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism). Libcom Files
• Roger Griffin (political theorist): highlights “palingenetic ultranationalism” — fascism’s core myth is national rebirth (palingenesis) after perceived decline; fascism blends mythic renewal, violence, and authoritarian leadership. libraryofsocialscience.com
• Stanley G. Payne (comparative historian): stresses ideological features (ultranationalism, anti-liberalism), organizational features (single party, paramilitaries), and socio-political effects (suppression of pluralism). Internet Archive

QUICK LIST: CORE TRAITS COMMONLY USED BY SCHOLARS TO IDENTIFY FASCISM

1. Palingenetic (rebirth) myth + extreme nationalism. libraryofsocialscience.com

2. A charismatic leader who claims a regenerative mission. Libcom Files

3. Militarized/paramilitary groups or street violence used as political tools. HISTORY

4. Scapegoating, dehumanization, and exclusion of internal “enemies” (ethnic, religious, political). Holocaust Encyclopedia

5. Attack on civil liberties, independent media, judiciary, and pluralistic institutions. Libcom Files

6. Anti-pluralist mass mobilization and cult of unity over individual rights. Wikipedia

HISTORICAL TIMELINE — MAJOR EPISODES 
• 1919–1922 — Italy: Benito Mussolini founds the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento; by 1925 establishes one-party dictatorship and the model labeled “fascism.” Encyclopedia Britannica
• 1920s–1945 — Germany: National Socialism (Nazism) under Adolf Hitler becomes the most extreme, expansionist, and genocidal form of fascism. Nazism shared many fascist features while adding genocidal racial policy. Encyclopedia Britannica
• 1930s — Spain: Falangist currents and the Spanish Civil War enable Francisco Franco’s long-running authoritarian regime (elements of fascist organization and ideology). Lumen Learning
• 1930s–1945 — Japan: militarist, ultranationalist state (disputed in some scholarship whether to call it “fascist” but clearly authoritarian, expansionist and ultranationalist). Oxford Academic
• 1930s–1960s — Latin America: elements of fascist style appear (e.g., some interpretations of Peronism, Falangist influences), but varied and often hybrid with local authoritarian traditions. Wikipedia+1
• Post-1945 — Neo-fascist, ultranationalist groups in Europe, the Americas, and elsewhere; contemporary far-right movements sometimes borrow fascist symbols, myths, and tactics even if they do not replicate 1930s totalitarianism. Wikipedia+1

WHY FASCISM ARISES 
• Political/economic crisis, mass dislocation, perceived humiliation or decline.
• Weak or delegitimized liberal institutions, political polarization, conspiratorial scapegoating.
• Elite fragmentation and mainstreaming of radical rhetoric — sometimes with conservative allies. Libcom Files

GLOBAL AFTERMATH & CONTEMPORARY FORMS
• After WWII, full-blown fascist states collapsed; however, fascist ideas persisted in neo-fascist parties, militant groups, and movements. Modern scholars analyze “fascist style” and authoritarian populism across democracies — looking at rhetorical, organizational, and institutional patterns rather than exact historical replicas. Wikipedialibraryofsocialscience.com

DONALD TRUMP AND THE “FASCISM” DEBATE — FACTS, EXAMPLES, AND SCHOLARLY ARGUMENTS
(Important: scholars disagree on whether to label Trump an instance of fascism. Below I list factual actions/episodes frequently cited in the debate, and point to scholarly and journalistic analysis on both sides.)

A. FACTUAL EPISODES/BEHAVIORS OFTEN CITED

1. Populist, exclusionary rhetoric: repeated dehumanizing language about immigrants, appeals to “us vs. them,” and nationalist sloganeering (“Make America Great Again”). These rhetorical frames are regularly cited as fascist-adjacent in analyses. WikipediaNew Statesman

2. Regular attacks on independent institutions: repeated public assaults on the press (labeling it “fake news”), judiciary, the intelligence community, and career civil servants as traitors or enemies. Critics argue these weaken institutional checks. Supporters say he targeted partisan enemies. Wikipedia

3. Use of paramilitary-style street actors and flirtation with political violence: encouragement and pardons for participants in violent episodes (e.g., rhetoric toward Proud Boys, the role of extremist groups at political rallies, and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack). The January 6 attack is a central factual event in the debate (planning, rally rhetoric, and aftermath are well-documented). WikipediaTimes Union

4. Attempts to overturn/undermine electoral outcomes: promotion of false claims about 2020 election fraud and efforts to persuade state officials and the Justice Department to help change results — actions that culminated in the Jan. 6 attempt to stop certification. These events are heavily documented and underpin many concerns about anti-democratic risk. Wikipedia

5. Expansion of executive power and use of federal forces: critics cite examples in which federal authority was used in aggressive ways (deployment to cities, expanded immigration/removal policies, and other law-and-order measures). Recent reporting documents deployments and controversial federal interventions in cities. The GuardianThe Washington Post

6. Targeted pardons and rhetoric promising revenge on opponents: public threats to punish enemies, high-profile pardons of political allies/convicted rioters; these actions raise alarms about politicization of justice. Wikipedia

B. SCHOLARLY & JOURNALISTIC VIEWS (representative, not exhaustive)
• Those arguing Trump is or moves toward fascism often point to:
– Paxton’s framework: when a leader incites crowds to act extra-legally, scapegoats minorities, and seeks to remake institutions, the fascist label becomes plausible — Paxton himself and others have said Jan. 6 moved them closer to accepting the label in the US context. New StatesmanLibcom Files
– Jason Stanley’s How Fascism Works outlines tactics (attacks on truth, culture war scapegoating, elite collaboration) that analysts map onto Trumpist politics. Amazon
– Timothy Snyder and others warn of authoritarian playbooks Trump echoes (undermining institutions, normalizing violence). snyder.substack.com

• Those arguing Trump is not (strictly) fascist emphasize differences:
– Lack of single-party takeover, no coherent fascist revolutionary program, and continued pluralistic political competition (Republican party structures, independent courts in some cases, free press pockets). These observers warn against careless analogies that over-simplify. (Debates continue in major outlets and among historians.) Wikipedia

C. WHY JAN. 6 MATTERS (brief)
• The January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is the clearest empirical event that intensified the fascism debate: it showed an attempt to stop democratic processes by force after false claims about elections — an act many historians treat as a warning sign of anti-democratic risk. The event reshaped many scholars’ assessments. Wikipedia

D. CONTEMPORARY INDICATORS TO WATCH (how scholars test the risk)
• Does leadership consistently mobilize mass violence or paramilitary groups?
• Does a leader dismantle independent courts, the press, and electoral processes to remove competition?
• Are institutions replaced by a single party or one leader’s personal rule?
If these intensify, the probability of a genuinely fascist or fully authoritarian regime rises. Current debates examine whether Trump’s actions have or will reach that threshold. Libcom FilesAmazon

SOURCES & FURTHER READING (starter list — I used these to assemble the primer)
• Robert O. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism. Libcom Files
• Roger Griffin, “Palingenetic Ultranationalism.” libraryofsocialscience.com
• U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum — fascism overview. Holocaust Encyclopedia
• Britannica and History.com pages on Mussolini, Hitler, and interwar fascisms. Encyclopedia Britannica+1HISTORY
• Academic surveys on contemporary fascism debates and Trump: New Statesman, The Guardian, and academic works collected at “Donald Trump and fascism” summaries. (These reflect the active scholarly dispute about labeling.) New StatesmanWikipedia
• Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works (Yale Univ. Press) — a readable framework applied by many to analyze 21st-century leaders. Amazon

BOTTOM LINE
• Fascism is a specific historical and ideological phenomenon characterized by palingenetic ultranationalism, authoritarian single-party rule, mass mobilization, and violent exclusion of enemies. The classic cases are Mussolini’s Italy, Nazi Germany, and several interwar authoritarian regimes. Encyclopedia Britannica+1
• Since 1945, fascist ideas survive in neo-fascist groups and in rhetorical and organizational features borrowed by some contemporary movements; scholars therefore examine modern leaders against a set of traits rather than exact replication of 1930s regimes. Wikipedia
• Donald Trump’s rhetoric, institutional attacks, promotion of falsehoods about elections, engagement with violent street actors, and the Jan. 6 experience are the empirical bases for arguments that his politics contain fascist-adjacent features; whether they constitute full-blown fascism is debated among historians and political scientists. The Jan. 6 events in particular shifted some leading scholars’ assessments. WikipediaNew Statesman