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Not taking them seriously is just ignorance of history. We should all hopefully agree that fascism is terrible, and we should all be vigilant to make sure it never happens here. We can look at how fascists like Mussolini or Hitler rose to power, and learn lessons from that.
The things I am about to list are either already happening, or things Trump is openly claiming he’ll do on his second term. These include things like:
—Replacing government officials with loyalists whose only allegiance is to a strongman or dictator. Trump actually started trying to do this at the end of his last term, and it’s getting worse. Lara Trump controls the RNC now, and purging the RNC has already begun. The RNC is installing election deniers, including those under indictment. While good conservative Americans fell asleep at the wheel, Trump has taken over the party—literally, not figuratively.
—Scapegoating immigrants and minorities. This one is always popular with the fascists. Trump’s false claims that immigrants are pouring in from mental institutions and prisons, and that they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” is all rhetoric we’ve heard before from fascists.
—Suppressing and attacking the free press. All of this nonsense about the “liberal MSM,” “fake news media,” media being the “enemy of the people,” and so on is classic fascist tactics. It’s been very effective too, as conservatives have been conditioned to disbelieve everything that doesn’t come from a right wing, party-approved news source.
—Using supporters to bring fear and violence against opposition. We’ve seen this in the doxxing and threats against poll workers, arned Trump supporters staking out ballot boxes to intimidate voters, and also judges and court staff. It’s worth noting the great care to keep NY jurors anonymous in Trump’s trial; typically this info would be public, but it can’t be for fear of their safety. Fascists also crush opposing a different way, which is my next point.
—Using government as a tool to crush opposition. Trump loves to falsely claim his legitimate indictments are examples of weaponized government; in fact, Trump himself declared several people guilty of treason and then tried to get his intelligence agencies and DOJ to prove it. Right now, Trump is campaigning on prosecuting his political opponents, and using the military to crush protests and free speech.
Sadly, history also shows that most people will ignore all of this, brush it off, blame it on media exaggeration, and so forth. That’s precisely what happened in Germany in the 1930s. Since we have the benefit of history there’s really no excuse for letting this all go unchecked—but sadly I suspect that I could shot all of this from the rooftops, and most Americans simply won’t care.
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