As I’ve said before, I don’t think the threat of fascism will be leaving the United States any time soon. This video does a good job of outlining the ways in which the modern Republican Party has become either fascist, or part of a fascist movement. A lot of these elements were present prior to Trump’s entry into politics, and I think it’s fair to say that there was a growing fascist movement that brought Trump to power, and that was empowered in turn by his presidency.
That said, I think it’s also worth noting that if Biden doesn’t make good on the efforts to pitch him as a new FDR (a comparison that seems to be either wishful thinking, or a feeble effort to placate left-wing dissidents), then the threat will remain as strong as it has ever been. At this point in time, any efforts to blame America’s problems on outside forces will, in my opinion, feed America’s fascist movement. As long as the problems caused by neoliberalism remain, any efforts to fix things by focusing on an outward enemy will leave the public with two choices – one is to reject the efforts at scapegoating altogether, and to join in the effort to replace capitalism with something better.
The other is to conclude that if both parties are saying that China (or any other scapegoat) is the cause of our problems, maybe the people whose rhetoric on that issue is more aggressive will actually “do something about it”. I don’t know what the future holds, but climate jokes aside, the United States is on very thin ice right now. The momentum seems to be pushing in a very bad direction, and it’s going to take a lot of careful work to turn things around.
Watching the video, I remembered how bad the situation was and that it actually got worse after it was posted.
Biden has performed better than I expected, but sometimes I wonder if this is just the calm before the next storm.
I would say that there is little that is inevitable.
If a “Green New Deal” is passed, and really put into action, that could make a big difference. If the Dems move away from the “repositioning against China” approach, they could disarm much of the nationalist/white supremacist rhetoric.
If the American Left manages to build a real, organized movement, they could provide a real resistance to a fascist movement.
With the climate warming, however, I think there will be storms of every sort ahead. I do not think that the illusion of peace and stability that those of us at the heart of empire may have had, will be returning in our lifetimes.
The GOP has now become the AFP–the American Fascist Party. Right now, fascism is a very real and continuing danger. Democrats need to deliver on the Biden promises, and if that means eliminating the filibuster, so be it. The Republicans don’t want to play, to which I say, “Good”. The Dems can pass their agenda and then campaign on their accomplishments. “Look, America, see what we’ve done for you! The Republicans tried to stop us, but we fought them and won, and we did it all for you!” The only way to beat the fascists is to show we can do better than them.