MAGA is American Fascism

We Need to Name It and Understand It to End It

I believe it is time for us to use the term American Fascism, as it helps us to see something more clearly in the culture and thus to address it wisely.

Fascism is not an overly dramatic insult at this stage. It is a clinical diagnosis.

MAGA and Trump fit the textbook definitions of a fascist movement. Experts on fascism agree on the trajectory we are witnessing but vary mainly in how far down the path they think we have traveled. As the Iran War inflames the Middle East, now spreading damage to the global economy, we need to understand why this too is part of American Fascism.

I capitalize the term American Fascism to make it clear that it is now a distinct entity, no longer just some vague undercurrents. MAGA is its current brand, but since that name was designed for marketing purposes, I encourage us to use the term American Fascism to see the movement more deeply.

It’s important to note that Donald Trump is not the actual cause of American Fascism, which has existed as a swirl of currents in American culture for a long time. But he is its fullest expression, its animating figure, and its organizing force. He recognized the currents, spoke to them, and organized them to amass power.

The ruthless pursuit of power came easily to Trump given his upbringing and his modeling from his father. He clearly sensed the potential for the currents to coalesce into a movement, with him as its animating figure. There was a domestic and international coalition that grew behind him that saw this in transactional terms. The rise of MAGA would give them what they wanted.

Even if Trump were to die or be defeated, though, American Fascism could reorganize and find new expression with new leaders. It may not be called MAGA, but now that it has tasted the level of power it can wield in a country like ours, it will not go easily from our culture. It is now a force that we have to grapple with in a mature way.

Power is the currency of all versions of fascism and the underpinning logic of most of its moves. Fascism involves centralizing and aggregating power, whatever the cost in violence, destruction, and damaged lives. It is opposed to empathy, which expands our circle of care, because empathy inhibits the cruelty that enables power accumulation.

Fascism is essentially an anti-life movement and acts as a kind of parasite on things that have built value over time. American Fascism is now trying to absorb the power, wealth, and creative energy of our country, feasting upon what has been built over 250 years and co-opting it for the centralizing figure and his allies. Trump demands submission because that is a core logic of the centralization of power. Those who refuse to kneel must be punished or suffer until they do. Corporate power becomes unified with state power in the growth of fascism, which is why we see the majority of tech companies offering vast sums of money to Trump. They surrender some of their treasure and they get rewarded in return. Whether it’s the assaults on the press or extrajudicial killings or extreme corruption, the Trump administration has followed the logic of fascism to a T.

It can be hard to admit all this. As Americans, we are used to seeing ourselves as exceptional. Inspiring. Pioneering. Generous. We have often taken it for granted that we are the leaders of the free world. It takes sobering reflection to admit that we are now governed by American Fascism, at least at the federal level, and that we project power in the world as fascists do, through threats of violence and war. In a recent poll by Pew, the United States is now ranked last in the perception of the ethics of our fellow citizens; 53% see our fellow citizens as somewhat or very bad. As the cruelty in our culture escalates, it reinforces these negative beliefs about each other. The rest of the world is also increasingly recognizing that America has become a dangerous country and is creating new alliances to check our power.

Once we come to terms with our situation, our first step is to understand that we are tasked with breaking fascism’s ascent this year. If we cannot check the power of American Fascism with a combination of protest, ballot, and institutional power by the mid-term elections of this year, it will grow into the even more virulent expressions of fascism that we have witnessed in history. The police force, surveillance state, and internment camps ICE is building have historical precedents we need to see with clear eyes. So we have a timeline. American Fascism must be stopped by November 3rd or the price will be heavy for us and the world.

Our second step, though, is not to act from fear. Fear is the drug of fascism. Energetically, fear exaggerates the power of the other. Those who seek power wants others to feel fear to inflate their sense of power. This is part of why fascism relishes cruelty, such as we witnessed in the brutality of the Minnesota ICE surge or the bombing of a girls school in Iran. Enjoyment of the suffering of others is a drug for fascists because it enables the subjugation of others in a way that augments power.

The acts of cruelty that the American Fascist movement engage are a feature, not a bug. It’s important for us to be sober about this. The cruelty will not end until the fascist force is stopped. History is clear on that. It only escalates. But the subtler point is that when we act from fear, we feed the fascist psychology. We need to find our courage and our clarity to stand stronger rather than to collapse. We need to see the cruelty as a summons for us to stand in our power even more powerfully.

Our third step is to organize and fully participate in the political process, regardless of whether we see ourselves as activists. Those who wish to end the rise of American Fascism have to find our public voice in all forums, from public speech to social media from protest to comedy, from law suits to boycotts. Public expression is self-empowerment and doing so drains power from the fascist movement. Supporting political leaders who oppose American Fascism with our dollars is also important. The bigger our movement to end American Fascism, the more social permission is created, and the more effective the check on the next grab for power (and there will be many). This self-empowerment needs to be as unified as possible and to make it attractive to others to join, which is part of why it needs to be non-violent.

The fourth step is to anticipate what is coming so that we are not shocked by it. Shock tends to be debilitating to our nervous system and it can take time to digest. When we understand what is coming and why, it helps us to be able to act with more choice at key moments rather than react to the next moment. Personally, I feel I can be most helpful here so I’m going to increase the pace of my writings to address different facets of what is underway collective. When we can see what is coming clearly, we can navigate events with more wisdom. We can begin to act as shock absorbers in the culture, which mitigates the impact from new events and keeps the forces of resistance more centered and grounded. Unprepared people react, prepared people can choose. That’s why Steve Bannon preached “muzzle velocity” as the key to advancing Trump’s agenda; by keeping people off balance and their nervous systems disregulated, they could gain a lot of power quickly. When we anticipate what is going to happen next, we can prepare for it and engage each development more strategically.

The fifth step is to design and embody a more desirable future, which is why around half my articles will remain forward-looking in the coming months. It’s not enough to focus on stopping the fascist pattern; we need to contribute to the birth of the new. The stronger the vision and the pathways are to creating a new dawn for America, the more likely we choose, en masse, to take that pathway. In other words, as fascism gets darker, we need to illuminate the path more clearly to a brighter future. We have to give people a positive off ramp as the anti-life darkness of fascism gets worse.

Long term, once MAGA has been defeated, which I believe it will be, we will have ongoing, hard work to do as a country to address the root systems for fascism, which grew in fertile soil of poverty, racism, classism, despair, hopelessness, addiction, trauma and greed. Desperation is the fuel that feeds the fascist fire. Desperate people are easy to manipulate. Addressing that desperation is going to take a long time after the end of Trump’s rein.

It’s sobering to admit that, on our watch, American Democracy, a 250 year old experiment, has become overrun by American Fascism. The world itself is now threatened by the expansionist military actions that accompany fascism. America, alongside Israel, has now started a war of choice with Iran, which is beginning to metastasize into a larger war. We could well be in the early phase of World War III. Fascists love war because it creates the chaos, confusion, and fear that allow for more consolidation of power. Elite circles of power profit from the misery inflicted in a war while the rest of the citizenry suffer. We cannot be in denial about the fact that for fascists, the chaos is good. So we need to amplify news about the suffering of the war to keep waking more people up to what is truly underway.

This whole journey has been a rude awakening for our country. We have seen people who are otherwise good people succumb to propaganda, support the rise of American Fascism and justify the cruelty that comes with it. The question is whether enough American citizens who are loyal to the democratic principles on which we were founded will understand the stakes in time. Our Constitution has been our backbone and our shield as we went from a small regional experiment to a global power. Our democratic guardrails have protected us from the main abuses that arise in realms of power, force, and national ambition in the governing of nations. But they have failed to provide of enough of a bulwark against the rise of American Fascism.

The question is how far are we, as Americans, going to take the occupation of our country by a force that is antithetical to the core ideals of our country? It is a force that tosses Constitutional rights out the window, weaponizes violence against opponents, corrupts justice to protect allies, attacks the free press, subjugates industry, and controls a media juggernaut to bend the minds of millions.

It is a destructive force, this American Fascist movement that MAGA represents. We can quibble about when the line was crossed that warrants the term fascism and how much of our democratic foundations remain intact but I think we can all agree that there has never been a time in our history when American Fascism was stronger. It is armed with advanced military and surveillance capabilities. It is freed from many Constitutional restraints and the rule of law. It is in control of important industries. It is consolidating media power.

The people who remain loyal to MAGA are going to face a long process of waking up from a pattern of mind control. They have had their consciousness shaped by a steady diet of disinformation. They have been trained to absorb lies without questions. They have been incentivized to obey in exchange for more power. The good news is that many former supporters are starting to recognize that America is no longer the country it was and that they were manipulated into giving their power over to something antithetical to our country’s well-being.

I believe that American citizens who cherish democracy and are committed to a brighter future are more numerous and stronger. We are more capable, more creative, more generous, and more joyful. We have the power, if we summon it, to defeat American Fascism with democracy. It’s going to take real clarity, courage, and commitment but this is our year to do it. The November elections will be the litmus test of our success. Were we able to ensure free and fair elections? Were we able to awaken enough fellow Americans to remove MAGA’s grip on power? Were there enough voices calling for a new pathway forward that their ability to consolidate more power was halted?

It is up to us.

American Fascism is real. It’s now all our jobs to see it clearly and act wisely to end it before it goes further. Let’s do it with open eyes, strong voices, and compassionate hearts while offering a better vision for our future.