Jolting as it was, President Joe Biden’s description last week of the “extreme MAGA philosophy” as being “like semi-fascism” was somewhat mild compared to the routinely heated rhetoric from the right calling any Democratic policy they don’t like “socialist” or “communist.” Republicans have nonetheless come unglued over the comment — even as they continue saying things that make Biden’s case.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina suggested, for example, that any attempt to hold former President Donald Trump accountable for his mishandling of classified documents would result in “riots in the streets.” Trump himself posted a screed in which he demanded a do-over of the 2020 election.
Don’t look now, but threats of societal violence, the elevation of one leader above the rule of law and rejection of free and fair elections in service to that leader are all close to dictionary-definition characteristics of fascism.
It’s not entirely unreasonable for Biden’s critics to point out that he campaigned in 2020 on a vow to bring Americans back together. Suggesting now that some of those Americans harbor urges toward fascism (or “semi-fascism”) perhaps does not serve that goal.
But consider what happened immediately after that 2020 campaign: Trump refused, and still refuses, to acknowledge his loss, the first time any sitting American president has ever done that. He followed up by inciting a mob of his followers to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in hopes of preventing the peaceful transfer of power. Again, this was unprecedented in America — but not in authoritarian regimes elsewhere.
And consider what has happened since then. Trump and his supporters have systematically worked to install officials in state elective offices who are willing to back Trump’s lie of mass election fraud and potentially undermine the next election with an eye toward getting him or someone like him in office, regardless of who wins.
And now there’s the news that Trump spent 19 months refusing to turn over classified documents that he unlawfully took from the White House and kept, even after being subpoenaed, finally forcing the Department of Justice to go in and retrieve what never should have been there in the first place. Trump’s howling grievance has whipped up his followers with fantasies of persecution, but it doesn’t change the fact that the whole episode demonstrates once again Trump’s utter and complete contempt for the rule of law.
These elements — lawlessness, rejection of democracy, vilifying entire segments of the population, playing the grievance card — are all tried-and-true strategies of fascism.
The American public can decide whether invoking words like “fascism” constitute truth-telling or name-calling. But what should concern Americans more than Biden’s possibly impolitic wording is the distressing evidence that his description of Trump’s movement is essentially, historically, frighteningly correct.
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