In Case You Are Wondering What Fascism Means and Why You Should Know It

Google Defines it as:

fas·cism

ˈfaSHˌizəm/

noun

noun: fascism; noun: Fascism; plural noun: Fascisms

1. an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.

   synonyms:

   authoritarianism, totalitarianism, dictatorship, despotism, autocracy;  Nazism, rightism; nationalism, xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism;  jingoism, isolationism;  neofascism, neo-Nazism "a film depicting the rise of fascism in the 1930s"

   • (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.

For a more in-depth reading, Wikipedia has very good entry.

I want this here so people know what it means when the word is used. I am using this word more now. Many decry it's use. George Orwell long ago criticized its use. With the current Administration of the United States it has meaning that must be applied.

If you have read or listened to Trump's Inaugural Address, here if you haven't, and that speech strongly connected with or appealed to you, then you are most likely a fascist. If you know someone else who strongly connected with it, they are most likely a fascist.

I am being serious.  I am not just trying to lob rhetorical grenades.  I am trying to get people to listen to the whole speech and it's themes and see it as a Trump style fascist manifesto.  People will point to certain minor phrases or sections that they think over-ride these main themes, but they are wrong.  It is a just a ruse, meant to give cover.

I am not saying Trump is going to start creating Concentration Camps.  Seriously not saying that (yet).  That is mostly because I am not calling this a Nazi speech, even though you see that word in the synonyms above.  By using the term "America First" Trump and his speech writers know the history of that term.  They know who used it in the past and they know the meaning it has.  The spokesperson for the America First movement was Charles Lindbergh and his history and sympathies are well known.  This is a part of American history that one would usually want to avoid embracing.  This phrase is the only sense of history that Trump included in his speech.  It is not an accident.  His handlers are not fools.  They are authoritarian and nationalistic ring-wingers who are seeking to lift their brand of white social class back to a place of total dominance.  That is Trump's message put simply and his policy stances and position are pushing that forward

People can pretend otherwise.  They can champion the scraps that Trump throws at them.  They can point to window dressing efforts of Trump to appear different than this fascist stance he has outlined. None of that will make up for the massive shift he is attempting.  I hope he fails, but hope left the White House yesterday and fear, anger, and hate moved in, so count me as a cynic on the subject.