IT'S HERE

Make no mistake about it, fascism has arrived in America. Are we ready to deal with it?

We are in the middle of a national emergency.

Anybody who has the guts, decency, and love of country to pay attention to what is happening in America right now knows this.

While burning the midnight oil (gin) Thursday evening, and unzipping one horrid story after another exposing yet more terror from inside the anti-American regime in our White House, I wanted to be absolutely sure that all the hell we are witnessing is what we think it is.

It is important to be precise about what we are up against, so we can effectively counter it with the necessary heft, and tactics.

So I clicked into my favorite browser and typed in these three words:

What is fascism?

Here is what appeared on my screen thanks to AI that is quickly overrunning our increasingly dumbed-down, and numb society:

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian political ideology and movement characterized by extreme nationalism, a strong centralized government led by a dictator, suppression of opposition, militarism, and prioritizing the nation or race above the individual. It promotes social hierarchy, often racism, and severe economic and social control, opposing liberal democracy and individualism while often aligning with powerful business interests.

Here is the Miriam-Webster definition for the sticklers out there:

Fascism : a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition

Yep. It really is that bad right now, people.

Some Americans will know Italy’s Benito Mussolini, Germany’s Adolf Hitler, and Spain’s Francisco Franco were all murdering fascists that the United States once bravely burned lives and treasure to help stop dead in their tracks.

These days, Russia’s Vladimir Putin most prominently carries the fascist banner, while dragging his orange puppet in tow, the America-attacking Donald Trump. Under Trump’s fascist regime, America has joined Russia with big talk of attacking NATO countries instead of defending them.

This should be absolutely incomprehensible.

But you’ve read this far and still somehow aren’t convinced Trump and his party are fascists … Or, there are certain increasingly dangerous people in your life who consume nothing but state-run propaganda like Fox, and never believe a single word you say anymore.

Well, I suggest you send them what I will type next, so they can never say they weren’t warned or complicit in this ongoing attack on America.

Diving into deeper waters researching this piece, I came across a list headlined Characteristics of Fascism. I had seen this before in passing, but am now happy to attribute it to New Hampshire’s Keene State College. And an aside: I lived in Maine for several years, and was always envious of neighboring New Hampshire’s state motto: Live Free or Die.

That has never been more relevant than it is today.

Anyway, here is the list that defines fascism from the good people at Keene:

• Powerful, often exclusionary, populist nationalism centered on cult of a redemptive, “infallible” leader who never admits mistakes.

• Political power derived from questioning reality, endorsing myth and rage, and promoting lies.

• Fixation with perceived national decline, humiliation, or victimhood.

• White Replacement “Theory” used to show that democratic ideals of freedom and equality are a threat. Oppose any initiatives or institutions that are racially, ethnically, or religiously harmonious.

• Disdain for human rights while seeking purity and cleansing for those they define as part of the nation.

• Identification of “enemies”/scapegoats as a unifying cause. Imprison and/or murder opposition and minority group leaders.

• Supremacy of the military and embrace of paramilitarism in an uneasy, but effective collaboration with traditional elites. Fascists arm people and justify and glorify violence as “redemptive”.

• Rampant sexism.

• Control of mass media and undermining “truth”.

• Obsession with national security, crime and punishment, and fostering a sense of the nation under attack.

• Religion and government are intertwined.

• Corporate power is protected and labor power is suppressed.

• Disdain for intellectuals and the arts not aligned with the fascist narrative.

• Rampant cronyism and corruption. Loyalty to the leader is paramount and often more important than competence.

• Fraudulent elections and creation of a one-party state.

• Often seeking to expand territory through armed conflict.

Chilling, no?

This defines the fascist Republican Party to a T. It should be sent out far and wide to everybody you know — mostly the ignorants and those in denial — and pinned to your refrigerator with this subject line:

Fascism isn’t coming to America, it is here.

Republicans’ brutal attack on Minnesota is just the latest chilling example of the fascism that washed ashore on Nov. 5, 2024, when tens of millions of disgraceful Americans couldn’t be bothered to vote. Innocent wives are being gunned down in our streets by Trump’s paramilitary group, ICE, which is comprised of lawless, jackboot thugs, many of whom were last seen attacking our Capitol in 2021.

They are no longer “standing back and standing by” as their thuggish leader ordered them to in the lead-up to the 2020 election. They are in our personal business and violently coming for our freedom.

Except now, of course, these lowlifes are wearing the very masks they loathed during the killer pandemic their orange leader lied about during that terrifying chapter of American history.

Armed groups like this are also hallmarks of fascist regimes.

Trump, America’s most notorious insurrectionist, is almost sure to invoke the Insurrection Act to finish off Minnesota, on his way to trying to finish off the rest of us.

This would allow the coward, who is a draft-dodger, to use our armed forces in conjunction with his paramilitary group to carry out law enforcement functions in our cities. They would usurp local law authority, and be used to make arrests, conduct searches, threaten citizenry, and generally kick the shit out of anybody they deem a threat.

I believe this has been Trump’s goal from Day One of his fascist regime, and have written extensively about it. I typed these words the week following his election in 2024:

NOTHING Trump does with our military will be to protect the citizens of the United States of America.

EVERYTHING Trump does with our military will be to protect himself from the citizens of the United States of America.

As a United States veteran who served to protect us from fascists like Trump, I would have paid anything to be wrong, but here we are.

Now let me lay something else on you that I fear I will also be right about: The use of these troops is only a start, because Trump’s real aim is to prevent any further free and fair elections in America.

He will do everything with the unlimited powers his bought-off Supreme Court has given him to prevent this year’s midterm elections. There is not a single thing I have seen from the lawless, felon Trump that allows me to form any other conclusion.

Fascist Republicans have been getting hammered in election after election since 2024, and know full well they are all but certain to lose control of Congress if Americans are allowed to do the most Democratic thing there is this November: VOTE.

Expect Trump to continue to attack other cities in the coming months using the fascist Minnesota playbook to ‘discourage’ people from showing up at the polls, or by simply declaring a national emergency and stopping the vote altogether.

Just last week, Trump stated that he erred in not seizing voting machines after the 2020 election, and his 7-million vote loss to Joe Biden. That, of course, subsequently lead to his violent insurrection attempt, and the Big Lie that still hangs over America like gray, Moscow smog.

Then there’s this excerpt from an unhinged interview with Reuters published Thursday afternoon:

The president expressed frustration that his Republican Party could lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives or the Senate in this year’s midterm elections, citing historical trends that have seen the party in power lose seats in the second year of a presidency.

“It’s some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms,” Trump said. He boasted that he had accomplished so much that “when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.”

It’s fair to assume Trump will do everything possible to prevent any further elections in America. Will he succeed? Well, a lot of that has to do with us, and how we proceed in the coming days and months.

Our legacy media, with notable exceptions, has proven itself close to worthless in covering and defining the greatest threat to America since the Civil War. Many of the media companies that inhabit this shrinking space still can’t even call Trump a liar, much less a fascist.

And what of the leadership in the Democratic opposition?

Are they up to the task?

Are they up to doing whatever is necessary to stand up for us, and protect us from this fascist threat?

Millions of us have been in the streets the past year. Are our leaders listening to us?

I’ll just ask this question outright: Are Chuck Schumer, Ken Martin and Hakeem Jeffries really the best leaders we have to deal with this threat?

If you have your doubts, now is the time to make your voices heard and demand better, because we will not get a second crack at this. Once we lose our right to vote, and our Democratic freedoms they will most likely be gone for good in our lifetimes.

Now that we know what we are up against, we must do everything we can to stand against it, and demand better.

Live free or die.

(D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.)

(That is an AP photo of armed paramilitary agents getting ready to disperse tear gas at a protest in Minneapolis.)