Thread by @matt_cam

FASCISM
-promising to restore mythical past glory
-scapegoating outsiders 1st, then dissidents
-border guards --> riot cops
-inventing scary new internal foes to criminalize opposition
-delegitimizing media & "truth" itself

NOT FASCISM
-opposing these things

Hope that helps!

I think even now many of us are still reluctant to call what is happening what it so clearly is bc "fascism" sounds like an extreme & unserious label.

It's not. It's simply an unprincipled means to permanent power.

And we're most of the way through Paxton's definition already.

One of the main reasons that Robert Paxton declined to call Trumpism fascism 4 yrs ago was that fascism by definition arises out of a shared sense of national crisis and "a faltering liberal order."

And here we are.

The thing about fascism is that for as much as you might be able to see it coming, by the time it does in force it's too late. Yet even now, traditional conservatives (w/o whom fascism has no chance of success) laugh this off bc "we're not in Nazi Germany." Yeah. That's the point

I've been reading & thinking about fascism for the past 4 yrs, & trying to explain to anyone who will listen that all we need is one national crisis to set things off. Everything else has been falling into place since 11/2016. (Not particularly well, but that hardly matters)

I don't know what the next couple of months will bring. I don't even know if I can tell you that the mass acts of protest & defiance we should all be preparing ourselves for as the long weeks after 11/3 churn on will make any difference at all.

But I know I'll see you out there.

But before then: if you ID as white, you know someone who is voting for the closest thing we've ever had to American fascism.

We elected Trump; it's entirely likely a majority of us will come out for him again. Serious conversations w/in trust networks *can* make a difference.

Rather than telling the fash-curious within your networks that they are fascists, I find it helpful to ask questions about what they believe, why they believe it, and in whose interest it might be that they disregard their own eyes and ears.

And: this definition. Memorize it.