Fascism has been a chronic disease endemic to morally compromised republics for as long as there have been republics. It always manifests when the immune system of the society - it's laws and governance - become decadent, self-serving and weak.
When society changes, and it's institutions, both governing and civil, fail to adapt and properly serve their populations, and/or when they become morally compromised, not serving their citizens but exploiting them for the interests of the ruling class, many people, in their anger and shame become vulnerable to resentment, cultivated by those who would gain power at any cost.
Fascists, being openly hateful by necessity, are always going to be a minority. Even in the most decadent and desperate societies, they begin as a small, dedicated, opportunistic cadre. They begin by exploiting every traditional social division, while preaching “unity.” This contradiction is the key to much of their success. They weaken society by spreading hatred and blame, while promising unity to those who feel frightened and alone. To those who are angry or desperate, this seems like a magical combination – someone to love, somewhere to belong, and someone to blame.
They do not need, nor even necessarily want to become the majority. Their appeal is based on exclusion. They need only enough power to disrupt and further cripple the social institutions that actually serve the people and aid in stabilizing society and providing opportunity. This is why they attack education, replacing it with indoctrination, the arts, and the free media, replacing them with propaganda organs.
They continually attack the institutions of democracy, such as elections, which help society adapt to social change, while at the same time claiming to be representing “the people.” This contradiction, like so many others in their system, is politically important, since it allows them to attack those institutions, with the intention of crippling and paralyzing them, increasing public distrust. If they reach positions of power and influence inside those structures, they do not build, legislate for the public good, or unify, they continually disrupt and disparage the very institutions they corrupt from within. There is no consistent policy, there is no need of one, since they can adopt any political position or program that increases division, ineffectiveness and distrust to suit their purposes.
They will always seek to increase public violence and disorder. Doing this will demonstrate to the people that the current institutions cannot protect them. They want more guns, more massacres and more blood in the streets. Anyone who opposes them can be blamed for the violence, and if they can identify those who resist them with traditional “out groups,” they will.
Again, it is not necessary, and has never historically been the case that before achieving dictatorial power they be an electoral majority. They need only shatter the polity to the point where they are the most powerful minority. And that is what their entire program is designed to do.
Fascists are accelerationists - they seek to exploit existing weaknesses like racism, prejudices of all kinds, and economic inequality to worsen existing divisions that they can exploit, and to weaken political cohesion in order to come to power. If they have a political platform, it is entirely aimed at worsening these divisions, and intensifying the misery they spread.
Fascism will always have distinguishing characteristics, all aimed at exploiting the fear and disillusionment they create. They will always be militaristic, since militarism creates both unity in their followers, and provides them with an authoritarian system of command. Uniforms and symbols are used to solidify internal identity.
They will always have “great leader,” who embodies the movement, and gives them a father figure to rest their insecurities and fears upon. In most countries, this is usually a military man. In Capitalist countries, this is usually a man who is perceived as rich and successful in business. Every exclusionist group needs its messiah.
Fascists will always claim a distorted image of the nation's history, harkening back to a “golden age” where the “pure” controlled and dominated the society. They will promise to return the nation to this state, which never existed.
Fascists will always embrace the contradiction of claiming strength, even invincibility while simultaneously claiming their opponents are powerful and relentless.
Fascists will always, and must be exclusionary. There must always be an “other” to be despised, reviled and persecuted. Without this, their oppressiveness, suppression of the rights of the populace, and the destruction of public democracy could not be justified.
Fascists will always be morally corrupt. Being disciples of power, violence and bigotry, there is no room in their hearts for empathy or moral duty. Compassion is for the weak.
The endgame and objective is power. Nothing more. They cannot govern, since there is no constructive principle at the heart of their program. When they come to power, nothing short of perpetual warfare – which eventually exhausts the nation's economy, can keep them there. They invariably fail, leading the most hardcore members to conclude that the nation is too weak and decadent to support their grand vision, and they form a death cult, punishing the very nation they have exploited with increasing ferocity, ending, usually in total societal collapse.
Modern Fascism has invariably followed this program, and this destiny. Historical examples abound, not just in Germany, Italy and Japan, but in Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, Romania, and countless others. It is a very real, constant threat, and it cannot be entirely eliminated. It will always be, at best, dormant in the system, waiting for the conditions that will lead to an acute outbreak.
Fascism is the denunciation of truth itself. You cannot argue a Fascist out of their position, facts and logic are the very things they distrust and attack. Countless contradictions lie at the heart of their system, and cognitive dissonance is not, to them, proof of a disordered mind, but proof of their unshakable faith. Illogic is virtue, believing in lies is strength. Repeating and spreading them is proof of unity with the cause.
You cannot convince them, you can only hope to defeat them. Even political defeat is at best a temporary setback for them, if the conditions of their opportunity for growth are not effectively addressed.
The only defense is a strong, integrated and well-informed polity dedicated to civic virtue, security and opportunity for all its citizens. Misery and fear are the necessary nourishment and justification of Fascism. Healthy, united republics that represent their people and address their needs effectively do not fall to Fascism.
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"Only I can fix it" is an inherently authoritarian claim.
I do not think pardoning Trump is an answer. Nixon got pardoned and gradually we got worse and worse behavior in leadership.
Trump and his violent followers need prison, ostracism and mockery. It needs to be as hard to be a Trumper/fascist as it was to be a Communist in the USA in 1950s.