“Is it a good thing or a bad thing that they got their jobs back?” Swamp Rabbit said. “What did them experts at The Washington Post say?”
He was referring to the reinstatement this week of Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones, the young black Democrats expelled from the Republican-dominated Tennessee House of Representatives for their roles in a public protest sparked by the recent shooting deaths of six people at a private school in Nashville.
“No experts were quoted this time,” I replied. “Not like last week.”
The headline last week regarding expulsion of the legislators was “Tennessee vote marks latest GOP move to stifle dissent, experts say.” The Post apparently tacked on “experts say” to appease right-wingers who might dispute charges that the GOP was trying to stifle dissent, and that race was a factor in the expulsion decision.
“Ain’t it obvious?” Swamp Rabbit said. “They got expelled by the white, rightwing majority because they’re black and represent parts of Tennessee that are black and liberal.”
I frowned at him. “Just because it’s obvious doesn’t mean you can say it in the news. The bigger your publication, the more you have to be careful not to piss off rightwing readers and advertisers and higher-ups. The Post is owned by the guy who runs Amazon, in case you forgot.”
“I ain’t forgot nothin’,” he said. “I’m just wonderin’ why them news peeps don’t find some other line of work if they’re too scared to report what’s really goin’ on.”
He named a bunch of major stories that the corporate media misreported or ignored — the second Iraq war, the connection between global warming and the oil industry, the ongoing corruption of Congress and the Supreme Court by lobbyists, the GOP’s use of gerrymandering, expulsion and other tricks to force their pro-gun, protofascist agenda on the country.
“What do you mean by protofascist?” I said. “Why not just say fascist?”
“That’s a tad too bold, Odd Man. Better wait till the experts weigh in.”
Odd Man Out 
Since fascism is specifically related to the interim between the two 20th century European wars, it might be more accurate to refer to the current right-wing authoritarianism in the U.S. as MAGA. It’s true that D. Trump began his political career by aping Italy’s Mussolini, but Trump has now developed his own home-grown act. Of course, there are many offshoots of MAGA, but Trump’s brand seems dominant. If accuracy is the goal, you might say that MAGA is fascistic in its rejection of classic democratic forms and objectives, while the MAGA operatives and followers aren’t fascists. Further, adherents of MAGAISM could be called MAGAS. MAGA could refer both to the political movement and the individual. It seems highly probable that the rank and file MAGA follower couldn’t explain who Benito Mussolini was, and I doubt if a person can be a fascist without worshipping Mussolini. In the U.S. it is Trump who is worshipped, and the typical MAGA accepts Trump’s rigid set of beliefs, which are unrelated to facts, logic or empirical proof. These MAGAIST beliefs are articles of faith–dogmatic and impervious to argument. Thus it may be that fascism is European, while MAGAISM is fundamentally American.
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I’m wondering how necessary it is to make a distinction between classic fascism and Trump’s “home-grown act.” (A fascist by any other name…) I’m using fascism as a general term for the sort of radical authoritarianism associated with Mussolini, Franco, Putin, Lukashenko and dozens of other dictators and would-be dictators. They’re all antidemocratic and use similar tactics — fake populism, corporatism, racism, scapegoating minorities for social ills, violent suppression of political opponents, and so on — to worm their way into power. I think Trump would rate among the worst of them if he were able to act out his core beliefs and prejudices. Let’s hope we never have to find out how much lower he or his imitators would go.
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My main concern is how to best combat Trumpism/MAGA. I’ve repeatedly heard the inane phrase “liberal fascist,” and wonder if the word fascist has lost its meaning. You are absolutely right about the danger that is posed. Maybe the use of MAGA would be a stronger and more accurate deterrent. I don’t know.
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It blows my mind how both our government and our media have failed us, and keep on failing us, with no end in sight.
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