What is a fascist? Don’t ask any of the college students who throw this word around. They won’t remember Benito Mussolini, who started a political movement in Italy, and who gave us a quotation that will serve to characterize his intent: “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” All who try to describe fascism also include nationalism -- perhaps ultra-nationalism. To combine these two elements to describe any political movement in the United States in 2025 is idiotic.
Yes, you can say that “America First” sounds like nationalism; but ultra-nationalism surely would begin with the conquest of Canada, and that isn’t on anyone’s agenda, (except for Islamists). And you can say that there is a political party in America that desires state control of almost everything. But that political party is completely hostile to the idea of “America First.” In fact, it’s more dedicated followers despise America’s history and most of its people. So “fascist” in historical reality has no relation to its usage in America today.
But it has another meaning, deliberately created by Stalin. In that meaning “fascist” is anyone who opposes communism. Stalin, however, would never have opposed Mussolini’s idea about the state. In fact, that was Stalin’s desire also, and like Louis XIV, he was the state. (Even more than Louis ever dreamed.) But today in America, “fascist” is frequently used to denigrate those who oppose the expansion of state power.
Stalin was the leader of what was once called “international socialism.” It took a while for the unsocialist behavior of the working classes in World War I to sink in and in the twenties the idea of “socialism in one country” began to be accepted by the communist leadership; (though their international program of subversion continued). But by the twenties, it was too late to rename the Soviet Communist Party the National Socialist Party, because some Germans had adopted the title in 1920. This suggests the same problem for the use of “Nazi” in American political life. Again, one party has most of the nationalism, and the other has most of the socialism.
So, in modern American politics these terms have no historical meaning. In their current usage they are possibly the best example of what might be called “hate speech.” When an American calls another “fascist” or “Nazi” what she means is “I hate you and I wish for others to hate you as well.” In fact, if anyone remembers, (which no one under 50 does for sure), “fascist” and “Nazi” do refer to those whom all Americans hated from 1940 to 1945 with aftereffects for perhaps a decade. But those Americans were thinking of real Mussolini fascists, and Hitler Nazis. Real nationalists and at the same time socialists.
At present, “fascist” can be used to refer to people who support the right to own firearms (which no fascist or Nazi supported once they had political power.) It can be used to refer to people who oppose abortion, or sex education in kindergarten, or mail-in ballots, or to those who believe that “transsexuals” are mentally ill. It is understood by all to express the hatred of the speaker and her wish that you should share it. And that is true also of the politicians who use the term, though their hatred is less likely to be awakened by the policies involved and more awakened by people seeking to take away their power.
In our country it is widely recognized on the Left that speech can be violence. More traditionally it has been recognized in law that speech can incite violence. The recent assassinations and attempts have shown that the epithets “fascist” and “Nazi” are themselves incitement to violence and perhaps should be treated as such. A search of social media should be able to detect all those who have violently attacked Charlie Kirk or Donald Trump as fascist or Nazi and punish them for incitement to violence. Nothing too extreme -- a few months in confinement and the confiscation of their goods will be a lesson to them.
Image: Bundesarchiv