Fascism/fascist thought has been in America since the 1920's.
American Fascism: From the 1920s to Trump
America's Changing View of Mussolini and Italian Fascism
Republicans and fascists have long been indistinguishable, softly blending one into the other. The GOP has spent years reshaping how (some) Americans think and see the world. Planting the seeds for accepting Authoritarian rule by dressing it up in the flag and calling it freedom, public safety, and national security.
They have managed to integrate fascist thought into their governing style and Americans blindly call it the Grand Old Party, accepting the premise of fascism - though seldom called by its rightful name - as a legitimate structure for our democracy - in the form of an opposing party - under the guise of healthy debate - necessary and vital to America's democracy. We have reduced America's version of fascism to a mere "policy difference", with the GOP claiming that Democrats/Liberals are trying to criminalize politics by objecting to their authoritarianism.
America is not headed toward fascism - America has been in a constant struggle against fascism for almost a 100 years.
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Nationalism and super-patriotism with a sense of historic mission.
*** Aggressive militarism even to the extent of glorifying war as good for the national or individual spirit.
*** Use of violence or threats of violence to impose views on others (fascism and Nazism both employed street violence and state violence at different moments in their development).
*** Authoritarian reliance on a leader or elite not constitutionally responsible to an electorate.
*** Cult of personality around a charismatic leader.
*** Reaction against the values of Modernism, usually with emotional attacks against both liberalism and communism.
*** Exhortations for the homogeneous masses of common folk (Volkish in German,
Populist in the U.S.) to join voluntarily in a heroic mission_often metaphysical and romanticized in character.
*** Dehumanization and scapegoating of the enemy_seeing the enemy as an inferior or subhuman force, perhaps involved in a conspiracy that justifies eradicating them.
*** The self image of being a superior form of social organization beyond socialism, capitalism and democracy.
*** Elements of national socialist ideological roots, for example, ostensible support for the industrial working class or farmers; but ultimately, the forging of an alliance with an elite sector of society.
*** Abandonment of any consistent ideology in a drive for state power.
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