Is The GOP Fascist or Semi-Fascist?

[Milchshake]

Is the GOP currently Fascist?

“How dare Joe Biden call us fascists? That is really beyond the pale.”
-Republicans

“We will respond with violence if you attempt to hold our leader accountable to the law.”



The party who's platform was to call Dems "Communists" and "Socialists" are throwing a damn fit because Biden said that MAGA-Republicans are "semi-Fascist" and now are demanding an apology.

[jonnysensible]

Fascist no need for the semi.

[Iphie]

If not full on then at least damn close.

[Fugus]

Know plenty of them and virtually all of them support their actions and will look the other way in them doing them. They don't accept the label but they do accept the ideology and methods that label represents.

[zealo]

The MAGA crowd resents Biden calling them fascists because it hits close to home for them.

They're aware of what sort of connotation that labelling carries among the general public, so they oppose the term being used for them even though it perfectly encapsulates what the American right wing has become, don't be fooled by their "demands" for an apology.

[Santti]

I'd say it's full on fascists at this point. And lol at calling dems communists, or even socialists. It perfectly outs you as a far-right extremist.

[Breccia]

See, this is why I keep dividing classic Republicans and the Party of Trump.

Republicans don't support fascism.

The Party of Trump literally defended torch-carrying Nazis.

[Kaleredar]

See, this is why I keep dividing classic Republicans and the Party of Trump.

Republicans don't support fascism.

The Party of Trump literally defended torch-carrying Nazis.

The problem is that the former is largely okay with the latter.

Maybe they don’t approve of their message. Maybe they don’t approve of their means. But they don’t disapprove hard enough to work to remove them from the party.

[david0925]

Facists mad they got called what they are

"im not a racist but...." vibe

[Milchshake]

The problem is that the former is largely okay with the latter.

Maybe they don’t approve of their message. Maybe they don’t approve of their means. But they don’t disapprove hard enough to work to remove them from the party.

GOP voters literally spent the last few months purging their party. "Progressives for Kasich" ... are still in a bit of denial, always have been.

[Endus]

Let's look at a fairly thorough attempt to define fascism; Umberto Eco's 14 points model; https://www.openculture.com/2016/11/...f-fascism.html

1> The Cult of Tradition. The GOP is incredibly invested into American traditionalism and mythologizing that history, so that's a check.

2> The Rejection of Modernism. I think this one goes without saying; they're actively regressive and opposed to progressive movements in every respect. 2/2 so far.

3> The Cult of Action for Action's Sake. This is tied into anti-intellectualism and reflects an ideal that action is more important than thinking things through. Modern GOP definitely checks this box. 3/3.

4> Disagreement is treason. I can practically pull Twitter quotes from sitting members saying this shit, today. 4/4

5> Fear of Difference. See the anti-Muslim stuff, the anti-LGBT stuff, the anti-immigrant stuff. It's their platform in a nutshell. 5/5

6> Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class. "Appeal" here is in the sense of actively calling to that frustration, not that it's appealing to that class. The fearmongering directed at the lower classes is fueled directly by this; it's a core component of GOP economic policy. So 6/6 so far.

7> Obsession with a plot. The 2020 election was stolen. Hillary's emails. Hunter Biden's laptop. And that's just the last few years. 7/7

8> The Enemy is both Strong and Weak. See how they frame movements as "threats to America", but also that they're weak and pathetic and can be crushed by good Americans standing up against them. Yep. 8/8.

9> Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. Both the massive rise in right-wing violence and the complete unwillingness to work together feed into this. 9/9

10> Contempt for the Weak. See the abuses heaped on any minority group, on immigrants, on the poor. Again, fundamental platform stuff. 10/10 so far.

11> Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero. This fuels the violent rhetoric, and shit like the Jan 6 insurrection. If you die, you die a martyr, and all that. I'll freely admit this is probably the weakest aspect in the list, largely because Republicans are still too chickenshit to actually willingly kill themselves for their cause. There's some rhetoric on this, but it hasn't really taken hold. That said, you also don't need to check every box to qualify as fascist, just most.

12> Machismo. See the entire Roe v. Wade attack on women, basically. 11/12. (and no, this isn't a crack at a user by that name; this is Eco's term).

13> Selective Populism. This is everything the GOP says about the "silent majority" and all that. 12/13.

14> Newspeak. How much time do I waste correcting basic use of words? Yeah, this is a check. 13/14.

So there you go; 13 out of 14 are big flashy checkmarks, and you can make a case for the last one too. The GOP is definitively fascist. I would not agree that this was true back even in George W. Bush's Presidency, though the shift towards fascism was starting, tipping over into fascism occurred somewhat after that, I'd argue very shortly into Obama's Presidency.

If your views fall under the above and you have an issue being labelled as "fascist", that's literally #14; Newspeak. You're not upset at the facts, you're upset at the label, and want to redefine it so that the accusation of who you really are at heart can't even be properly made, exactly as the intent in 1984 was; to remove words so that the subject can't even be discussed or even thought about, properly.

- - - Updated - - -

See, this is why I keep dividing classic Republicans and the Party of Trump.

Republicans don't support fascism.

The Party of Trump literally defended torch-carrying Nazis.

Here's the problem; point to 5 significant members of the House of Representatives or Congress who are A> part of the Republican Party, and B> don't actively support Trump in most respects. Liz Cheney I'll grant, but she also just lost her primary run because of this. McConnell? Nah, he backed Trump completely for his entire Presidency. If you're willing to do that, you're Party of Trump.

By "significant", I just mean "important enough they get press coverage". I presume anyone not getting press coverage is fading into the background and thus falls under Party of Trump at this point.

[PC2]

Ultra-dictatorial hyper-fascists is more accurate!

But don't worry though, the people with most of the power(the status quo) are mostly centrist liberals. The police and the military in general won't respond to the orders of fascists, or radical theocrats, or communists, which means they have no means of enforcing their ideology

[Katchii]

I really don't understand how this is a question. They're not ALL this way, but the big players absolutely ARE, and because the overall party seems to ride the coattails of those big players I'd label the party itself that way too.

[Breccia]

Here's the problem; point to 5 significant members of the House of Representatives or Congress

1) Kasich.

I'm basically done. I'm fully aware they're outnumbered. Consider my labelling the differences between classic Republicans and the Party of Trump as insane optimism that, at some point, the two might actually separate.

[Miffinat0r]

Most are not. That's a simple fact. Denying that kinda tells me you're not around everyday conservatives. Most people can't define fascism. Some even go so far to think that Dinesh D'Souza is a better arbiter of what is and isn't fascism meanwhile Paxton is over there dedicating an entire career to researching both Left-Leaning Fascism (Similar to what we saw in South America) versus Right-Leaning Fascism (which is traditional fascism, Hitler, Mousolini, and Franco).

There is a strong fascist movement though happening on the far right. You cannot deny this. Groups like Oathkeepers, Proud Boys, and Patriot Front are all fascist in nature. Don't forget Hitler thought that originally the better play to convince America to become more fascist would be reaching out to the K.K.K. and America First movement in the 30's but instead allowed Japan to hit America which brought them into the war. Just goes to show ya his first instinct was the correct way because there's always been room for Fascism within the Republic, but instead defaulted to his Allies.

What's going to be the thing to watch is who embraces Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism is basically American Fascism.

[Kathandira]

11> Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero. This fuels the violent rhetoric, and shit like the Jan 6 insurrection. If you die, you die a martyr, and all that. I'll freely admit this is probably the weakest aspect in the list, largely because Republicans are still too chickenshit to actually willingly kill themselves for their cause. There's some rhetoric on this, but it hasn't really taken hold. That said, you also don't need to check every box to qualify as fascist, just most.

Ashli Babbitt is their Martyr.

[Celement]

I mean every political group is fascist if you stretch the word far enough. The problem we face now in politics is people desperately want to label their enemies as innately evil so no matter what they do to them it is justifiable.

Fascism is the new nazi and a nazi hasn't existed for almost a hundred years at this point. It's a buzzword for people unable to articulate an argument and desperately want to end a conversation.

[Endus]

Ashli Babbitt is their Martyr.

They're not tripping over themselves to become the next Ashli Babbitt, though. That's the line I'm drawing there. If they were pushing forward, rioting, and daring cops to shoot them, I'd flip that to a checkmark too, but that's not what we're seeing.

Yet. That's a matter of time, given the rhetoric.

[OnlineSamantha]

I mean every political group is fascist if you stretch the word far enough. The problem we face now in politics is people desperately want to label their enemies as innately evil so no matter what they do to them it is justifiable.

Fascism is the new nazi and a nazi hasn't existed for almost a hundred years at this point. It's a buzzword for people unable to articulate an argument and desperately want to end a conversation.

Just as a thought experiment, what would you call the guys who run around waving swastikas and yelling "Jews with not replace us" if not Nazis?

[Endus]

I mean every political group is fascist if you stretch the word far enough. The problem we face now in politics is people desperately want to label their enemies as innately evil so no matter what they do to them it is justifiable.

Fascism is the new nazi and a nazi hasn't existed for almost a hundred years at this point. It's a buzzword for people unable to articulate an argument and desperately want to end a conversation.

This is why I used a well-detailed definition. Because the word does mean something, and you don't have to stretch it at all for it to comfortably fit the GOP.

Also, there's literal actual Nazis marching in parades right now. Nazism is not dead. They're literally lauding Hitler and waving Swastika flags and chanting about killing the Jews. You're actively deflecting from observable reality to claim that Nazis don't exist any more.

And before anyone says it; the difference between a neo-Nazi and a Nazi is just whether they were part of the original Third Reich or not. Ideologically, they're the same, and when we say "Nazi" as a descriptor of someone today, we're generally talking about their ideological views. It's a distinction without real meaning.