American Attitude Towards Fascism: What, Me Worry?

Marshall Curry made the 2017 documentary, A Night At The Garden, about the original Nazi rally (1939) that Trump emulated in the same venue last weekend. Curry went to see how Trump worked A Night At The Garden-2. Writing for The Forward, PJ Grisar reported that “What he saw up close was something strikingly familiar, if no longer in black and white. He saw everyday Americans in good spirits listening as a comedian called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage.’ He heard Trump pledge to jail or deport ‘vicious, bloodthirsty criminals,’ language that echoed that of the ’39 rally’s keynote speaker, Fritz Julius Kuhn, leader of the German American Bund. He also saw a broader coalition, including Muslims and many Jews, at Trump’s rally, a contingent he finds ‘puzzling.’ Curry walked away from the rally Sunday night feeling overwhelmed, and unsure of how he, as a filmmaker, could respond to the onslaught.

Curry: “I’d never actually been to a Trump rally. I’d watched them on television before, but it is a very different experience to be there in person. And part of what felt so disturbing is that the audience, when we were waiting to go inside, couldn’t have been more polite, fun, just normal people, as if they’re at a football game having a good time. And when you got inside, it was like a switch was flipped, and suddenly all of these same people who are like my friends and family and neighbors seemed swept up by a lot of the dark stuff that was being spouted at them from the stage. And that’s the thing that struck me when I watched that footage in 1939, was that you see this audience of Americans in their hats and their suits and their dresses, and they’ve dropped their kids off with the babysitter and gone out for an evening to cheer and laugh as somebody attacks people who will be killed by the millions in the next couple of years.

“Trump is the master, of course. He’s the one who got them all there. He’s the one who set the tone, and has been setting the tone for 10 years now. I don’t think that Donald Trump is a Nazi— I want to be super clear about that— but he is a demagogue who uses the same types of tactics as Fritz Kuhn and segregationist governors in Mississippi, and that demagogues have been using since the days of Sparta. They call forth people’s darkest impulses. They fill them with fear. They use a dark humor. They use the symbols of patriotism to attack outsiders, whether those people are immigrants or religious minorities. And they do it in order to take power, and that’s what you saw. That’s what we’ve seen for thousands of years, and that’s what was happening that night.

“I would point out that they don’t need to listen to liberals like me about whether he’s a fascist; his own chief of staff and his own chairman of the joint chiefs and Liz Cheney, who voted for him twice, who was the third most powerful member of the House— all three of those people have said he’s a fascist. His own vice president, who served with him, will not endorse him because, among other reasons, he thinks that he put himself over the Constitution. It’s not about liberals. It’s about listening to the Republicans who know him and have served with him. And if you’re not sure whether he turns a blind eye to racism, just watch the rally that I just went to where they let a comedian get up on stage and say that Puerto Rico was a floating pile of garbage and make a racist joke about Black people— that tells you who they are.”

On Tuesday, writing for the Financial Times, Edward Luce noted that America Isn’t Too Worried About Fascism. He has observed that “Trump’s neofascism, ethnonationalism and the threat he poses to democracy: however you label his prejudices, US voters who do not have an opinion on this subject never will. Or at least not until it is too late. Perhaps this is because this critical but tiny share of undecided voters think Trump is all bark and no bite. Maybe they are betting he would be fascistic to others, just not towards them. Possibly they are so bored of politics they have no clue what Trump has been saying…The problem is that those who agree with that line do not amount to a clear majority. The rest are either true believers or are unfazed by the spectre of Trump deporting millions, targeting political enemies and replacing civil servants with loyalists (to cite a few of his vows).” 

So… what exactly is the fascism that so many Americans seem so complacent about? There are a few classic definitions, though interpretations vary among scholars. One of the most widely referenced is by Italian philosopher and political theorist, fascist Giovanni Gentile, who helped shape the ideology for Mussolini, and later, political theorist Umberto Eco provided a well-known list of fascism’s “features.” Additionally, historian Robert Paxton offers a comprehensive, functional definition of fascism. These perspectives collectively capture the core elements that many scholars agree characterize fascist regimes.

Gentile got the ball rolling in the 1930s celebrating fascism as a totalitarian movement that valued the state above all and embraced authoritarian control, nationalism and the subordination of the individual to the collective will of the state. He famously wrote that "everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state," capturing the essential fascist demand for total state control over all aspects of society. Eco’s Ur-Fascism (1995) outlined 14 typical features of fascism, describing it as a spectrum rather than a single ideology a cult of tradition and a reverence for the past; rejection of modernism and intellectualism; fear of difference, manifesting as racism, homophobia and xenophobia; appeal to a frustrated middle class; obsession with plots and conspiracy theories; anti-individualism, emphasizing collective identity over personal autonomy. 

In The Anatomy of Fascism, Paxton defines fascism as a process that passes through distinct stages rather than a fixed ideology. His definition focuses on the actions and dynamics of fascist movements rather than an ideological checklist:

• Stage 1: The creation of a movement that values nationalism, violence, and unity against perceived enemies.

• Stage 2: The rooting of the movement in mainstream politics by allying with elites or other powerful groups.

• Stage 3: The achievement of power, often through democratic means.

• Stage 4: The exercise of power, with suppression of dissent, targeting of minorities, and expansion of the state’s role in controlling life.

• Stage 5: Radicalization and aggressive expansionist policies as the movement seeks to solidify power.

Paxton’s approach suggests that fascism is more about the pursuit and exercise of power through anti-democratic means than a rigid ideology. His model implies that fascist movements are adaptable and opportunistic, willing to change their stated goals and principles as long as it advances their power.

They're all a little different but if you put them together, you come up with MAGA—  authoritarianism and an obsession with strong, charismatic leadership, extreme nationalism, suppression of dissent, (including hostility toward pluralism, whether political, ethnic or cultural), scapegoating and othering of minorities, rejection of democracy and liberal values like free speech and individual rights and the use of propaganda, conspiracy theories and myths to build a cult-like following.