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When Fascism Comes to America
The list of common characteristics in the study of 20th-century fascist dictators and their regimes includes 14 categories in all, and Trump and his MAGA disciples have already exhibited characteristics in most of these categories.
Apr 03, 2025
There's a relatively obscure quotation, sometimes attributed to the 20th-century American author Sinclair Lewis, that reads, "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
Although no one’s actually sure that Sinclair Lewis ever wrote or said this, his 1935 novel, It Can't Happen Here, centers around a flag-hugging, Bible-thumping politician named Berzelius (”Buzz”) Windrip. Despite having no particular leadership skills other than the ability to mesmerize large audiences by appealing to their baser instincts (and to bully those people who aren’t so easily mesmerized), Windrip is elected President of the United States. Shortly after Windrip takes office, through a flurry of executive orders, appointments of unqualified cronies to key governmental positions, and then a declaration of martial law, Windrip quickly makes the transition from a democratically elected president to a brutal, fascist dictator. The novel’s title, It Can’t Happen Here, refers to the mindset of key characters in the novel who fail to recognize Windrip’s fascist agenda before it’s too late.
The question now is whether the people of the United States have the necessary critical thinking skills, moral compass, and political courage to reverse the rise of fascism in our country before further harm is done.
Written almost a century ago during the rise of fascism in Europe prior to World War II, It Can’t Happen Here is disturbingly prescient today. Buzz Windrip’s personal traits, his rhetoric, and the path through which he initially becomes the democratically elected U.S. president, and soon afterward, the country’s first full-fledged fascist dictator, bear an uncanny resemblance to the personality traits and rhetoric of Donald Trump and the path through which he has come thus far to be the 47th President of the United States, and through which he appears to be on course to become our country’s first full-fledged…. But no! It can’t happen here! Or can it?
Trump’s uncanny resemblance to the fictional dictator in Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel is disconcerting. The far more important concern, though, is the degree to which Trump resembles real-life fascist dictators, past and present. A study of notorious 20th- century fascist dictators, including Hitler and Mussolini, concluded that they and their regimes all had several characteristics in common. (The current regimes of Vladimir Putin in Russia, Xi Jinping in China, and Kim Jong Un in North Korea also share these characteristics.)
Fascist Dictators Encourage and Condone Violence Against Their Political Enemies
After losing the 2020 presidential election, Trump urged a large crowd of supporters on the morning of January 6, 2021 to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” After the violent assault on the Capitol had been going on for more than three hours, when Trump finally posted a video message urging the rioters to go home, he told them, “We love you, you’re very special.” On his first day back in office in 2025, he granted clemency to the more than 1,500 rioters who were charged with crimes related to the attack on the Capitol, including rioters convicted of assaulting police officers and rioters with past convictions for other violent crimes, including sexual assault.
Fascist Dictators Blur the Distinction Between Private Business Interests and the Public Good and Put Wealthy Business Leaders in High Governmental Positions
At the beginning of his second term, Trump appointed Elon Musk, reportedly the world’s richest man and the CEO of companies that have received tens of billions of dollars in federal funding, to head the ad hoc “Department of Government Efficiency,” with the power to summarily fire vast numbers of federal employees without cause and to potentially steer federal funding away from other companies and toward his own.
Fascist Dictators Promote Bold-Faced Lies and Other Propaganda
Some of Trump’s most notorious lies include his claims that he won the 2020 presidential election; that the January 6, 2021 insurrectionist attack on the Capitol was a “day of love;” and that the Ukrainians themselves, not the Russian invaders, are responsible for starting the war in Ukraine. The Washington Post catalogued more than 30,000 other demonstrably false or misleading statements that Trump made during his first term as president. Currently, a special team within the Trump administration is spewing out pro-Trump propaganda at a prodigious rate on social media, including a portrait of Trump wearing a golden crown with the caption, “Long Live the King,” via Elon Musk’s “X” platform.
Fascist Dictators Promote the Myth That Their Citizens Are Being Threatened by Scapegoats
Trump’s favorite scapegoats are undocumented immigrants whom he frequently refers to as “criminals,” “gang members,” and “killers,”and who he claims are stealing jobs and benefits from U.S. citizens. In fact, undocumented immigrants do the work that most U.S. citizens are unwilling to do; they pay far more in federal taxes than they receive in federal benefits; and, unlike Trump himself, they are convicted of committing serious crimes at a lower rate than the U.S. population as a whole.
Fascist Dictators Put Grossly Unqualified Sycophants in Key Governmental Positions
The many grossly unqualified sycophants who Trump has nominated or appointed to key government positions in his second administration include Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a favorite Fox News interviewee who has himself been accused of alcohol abuse, sexual misconduct, and mismanagement of nonprofit financial funds, and who has spoken in defense of U.S. soldiers charged with war crimes; Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who seeds doubt concerning vaccine effectiveness and promotes other medical quackery; and FBI Director Kash Patel who endorses the “deep state” theory and who has previously described jailed January 6 insurrectionists as “political prisoners.”
Fascist Dictators Exhibit Flagrant Sexism
Trump boasted in a 2005 video recording about not only groping women and kissing them without their consent, but about an incident involving a married woman in which, in his own words, “I moved on her like a bitch.” He added, “I failed, I admit it, I did try and “f—k her.” Trump called Hillary Clinton a “nasty woman” during their final 2016 presidential debate; he has repeatedly referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as “Pocahontas;” and he entertained a joke during a 2024 campaign rally implying that past Vice President Kamala Harris once worked as a prostitute.
The list of common characteristics in the study of 20th-century fascist dictators and their regimes includes 14 categories in all, and Trump and his MAGA disciples have already exhibited characteristics in most of these categories. One common characteristic not mentioned in the study is the fact that all the 20th-century fascist dictators met ignominious ends—but not before they had caused enormous damage, including the deaths of millions of innocent people.
Questions about what fascism might look like when it comes to the United States of America and whether it can or cannot happen here are no longer merely hypothetical. Fascism has come to the USA. It is happening here. The question now is whether the people of the United States have the necessary critical thinking skills, moral compass, and political courage to reverse the rise of fascism in our country before further harm is done, or will we be like the characters in Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel; the people in Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy; and the people in current day Russia, China, and North Korea and allow our system of government to devolve into a full-fledged fascist dictatorship.
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Emails Show Trump Official Targeted Maine Social Security Services as Political Revenge
"Trump is clearly comfortable weaponizing Social Security for political purposes, and we fear that this is only the beginning," said one critic.
Apr 02, 2025
The top Democrat on the U.S. House Oversight Committee on Wednesday led calls for the resignation of acting Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek following the revelation of internal emails confirming that the SSA canceled contracts with the state of Maine as political payback after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills publicly defied President Donald Trump in support of transgender student athletes.
The emails—which were obtained by House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)—show that Dudek ordered the cancellation of enumeration at birth and electronic death registration contracts with Maine, even though SSAd subordinates warned that such action "would result in improper payments and potential for identity theft."
"These emails confirm that the Trump administration is intentionally creating waste and the opportunity for fraud."
Dudek—who is leading the SSA while the Senate considers Trump's nomination of financial services executive Frank Bisignano—replied to the staffer: "Please cancel the contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and fraudsters may compromise identities, no money will go from the public trust to a petulant child."
He was referring to Mills, who stood up to Trump in February after the president threatened to suspend federal funding for Maine unless the state banned transgender girls and women from participating on female scholastic sports teams.
The termination of the enumeration at birth contract briefly forced Maine parents to register their newborns for a Social Security number at a Social Security office, rather than checking a box on a form at the hospital as is customary, before the SSA reversed its decision.
Connolly sent Dudek a letter demanding that he "resign immediately" and submit to a transcribed interview with House Oversight Committee Democrats. Connolly wrote that Dudek "ordered these contracts terminated" as "direct retaliation" for Mills' defiance, "even though you knew that doing so would increase improper payments and create opportunities for fraudsters."
Government accountability advocates also condemned Dudek's actions.
"These emails confirm that the Trump administration is intentionally creating waste and the opportunity for fraud—in this case, to punish Maine Gov. Janet Mills for not bowing down to Donald Trump," Social Security Works president Nancy Altman told Common Dreams.
"The people actually punished by these actions were exhausted new parents in Maine, forced to drag their newborns to overcrowded Social Security offices in the middle of a measles outbreak," she continued. "Thankfully, the Trump administration had to quickly reverse course after massive public outrage. But Trump is clearly comfortable weaponizing Social Security for political purposes, and we fear that this is only the beginning."
"Once again, we see Team Trump resorting to revenge to set domestic policy."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told Common Dreams that "it does not surprise us at all that this administration would weaponize Social Security against anyone who disagrees with or challenges President Trump."
"It's one of the concerns that we have with Elon Musk and [the Department of Government Efficiency] having access to everyone's personal data without any defensible explanation for why they need it," he continued. "We and the American people have legitimate worries, not only that this information will be vulnerable to hackers, but also that it could intentionally be misused as a weapon against anyone who publicly disagrees with Trump."
"The fact that the acting commissioner himself publicly admitted that he didn't really understand the Maine contract, but canceled it anyway, proves that this administration is making reckless changes that affect real people for no legitimate reason," Richtman added. "Once again, we see Team Trump resorting to revenge to set domestic policy."
The revelation of Dudek's emails comes amid SSA turmoil caused by the termination of thousands of agency personnel in what Trump, Musk, and other Republicans claim is an effort to reduce waste and fraud. Musk—who recently referred to Social Security as the the "biggest Ponzi scheme of all time"—has proposed the elimination of up to 50% of SSA's workforce and has said that up to $700 billion could be cut from programs including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
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Plummeting Global Tesla Sales Reveal Consumer Revolt Against Musk's 'Dangerous Far-Right' Antics
"Consumers all over the world are sick of Elon Musk's attempt to promote dangerous far-right leaders, policies, and movements," said one advocate.
Apr 02, 2025
On the heels of the news that Tesla CEO Elon Musk's investment of $20 million in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race—including offers of $1 million checks to individual voters—didn't manage to swing the election in the Republican Party's favor, the Trump administration adviser's electric car company learned of more trouble: Tesla's global sales declined by 13% in the first quarter of 2025, dropping to their lowest point in nearly three years.
The plunge in sales was evident across markets, even in countries where Musk hasn't sparked outrage by embedding himself into politics by bankrolling and supporting far-right candidates and groups.
In Norway, The New York Times noted, electric cars account for more than 90% of new car sales—but among Norwegians, whose prime minister recently rebuked Musk's involvement in the political systems of Germany and the U.K.—Tesla sales have nearly matched the global trend so far this year, declining by more than 12% in the first quarter.
Sales in other European countries were even more dire in the first three months of 2025—down 41% in France, 50% in the Netherlands, and 55% in Sweden, where consumers have Musk's anti-labor practices to contend with in addition to his political activities in Europe.
Sweden's largest insurer said Wednesday it had sold its $160 million stake in Tesla after investing in the company since 2013, saying Tesla's workers' rights position violates its investment guidelines.
"The American people have gotten a crash course in what happens when the richest man in the world gets the keys to our country."
Musk, whose net worth is $386.6 billion, has long refused to sign a collective bargaining agreement with fewer than 200 mechanics in Sweden to ensure they earn a fair wage. Unionized mechanics in the country have been on strike for over a year.
One Norway Tesla owner told the Times that he "would never drive a Tesla again."
"It's a question of ethics," said urban planner Geir Rognlien Elgvin.
After pouring nearly $300 million into the 2024 elections in the U.S. to help President Donald Trump and other Republicans get elected, Musk has spent the past two months boasting of his push to cut public spending and government jobs—attacking the popular anti-poverty Social Security program as a "Ponzi scheme"; gutting the Department of Education, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other federal agencies; and pushing tens of thousands of civil servants out of their jobs through the Trump-created advisory body the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Adam Zuckerman, senior clean vehicles campaigner with government watchdog Public Citizen's climate program, said Wednesday that Tesla's most recent sales numbers illustrate how anger over Musk's activities—which has also been expressed with protests at Tesla dealerships—extends past U.S. borders.
"Tesla's plummeting sales show that consumers all over the world are sick of Elon Musk's attempt to promote dangerous far-right leaders, policies, and movements," said Zuckerman. "They are fed up with DOGE's effort to gut life-saving services and aid. Consumers want electric vehicles, not cruelty, fascism, racism, and neo-Nazism. Unless Musk changes course, Tesla sales will continue to decline."
A poll by Yahoo News and YouGov late last month found that two-thirds of Americans said they would not drive a Tesla, with a majority saying Musk himself was the reason for their distaste.
"Musk is driving our country into the ground," said Zuckerman when the poll was released. "If he continues, he could take Tesla and America's urgent transition to an electric future with it."
Tesla's plummeting sales contrast with global electric car sales overall, which are on the rise. Ford Moter, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz are among the automakers planning to soon introduce new electric vehicles.
"Previously consumers might have struggled to find other options than Tesla that really competed," Will Roberts of research firm Rho Motion told the Times. "That's now not the case."
Trump has attempted to shore up his benefactor and ally's company, holding an event on the White House lawn last month during which he praised Musk's electric cars and condemned protests at Tesla dealerships. He also suggested people who are turning away from Tesla are "Radical Left Lunatics" who are "trying to illegally and collusively boycott" the car company.
His administration has since doubled down on threatening people for vandalizing the cars or dealerships, with the president saying he would send them to El Salvador, where hundreds of people accused of being gang members have been sent to a prison in recent weeks.
But despite the show of loyalty, Trump was reportedly considering pulling back on Musk's front-and-center presence in the administration Wednesday.
Economic justice group Groundwork Collaborative said Musk's impending exit—which Trump denied was coming—is likely in response to Musk proving "to be a liability," but cautioned that rights advocates will still have to fight the Trump agenda even without Musk in the White House serving as a "special government employee."
"The American people have gotten a crash course in what happens when the richest man in the world gets the keys to our country," said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the group. "Musk's threat to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid has pushed consumer confidence to new lows. Businesses are pulling back on investments, and markets have plunged. Americans can now celebrate Musk's exit."
"But Musk's ouster is only the first step in achieving true liberation," said Owens. "He is a symptom of a broader disease, which is that billionaires are tightening their grip on our democracy. To cure the disease, we must put our power back in the hands of the people."
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