The discussion on fascism feels so tired, but I am reminded again of how necessary it is for comrades who are confused by the admittedly complex history of the actual fascist movement in the US. A thread. 1/14

First: understand that fascism is a mass movement of the petty bourgeois. Unlike most reaction, it has the mass character, and one that is vulgarly in response to the worst excesses of capitalism destroying a middle class way of life. It's also organized. 2/14

This means your average, even your super racist Trump supporter is not a fascist. They are just voting for reaction.

Does a fascist movement exist in the US? Well... It's kinda small, and in turmoil, but it has had chances to flex its muscles occasionally. 3/14

Groups like the Proud Boys and a general eclectic mix make up the majority, and Q is sort of there. The more "cadre" fascists, like Identity Evropa and National Socialists are tiny in number.

The total amount of groups is huge. They are not unified or organized. 4/14

Turn to Unite the Right: the fascists, still small, but emboldened by Trump, want to try forming some sort of coherent mass organization. But the rally has counter-protestors, one of whom is killed, Heather Heyer.

Chaos ensues, they did not in fact, Unite the Right 5/14

The saving grace was Trump arguing there were "very fine people on both sides" , but either way, public backlash and intercine fights resulted in a heavy weakening of the actual fascist movement. For about three years they lost most of their organizing capacity. 6/14

In the wake of the BLM movement and COVID, groups like the Proud Boys started organizing intensely and were able, due to their petty bourgeois wealth, send people over to protest and threaten demonstrators. Suddenly, fascism is on the rise, but it's not Trump or his voters. 7/14

It's a particular subset of organized, downwardly mobile, middle class, violent, men. As Trump leaned into them in his half-hearted attempt to wrestle an election, "stand back, stand by", the spectre of fascism was raised once more by scared liberals and socialists. 8/14

However with the loss of Trump, despite various demonstrations by an eclectic bunch, an investigation into their forums will find, once again, chaos and demoralization. Trump was their candidate to push, and he just lost. The rest is copium. 9/14

So the fascist movement will likely come back as Biden fails, but it's actual threat has always been questionable. It has never coalesced in a palatable organization like DSA, nor has it been able to generate a mass, organized, appeal. But, is Trump a fascist? 10/14

Well, fascists did want him to win! They wanted to push him to the right and to leverage their help as a tool to get demands, like the paleoconservative platform Trump ran on at first. But Trump's base isn't fascists, a tiny portion of the population. Trump's a Republican. 11/14

His real support wasn't some mass, organized, middle class movement, but the general Republican voting block. You might argue a second Trump term, especially if he stole the election with the Proud Boys' help, might get us much closer to that moment, and I'd agree! 12/14

I thought voters should vote for Biden in swing states and for a third party in safe states, but that doesn't change the fact that Trump himself is no fascist, just a national conservative Republican. They've always been this bad, they were just more polite before. 13/14

So, what I'm saying is: don't call everything a fascist. It is useless for analysis then and doesn't help us analyze how we actually stop fascism. The proof is in the pudding: a mass socialist movement to actually offer the solutions to capitalism. So join a socialist org.

14/14