Some liberals who hysterically liken Trumpism to European fascism may indeed be blind to the longer reactionary political trajectories that led to Trump, as the "it's not fascism" intellectuals worry. But those intellectuals miss fascism's own historical roots in colonialism 1/4

& slavery, including in the US: Hitler pointed to American race laws & genocide of indigenous people as precedents--the very past Trump supporters also defend. What purpose does the withering, intellectually superior tone of the "it's not fascism" argument serve? If Trump 2/4

woke some privileged people up to the possibility of American fascism, why not open eyes even more? That the Trump era, however inept or dilute its fascist pretensions, *has* increased awareness of the longer history of American racial & colonial injustice (& not only a view 3/4

of Trump as exceptional) is evident from the unprecedented support for BLM--a movement calling on us to address inequities long predating Trump. 4/4