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May 30, 2025
Once Again: On Fascism, in the U.S.
By Steven Jonas
Once again, I am returning to a consideration of fascism, and its U.S. version. This column deals mainly with definitions of the term (mine, and others'), and, as noted above, the similarities between ICE and its powers and those of the Nazi German terror branch of government, the Gestapo. Unfortunately, for as long as Trump/P2025 remain in power, we shall have to return to a consideration of fascism and its U.S. variants.
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"Either this nation shall kill racism, or racism shall kill this nation." (S. Jonas, Aug., 2018)
"How do you spell ICE in German? GESTAPO." (S. Jonas, May, 2025: see below)
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As my regular readers know, I have written on fascism frequently in this space and related ones on which I have published in the past, going back to 2005, or so. There is a reason for that: the gathering threat of fascism, slow back then, but certainly picking up a good head of steam with Trump's re-election, and more importantly, with the substitution of the precepts of Project2025 to replace Constitutional Democracy that is now underway. To say nothing of the appearance of modern capitalist authoritarian states, as in Hungary, for example.
Recent examples of my columns on the subject include: from 2024: click here; Click Here ; Click Here ; Click Here ; and Click Here .
Trump is losing a stream of legal cases in the lower Federal courts. Given the types of cases they are, and that Trump is being ruled against even by judges that he appointed, with some of the judgements in some cases referring to Constitutional violations, the direction that he is consciously and rapidly moving in makes that danger of fascism, to be introduced into this country by Constitutional means (as it was in Germany in 1933), more clear every day. And don't count on the Supreme Court to protect us (as they just did not do, in a very important decision in a destroying-environmental-protection case handed down whilst I was writing this column). Whatever the case, Trump always has two votes in the bag. He needs only three more. And (without naming names), as is well known, he could get them. But in this column, I don't want to engage in more predicting. I want to review some past events, and first I want to revisit my understanding of just what the word "fascism" means.
The word has many different, and differing, definitions, and is used in a wide variety of ways. Here is the one that I use:
"There is a single, all-powerful, authoritarian, executive branch of government, in service of a capitalist ruling class that controls, for the most part, the functions of production, distribution, finance, and exchange in a given nation. There is no separation of the principal governmental powers: executive, legislative, and judicial. There are no independent media. There is a single national ideology, based on some combination of racism, misogyny, a given religious ideology, homophobia, and xenophobia. There is a single political party supporting the movement. No other parties are permitted. There is a state propaganda machine using the big and little lie techniques. There may be a full-blown dictatorship, a charismatic leader, engagement in foreign wars, and the use of the mob/private armies to enforce governmental control. Historically, it has taken over the primary levers of government through elections (Germany, today's Hungary), appointment by a monarch (the original [1919] Hungarian fascist state and fascist Italy [1922]), or by force (Franco's Spain, fascist Japan)."
It is important to understand that the fascist state, as it has been known for over a century now, is always emplaced, in one way or another, to serve the interests of a capitalist ruling class. It may not always be that all of the "Captains of Industry" (and in the modern world, of finance and communications as well) are in favor of such a change in governmental organization. But enough of them are so that, in one way or another, it is emplaced.
The two most important structural features of the fascist state are: 1) There is no separation of the three traditional powers of any government: executive, legislative, and judicial. Rather, going back to the model of absolute monarchy, which began fading away in the mid-19th century, one governmental institution controls all three sectors of power. 2) Fascism arises in capitalist countries, and its institution is supported by a significant sector of the economic ruling class in that county.
Under Trump, Republo-Fascism is coming on in on "Little Cat Feet" (with apologies to Carl Sandburg). With the slimmest of margins in both Houses of Congress, the Executive Branch is already using the fascist mode of governing: e.g., creating a government Department, DOGE, out of thin air, without any authorization of the Congress (see Article II of the Constitution); Trump subsumed the tariff-power, which under Article II also belongs to the Congress, to himself; destroying programs they don't like without the benefit of legislation, e.g., USAID, the Department of Education, and paving the road to ending the Federal Civil Service; all without the benefit of legislation.
Also in the matter of introducing fascism into the functioning of the U.S. government, is my "How do you spell ICE in German?" question posed above. A peculiar arm of the central government in Nazi Germany was indeed the "Geheime Staats Polizei," the Gestapo for short. It was a regime-powers enforcement agency that had three primary functions that are kept separated in modern bourgeois (that is non-fascist) governments of capitalist states. Those are the powers to 1) arrest persons for suspected crimes; 2) subject those persons to some kind of criminal procedures (in which the accused is supposed to have certain rights before the law, such as the right to know of the charges against them in some detail, the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney for due process); 3) the right to imprison persons convicted of crimes, through the due process of law.
The Gestapo had the power to arrest anyone they wanted to, with a legally-sanctioned "probable cause" or not; decide on the guilt or innocence of that person in re the crime being charged, without the person having, say, the right to an attorney or to be subject to a established-in-law-judicial procedure; and then upon determining, on their terms, whether or not a crime (as they defined it) had been committed, decide upon and mete out punishment as they deemed fit.
Yes, it is well-known that the Gestapo did this, to millions of people, in Germany and conquered lands. And, sad to say, it is exactly these powers, of arrest, "trial," and imprisonment, without the accused having any rights of due process as they are ordinarily defined, with which the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branch of the Department of the Homeland Security has been endowed. If ICE starts to be reigned in by the courts, could a "Trump militia" to carry out those functions without any legal foundation at all, be far behind?
One interesting item would be the choice of color for their shirts. In Nazi Germany they were of course the "Brownshirts." In fascist Italy they were the Black Shirts, while in Franco's Spain they were the Blue Shirts. Since many Trumpists do not know any history, they might actually choose red for their shirts, to match the color of the Trump caps. Whatever the color of their shirts, their primary function would be to commit violent acts on behalf of their Leader ("Fuerher" anyone[?] without any sort of legal sanction).
"Ridiculous" you say? Just think of the pardoned "Jan. 6" rioters who could (would?) form the very core of such a militia. Just think of Trump pardoning them, convicted by juries as they were. Just think of Trump considering pardoning the plotters who were fixing up a scheme to kidnap (and possibly murder) the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmore. They were convicted by a jury. And then think of the Vice-President, J.D. Vance, who said that the primary function of the Supreme Court was not to oversee the actions of the two other branches of the Federal government, to determine whether they fell within the bounds of Constitutional law or not. Rather it is to oversee the actions of the other components of the Judicial branch, at the Federal, State, and local levels, to make sure that they remain, essentially, doing what Vance thinks they should be doing. Vance went to Yale Law School. I guess that he skipped the course on Constitutional law (or perhaps just slept through it). I suggest that he read Article II, and then read Marbury v. Madison which has been regarded as the single most important descriptor of the role and function of the Supreme Court, since it was handed down in 1803. (For my take on M. v. M. see, e.g., Click Here.)
I am going to stop here, for now. For further discussion by others, widely recognized as experts on the nature, role, and function of fascism, and how the oncoming fascism of the Trump/P2025 regime threatens (bourgeois) democratic government in the United State, see, e.g.: Timothy Snyder, Jason Stanley, and Ruth ben-Ghiat.
(Article changed on May 30, 2025 at 1:09 PM EDT)
Steven Jonas, MD, MPH, MS is a Professor Emeritus of Preventive Medicine at StonyBrookMedicine (NY). As well as having been a regular political columnist on several national websites for over 20 years, he is the author/co-author/editor/co-