“Look up the definition of fascist before you toss it around like you know what it means. Trying to sound tough and scary comes off as ignorant and lazy when you don’t understand the definition of the words you use.” That’s the gist of a comment I made on FB recently. The commenter I was addressing had called Democrats fascists–I guess because we’re all so DEI? I literally was shaking my head. Lately, people throw words at each other because they know angry words rile people up and their goal is to goad the other side to anger; they’re not interested in communicating. I should know better than to read the comments but words matter to me. I taught from Huxley’s 1984 back when I was an English teacher and calling Red Green doesn’t sit too well with me.

The truth is America has had some history with Fascism, not as long or terrifying as Europe’s experience, but the Silver Shirts and Charles Lindberg weren’t nothing. Heather Cox Richardson’s Friday, January 9, 2026 letter discusses Fascism and our government’s 1943 warnings about its potential rise in America. I recommend everyone read it.

As a general definition–a fascist is a supporter of a far right, authoritarian political ideology that emphasizes extreme nationalism. A fascist government is led by a dictator and focuses on centralized power, militarism, and the suppression of the opposition. Fascists prioritize nation and race over individual rights. They use triggering slogans and propaganda in order to build a cult-like following, usually around a charismatic leader. The current administration fits this definition to near perfection. Lock Her Up. Build the Wall. America first. The Donroe Doctrine. Soon we’ll be hearing Might Makes Right, again. The president already claims the authority to do whatever he wants despite a Constitution and laws that state the contrary. The president has unnecessarily called on the national guard, in addition to ICE and Border Patrol, to quell peaceful protests. He villainizes hispanic and Somali immigrants, demeans women constantly, and has targeted trans people. He’s bombing boats with no warrants in international waters and threatening to invade Greenland for “security” reasons. Greenland is already an ally–we have military access!

For now at least, the first amendment gives Americans the right to protest–free speech combined with the right to peacefully assemble combined with the right to petition the government. These freedoms are still the law of the land and we must use our voices to continue to resist–peacefully. I apologize to my black and brown friends, neighbors, and community members that it took the death of a white woman to wake some of us up. You have been living with a level of these threats to your freedom and safety your entire lives. And, as a white woman, I still do not face the same degree of threat and risk that you do.

The lie that “leftist leaders” are encouraging or even condoning chaos, violence, and the demonization of law enforcement as an institution is a worn out trope from this administration. Yes, there been complaints of police brutality by civil rights leaders when those complaints were warranted–the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor come to mind. But if the Right is seriously looking for examples of a political leader condoning violence they need to look no further than the current president of the United States who during his first campaign for president told police officers they didn’t need to be so careful when putting suspects in their vehicles; it was okay, to his way of thinking, if their heads hit the door frame. Remember, he told his rally attendants that if they beat up hecklers he’d pay for their legal defense. And his verbiage, like his behavior, has only gotten more brazen in his second term.

Still, the underbelly of the trope: blaming the opposition for what you do, is finally being exposed. And their hypocrisy and lawlessness aren’t pretty pictures. The administration has accused the Left of being soft on crime, wasting tax payers money, creating chaos, and inhabiting the pages of the Epstein Files. But then, the president pardoned all the January 6th rioter, including those who beat Capitol police. He also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking. Then he spent billions of tax payer dollars to invade Venezuela. Why? We were told it was to capture their president so Maduro so he could be brought up on “drug trafficking charges”. We know now that the real reason the president went after Maduro is because he felt mocked by Maduro’s dancing and wants Venezuelan oil. But the 115 people killed by US drones bombing “drug boats” in the Caribbean don’t just go away. More recently, the narrative that Renee Good, a white Christian mother, is a terrorist is actually a hard sell especially when, on the government released video, we hear her tell an ICE agent, “That’s fine, Dude. I’m not mad at you.” And the gunman scream, after shooting her in the head three times, “Fucking Bitch!” Finally (though in reality not the last conflicting narrative from the White House) we have the Epstein files. They were supposed to expose a cadre of bad actor Democrats, and had been sitting on Bondi’s desk just waiting to be released. They are now, according to the president, a democrat hoax. I guess having the manifest of the plane you never flew on list you as a passenger at least 7 time is a bit problematic.

The wheels on the president’s bus may be showing signs of falling off but let’s not be fooled into thinking that will make the bus any more safe. I do not know what’s coming next. If the president feels desperate or under appreciated enough maybe we’ll invade an ally. NATO leaders, minus the US, seem to be bracing for it. Whatever comes, we must be ready to stand up, speak out, and resist.