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# Is This Really Fascism?
April 24 2025
Written by Victor Rothman.
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GUEST COMMENTARY - Based on the historical record, we know that fascist governments have the following in common:
- Fascism already exists in embryonic form at most US workplaces. The boss is in total control, and employees do not have basic democratic rights, such as freedom of speech or association.
- Fascism always has a major military component, and in the case of the United States, its militarism spans the globe, including [750 foreign military bases](https://www.thesoldiersproject.org/how-many-us-military-bases-are-there-in-the-world/) and hot wars waged by proxies in the Ukraine and Israel.
- Fascism refers to iron-clad rule in capitalist economies, such as interwar Germany and Italy, where capitalism thrived because it was not restrained by government regulations and independent unions.
One of the most famous novels to imagine a fascist United States was Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here. The book is now 90 years old but still rings true because Sinclair Lewis clearly understood fascism. He knew that militarism was always a major component of fascism, but in his 1935 book the US war was with Mexico, not Germany, Italy, and Japan.
This background brings us up to the present. Has the Trump II presidency become a fascist government, as often claimed by Trump’s opponents, [especially those linked to the Democratic Party](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/17/us/politics/harris-trump-fascism.html). My answer is that the Trump II administration could become a genuine fascist regime, but there are still too many trappings of democracy in the United States to qualify.
The US still has elections, but successful candidates must appeal to the super-rich to fund their campaigns, assuring that their policies consistently align with their funders.
We live in a bipartisan military state since the Pentagon gobbles up about half of military-related spending. The rest is spread out to the State Department, Veterans Administration, Atomic Energy Commission, and other government offices. One these other Federal government departments are included, the [total U.S. military budget is $1.5 trillion in 2023 dollars](https://fabiusmaximus.com/2023/05/01/the-real-us-defense-budget/).
Elon Musk’s notorious Nazi salute at Donald Trump’s recent victory celebration.
The US is not yet an actual fascist state, even with Elon Musk’s Nazi salute. Rather, it is a two-party state, with wars pursued by the party in power whether Republican or Democratic. This duopoly is different in form from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, which were one-party states.
This is most obvious in the case of Gaza, [whether under the Biden and Trump II administrations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Israel_in_the_Gaza_war), the US government was/is complicit in genocide against the Palestinians refugees whose parents and grandparents were forced into the Gaza Strip. While Israel’s military does the fighting, they are dependent on the US for weapons, intelligence, and diplomatic protection. Without this US support, the Israeli occupations of southern Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, as well as the West Bank, [would quickly grind to halt.](https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/us-aid-israel-gaza/)
For those with short memories, who imagine that Trump II is responsible for the genocide in Gaza, a quick look at the recent [Hands Off](https://handsoff2025.com/) demonstrations should be a wake-up call. While occasional individuals brought homemade signs that mentioned the bipartisan US military role in Gaza, the Hands Off organizers kept a narrow focus on Trump II’s domestic agenda. They excluded any mention of President Trump’s foreign military policies since they are the same aa Biden’s in Gaza, Ukraine, and potentially China. [Both parties support these foreign wars,](https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/militarism-silicon-valley-trump/) despite a few short-lived head fakes to placate the public. Furthermore, both administrations have ignored US public opinion, which calls for a permanent ceasefire in [Gaza](https://news.gallup.com/poll/642695/majority-disapprove-israeli-action-gaza.aspx), as well as [peace with China](https://www.brookings.edu/articles/could-the-united-states-and-china-really-go-to-war-who-would-win/).
**Handwriting is on the wall:** While it is too early to predict the long-term outcome of the US proxy wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and a US war with China, the handwriting is on the wall. Even though these wars are weakening and isolating the United States, and they don’t have wide public support, both the Republicans and Democrats in Washington, DC, still imagine that the US can somehow prevail on all three fronts.
*(Victor Rothman is a California-based policy analyst.)*
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