Ja, es ist Faschismus

***Gifted Read:***

[***https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/america-fascism-trump-maga-ice/685751/?gift=9raHaW-OKg2bN8oaIFlCotInfmp45mpFUr0x34OGHnM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share***](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/america-fascism-trump-maga-ice/685751/?gift=9raHaW-OKg2bN8oaIFlCotInfmp45mpFUr0x34OGHnM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share)

***We welcome The Atlantic’s willingness to acknowledge that what is unfolding in the United States aligns with historical patterns of fascism. Recognizing reality matters. However, the article remains far too restrained in tone, as though naming the danger were itself a form of protection. It is not.***

***This is not an abstract classification exercise. It is a warning. Democratic norms, civil liberties, and constitutional restraints are being eroded in real time. The expansion and politicization of federal enforcement, including ICE, is no longer hypothetical. When armed federal agents operate in civilian spaces with minimal accountability, the question is no longer whether authoritarian structures are forming, but how far they have already advanced.***

***The article correctly identifies familiar elements of fascist systems: glorification of force, normalization of cruelty, loyalty-based enforcement, and the weakening of institutional checks. What it understates is the speed at which these elements are consolidating and the degree to which they are already operational rather than merely rhetorical.***

***History shows that democracies do not collapse because journalists fail to recognize patterns. They collapse because recognition arrives paired with reassurance. Alarm is not hysteria when the conditions that warrant alarm are present. At this moment, they clearly are.***

***Excerpts:***

***Americans who support liberal democracy need to recognize what we’re dealing with in order to cope with it, and to recognize something, one must name it. Trump has revealed himself, and we must name what we see.***

***The use of militias and mobs to harass, rough up, and otherwise intimidate opponents is a standard fascist stratagem (the textbook example being Hitler’s Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938). As few will need reminding, the Trump-MAGA parallel is the mob and militia violence against the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Trump knowingly laid groundwork for this operation, calling on militia forces to “stand back and stand by” in September 2020 and later dog-whistling “Be there, will be wild!” to his supporters. His pardon of all of the Capitol attackers—more than 1,500, including the most violent—only proved what we knew, which is that they had his blessing.***