deconstruction
while we're all tempted to draw analogies to other fascist regimes, including nazi germany, and many seem to struggle with whether or not we're "there" yet, here's a more relevant and apt assessment, i think:
we're in "deconstruction", or reconstruction in reverse.
the reconstruction was the decade immediately after the civil war, when the federal government oversaw elections in the south, sending in troops and overseers to ensure slavery really was ended, and that black people were actually afforded the rights they were finally formally entitled to.
the south swore they would rise again, and after 10 years, the troops were withdrawn, setting the stage for jim crow, literacy tests, the kkk, statues of traitors, etc., which lasted at least until the civil rights movement of the 1960s. that movement set the stage for the backlash, though this time it was better funded and organized. starting in the1970s, rich right-wingers started taking over am radio, followed by the creation of foxnews and other right-wing propaganda outlets. this, combined with the political success of reagan/gingrich, allowed the right to gradually corrupt the media landscape and political debate, eventually leading to where we are today.
and now, the federal government is meddling with state elections, undoing protections for minorities, and sending in troops, this time into blue states and cities, in no small part to rig electoral outcomes in favor of the ideological heir of the confederacy.
and make no mistake, a return to slavery is entirely plausible if we continue down this path. they can simply do away with the minimum wage and pay slaves $0.01/hr., or find some other way to claim it's legal.
there is no depths to which they will not sink.