Fascism in America: It's nowhere near as new as you might think

[marmar]

Fascism in America: It's nowhere near as new as you might think
As America draws near the tipping point into fascism, it's important to remember that it's happened before

By ELAYNE CLIFT
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 28, 2021 6:00AM


When my siblings and I were growing up and we did something untoward that got us into trouble my mother would say, "Let that be a lesson to you!" I've remembered that line whenever someone thinks I'm overreacting when I say the Trump administration has opened the way to a functioning autocracy, rapidly morphing into full-blown fascism.

I think about the truism that "history is prologue." We should be taking that truth more seriously.

A chilling December article in the Guardian by Jason Stanley revealed why. "America is now in fascism's legal phase," Stanley posits.

His article begins with a 1995 quote from the Nobel-winning novelist Toni Morrison. "Let us be reminded," she said, "that before there is a Final Solution, there must be a first solution, a second one, even a third. The move toward a Final Solution is not a jump. It takes one step, then another, then another."

....(snip)....

Sound familiar? We've already heard talk of book burning, people spying on each other, and Jewish people (and members of other marginalized groups) altering their behavior as precautionary measures. We've witnessed racist violence, attacks on peaceful protesters and acts of white supremacy grounded in the claim that we are a "Christian nation." Congress has its share of pro-autocracy politicians, and our local and state governments have all been infiltrated. Vigilante groups prowl the streets, often armed with both guns and hate.

What more do we need to wake up?

This is not the first fascist threat to American democracy. The pro-Nazi movement of the 1930s and early 1940s was perhaps the most frightening to date. It culminated in an infamous 1939 rally at Madison Square Garden, when 22,000 members of the German American Bund delivered Nazi-style salutes before large banners — which depicted George Washington surrounded by swastikas. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2021/12/28/fascism-in-america-its-nowhere-near-as-new-as-you-might-think/

[brush]

1. There was also the American Liberty League of the '30s...

an attempted fascost coup against FDR by prominent industrialist of the time which included a DuPont, Sloan of GM, Prescott Bush (yeah, those Bushes) and others. They tried to hire a famous Marine general to league an army of dissatisfied veterans.

Gen. Smedley Butler exposed them though.

[mitch96]

2. I remember being told of the "Nazi" town on LonGiland.. Yaphank NY...

Home to Camp Seigfreid to train the new "Hitler Youth". Very northern European white community. No other ethnicity's allowed... As a kid we were told to steer clear of the place..
And that was in the late 1950's... Hate runs deep out there...ymmv
m

[appalachiablue]

3. Smedly Butler 1934. A Night at the Garden, US Nazi Rally 1939

- A Night at the Garden, PBS (2020). In 1939, 20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism – an event largely forgotten from American history. A Night At the Garden uses striking archival fragments recorded that night to transport modern audiences into this gathering and shine a light on the disturbing fallibility of seemingly decent people.

[Deep State Witch]

4. The Bund Tried To Recruit My GF

My grandfather was Danube Swabian, which were Germans who had emigrated to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late 1700's. They were still culturally German. My GF was conscripted into WWI and sent to the Western Front. Once the war was over, he returned to his village, married his girl, and GTFO to America. My grandparents settled in Pittsburgh, and my GF worked in a mill. In the 30's, the Bund tried to recruit him based on "German heritage" and other BS. I'm guessing that they were active in the local German societies. My GF - having been forced to fight for a country that he had no real connections to - told them to go f**k themselves. He'd seen enough of nationalism and war to last several lifetimes.