The terms "fascist" and "fascism" and the rise of authoritarianism in America. What do you think about the use of these terms?
Inappropriate use and overuse of the terms, however accurate they may be in terms of historical comparisons, may have in common usage robbed them of their original meanings.
BACKGROUND
1)Jonathan McCormick and Jasmine Li, ”‘Fascist’ Ended Up on Assassin’s Bullet. It Has Become Common Currency in Politics; Democrats and Republicans alike call each other fascist—that is unlikely to stop after Charlie Kirk’s killing, Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2025 (10:00 pm ET).
2)Thomas Chatterton Williams, “The Right Is Changing the Rules of the Culture War; For conservatives, cancel culture is in,“ The Atlantic, September 13, 2025.
3)John McWhorter, “The Essence of Trumpian Language, in One Three-Letter Word,” The New York Times, September 15, 2025.
Look to your right and look to your left. Many of your fellow citizens have adopted an authoritarian mindset. This has been fertile ground for the rise of authoritarian leaders and followers who support authoritarian speech and actions.
But while “fascism” is a historically accurate way to describe the rise of Trump and Republican authoritarianism in the United States, it may no longer, for now, be a useful way to describe these events in public discourse in America. I ask your opinion at the end of this article.
We are talking about authoritarianism, and a particularly virulent form of authoritarianism and eventual dictatorship which aspires to regulate all aspects of life, and which seeks to enforce a conformity of beliefs within its followers, and eventually everyone, in much the same way that the Nazi Party enforced the Gleichschaltung (synchronization of views) in Germany beginning in 1933.
There are varieties of authoritarian dictatorship. “Fascism” is one way to describe the present phenomenon in the United States. Yet for the reasons stated above, we may need to find different words which, however, convey the same precise meaning.
“Authoritarianism with totalitarian tendencies” is about the best term I can come with now.
Readers are encouraged to submit their own candidates for a new term.
Or should we continue to use the words “fascist” and “fascism” when they fit, perhaps stressing the comparison with Germany?
What do you, dear readers, think and advise?
FURTHER READING
Recent Columns
1)”Brazil: Jair Bolsonaro conviction shows what U.S. should have done; And: Trump's lawless interference in the domestic affairs of Brazil,” September 14, 2025.
2)”.How to personally survive, psychologically and spiritually, in these dark times; With The Prayer of Saint Francis,” September 12, 2025.
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James Rowles is a former Lecturer on Law at Harv Law School and professor of international law at other universities.
He studied the history of Nazi Germany at Stanford, and has studied and worked on human rights, judicial reform, and access to justice projects in many countries in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and in Afghanistan and Russia. At Harvard Law School, he taught a course on “Law, Human Rights, and the Struggle for Democracy in Latin America”.
At the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the OAS, he worked on human rights cases involving forced disappearances, executions, and torture in a number of authoritarian countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Recent Books by the Author
James P. Rowles, The Rape of American Democracy: Republican Actions and Democratic Failures, 2016-2021 (2024). Available on Amazon, and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
James P. Rowles, Don’t Be Stupid. Pay Attention, Damn It! Advice for Undecided Voters and Voters Leaning Toward Trump (2024). Available on Amazon,and from IngramSpark by clicking on a link here.
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