The Problem With "Fascism"

 I've seesawed back and forth over whether to call Trump himself a fascist. I know that Stephen Miller and his ilk are cut and dried fascists. That's clear. Trump is a patrimonial strongman, but that's not fascist, strictly speaking.

I think there's another problem with calling Trump a fascist that Yglesias gets at. One of the reason to constantly call Trump a fascist is that it helps motivate your base and energize resistance. That seems to be the theory. Of course, there are legitimately fascist policies surrounding the idea of what constitutes a real American and the racial panic surrounding immigration. 

However, if you call Trump a fascist long enough, you create something a self-fulfilling prophecy - not for Trump and his minions who are irredeemable - but for certain otherwise neutral actors like business lobbies. Trump is a legitimately petty and vindictive asshole, but you can absolutely fight him in court and usually win. That's the whole game! You fight Trump and you will likely win. The problem is that, yes, it's expensive to fight, but how is going along with his tariff bullshit good for your bottom line? The other problem is that casting Trump as Hitler suggests that you won't only have to fight Trump in Court, but if you lose (or even if you don't), he will send you to a gulag.

In a related way, I see friends absolutely despairing and acting a bit...odd, because of this idea of him being a Hitler-level tyrant. Deleting apps and chats when they pass through customs, for instance. He's just not THAT powerful! Using the fascism frame makes him more powerful, which is ultimately the root of his actual power. It's this perception that he's a true dictatorial strongman that creates the political reality that Jeff Fucking Bezos has to react to.

I like the term "tyrant" to describe Trump because of the Revolutionary War parallels, but I also think focusing on the unbridled corruption is helpful. 

The point of authoritarianism IS the corruption. The autocracy is simply to avoid democratic oversight and consequence.