Serious answer:

From wiki: “Fascism is characterized by support for a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.”

I’m not a historian or anything, but I would say that until trump we haven’t really had anyone you could call a dictator. And saying we had a strong regimentation of society and the economy seems like a stretch with the exception of wartime. You could make a good argument for ww2 era USA under FDR though that also came on the back of the new deal and a relatively progressive thrust in US politics (of course many groups of people were still oppressed and marginalized though), and possibly some parts of US involvement in Vietnam. But I think realistically there are better descriptions of the US government during those times.

This comment is intended not to discount the historic atrocities and abject failings of the US government, but rather to maintain the power of the word fascism and to assert that things are in fact different at this moment, even if they’ve been bad for a lot if people for a long time.

Not to mention all the tech billionaires falling in line and offering up their services.

I think there are those people for sure, but this instance seems more in line with what the corporations are doing. I doubt the DOJ and the people responsible for this decision care one way or the other about the reality of the situation. They care about what hurts their “profits” which in this case isn’t money so much as political capital.

Probably the same reason the media does most things, it gets clicks. I agree with you though, I know people that have a huge number of guns, but they collect them, and it doesn’t make them any more dangerous than some guy with 2 unless they’re trying to arm a group of people with old hunting rifles and weirdly specific revolvers of all different calibers.

I was going to say Ludwig for mine, but this one is epic too

Do you have more specific product examples?

Right? It’s weird. It’s ALMOST like they actually don’t care at all about the poors and really just want to make their billionaire buddies happy.

Thank goodness THAT isn’t the case.

It would be even worse if the only alternative was purely performative when it came to class issues and only better because they’re contrasted against literal fascists. That would be a truly sorry state of affairs for the BEST COUNTRY ON EARTH. Good thing it’s just a money problem.

Beginning of the article:

An executive order signed Monday by US President Donald Trump may permit “random fascist vigilantes” to help him crack down on protests across the country, according to one prominent civil rights lawyer. The new order, which comes amid wider concern about Trump’s militarized takeover of Washington, DC, directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to ensure that each state’s National Guard is equipped to "assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety.”

Link to the EO