A Perfect Storm: An Authoritarian in Power, Fascists in the Streets, and a Nation that Refuses to Listen

In a grisly scene that has grown far, far too commonplace, the President of the United States of America stood in front of the nation, appealed to his violent followers, claimed his opponent was looking to steal the upcoming election, and refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. That this could become normal should terrify everyone. Donald Trump is an authoritarian and the sway he has held over America has driven us deep, deep, deep into the fascistic abyss. We have seen vigilante killings, paramilitaries operating openly, oppression and brutality of citizens, and threats to flood the streets with blood. Now, with an election looming and the tension mounting, we must face the facts that we are in the direct path of a perform storm.

The root of Trump’s authoritarianism relies on his insistence that others live within his own manufactured reality and, like fascists before him, he is more than willing to use all of the power of the state, including the law and threat of violence, to pressure others into conforming to that reality. This is what fascism is, after all. A weaponized nostalgia and a constructed world held together by oppression. Because Trump’s grip on reality is so fragile, because he needs that reality so badly, there is no way, no how, he will possibly accept an election in which he does not win.

For Trump to receive public rebuke and rejection would be tantamount to death for him.

Unfortunately, there are apparatuses in place to prevent this. Already the Republic Party has waged a debilitating war on our elections that has kept Americans from voting. This is because the GOP is a minority party that can only win when voters are disenfranchised, intimidated, misinformed, or altogether kept from the polls. What we have seen with the constant drum against mail-in ballots - it needs reiterated that voter fraud is not a problem in America, a country where the biggest issue is getting people to vote - is a new tactic meant to gird Trump from what would surely be a historic and legendary defeat in November.

This attack on democracy would be enough, but aiding the Republicans and Trump are extremists of all stripes. Already Trump’s faithful have carried out test runs of sectarian violence that disturbingly mirrors the ramp-up to genocide in countries around the world. As a result of decades of propaganda and intentional paranoid pandering, white Americans have been radicalized to the point of murdering their fellow citizens and are awash with guns for fear of racial uprisings they have been told to expect by the GOP, Fox News, and the NRA. Others are ensnared in fascistic, religious cults like Qanon that teach them Trump is the only thing standing between their families and satanic conspiracies. These are all fantasies Trump himself has been more than willing to stoke as his numbers have dwindled.

Of course, the terrible affair took another turn Tuesday night as Trump, asked by the moderator to condemn white supremacists and paramilitary goons like the Proud Boys, told them to “stand by,” an order they immediately took to mean, correctly, as advice to get ready for a violent confrontation in the very near future. With Trump urging supporters to go to the polls and watch for “fraud” we are inching toward a very bad, very ugly, very violent scene in November, with his supporters fully prepared to protect him by any means.

Muckrake EIC Jared Yates Sexton details how the myth of American Exceptionalism has created a perfect scenario for the rise of Trumpism and fascism within the United States.

And, unfortunately, many Americans continue to deny the possibility that these situations, all of them apparent and readily obvious, could be combustible at all.

Let us be clear: all talk of debates being “won” or “lost” miss the sad reality of the situation.

America is on the precipice of bald-faced fascism. If we do not prepare ourselves, if we do not recognize the immediacy of this danger, if we do not face it and name it and reject it wholeheartedly, we will run headfirst into it in November and beyond.

We are past the point of this being theoretical. Trump has not hidden his intentions in the least and has openly admitted his intention to steal the election and to refuse any scenario in which he loses power. In cities around the country his supporters have targeted, beaten, brutalized, and murdered peaceful protesters. The Right has now embraced the man in Kenosha who murdered two and injured another as a hero and likened him to the Founding Fathers. In early voting precincts, Trump supporters have gathered and refused people entry for no other reason than to maintain their grip on the presidency.

All of the elements are set. All the dominoes set up in a perfect line.

We’re here and this is very, very real.

Jared Yates Sexton is the author of American Rule: How A Nation Conquered The World But Failed its People, available for pre-order from Dutton/Penguin-Random House. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, Politico, and elsewhere. He currently serves as an associate professor of writing at Georgia Southern University and is the co-host of The Muckrake Podcast. You can support his work and The Muckrake by becoming a patron on Patreon.