As Donald Trump continues collecting both GOP support and criminal indictments, the modern Republican Party seems to be sliding further into fascism. An unwavering loyalty to Trump—combined with an equally zealous dedication to undemocratic policies—makes it clear that Republicans are less concerned with the rule of law than in grabbing and holding on to power. Without a full understanding of the authoritarian threat posed by Republicans, many people will continue to mistake the GOP for a run-of-the-mill political party. And if that misconception holds in 2024, it may signal the end of the democratic experiment.
While there are many reasons mainstream media sources shy away from using the term “fascism” to describe the GOP, one reason is that it is difficult to define. Lacking a concrete definition, the label is often thrown around as a generic insult against any politician whose views do not match one’s own. But despite the term’s ambiguity, there are patterns of rhetoric and political strategies that most scholars view as typical of a fascist regime. Perhaps most succinctly, Italian novelist Umberto Eco boiled these traits down to a set of fourteen points in his essay “Ur-Fascism.”
Drawing on his youth spent under Mussolini, Eco’s outline of what counts as fascism could apply not only to Donald Trump but the Republican Party as a whole.
As Donald Trump continues collecting both GOP support and criminal indictments, the modern Republican Party seems to be sliding further into fascism.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s attempt to rewrite the history of slavery in the state’s public schools, for example, fits Eco’s fourteenth point: “Fascism speaks newspeak.” (“Newspeak” is a reference to the propagandistic language featured in George Orwell’s 1984.) By claiming enslaved people gained a “personal benefit” from skills developed while they were enslaved, DeSantis aims to change historical facts to match the fascist narrative that America has no sins to atone for and is being unfairly attacked by far left radicals who want to besmirch the historical record. This behavior also embodies Eco’s second point, “The rejection of modernism.” Like many other Republicans, DeSantis’s policies center on silencing views of the United States that are critical of the country’s past and present—views which have been around for a long time but are becoming more mainstream.
Unfortunately, DeSantis is not alone in trying to preserve America’s conservative institutions and self-image. Recently, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy proposed raising the voting age to twenty-five, a clear attempt to stifle the political change favored by younger Americans. (As an aside, Ramaswamy’s plan to allow military personnel under twenty-five to vote is literally the system of militaristic fascism depicted in Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers.)
But the Republican Party’s fascist tendencies aren’t limited to presidential hopefuls trying to steal media attention. This November, Ohio will vote on an amendment to the state’s constitution that would guarantee the right to an abortion. As only a simple majority is needed to pass the amendment, Republicans tried to raise the threshold to 60 percent with an impromptu August referendum, just months after voting to ban such summer elections. Thankfully, voters thwarted the attempt and maintained majority rule. Such practices are indicative of Eco’s thirteenth point, “selective populism,” in which fascists claim to speak for the people while eliminating democratic mechanisms.
A similar attempt is currently underway in Wisconsin. Republicans there are threatening to impeach a democratically-elected state Supreme Court justice if she refuses to recuse herself in a case about their gerrymandered districts, which she called “rigged” during her campaign. Despite the Republican Party’s attempts to portray Trump and other Republicans as populists, these episodes—as well as the January 6 attempted coup—show that the party holds no true commitment to popular will, only enacting their unpopular political agenda.
Nathan Luppino (CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED)
An Anti-Trump art piece inspired by Operation Cornflakes.
While Republicans’ attacks on democracy have grown more brazen in the Trump era, the party has long embraced Eco’s ninth point, “Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy,” specifically on the issue of crime. As Eco writes, in the fascist mind, “life is permanent warfare,” a sentiment we see in Republicans’ rhetoric depicting the United States as a perpetual battlefield between those they consider real Americans (Republican voters) and their woke enemies in crime-ridden cities. Through this lens, Republicans consider anyone who strays from their tough-on-crime strategy—by offering alternative forms of community safety such as mental health outreach programs, unarmed first responders, and combating the roots causes of crime—as a threat to their preferred social hierarchy of white Christian patriarchal control
In Florida, DeSantis has removed two elected prosecutors in less than a year. Andrew Warren was removed in August of 2022 after saying he would not prosecute seekers or providers of abortions under the state’s fifteen-week abortion ban. More recently, DeSantis fired State Attorney Monique Worrell in August of this year, claiming her prosecution standards were a “neglect of duty.” Worrell tells a different story, as she believes she was fired for prosecuting police officers, which DeSantis saw as her trafficking with the enemy of woke criminals.
The Republican Party’s fascist tendencies aren’t limited to presidential hopefuls trying to steal media attention.
In Georgia, the site of Trump’s upcoming election interference trial, Republicans have made no secret about their wish to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought charges against the twice-impeached President. A few days before Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County jail, Georgia State Sen. Clint Dixon posted on Facebook encouraging Republicans to “investigate and take action against Fani Willis.” Specifically, Dixon encouraged his fellow GOP state senators to remove Willis from her position once the new Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission begins sometime after October 1.
The new commission created by S.B. 92, which Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed earlier this year, is inherently undemocratic. The bill gives the commission the power to remove democratically elected district attorneys, such as Fani Willis. At the signing of the bill, Kemp claimed, “People are finally fed up with local prosecutors that simply are not doing their job,” invoking the current Republican critique that progressive DAs are “soft on crime.” But Georgians already have a mechanism to remove DAs they find inadequate—they can vote them out.
It’s no coincidence that Republicans’ favorite targets are prosecutors who disagree with the strategy of mass incarceration. Even when they are chosen by the people through democratic elections, officials who offer an alternative to punitive justice threaten the strongman persona that fascist Republicans seek to cultivate. Under this mantra, it is treason for DAs to do anything but prosecute criminals to the fullest extent. Unless, of course, the criminal in question is the preferred strongman himself, Donald Trump.
Whether we look at party-wide support for Trump, the fascist rhetoric of his primary opponents, or the anti-democratic policies implemented at the state level, it is clear that the Republican Party satisfies Eco’s characteristics of a fascist organization. With the country facing a rise in right-wing political violence, there’s a growing concern that Trump and his supporters will attempt to steal or disrupt the 2024 election. It is essential that the mainstream media begin describing the GOP as what it is: a bunch of fascists.