Richard A. Cherwitz

Ever since the election of Donald Trump in 2016, and especially following his 2020 defeat, there are those who have argued that what is transpiring in the United States is analogous in many ways to the rise of fascism in Italy and Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

This was the claim made by Madeleine Albright, an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001.

In her book “Fascism: A Warning,” Albright wrote: “If you walk like a fascist, talk like a fascist, think the rules do not apply to you; if you seek to destroy the democratic institutions of your nation, solely to serve your own personal ends; if you foment racism, violence, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny and racial intolerance; if you constantly lie to the people of your country; if you seek to destroy the credibility of news organizations to inoculate yourself against them reporting to the nation about your crimes; if you knowingly collude with foreign powers to undermine your country’s electoral process; if you sell public policy, domestic and foreign, to the highest bidder … you just might be a fascist.”

Others have refuted this claim, suggesting that at best it is an overstatement and at worst a fallacy. This argument was advanced by Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, author of the blog Marginal Revolution and a columnist for Bloomberg View.

Said Cowen: “My argument is pretty simple: American fascism cannot happen anymore because the American government is so large and unwieldy. No matter who is elected, the fascists cannot control the bureaucracy, they cannot control all the branches of American government, they cannot control the judiciary, they cannot control semi-independent institutions such as the Federal Reserve, and they cannot control what is sometimes called ‘the deep state.’ The net result is they simply can’t control enough of the modern state to steer it in a fascist direction.”

For Cowen and those who share his view, those who doubt and don’t take seriously the prospect of a fascist autocracy in our country, I offer the following syllogism — a tool of reasoning discussed by Aristotle and one that for more than 40 years I taught in my argumentation and advocacy course:

(1) According to the ACLU, violent rhetoric is on the rise in the United States and continues to be loudly amplified by Donald Trump, especially following his legal indictments. He went so far as to suggest the execution of Gen. Mark Milley, his well-respected Chair of the Joint Chiefs. This call is something now being repeated by a few of the former president’s ardent advocates in Iowa.

(2) As Rick Stengel, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, astutely observed, history documents that violent rhetoric and violence are endemic to fascism just as free speech is inherent to democracy.

(3) Ergo, fascism is a distinct possibility in the United States.

Admittedly, this logic may never persuade Trump acolytes who, arguably, seem immune to rationality.

However, I believe most Americans are good and decent; I hope they therefore will take the conclusion of my syllogism seriously, doing everything they can to prevent what now appears to be a real possibility.