Autocracy, authoritarianism, dictatorship, totalitarianism, despotism, monocracy, fascism – so many ways to describe the current state of the (not so) United States of America.
Here in the U.S., both the public and private spheres have been abuzz about whether our country is experiencing a Constitutional crisis. For the most part - at least in the U.S. mainstream/corporate media - people tend to dance around the topic, stating or inferring that we are not yet there (wherever "there" is).
The website of the U.S. House of Representatives provides an authoritative explanation of how our Federal government is designed and intended to function in order to uphold the Constitution: "To ensure a separation of powers, the U.S. Federal Government is made up of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. To ensure the government is effective and citizens’ rights are protected, each branch has its own powers and responsibilities, including working with the other branches." That seems clear enough; the system is structured to allow each branch to check and balance the others to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful – that is, assuming at least one or two branches are functioning as intended.
Something is certainly not working in that U.S. President Donald Trump and his cabal are clearly running roughshod over the other two branches of government (definitely not "working with" them) as he – with a sweep of his pen - eviscerates one governmental agency and law after another, disappears people and deports them without any due process, and attempts to remove anyone - and particularly any judge - who comes even remotely close to throwing a wrench in the gears of his shredder. While at least some judges are upholding their duty to the Constitution, the (Republican) majority in Congress is certainly not!
Yet, beyond the talk of a Constitutional crisis, there is another, deeper, and far more important, question: Just what, beyond the Constitution itself, is really going on here and why?
Beyond putting people's health, safety and financial security at risk, Trump is consolidating power at breakneck speed, undermining every check and balance, as well as the rule of law, and ultimately the nation's founding documents. He expects, and even demands, personal loyalty of everyone in government; threatens to jail political opponents; spreads conspiracy theories; fires anyone in the Federal government who exposes the truth or whom he sees as a threat to his power; threatens journalists and any public speech with which he disagrees in a blatant suppression of the First Amendment's guarantee of Freedom of Expression; conducts mass extrajudicial deportations; and much, much more.
It is clear that what we are witnessing is far beyond a Constitutional crisis. Of course it is a Constitutional crisis, but what is creating the crisis is a very well planned, and extremely well coordinated, effort to eviscerate what is left of the U.S. Democracy and establish an authoritarian state (a.k.a. DICTATORSHIP) run by a cabal of White Christian Nationalists.
As for The Constitution of the United States, I wouldn't be surprised to see "We the People" removed (by Executive Order of course) from the preamble any day now.
Elie Mystal, The Nation's justice correspondent, speaking on DemocracyNow! on March 19th is one of the people with the clear vision and courage to have stated what is happening right before our eyes:
“We live in a fascist dictatorship. That’s what’s happening right now. That’s what it feels like. This is where we are. There is not a coming constitutional crisis; we are in the constitutional crisis right now. Because what do we have — how can we call ourselves a democracy, how can we call ourselves a nation of laws, if one man, and one man alone, Donald Trump, is able to defy the other two branches of government? That’s what we have here. And that’s what Trump promised to do, and that’s what he is, in fact, doing.”
While it is clear that we are living through a crisis like never before in the U.S., what is less clear is the fact that the current crisis should come as no surprise, at least to any student of history. The groundwork for this crisis began well before the Constitution was written – history paints the picture: the kidnapping of “others” from distant shores to be used as slaves to build our economy, the conquest and genocide of Native Americans to steal their lands, of the building up of military power with which to threaten and control other countries for their resources and, in more modern times creation of the National Security State (and using fear of other countries) to justify whatever the government does as absolutely necessary for the protection of the people, the undue influence of corporations as“crony capitalism”, ignoring laws – both domestic and international, and the long-standing abandonment by Congress of its sole authority to declare war.
Those who have worked long and hard to prepare for this moment – including the creators of the infamous (and chilling) Project 2025 – are also the product of a long and ugly history: the Civil War that, as with most wars, never really ended; it planted new roots whose tree bore bitter fruit – manifest in the Ku Klux Klan, Joh Birch Society... and today's Heritage Foundation and other institutions built on White Christian Nationalism and other associated ultra-conservative thinking. Project 2025 is the culmination of decades of patience and planning (as well as the grooming of ultra-conservative judges), and we are seeing the results evolve in real time.
Most, if not nearly all, U.S. presidents have likely not seen this coming. They have been blind to the signs that they were leading the U.S. down the slippery slope by setting a precedent through their abuse of power that now presents an existential danger to the Republic. Examples include their unilateral use of war powers, extrajudicial detention (Guantanamo), and extrajudicial assassinations, to name a few.
At this point in history, any remaining threads of Democracy in the U.S. are threatened by what is a descent into a full-on authoritarian Fascist state.
Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt wrote about fascism (“Fascism Anyone?,” in Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying seven fascist regimes, including those of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism.
Britt said his "Analysis of these seven regimes reveals fourteen common threads that link them in recognizable patterns of national behavior and abuse of power. These basic characteristics are more prevalent and intense in some regimes than in others, but they all share at least some level of similarity."
A number of these elements are extremely troubling in that they have existed in the U.S. to some degree for decades (and even centuries) leading up to our current crisis. Yet now, all of them are in place, and there are no apparent guardrails left to keep them in check. Our Democracy is in extreme peril.
LAWRENCE BRITT'S 14 IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS OF A FASCIST STATE
1) Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2) Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, and long incarcerations of prisoners.
3) Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists...
4) Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5) Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation.
6) Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation or by sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Government censorship and secrecy, especially in war time, are very common.
7) Obsession with National Security
Fear of hostile foreign powers is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8) Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
9) Protection of Corporate Power
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10) Suppression of Labor Power
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .
11) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
12) Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13) Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14) Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
HOW DO WE THE PEOPLE RESPOND TO THIS CRISIS?
The only way to respond to Fascism is for We The People to come together in community for the common good. To stand up for the rule of law (rather than the rule of lawlessness), for human rights (rather than the rights of the rich and powerful), and for a better nation for ALL (and not just a privileged few).
We must not allow fear to paralyze us. Trump and his cronies are using the tactics of threats and intimidation in an attempt to control us and extinguish resistance to his authoritarian rule. By coming together in community we find other people with whom to share our concerns and fears and, most importantly, build a strong, resilient, and powerful movement to resist Fascist power.
Each of us is a unique human being, with our own abilities and limits. We must find what inspires us, what we feel able to do, and then try to push ourselves just a bit outside our comfort zone.
We must also be strategic in our planning, and use calculated tactics in all our actions. Above all, we must always apply nonviolence in every action. Nonviolent resistance is a transformative force for change. Gene Sharp's 198 methods of nonviolent action is a helpful starting point to understand what constitutes nonviolent action.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was both a modern-day prophet and a true believer in the power of nonviolence; not a popular belief in a country he called out as, “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” That statement, made in 1967, rings true now as it did then, even more so.
King’s conceptualization of nonviolence had six key principles.
One can resist evil without resorting to violence.
Nonviolence seeks to win the “friendship and understanding” of the opponent, not to humiliate them (King, Stride Toward Freedom, 84).
Evil itself, not the people committing evil acts, should be opposed.
Those committed to nonviolence must be willing to suffer without retaliation as suffering itself can be redemptive.
Nonviolent resistance avoids “external physical violence” and “internal violence of spirit” as well: “The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent but he also refuses to hate him” (King, Stride, 85). The resister should be motivated by love in the sense of the Greek word agape, which means “understanding,” or “redeeming good will for all [people]” (King, Stride, 86).
The nonviolent resister must have a “deep faith in the future,” stemming from the conviction that “The universe is on the side of justice” (King, Stride, 88).
Dr. King held a deep spiritual belief that violent revolution was impractical: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. The beauty of nonviolence is that in its own way and in its own time it seeks to break the chain reaction of evil” (King, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, 62–63).
The time for action is now! People across the country are already acting in solidarity - marching, rallying, and protesting against the Trump regime's destruction of our country. And there is much more to come.
Saturday, April 5th will be the largest mass mobilization to date – the NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION. The message will be clear: Hands off our Democracy! A core principle behind all Hands Off! events is a commitment to nonviolent action. Please find an event near you, and find as many other people in your community to participate. Together, our voices are strong; we will be heard!
For the Common Good!
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was also published at Transcend Media Service (https://www.transcend.org/tms/2025/04/we-the-people-stand-united-for-the-common-good/) on March.
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