Month: January 2026

Should we ever compare modern situations to Hitler’s fascism? An update

We originally posted this in 2018:

Good historians are extremely cautious about comparing problems–even very serious ones–to Nazism. Claiming that someone is “like Hitler” or “as bad as Hitler” cannot be done lightly. The enormity of the crimes committed by fascists in Europe before and during WWII is so overpowering that a slipshod or weak comparison diminishes both the horror of the Nazis and the credibility of the warning one is trying to raise in the present day.

So we were cautious when we heard about this short video by Jason Stanley, a philosophy professor at Yale, that’s been going around. But we feel it is on target, and so we link you to If you’re not scared about fascism in the U.S., you should be.

This post is even more relevant today, and we were never more furious and distraught at being right.

If the link doesn’t work, or you don’t have access to the NYT, here’s the outline, with terrible yet completely foreseen updates.

2018: Historian Jason Stanley begins by saying “it might seem like an exaggeration to call Trump a fascist: after all, he’s not imprisoning his own people without due process.”

2026 update: there will always be those who cling to what Trump and his lackeys are not yet doing, no matter how much what they are doing clearly demonstrate what they are eventually going to do.

2018: “Fascism begins when politicians conjure up faith in a mythic past supposedly destroyed by liberals, feminists, and immigrants. Fascists create an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for a past that is racially pure, traditional, and patriarchal.”

2026: We’re living this every day in America, where a white male straight Christian past that never happened must be our future. Which can also never happen, and the fascists know that, and they embrace the perpetual war this creates, because that gives people a sense that someone powerful should be in charge during wartime…

2018: “As long as he remains in power, everything is possible. Without him the whole system collapses.”

2026: And that’s why the U.S. will either have rigged mid-term elections this year or no elections at all.

2018: “Once you’ve got your mythic past, you need the next ingredient: division. Whether it’s citizens and foreigners, whites and blacks, fascists succeed by turning groups against each other. The Nazis said Jews had no value because they supposedly did not mental or physical work… When you divide, it’s easier to control.”

2026: The obvious relevance of this to the war on people of color, all of whom are now treated as some kind of “immigrant” because America is naturally white, and on all women who must be reduced to service animals to bear white children, is infuriating.

2018: Then you attack the truth because truth is central to a free democracy. This creates a petrie dish of conspiracy theories… including that the “deep state” is trying to bring down Trump. With truth under attack and lies running wild, no one can agree on what’s true anymore, and fascists love that.

2026: We are now barricaded behind whatever we choose to believe is true, and those who believe fascism is truth walk our streets with submachine guns and unlimited license to kill.

2018: “I want you to be scared about encroaching fascism in America, because if you don’t, before long, it will start to feel normal. And when that happens, we’re all in trouble.”

2026: That has happened, and we’re all in trouble.

We all celebrated the holidays last month as if we still lived in a democratic America. We all talk about summer vacation and school, we commute to work and try to make our deadlines. We watch TV and shovel snow. Those things have to go on, maybe, but they should be what we do in our spare time, time we’re not devoting to fighting fascists in our government, local and state and federal.

Demand more of your elected officials. Attend protests. And be ready to fight right now to protect what should be our mid-term elections. Those happen locally, in your local school gyms and town halls. Don’t let anyone tamper with those elections, and if federal officials interfere, be ready to protest to whatever level is required to stop them.

Fascism is not entirely in place right now. Real Americans will put demolishing it ahead of any other work or concern in 2026.

The Bill of Rights, ICE translation; or, Americans have rights – even in 2026

Let’s revisit parts of the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution and spell out our rights in a way that even ICE can understand:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

–ICE translation: People are allowed to gather in protest, or even just to witness what they see you doing in their streets. It’s not an act of terrorism.

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

–ICE translation: Guns are used by armed forces to maintain a free state, not create a police state. And the people you like to call “civilians” have the right to carry guns.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

–ICE translation: No American has to tell you anything, give you anything, or show you anything. Your racism is not probably cause to stop, harass, and kill someone. You feeling secure in your person is not a substitute for anyone else feeling secure in theirs, nor is someone else’s personal security a threat to your own.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

–ICE translation: This is not a time of War, and the only way it’s a time of public danger is because you are a public danger through your illegal, lawless violence.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

ICE translation: In America, if someone has broken the law, we send them to trial. We don’t execute them before or after sending them to a concentration camp.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

–ICE translation: You are not empowered by the Constitution. You answer to the people. You’re not cops, warriors, soldiers, heroes, or anything else but the lawless, violent mob the Founders–the everyday people of the 13 colonies–rose up to fight.