(1779 words, part 4 of 7)

As I mentioned before, we should define fascism broadly. Maybe you aren’t telling people to be intolerant toward certain groups. Maybe you’re just telling people to disbelieve that which we can see with our own eyes in videos and photos, like the Biden-Harris administration regularly did. If so, I’m sorry to say that you’re helping fascism, and you may be outright fascist.

Maybe all you’re doing is hampering real-world solutions to fascism with some esoteric beliefs about how the political world should work. Beliefs that may even enjoy wide popularity. Imagine this: what if a party of controlled (read: faux) opposition defined for the masses that which is is civil and/or acceptable, and what creates change versus what doesn’t. You’d have a “Manchurian candidate” situation: where you helped put into power someone who doesn’t actually want what you want. That’s what’s happening with the Democratic Party. There’s no conspiracy, though; they do Fascism Light entirely in the open. Unfortunately, journalists rarely keep an eye out for it, nor maintain long memories of it, presenting for readers a running list. (A few good ones do.)

Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt once gloated that you can dismantle a democracy in front of a liberal’s face piece by piece, and all they’ll do is convene breakout sessions and committee meetings ‘til the boots are in the halls. Basically, the Nazis figured out a way to short-circuit those who would thwart you: act. Act while others waste time debating whether you’re technically following the rules. Act while others waste time debating your intentions. Act while others speak publicly about you not following the rules, and debate among themselves what level of action is both appropriate and within the rules.

All the while, the fascists act.

Those who oppose fascists need to start acting, whether or not action is within “the rules” (or norms). Because otherwise, fascism will not be stopped.

This scenario also plays out between the working class and the dictatorial capital class, maintained and accelerated under both ruling parties of the duopoly. We—the working class—are the ones endlessly debating. The dictators of capital are acting.

(Remember, Friends: Capitalism does not solve poverty. Capitalism creates poverty and then criminalizes it.)

The solution is clear. We should beware of substituting action with political machinations; beware of debates about rules and civility; and beware of condemning those who *do* act against fascism, empire, or the police state. Even if the only thing you’re doing is rhetoric that muddies the waters for effectual opposition, *you’re still helping fascism.*

In South Korea recently, when the corrupt administration declared martial law, members of the legislative body scaled the walls of the presidential palace and ultimately deposed the president, who now faces prosecution. The first one to scale the walls was later elected the new president, because he understood the dire need in that moment. Compare this to our members of Congress, who refused to push aside a single Trump staffer blocking the door to a vital agency, which they had the legal right to inspect. Our legislators are, with the potential exception of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, not meeting the need of this moment. That’s the nicest way to put it.

Trump’s April 28 Executive Order went into effect July 28, 2025. I encourage you to read it in its entirety, but in short, it describes how Trump believes he has the right, and intends, to install military and/or other “national security” personnel in our local police departments. It also alludes to legal consequences for state and city leaders who resist this dramatic and unprecedented step. Everyone who believes themselves a leader needs to think about what they are willing to face to protect their constituents. And if it’s relatively little, they should step down.

The reason we haven’t dismantled fascism is because it serves capital in capital’s time of need. Fascism is a tool of those with political power, and in the U.S., capital owns both major parties. So, fascism is a tool of capital. Voters technically have the chance to stop this, but not if we keep pretending fascistic things are okay when the Democrats do them. That’s the main reason I try to point out when Democrats embrace fascism.

There is a likelihood (some historians would say 100% likelihood) that capital won’t allow voters/voting to strip it of power. If you’ve seen the last three Democratic presidential primaries, you’ve seen a bunch of ways voters can be thwarted. There are more still. For what it’s worth, the only action historians say has never failed to secure the change it seeks is a general strike of at least 3.5% of a national population. See generalstrikeus.com for more info.

A wise social media post this year said, “If you treat fascist collaborators like allies, you’ll never beat fascism.” Almost everyone with a “D” behind their name has collaborated with fascists. Did you know that when Barack Obama was president, he turned ICE from a small contingent, as it was under George W. Bush, into a massive deportation machine? Did you know that Hitler’s Plan A was not death camps; it was mass deportation. Anne Frank died of simple poor health conditions, not in a death camp, but in what was essentially a deportation waypoint facility. The death camps were only the “final solution.” We never left any of this behind.

ICE’s current director was appointed by Obama. That director, Tom Homan, recently commented, about Trump’s April 28 Executive Order, that he may arrest mayors and governors who stand in the way of these plans. “Wait to see what’s coming,” he said ominously.

Last year, Homan’s ICE recently deported to El Salvador a veteran of the U.S. Marines who had served tours in Iraq. Segovia Benitez received multiple awards during his service, according to military records. His rib cage is tattooed with a large Statue of Liberty and he has “USMC” tattooed across one arm. ICE has specifically targeted workers involved in a landmark labor rights case, according to multiple outlets. “They actually had a list,” The Intercept reported an insider said about the incident.

Department of Homeland Security, ostensibly an anti-terrorism bureau, is now reviewing social media posts by anyone seeking immigration status, with the stated intention of denying status for pro-Palestine remarks. But it’s also so-called liberal institutions doing the fascism. In spring 2025, NYU withheld their valedictorian’s diploma for recognizing Palestinian suffering on stage. The student didn’t even say the word “Israel.”

That the modern deportation machine began with Obama’s appointing a fascist official should tell you something. That Biden didn’t relieve this same official after the first Trump term should tell you more. That Biden didn’t relieve Louis DeJoy, Trump appointee to the USPS, who has bragged about dismantling mail-sorting infrastructure to ensure mail-in ballots get delayed, should tell you everything you need to know.

When Biden was in power, he refused to alter filibuster rules to pass the voting rights act or his wide-ranging climate legislation. Biden refused to replicate one good thing Reagan did: calling up Israel’s leader and telling them to stop their genocidal attacks. This places Biden solidly to the right of Reagan on this issue. Biden didn’t work to codify the right to an abortion, nor give DC citizens a real vote in Congress (which would only help Democrats moving forward). He didn’t try to address Citizens United, the shit SCOTUS ruling that allows infinite opaque money in politics.

Why is it that the more overtly-fascist (Republican) presidents maximally use their power, while Democratic presidents pretend like they have no power? The only real explanation is that Democrats aren’t real opposition. They’re faux opposition, “opposition” controlled by capital, redirecting your rage into something useless. Don’t fall for it.

How are Democrats on the genocide in Gaza? They are demonstrably *not* opposition to the holocaust that continues to happen in Palestine. (500 Palestinians have been killed since the “ceasefire” started.) Eighty three Senators, including thirty Democrats, refused to end weapons shipments to Israel, during a time that Israel was starving Gaza. By the day of the vote, Israel had been blocking all food trucks from Gaza for more than a month. It’s now accurate to say that actively starving children is bipartisan U.S. policy. Sending weapons to a humanitarian-violating state is illegal under U.S. and international law, but that didn’t stop thirty Democrats from voting for it.

In summer 2025, a government document was released confirming what amateur photographers had captured: snipers on the roofs above protests for Palestine at Ohio State University, where I once took classes. In early May, Columbia University had suspended four student journalists for showing how the security forces abused student protesters, some of whom left the scene on stretchers. This is objective truth: if you went to a Palestine protest any time in the last 18 months, Democrats have taken more meaningful action against you than they have against the entire Trump administration, or Israel. The question is, What does this mean?

“Being able to recognize a genocide ten years after it happens is useless,” said one social post. “You need the f***ing spine to take an unpopular position while there’s still time for it to matter, or else you’re a danger to the world.” Democrats fit the bill as a danger to the world. Are you still voting for them? Is your family; are your friends?

The reason the Democrats abandoned rhetoric of “resistance” for this Trump term is that the morality and logic of resistance would be applied to Palestine. As Chuck Schumer said in so many words, the party wants this genocide more than they want rights and laws domestically. 

“Reform the Dems from the inside” could not be more laughable given this and the recent ouster of David Hogg, a moderate, from Democratic Party leadership. We now have clear evidence that this party will be undemocratic whenever doing so serves the billionaire class, and that they’ll support a genocide for personal wealth and power. What more do you need?

Are there good national politicians working in the major parties today? Don’t be so sure. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Jill Stein “predatory” during the lead-up to the last election, despite research showing that a vote for Stein was more likely to take a vote from Trump than from Harris. AOC also voted to break the railroad strike when all they were doing was seeking two paid sick days, up from zero. Let’s not forget the Democratic Party thwarted its presidential primary process three elections in a row. I no longer have any doubt that they don’t want voters to pick their candidate. Bernie, it turns out, is a raging Zionist. Even up to January 2026, he has been repeating the claim that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” (In international law, an occupier such as Israel actually does not have a right to defend itself against those it is occupying, including against armed attacks. So Bernie is wrong as well as racist.)

Do you remember how the border wall Harris denigrated as a VP candidate became a central element of her Presidential campaign? That’s the Overton Window at work. But also, it must be said, an embrace of fascism.

Biden-Harris is responsible for the Holocaust of our times. (Reagan used the term “holocaust” for a much more minor aggression by Israel.) But they are responsible for much more. It was the Biden-Harris administration that gave us the legal opinion that presidents are immune from actions in office, destroying the rule of law. This administration also increased our beds (rather capacity; often there are no beds) in our concentration camps at the southern border—a decision so obvious it will be studied in history books. Harris campaigned on being even more hard-line on immigration than Trump.

As Malcolm X said, a so-called “well-meaning liberal” is more dangerous and damaging to the cause of racial justice than a KKK member, because the KKK member says precisely what they’re there to do. The liberal does things similar to what the KKK does (or prevents change, which has a similar outcome)… but they do it under a disguise of civility and morality. It’s a trick. Don’t fall for it.

To continue reading this series, visit the next article in it: “An introduction to your ruling class and their grifts”

Brandon Smith has been an elected town official and the youngest winner of the only award for independent journalism. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and In These Times.