American Authoritarian Populism, aka American Fascism

The election and subsequent reelection of Donald Trump have clearly shown the power of the various authoritarian populisms, Christian nationalisms, and American fascism. Who are the Fascists of Today? DiMaggio et al. ( 2024 ) found that about 26% of the American public supports the notion that whites and white men are victims under attack from immigrants and deviant sexual orientations and that violence will be necessary to restore true American society (117). As their research also found, party affiliation, income, and education do not predict support for fascism. As they maintain, the popular media and most academics mischaracterize fascism in the United States, which is not related to party affiliation or class position, but rather to authoritarian white supremacy (119). Today’s fascists do not typically look like the fascists of the mid-20th century in Europe, with militaristic uniforms, Black or brown shirts, marching in goose steps with unique salutes, and ascetic moral codes. Today’s fascists may not stand out by the way they dress (some do wear swastikas), but they do stand out by the people and policies they support. Who voted for Donald Trump? As we showed in Chapter 1 , a majority of men, regardless of age, income, educational attainment, and race (except Black men), voted for Trump. Yes, this includes college-educated men. But, on the other hand, a majority of women favored Kamala Harris, except non-college white women, who favored Trump. Non-college women of color favored Harris ( NBC News 2024 ). What does this tell us? Perhaps, most importantly, economic class did not determine voter preferences. The two variables that measure class, education, and income did not shape the election.