Can we just get it over with and go full fascist?

I’m tired of worrying about both the collapse of democracy and my credit score

Photo by Evan Vucci, Associated Pres

According to Google’s Gemini AI chatbot, fascism is:

“a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement that puts the nation above the individual. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, strict social and economic control, militarism, and the forceful suppression of opposition.”

Wikipedia’s definition is similar, and ChatGPT’s runs along the same lines but tosses in “strong centalized control” and “xenophobia”, which seem particularly relevant to this moment in American history (September 2025).

I’m not a political scientist or theorist — I don’t know who out there has the best definition of fascism and its various gradations and varieties. But my purposes are to complain, mock, and ridicule, so, while I may blush at using such unscholarly tools to frame my discussion, I stand behind my methodology for these purposes.

It should not be controversial to say that the current president has — at a minimum — authoritarian predilections. Conservatives today still consider that word, authoritarian, an epithet to be lobbed at Democrats (Right wing media likes to say things like “The Biden administration’s…