The “F” word in the period of MAGAism
After 1945, with the disclosure of Nazi crimes, the terms “fascism” and “Nazism” took on new meaning. It became synonymous with evil itself.
This had two symmetrical effects for its former meaning, as a term used by practitioners and commentators alike to describe extreme right, ethnonationalist, authoritarian political movements.
On one hand, people on the Far Right in Europe and the Eurosphere who cherished similar political views as the interwar fascists (anti-liberalism, -socialism, authoritarianism, desire for ultranationalist or ethnocentric “spiritual rebirth”) had to absolutely deny the term “fascism”.
Different strategies were tried. Notably, ending all direct reference to race in ethnonationalist programs, and appealing to history, tradition, and culture. The “nouvelle droite” were saving “culture”, “European heritage”, or “Western civilization”.
On the other hand, even people on the Far Right etc. began to use the term “fascist” to describe their enemies. In a recent speech describing his enemies as “vermin”, echoing the worst interwar language of the Far Right, Mr Trump numbered “fascists” alongside “Marxists” as “vermin”. It is unclear that he, or many of his followers, really knows or cares about the historical-political meanings of these terms.