A pernicious fascist creep, charged by Third Position fascist logic and language, has been growing in the United States since the turn of the 21st century. The creep was accelerated by the election of Donald J. Trump in 2016 which emboldened the far-right and fascists in the US, exemplified by the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, VA in 2017. However, Joe Biden’s triumph over Trump in the 2020 Election, the Capitol Riot that followed on January 6, 2021, and the numerous legal troubles Trump faced following his presidency seemed to make his further presidential dreams dead. Yet here we are on the brink of a second Trump presidency and, with that, talks about tackling American fascism have again become pertinent.
Early indicators suggest that Trump’s win was largely due to concerns about the economy and economic factors. Polls tells us that those who believe the condition of the US economy is in an excellent or good state were far more likely to vote for Harris, while those who believe it is not so good or poor were far more likely to vote Trump. Similarly, those who feel like their family’s financial position is better today than it was four years ago were far more likely to vote for Harris and those who felt like they were worse off were far more likely to vote for Trump.
Curiously, this is a trend that extends outside of the white population in the US, with polls indicating that 65% of American Indians and 55% of Latino men voted for Trump. It is hard to imagine that these groups believe Trump respects land sovereignty, cares for equitable immigration policies or address structural racism. Rather, economic concerns took precedence and were seen as the most critical issue for many voters who believed that Trump was the better candidate to tackle them.
Overlooking Trump’s positions on other issues and solely focusing on the belief that he can fix the economy is one conversation. Another, and perhaps more pressing, is the language which Trump and his allies evoke. The conspiratorial language of ‘globalism’, that is the belief of a global political and economic elite conspiring against the masses has taken root in American political discourse. The belief and existential dread that outside forces, such as immigrants and global capitalists, are threatening to destroy the American economy and eroding the American way of life, particularly the American dream, is very real. Moreover, when Americans are struggling economically, these issues feel all the more real, relatable and pressing.
The danger of this language taking root and speaking to Americans very real economic concerns is that it is embedded in fascist logic, particularly the logic of Third Position fascism and that of the French Novelle Droite. Developed by fascist theorists such as Alain de Benoist, Third Position fascism argues that modern principles of multiculturalism and egalitarianism have eroded national identities and traditional ways of life and led to economic policies that empower minorities and immigrants over native populations. The arguments of Novelle Droite probably feel familiar because they have been popularised by right-wing populists across Europe, North America and beyond for the past two decades.
Their logic taking root and seemingly providing answers for people’s economic woes is an alarming indicator of the fascist creep. When these fear-mongering stories are repeatedly told by Trump and his allies and he is then elected as the presidential candidate because, for many, he seems best equipped to fix the US economy, the issue of class needs to be addressed. Or put more bluntly, given fascist language has crept into the US mainstream political lexicon, the threat is very much a fascist threat and an issue for all anti-fascists, socialist and capitalist alike.
Therefore, it seems like addressing Americans’ economic worries is a pressing anti-fascist issue. This is not to argue for a class reductionist anti-fascism but rather to think about class as a unitary issue and platform for a strong multiracial anti-fascism. Class cannot overshadow issues of indigenous land sovereignty, institutional racism, the prison industrial complex, the attack on women’s bodily autonomy and the tremendous violence towards transpeople. However, it is an issue that intersects with a variety of subjectivities. It is an issue that can bring people together to collectively address issues of economic and social injustice. Most importantly, it will provide a more nuanced and holistic understanding to an area where the fascist creep has made major inroads.
Whether you are striving for a revolutionary anti-capitalist anti-fascist future or looking to push the Democratic Party to seriously tackle the root causes of the fascist creep in the US, it is clear that there must be a strong focus on class and the economy in contemporary anti-fascism.
To cite this article:
Shane Little, ‘Do We Need To Talk About Class Again? Thinking About Anti-Fascism in the Age of Trump 2.0,’ The Helsinki Notebooks, Vol. 1, No. 3 (15 Nov. 2024).
Do We Need To Talk About Class Again? Thinking About Anti-Fascism in the Age of Trump 2.0 by Shane Little is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
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