Fascism never dies, but merely takes other shapes and forms. It can be confusing, because it attracts many of the same people as socialism, so it is vitally important to unpack it now that Trump has won.
Like socialism, fascism appeals to lower income populations. The crucial difference is that most people embrace socialism via a relatively complex thought process, while fascism mainly appeals to raw emotions.
Had the Sanders campaign not been torpedoed by the Democratic Party (officially the 'progressive' party), polls suggested at the time that he would soundly trounce Donald Trump, so in a way this election vindicates Bernie's supporters.
Had Bernie been allowed to become the Democratic candidate he would be poised today to officially rehabilitate socialism, and although he failed to come out forcefully for international cooperation, which is a basic socialist principle, he would also have mended relations with Russia, as Trump plans to do.
The great difference between the supporters of these two candidates is that Trump's are armed and could be dangerous if their expectations are not met. President Bernie would have had to buck opposition by the combined Democratic and Republican 1%, while his supporters would not be likely to take up arms to get their way. Trump's control of all three branches of government is fearful to Democrats, but it will enable him to do what authoritarian leaders do around the world: get things done. It is not clear that the president-elect will be able to pull jobs out of a hat. But at least socialists will live to see another day, since he will not make war on the other great nuclear power, Russia, as Hillary was planning to do -- and as Hitler did.
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