I was napping when they broke into the Capitol. My wife, Martha, woke me to tell me the news. At that point, the riot (or āinsurrection,ā if you prefer, although I wasnāt thinking of it in those terms at the time) was a couple hours old; it appeared that Congress was safe, our representatives tweeting and cuddling each other in their undisclosed safety bunkers. Ok, I donāt remember any reports of ācuddling,ā but I like to think of Susan Collins and Chuck Schumer holding each other tight.
Martha said she thought we were watching an important moment in American history. I said I didnāt think so; thereād already been so much insanity during Trumpās four years in office that the scene struck me as just another exampleāthough a particularly dramatic oneāof MAGAās criminal exuberance. It was, I thought, Trumpās political death knell.
Five years after the fact, with our criminal president reinstated for a second term, I understand that dayāand especially its aftermathādifferently. January 6, 2021 was the day America broke.
Archive: http://archive.today/L3hAL
Well, fascism in America, like fascism in Germany and Italy, like any disease, is a spectrum. Youāre running a mild fever one day, the next day your neck feels stiff and the third day you call your boss to tell them youāre staying home with the flu - and the official day your flu starts is day 3.
America in the 80ās was all kinds of messed up but it wasnāt fascist. It had fascistic traits, which wasnāt really obvious if you didnāt pay attention (I admit I didnāt) and are really obvious now with the benefit of hindsight, now that weāre all stuck in bed with a full-blown fascist fever.