There appears to be two lines of thought developing about how to deal with fascism that has become a part of Trump’s election strategy. One is that we don’t address it now as it may affect Sander’s electoral chances and the other is that we tackle it head on now. Spoiler alert - I am a firm believer of the second approach.

A bit of personal history - I grew up in seventies Britain, London to be precise, and opposing fascism was a big part of my life. At the time I gave it little thought but many of my weekends were spent taking part in demonstrations and counter demonstrations against fascism. It wasn’t that fascism was a big problem in the UK at the time - much less of a problem there then than it is here, even prior to Trump’s adventure. Britain’s Fascist party at the time was the National Front and they were tiny and politically irrelevant but they demonstrated and marched a lot.

We just regarded it as our duty to oppose fascism - it was as natural a thing to do as go to a soccer match. The purpose was to keep the fascists (and nationalists -often but not always one and the same) as marginalized as possible within society. They had to be opposed at every turn - wait and see was not an option.

You see, 20th century European history had taught us that fascism doesn’t come to your door carrying a nice bottle of wine and politely asks if it can come in - it comes in the middle of the night with a battering ram and a Molotov cocktail. Our continent’s history is littered with tragic tales of those who thought they could let fascism ride for just another month, just another week or even just another hour.

We learned that it was worth fighting, with ideas, with our voices and if necessary with our fists to stop fascism gaining even the smallest breakthrough. Rule number one was to do everything in our limited power to make sure that being a fascist was never socially or culturally acceptable.

Back to the current situation. Unfortunately Trump has already moved the window of acceptability. It is now OK for a leading contender in a US election to goad his supporters into acts of violence towards those who disagree. The American population is beginning to accept violence at political rallies as normal. I cannot begin to describe just how much of a chill this sends down my spine.

Nazi Germany was before my time but I grew up watching the history of world war II on the TV and in books. It seemed like ancient history then even though it was only a mere twenty years after the fact. I spent my youth thinking that Europe had moved on, that differences could all be handled politically. Then Yugoslavia happened - A beautiful country with many wonderful people that I had visited several times the decade before was now being ripped apart, mainly due to underlying tensions but in no small part due to a narcissistic blowhard Slobodan Milošević who, in many respects, was not all that different to Trump.

When fascism takes over a country several things tend to come together:
Nationalism is acceptable (The US has always been especially susceptible to this)
A morally bankrupt leader who is capable of inspiring a following
A weak ineffectual press
A compromised police force -often with nationalist sympathies/tendencies.
No specific unified opposition

The US is in a perilous place as these conditions are already in place. The one answer is for every group to come together to fight fascism. We do not have to agree on anything else whatsoever. Only one thing should matter and that is an opposition to fascism. I would happily stand shoulder to shoulder with conservatives, communists, anarchists, and every other political philosophy. This doesn’t mean that we neglect our own causes it’s just that if we don’t tackle this one our causes could be rendered moot.

Shorter version: If you are considering putting the fight against Fascism on the backburner please think again.