All I am trying to say in all this is, don’t say right wing when you mean fascist. Hate isn’t political. When hate is used to influence politics, that’s fascism and terrorism. They try to make us afraid to use the word but that’s what it is. Demonizing marginalized people for power is fascism.

I suppose I am using a remarkably uncynical sense of “political” here. I think that when a person expresses hatred, uses bad faith arguments, misrepresents facts, etc., they are not “doing politics” but rather trying to corrupt politics to use our collective power to harm the common good. I don’t tolerate the intolerant; I see them as outside of all meaningful political expression. But from everyone else, I think we can afford to assume good faith and aught to try.

A key characteristic of fascism is that it attacks left-wing politics, but that doesn’t make fascism right-wing politics! Fascism is really the exploitation of voters with authoritarian personalities by a small number of charismatic personalities who know some basic human psychology.

Fascist voters are scared. They are not really looking for political expression, they are looking to have their psychological needs met. They want to feel powerful. They don’t really have anything in mind to do with that power, because their whole deal is they are afraid of a future they don’t understand and feel like they can’t control.

I think when we blame things on “right wing politics” it needlessly poisons our own perspective, scorns innocent bystanders, and fails to be critical of the actual problems. Bigots and fascists are hateful, and I think we should call them what they are. Yes, most of them are right-wingers, but most right-wingers are not bigots and fascists. They’re Liberals and swing voters.