Another almost great article.

This is why it is so frustrating to read much of Umair's work: Virtually everything he writes is eminently correct, but his analysis often stops short -- and usually along partisan lines.

Now, obviously the staggering wealth inequality that we observe in the U.S. is destroying living standards for Americans. And this clearly exacerbates the fascistic impulse to find some racialized "other" to use as a scapegoat.

And, I wholeheartedly agree that fascist demagogues like Trump, Hawley, Green, and McCarthy, who represent the billionaire class, are helping to drive us toward some desolate, fascistic end point.

But, it's simply not true that American fascism emerged "by way of Trumpism." It was always present, even from the nation's founding. The U.S. is a nation created by and for a class of economic elites, and Trumpism is simply the natural outcome of a few centuries of letting that machinery extract wealth and resources, siphoning off the bottom to feed the top.

If you want to understand American fascism, by all means look to Trump and the GOP. But, you also need to look at the other side of that equation: Democrats like Biden, Schumer, Pelosi, etc., who have abetted the rise of fascism at every turn, because they, too, are in thrall to the corporate class who benefit from it.