A Revisit: Henry A. Wallace on the Danger of American Fascism

In 1944, at the height of the war against Germany and Japan, Henry A. Wallace, Vice President to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was asked by the New York Times to write on what fascism was and the danger it posed. Worth a read, here are a few excerpts from his essay which offer relevant insights into today’s political climate.

“A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends. The supreme god of a fascist, to which his ends are directed, may be money or power; may be a race or a class; may be a military, clique or an economic group; or may be a culture, religion, or a political party.”

“The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity…They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism… They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution.”

“…many people whose patriotism is their proudest boast play Hitler’s game by retailing distrust of our Allies and by giving currency to snide suspicions without foundation in fact.”

“Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that…they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.”

“Democracy to crush fascism internally must … put human beings first and dollars second. It must appeal to reason and decency and not to violence and deceit. We must not tolerate oppressive government or industrial oligarchy in the form of monopolies and cartels. …we must all be on our guard against intolerance, [and] bigotry… .”

A post-insurrection resurgence by Donald Trump has opened the floodgates of fascism talk. Whether America succumbs to Wallace’s criteria of fascism remains unclear. However, it is clear one presidential candidate wants to strengthen our democracy; the other wants to dismantle it.

President Biden strongly advocates for women’s, voting, LGBTQ+, and worker’s rights; is pro-union; believes in a multi-faith America; has legislated for broader access to healthcare and gender-affirming care; is pro-immigration reform and respects our justice system; wants to bolster the solvency of Social Security and Medicare by increasing taxes on earners making above $400K per year and on corporations; supports a free and democratic Ukraine and our NATO allies; has restored the US as leader of the free world; and will fight for paid family leave, federal subsidies for child-care, and universal preschool access for American households in a second term.

In contrast, Trump lied over 30,000 times when in office (see Washington Post); wants an “imperial presidency”; delegitimizes our democratic and legal institutions through discrediting rhetoric; speaks to curtailing civil liberties and media freedom; encourages intolerance and violence through demagoguery; embraces Christian nationalist rhetoric; wants to build migrant detention camps and initiate mass deportations using the US military; adulates authoritarians V. Putin and V. Orban; has threatened to abandon NATO allies; is mocked by leaders of democratic nations; wants himself and police to be immune from prosecution; demands 100% loyalty from his party and America’s CEOs;

vilifies anyone disloyal to him; and wants to further cut taxes for corporations and the ultrawealthy, further shrinking the middle class.

It’s hard not to read fascism into a Trump second term.

Joe Holomuzki, Carson City Nevada.

Submitted to Nevada Appeal Quest Column on 23 June 2024