Neofascism in the United States takes the form of big money, big banks, big corporations, tied to xenophobic s... — Cornel West

Neofascism in the United States takes the form of big money, big banks, big corporations, tied to xenophobic scapegoating of the vulnerable, like Mexicans and Muslims and women and black folk, and militaristic policies abroad, with strongman, charismatic, autocratic personality, and that's what Donald Trump is.

Author: Cornel West

Insight: When we hear "fascism," most people picture 1930s Europe—armbands, rallies, obvious totalitarianism. But West's point cuts differently: modern authoritarianism doesn't always announce itself. It wears a business suit, speaks in tweets, and hides behind market forces and campaign donations. The machinery of control gets outsourced to banks and corporations, which makes it feel less like tyranny and more like just how things work. What's unsettling about this framework is how it explains why so many people feel powerless even in a democracy. When political power concentrates alongside corporate power, and when vulnerable groups get blamed for systemic problems they didn't cause, you get a kind of control that doesn't require secret police—just economic precarity, fear, and division. The "strongman" figure becomes appealing precisely because people are desperate for someone to fix problems they've been convinced are caused by immigrants or other outsiders, rather than institutional failures. The non-obvious part: West isn't saying fascism requires tanks rolling down Main Street. He's suggesting it can emerge quietly through the concentration of wealth and influence, wrapped in nationalist rhetoric, especially when it targets those with the least power to defend themselves. That's worth sitting with.