We may be short of an exact match lacking an economic slowdown and a military defeat, but I think the categories are amply satisfied by equivalents.
Substitute for a military defeat terror attacks that, given their effect on American authoritarians, have to be called successful. 9/11 was a psychological shock much like the loss of WWI, and the punitive Versailles Treaty, to the German people.
I seem to recall we did have a pretty serious economic downturn in 2007-8, and while the 1% has regained its economic fortunes, many Americans feel like they're still in the middle of an economic slowdown.
There are many more similarities, but never exact matches, in this history I'm reading. A major source of discontent in Germany in the interwar period was the persistent belief that Germany had been betrayed from within, and shouldn't have lost the war. It's hard to miss the similarity to the claim that Barack Obama is a Socialist Muslim who's betraying America to terrorists or some other threat du jour.
It takes decades and a host of malignant influences to create fascism. You have to take the long view, and treat it like a generational project the way that wealthy American rightwingers, like the Kochs, do. A lot of themes have to come together over a long period.
Flame » in reply to Similar forces are forcing us in the same direction as Germany.
Don't be too literal
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