There is, of course, a direct line from Donald Trump's inaugural address to Tom Cotton's recent op-ed in the Times. Trump's Bannonesque portrait of America was aspirational, even though it spoke in the present tense. Cotton's screed is also aspirational, and perhaps a bit desperate.
Both are profoundly contrafactual, which I think points to the Achilles heel of this generation of fascists. It's one thing to see the future and make it happen - that is, after all, what we want our leaders to do. It's another thing to engage in magical thinking and then demand that stubborn reality conform to your pipe dream.
I think the Tom Cottons of the world think they are achingly close to turning America into a fascist state. And they are searching for that one last thing that will turn the key in the lock. The world doesn't work that way.
Will they succeed in the end? Quite possibly. But it's going to be a long, bitter struggle. The people are awake and, with the exception of the diehard Trumpies, they see the con.
What will happen if our nouveau fascists do gain the power they seek? Well, we have some historical precedents, including the example of Jim Crow in the American South. Pretty much across the board, these experiments did not end well. Sometimes the end has come in violence, but sometimes, as with East Germany in 1989, the collapse is relatively peaceful.
And then we get to clean up the breakage and start to rebuild.
See also Jim Crow Was a Failed State.
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