It's Not Fascism Yet, But...

Sussing Out What Might Be The Long Game

Many warn that what the Musk-Trump administration is doing in terms of economic policy and institutional shakedowns may tank the economy. If so, that may be an opportunity for pro-democracy forces to broad our coalitions. But, tanking the economy may be just what they have in mind. If it is, the prospect of fascism should be given more serious consideration.

Trump and Musk deliberately tanking the economy fits within the framework of fascist and authoritarian strategy. Historically, economic crises have often paved the way for authoritarian takeovers, and there is ample reason to suspect that this is a calculated move rather than mere incompetence.

The Strategy Behind Economic Destruction

Former Trump administration official and white nationalist movement icon, Steve Bannon, has been explicit about his goal of “deconstructing the administrative state.” This is not just about deregulation or small government—it’s about crippling the federal government’s ability to function so that a new order can be imposed in its place. Trump’s economic policies—massive corporate giveaways, government privatization, and reckless deregulation—don’t just benefit the ultra-wealthy; they also create economic chaos that can be exploited politically.

How Economic Collapse Paves the Way for Authoritarian Rule

1. Destabilization Creates a Crisis of Legitimacy

   • When the economy collapses, people lose faith in government institutions and look for a strongman to "restore order."

   • The Great Depression helped usher in fascist movements across Europe. Germany, Italy, and Spain all saw massive economic collapse before authoritarian leaders seized control.

   • In Russia, post-Soviet economic collapse allowed oligarchs and Vladimir Putin to consolidate power under the guise of restoring stability.

2. A Traumatized, Desperate Population is Easier to Control

   • Economic hardship makes people more susceptible to scapegoating—which is why authoritarian leaders always target vulnerable groups (immigrants, minorities, LGBTQ+ people, etc.).

   • In the Weimar Republic, Hitler’s Nazi Party gained power by blaming Jews, communists, and others for Germany’s economic struggles, promising national renewal through purging “undesirable” elements.

3. Economic Collapse Justifies Emergency Measures

   • Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein’s concept of “disaster capitalism” describes how elites use crises to impose policies that would normally be resisted.

   • If the economy crashes, Trump and Musk can justify draconian economic policies, expanded executive powers, and the elimination of regulatory and democratic safeguards.

4. Privatization of the State

   • One possible goal of economic collapse is to privatize government functions entirely, allowing billionaires like Musk to control public infrastructure, social services, and governance itself.

   • This mirrors Putin’s Russia, where oligarchs extracted wealth from the economy while consolidating power in a state-controlled kleptocracy.

How Trump and Musk Could Use Economic Collapse to Justify Fascist Policies

1. Nationalizing the Economy in a Fascist Model

   • After ransacking the government for personal gain, they can pivot to a strongman economy, using emergency powers to seize control over industries, crush labor movements, and implement a corporate-nationalist economic model.

   • This would resemble Mussolini’s “corporatism”, in which the state controlled key industries in collaboration with big business and suppressed workers’ rights.

2. Scapegoating and Political Persecution

   • As conditions deteriorate, the administration can redirect public anger toward immigrants, leftists, labor unions, and activists, claiming that they are responsible for the economic pain.

   • Crackdowns on dissent become easier when the public is convinced that opposition movements are part of the “problem.”

3. Militarization and Suppression of Dissent

   • Economic collapse is the perfect pretext for deploying the military against protesters, expanding police power, and instituting mass surveillance.

   • “Law and order” rhetoric is always strongest when people are afraid and desperate for stability.

What We Must Do to Prepare

1. Expose the Strategy

   • Make it clear that the economic collapse isn’t happening by accident—it is being engineered as a political weapon.

   • Call out Bannon’s philosophy of destruction and educate people on how fascists historically use crises to consolidate power.

2. Organize Worker and Consumer Resistance

   • Strengthen labor unions to resist mass layoffs, wage suppression, and corporate takeovers of public goods.

   • Encourage consumer strikes and targeted boycotts of companies complicit in economic destabilization.

3. Fight Against the Nationalization of Fascism

   • If Trump-Musk attempt to seize control of industries, mobilize workers in those industries (e.g., energy, transportation, healthcare) to resist through mass strikes and work stoppages.

4. Support Alternative Economic Models

   • Expand mutual aid networks, worker cooperatives, and decentralized local economies to make communities more resilient against economic collapse.

   • The more we can bypass corporate and state-controlled economies, the harder it will be for authoritarians to control people through economic coercion.

5. Prepare for Mass Mobilization

   • If they attempt a full economic coup, we must be ready for general strikes, direct action, and nonviolent mass resistance.

   • The People Power Movement in the Philippines (1986) successfully ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos through economic and civil disobedience—these tactics remain relevant today.

The Takeaway

Bannon and Trump aren’t just willing to let the economy tank—they need it to tank to consolidate their vision of permanent authoritarian rule. This is part of the fascist playbook, and we must counter it by exposing their strategy, mobilizing workers, and building alternative economic and political structures that make it harder for them to seize total control. Short-term, we must continue to illustrate and narrate the pain and suffering this administration is causing, and repeat, over and over again, that we are the victims of a billionaire steal of public goods and assets, including data and government contracts, and a deregulation regime that will make food and drugs, and other critical goods and services more unsafe for consumers. But, we also need to look to the future. The shock and awe campaign is just beginning and it is likely to get a lot worse.

If we act now, we can turn their crisis into an opportunity for mass democratic resistance. We are the majority. It’s time we learned how to act like it.