Part of the problem with screaming about fascism is that the claim is vague, and political rhetoric is absolutely full of “most important election in the history of forever.”

Fascism is vague because we do an absolutely terrible job in explaining what it is and what it actually means. Most people know precisely two things about fascism. First, Auswitz, and second, goose stepping and straight arm salutes. This doesn’t explain anything, and can lull people into a very false sense of security because until someone hangs up a swastika or starts making angry speeches about minorities, it simply doesn’t look like fascism to the average American who was given a Marvel Comic Universe understanding of fascism.

Second, we’ve been playing the exact same game in every election. George W Bush was a threat to democratic ideals. That was 24 years ago. Every election I can remember has had democracy on the ballot and has been the most consequential election ever. It’s been done so much by all parties that nobody’s going to be convinced to vote for someone because their opponent is a “danger to our democracy.” It’s been done too many times. And people are now pretty suspicious of “my opponent is Literally Hitler” not because it cannot happen, it obviously can, but because it’s been used for decades as cover for basically not having to convince anyone you can do the job. Trump is Fascist, okay so tell me, what are you going to do about Russia? Or the price of food? Or education? Or … anything of actual importance to regular people who are listening to you prattle on about democracy while they’re figuring out whether or not they can cut something else out of the budget because gas is high and groceries are high, and they just want to live life.