US fascism had been here for decades. Too many people don't recognize fascism because they think fascism will arrive selling oppression and tyranny. If you're part of the privileged group fascism is selling you safety, normalcy, and tradition. (status quo)
The key point is they are selling BULLSHIT. Even if you are of the right color / party, you are one misstep away from being burned at the stake.
That's what most of these MAGA morons don't realize, they aren't going to be the rulers, they'll be cannon fodder for the 1%, and even part of the 1% IE Muskrat will have to watch their backs.
Fascism benefits no-one in reality... Even the leaders of the movement are constantly watching their backs because their allies are scumbags like themselves.
Going down that dark rabbit hole, I can see how some people might see some benefits.
Entire classes of jobs get reserved for you. All white collar jobs and the better blue collar jobs go to those with the right skin color and genitals.
You get a government provided sex maid to serve you at home. She is less likely to leave you because she less legal and economic options to do so. If she acts up against you, you are allowed to "correct" her.
There is a hierarchy of deference that you are high up on. You may not rank in the 1%, but your word means more than someone of a different gender or ethnicity.
People may be willing to risk their freedom for that elevated position.
The big shift from Truman to Trump has been the number of domestic residents benefiting from our fascist policies. That number is shrinking year after year.
Half a century ago, you could talk to a rising tide carrying all our ships. Did that tide come from blood spilled in Africa, the Middle East, and the Pacific Rim? Sure. But that wasn't our problem.
Now we're seeing the kind of brutal police tactics reserved for Vietnam and Iraq show up in Florida and on the Columbia University campus. We've got paramilitary goons targeting Haitians in Ohio, rather than in Haiti. We're increasingly reliant on prison labor to do the work of historical migrant labor. Our agitation against China isn't generating jobs in the MIC nearly as fast as it's killing jobs in the civilian sector.
If you’re part of the privileged group fascism is selling you safety, normalcy, and tradition.
A big goal of the AI Revolution is to shrink the number of people the Executive tier have to pay in order to keep their positions. And even executive positions are consolidating as businesses merge and buy one another out.
It's terrifying everyone, and Trump is just the guy who figured out how to sell traditional Republican voters a way out. Traditional Republican leaders only know how to preach austerity and justify poverty.