Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s second presidency a year ago, but especially since the brutal deployment in Minneapolis of federal paramilitaries from ICE and the Border Patrol, the impression that fascism has taken hold in the United States has only grown among writers, commentators, historians, and citizens. Leah Millis (REUTERS)“Yes, it’s fascism,” Jonathan Rauch wrote this week in a scathing article in The Atlantic. For one thing, there were too many elements of classical fascism that didn’t seem to fit. The first to sound the alarm was Robert Paxton, a 93-year-old historian and expert on fascism who, throughout his long career, has demonstrated remarkable lucidity and courage. Always there are courageous persons in opposition to a rising authoritarian state, as we are seeing in the US; if those in opposition are not quickly joined by many more, indeed many many more, the effort will be lost.”Are we then witnessing a return of fascism, and not only in the United States?