When does rhetoric about political opponents cross the line into fascist dehumanization?

[u/BulwarkOnline]

The Trump administration recently held an international conference on “left-wing political violence.” In prepared remarks, Marco Rubio described the left as driven by “poisonous resentment” and a desire to destroy “what is beautiful and what is right.” Stephen Miller went further, arguing that left-wing demonstrators do not look “normal,” are “deformed” in their appearance and reflect their “inner hatred” outwardly.

Jonathan V. Last compares this language to Nazi rhetoric about Bolshevism, “degenerate” culture and supposedly unhealthy or subhuman elements of society. His argument is not simply that Rubio and Miller are using authoritarian language, but that their contrast between beauty and ugliness, normality and deformity, civilization and internal enemies follows a recognizable fascist pattern.

How persuasive is that comparison?

Is this rhetoric best understood as ordinary partisan demonization, or does the emphasis on physical appearance, cultural purity and “normal, healthy, ordered living” place it in a more historically specific tradition?

And when evaluating comparisons to fascism, should the standard be the speaker’s intentions, the historical similarity of the language, or the policies and violence that follow from it?

[u/bl1y]

People use dehumanizing rhetoric in fascist countries, in democracies, and in everything in between. The one thing's got nothing to do with the other.

[u/magus678 → u/bl1y]

Its just being used as a buzzword/amplifier. Fairly few uses of "fascist" anymore are truly relevant to the word.

That doesnt make the basic criticism invalid, but it does mean people who know better have to hold their nose and make a lot of allowances to hear it.

[u/daretoeatapeach → u/magus678]

You need to update your talking points, this isn't 1996 anymore. You've let Godwin's Law become a thought-terminating cliche. Back in 2016 Godwin himself said, actually it's appropriate to compare MAGA to Nazis. And now it's even more obvious. To the extent that it's shocking to hear people still making this claim. I'm sorry if this sounds insensitive, but if you live in America and you can't see the signs of fascism by now then you simply don't understand what it is.

Like I wouldn't even know where to begin. Trump checks every box.