I think, as David has reminded people here, there have always been fascists among us and basically every so often they rise up. I just believe it comes from the desire to control people, to make them do what you want them to do, to force them to follow your belief system. Russell Vought is a Christian fascist, or nationalist, or Nazi...he believes the human animal must be controlled and forced to obey whatever he believes is god's will. I can understand how people like him fall into fascist thought, they do not like nor trust people. They see them as vile beings that if left to their own devices will do horrible things. He knows this is true because he himself wants to do bad things, but he will do those bad things in the name of his god. Religion in many ways is a gateway drug to fascist thought.
Trump speaks directly to this instinct in people by labeling those that won't join their fascist movement rapists, criminals, animals, insane. He loves to dehumanize his enemies because it makes it more acceptable to hate them, punish them, and likely eventually to kill them. Don is not a fascist though, he just believes in whatever benefits him, and just accepts this Christian fascism as a bludgeon he can use to get his way.
In many ways I see what is happening with these groups run by guys like Vought as an experiment. They are probing to see how far they can get, the limits they can push, how much they have to bend things until they break them. You can see the items they need to check off being put in place. They need a guy like Trump, even if their motivations and goals are not aligned because he is willing to burn everything to the ground. He is easy to manipulate because of his greed and self-obsession. However, my feeling is they will eventually be at odds, which probably in Vought's mind is fine because Trump is old and in poor health so he is just a means to an end. He will be eliminated and replaced with someone that is a "member", perhaps he is thinking JD Vance.
The Supreme Court ruling on absolute immunity had to happen for them. Vought must have been overjoyed by that, because if Trump got them there due to his willingness to destroy, what will keep them in power, if they got it, is that ruling.
All of this is an obscenity, of course, but I don't know how many people see it or understand it. I think people tend to not see things until it is too late, until they hit the iceberg and the ship is going down.
Thankfully, I think enough people see it now that we can avoid it. I think we have a path now to steer away from it. But where do the fascists go when we avoid it this time? Just back into the shadows for a bit to plot their next attempt. This would be what history tells us.
It's basically a natural thing for humans to despise and want to control their fellow humans, that seems not to be going anywhere. And then there is...well...the opposite side of that coin.
