Many people believe that Fascism died at the end of WWII when Hitler and Mussolini were dead with their regimes falling with them. Many of these people do not take note of the signs of Fascism we see in America today. In Catherine Lacey’s novel Biography of X, she creates an alternate future of America after WWII when the Deep South seceded from the United States, creating a Fascist Theocracy. This dystopian world may seem unrecognizable to some, but this world shares many similarities with our own. The current Trump administration uses fear-mongering to create false perception of groups he wants to undermine to get what he wants, a strategy used by the Fascist leaders that led the Axis Powers in WWII. We must understand that Fascism is created through fear and false perceptions of the groups around us. Socialism, on the other hand, is created through the necessity of making a more equal society where more people can thrive. The world must be more attentive to the elements of Fascism that the Trump administration is currently displaying such as fear-mongering, threatening his political opponents, and trying to silence the press. Due to these issues, we should start considering socialism as a way to find a solution to the economic and social problems we have in modern day America.

The Trump administration has shown clear signs of Fascism like attempting to make his enemies conform to what he says, stereotyping, and calling the press an enemy that shouldn’t be normalized or looked past. Trump has exemplified trying to make his enemies conform to him through his recent disputes with universities over DEI initiatives. Yale University reports, “The Trump administration is putting increasing pressure on private and public universities to conform or lose funding” (Reveal). Forcing “private and public universities to conform or lose funding” is not only unconstitutional but also reveals how the Trump administration will use fear of being shut out to subdue any entity that does not follow his agenda. Not only does Trump go after organizations, but also minorities that he seeks to stereotype. This is exhibited when Trump, with “Announcing his 2016 presidential bid, Trump maligned Mexican migrants as rapists” (Bowman). Making such a broad, heinous categorization to a minority group of people reflects Trump’s similarity to the Fascist Nazis and their scapegoating of Communists, Jews, and many more to change the public opinion to normalize the dehumanization of minority groups. When news like this comes out for Trump, he simply seeks to delegitimize the First Amendment’s freedom of the press because he does not want to be criticized. NPR states, “He’s sought to delegitimize news media, calling the press an ‘enemy of the American people’ ” (Bowman). Pursuing to silence the press goes directly against the First Amendment of the Constitution and how Trump views free thinking as an obstacle to gain more power. Any opinion that can spread that is not his, he believes, should not be allowed. Not having anyone to disagree with him will keep him in power without any limitations to keep him in check. Having as little limitations as possible is what led to Hitler’s rise to power. Letting that atrocity happen again is flat out unacceptable. The true definition for Fascism can vary between different sources and perspectives although Merriam-Webster, one of the most respected dictionaries in the world describes that, “Fascism is characterized by extreme nationalism…and forcibly suppresses opposition” (Merriam-Webster). In all three examples above, Trump is attempting to shut out a certain group or entity in order to justify or complete what is on his agenda. He is trying to suppress us to centralize all of America’s power in one person, himself. Through these attempts at silencing others, we can come to the conclusion that the Trump administration has Fascist ideals that we cannot normalize. 

In Biography of X, Catherine Lacey created the Southern Territory in her alternate future of the world to exaggerate traits of the modern day United States to make her audience think about the injustices of the current state of the country. Early on in the novel, the main character, C.M. Lucca travels to the Former Southern Territory to discover more about her widow X’s early life. In her brief description of how the Southern Territory came to be, C.M. explains, “But years before rampant propaganda, political discontent and xenophobia had been on the rise” (Lacey 55). In modern day America, we see President Trump emitting the same xenophobia, but our society is not categorized as dystopian. We must be more critical and aware of such biases within the Trump administration and pressure our senators and representatives to prevent xenophobic ideals from getting into policy making. In Lacey’s alternative future, it isn’t just the South that is battling Fascism. In America’s 1980 presidential election, “Ann Hoyne of the neofascist Growth Party narrowly beat Ronald Reagan…Hoyne believed most—‘With some exceptions!’ she always added—were innately inferior to men” (Lacey 264). Lacey makes Ann Hoyne part of a Fascist party to demonstrate how stereotyping minority groups is a trait that Fascists rely on to justify their discriminative ideology. By establishing that this is a Fascist tool, Lacey makes the reader think about where they have seen this behavior before, through Trump. Lacey’s Southern Territory also has an astonishingly similar issue to the modern day United States that we still have not dealt with on a systemic level. When talking about the Southern Territory’s absurdly high imprisonment rate, Lacey writes, “Black citizens were imprisoned at rates far above those of the white population” (Lacey 58). Lacey’s intention of giving the Southern Territory this quality was to remind us that this mad dystopian society has the exact same racial discrimination that we do. This alternate future in America seems very different to some, but in reality, we don’t seem all too different. America is viewed as the protector of democracy across the world, but we can’t even address our worst traits. Lacey creates the Southern Territory message that we aren’t this perfect society where equality is embraced. In order to get closer to what we think we are, we have to address the Trump administration and systemic inequalities.

Our Capitalist economy has promoted the pursuit of capital and power, creating a race to the top, which has also encouraged a Fascist way of thinking for a route to be above everyone else. Socialism as an alternative solution would reset the wealth imbalance we see all across the United States. Some would say that Socialism takes away our basic economic freedoms, although if the U.S. used Democratic Socialism, we would be able to create a more equal society and decrease the economic inequalities that minorities face currently. One common misunderstanding about socialism is that any version of socialism would be authoritarian due to the Soviet Union running on Authoritarian Socialism. This is put on display when the Hoover Institution claims, “Socialist systems are command economies that tell people to obey central economic plans, even if they have other ideas. Under socialism, you may wish to start a business, or you may have an idea for a new technology—too bad. You must do as you are told. Authoritarian socialism does not adapt to your wishes” (Hoover Institution). The author refers to Socialism and Authoritarian Socialism and groups them into one pool. This portrayal of socialism gives the public a misunderstanding of what socialism truly is. Democratic Socialism directly combats the flaws of Authoritarian Socialism by creating a society where the power is rooted within the people. Charles Krupa from Politico explains, “The political system will be truly democratic, rather than run by those who have bought the politicians. Family life will be more democratic, and no one will have to depend on a breadwinner to survive because public services like health care will be available to all” (Krupa). Krupa exhibits how having Socialism within America will still be democratic and won’t give the government as much power as the Hoover Institution depicts. The government will have just enough power to give guaranteed health care for everyone in the country. These essential services provided by the government are what makes Socialism so appealing to the everyday American that simply wants equality. Another common misconception about Socialism is that it is less equal than Capitalism economically. The Hoover Institution uses this misconception to support their argument of Capitalism being better than Socialism by stating that, “Those who value…equality of opportunity will find these things in a capitalist system, as long as it provides educational opportunities to all” (Hoover Institution). The Hoover Institution attempts to justify this claim by assuming that Socialism is authoritarian like he did before. Moreover, the Hoover institution is only looking at capitalism as if inequalities don’t exist. While opportunity might be equal on paper, the institution doesn’t address the inequalities we have in America today like race, gender, ability, and much more. While Capitalism might have more economic opportunity, Socialism gets to the root of the problem through the redistribution of wealth. Krupa addresses this by saying, “A democratic socialist America would be a society where wealth and power are far more evenly distributed, and it would be less cruel, less lonely and less alienating” (Krupa). Krupa’s concept of a Socialist society minimizes inequality through a more even distribution of wealth, creating a more even playing field for those who already have society’s implicit biases. A socialistic society doesn’t have to be authoritarian and rather combat the inequalities we have that capitalism cannot address.

Socialism not only prioritizes equality, but also prioritizes the true betterment of our world, whereas Capitalism only prioritizes profits. The theoretical equality within capitalism assumes that everyone has the same resources to succeed in the first place. The Liberation School puts this into a scenario where, “If you want to go to college, you’re competing to get accepted. If you want to get an apartment, you’re competing to get accepted, and if you don’t have enough money you can’t compete—you’ve lost the race before you started” (Liberation School). The competition created by Capitalism has those who are ahead in the race before the race even starts. If we had a Socialist system in place when it comes to college, we could all get the opportunity to get a 4 year degree as all of the colleges would be funded by the federal government. Capitalism encourages maximizing profit even in industries where our safety should be our top priority. Liberation School asks, “Why does an investor invest in a health insurance company? Not to cure sick people, but to maximize profits” (Liberation School). The Capitalist way of thinking should never be involved in healthcare. Capitalist healthcare values the amount of money in the bank rather than the betterment (or even the saving) of human lives. This carelessness for our world also extends to our approach to the saving of our environment. Under our Capitalist system, “The environment will be completely destroyed. You cannot have a sustainable environment when every decision on what you do for energy, what you build, what resources and chemicals you use, are driven by the needs of private capitalist corporations” (Liberation School). Companies greedy drive for as much money as possible, which Capitalism encourages, does not value clean energy and will take their profits happily, not caring for the destruction of the world around them. Dealing with our environment comes from us not working as individuals, but rather a collective. The Liberation School presents the idea that, “The only way to get real control over environmental damage is through a planned, people’s economy in which the workers themselves and through their elected representatives decide collectively what to build, what energy to use and how to build or produce any products in a way that both meets human needs and sustains the environment” (Liberation School). Socialism’s “people’s economy” would take away the lust for money incited by Capitalism. By creating an economy where everyone would be working for one another, we could be able to solve issues we all face as a collective more efficiently.

Gender, race, age, ability, economic background, and much more. All of these qualities about us that we can’t control in some way or another affects how far you are set back in a Capitalist society. Socialism addresses these inequalities through the government providing the essentials that everyone needs to have a stable life. The Fascist ideals displayed by the Trump administration must be taken seriously. We cannot become Hitler’s Germany or Mussolini’s Italy. Socialism doesn’t have to give everything to everyone on a silver platter. It simply gives the working class a more even playing field. Well known politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, and Zohran Mamdani identify themselves as democratic socialists and advocate for the federal government to help the working class by giving them more assistance. If you would like to help them, you can donate to the Democratic Socialists of America on their website. We must not look past the signs of Fascism that President Trump and his administration have presented. Socialism minimizes inequality that Capitalism ignores and redistributes wealth so that everyone can have a stable life.