His work was reprinted or referenced by leading media around the world including CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS, the Washington Post, Newsweek, New York Times columnist David Brooks, NPR, The Atlantic, and Der Spiegel. His articles in POLITICO, the London School of Economics blog, and VOX on Trump sparked an international media debate that contributed to the framing of Trump and his tactics as authoritarian. Early in the Republican nominating contest for president, he warned that Trump’s activation of American authoritarians would make his candidacy virtually unstoppable. He was the first researcher to use survey research to establish a link between Trump’s core supporters and authoritarianism. MacWilliams is a scholar, an award-winning practitioner of American politics, and a recognized expert on authoritarianism. Denial and division will not save the Republic, but coming to terms with our history might. On Fascism is both an honest reckoning and a call for reconciliation. Men and women who embodied the soaring, revolutionary proclamations set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution. Wells, who dedicated her life to documenting the horrors of lynching throughout the nation, or the young Jewish-American who took a beating for protesting a Nazi rally in New York City in 1939. Along the way, we learn about many American heroes – like Ida B. It is also a celebration of our spirit, perseverance, and commitment to the values at the heart of the American project. Only by confronting and reconciling this past, can America move forward into a future rooted in the motto of our Republic since 1782: e pluribus unum (out of many, one).īut this book isn’t simply an indictment.

At turning points throughout history, as we aspired toward great things, we also witnessed the authoritarian impulse drive policy and win public support. The United States of Lyncherdom, as Mark Twain labeled America. Trumpism isn’t new, but rooted in our refusal to come to terms with this historical reality. MacWilliams' On Fascism exposes the divisive rhetoric, strongman tactics, violent othering, and authoritarian attitudes that course through American history and compete with our egalitarian, democratic aspirations. 'The twelve lessons in On Fascism draws from American history and brilliantly complement those of Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny.'Īn expert on American authoritarianism offers a searing rebuke of the exceptional narrative that dominates our understanding of US history.

On Fascism by Matthew C. Macwilliams