THIS IS NOT WHAT FASCISM LOOKS LIKE: Yale professor Jason Stanley in the New York Times: If You’re Not Scared About Fascism in the United States, You Should Be. Blustery quotes from Trump aren’t “fascism.” You know what actual fascism looks like? A judiciary controlled by the executive, militarization of civilian life, rubber-stamp legislature, no free elections, government control of industry, severe restrictions on press freedom, and cooptation of religious entities by the state. You know how many of these we have now? None. Nor is there any real threat of any of these occurring. Even if we were to accept Stanley’s claim that Trump uses fascist-style rhetoric,  fascism is not looming in America. This sort of nonsense should be beneath a serious academic, but, hey, it’s 2018, and everyone has gone crazy.

UPDATE: Stanley defended the fascistic Yale student activists who launched the infamous campaign of defamation against the Christakises over their suggestion that students not freak out over Halloween costumes. Stanley wrote, “But didn’t Erika Christakis, and most though not all of her defenders, express their views in a much more reasonable tone of voice than the students protesting? Yes. But sounding reasonable can be a luxury.” He followed up with some academic goobleygook explaining why “oppressed people” (a rather odd description of Yale students of any background) should be held to a different standard of behavior than the “privileged.” This is the state of the Ivy League, folks.