N.Y. Times Opinion Piece by Tressie McMillan Cottom:

One critical fact cutting against the risk that “President Trump’s second administration . . . [would] fit the definition of fascism” was that “the president did not have and probably would not be able to stand up a secret police force.”

“This was a critical point. Most authoritarian regimes are marked by political violence. It’s a metric on the scales that rank freedom and democracy across countries.”

Cottom argues this is an “outdated” definition of political violence, and proceeds to offer a great phrase: “keyboard warriors.”

maybe the Gestapo won’t be jackbooted thugs but keyboard warriors. And maybe the keyboard warriors are worse.

“The online part of violent political speech makes the violence seem twee, as if it was something teenage girls do on TikTok. But online harassment ruins lives and breaks people by socially isolating them. We should have more respect for teenage girls now that the president of the United States is enforcing fealty using his own burn book.

. . .

“For one thing, keyboard warriors are almost impossible to trace. The threats can come from anywhere. When you are the victim, the threats feel as if they’re coming from everywhere. You may never know which colleague posted your address on the internet or which neighbor anonymously reported your undocumented status to ICE. But, say, when those immigration agents show up at your asylum hearing, you can bet that at least some of them will be wearing masks and hiding their identities, potentially because they don’t want to be shamed online and in person. Their behavior demonstrates that words do indeed matter. It would be a lot harder to roll over civil liberties without the comfort of anonymity and a pervasive atmosphere of fear.

I don’t know if that’s fascism. I do know that it is absolutely political violence. Those distinctions probably don’t matter.”