

It pains me to see the US go down this path. I am well aware of how bad things are going in the US (I have close friends who live there). I agree with you regarding nationalism, street arrests by security, demonization of minorities and so on.
However, I am comparing my experience living in russia (as an expat who happens to speak russian fluently), my experience living in the US under Obama and US as it is today.
US still has competitive elections. The US centre right opposition is not a formal front for the regime. Compare that to russia were elections are a formality and the so called “opposition parties” get direct orders from the regime and exist as circus performers. US isn’t at that stage yet.
Same with the US judicial system. It is definitely corrupt (and this was true even before Trump) and it is getting even more corrupt. However, the US judicial system has some level of independence and at least on some level you can have your rights be respected. Again, compare that to russia were the judicial system as such does not exist and has no authority whatsoever.
Security services in the US are increasingly becoming unhinged and acting more like crooks, but it’s no where close to russia where they have zero liability beyond not respecting key regime interests.
US still has a measure of political de-centralization. You can elect mayors and governors and they have a measure of independence. While russian does have some regional independent power centres, they are still all aligned with the regime and its ideology.
I know, comparing your local political system to russia isn’t really a sane approach. But I do think it is important to note that the differences do exist.
I completely agree. I don’t mean to imply it is a competition. As I said, being better than russia is not much of an achievement.
But I do think the correct term for the US as it is today is proto-fascist. It’s also important to not ignore the transition into full scale fascis.