By Cliff Potts, Editor-in-Chief, WPS News

August 15, 2025 · Washington, D.C.– In the wake of Donald Trump’s overtly authoritarian tactics—family separation, ICE raids, internment-style detention proposals—a deeper question emerges: Was Trump the origin of American fascism, or simply its most obvious avatar?

The answer lies not in Trump’s exceptionalism, but in his continuity. What we are witnessing now is the full flowering of what scholars might call “velvet fascism”—a slow, bipartisan accumulation of executive power, surveillance, militarized policing, and bureaucratic oppression that began decades before Trump descended the escalator.

What Is Velvet Fascism?

Velvet fascism is the technocratic, suit-and-tie version of authoritarianism. It doesn’t kick down your door in the night—it sends a drone. It doesn’t declare martial law—it normalizes mass surveillance, indefinite detention, and deregulated corporate control in the name of “efficiency” and “security.” It is the fusion of state and capital wrapped in legalese.

Reagan: Free Market Autocracy

President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) spearheaded deregulation and union-busting that shifted power from workers to oligarchs. Under the guise of anti-communism, his administration backed violent regimes in Central America and cracked down on dissent at home. He expanded federal law enforcement and introduced the ideology that government should be run like a business—setting the stage for future corporate fascism.

Clinton: Crime, Cages, and Compromise

President Bill Clinton (1993–2001) passed the 1994 Crime Bill and the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), expanding mandatory detention and fast-track deportations. Clinton’s triangulation—appeasing conservatives while abandoning the left—supercharged mass incarceration and laid the groundwork for today’s private immigrant detention industry.

Bush: Permanent Emergency Powers

President George W. Bush (2001–2009) responded to 9/11 with the USA PATRIOT Act, which authorized bulk surveillance, indefinite detention of non-citizens, and torture through “enhanced interrogation.” The Bush White House normalized the idea of a wartime presidency without end, a template for authoritarian overreach that future leaders would inherit.

Obama: High-Tech Detention and Deportation

President Barack Obama (2009–2017) inherited Bush’s tools and institutionalized them. He deported more people than any president in U.S. history, renewed warrantless surveillance programs, and operated a secret “kill list” via drones—the Disposition Matrix. His administration also opened the now-infamous family detention centers with chain-link fences, dubbed “cages” during the Trump years.

Trump: Fascism Without the Filter

Donald Trump tore off the velvet glove. His presidency was the logical next step: weaponizing ICE, pardoning war criminals, encouraging political violence, and attempting a coup. But he didn’t invent the system—he simply exposed its bones.

Conclusion

Fascism doesn’t require jackboots to thrive. In America, it has always been more comfortable in khakis and a necktie. What we see today is not a sudden rupture, but the culmination of decades of executive creep, bipartisan authoritarianism, and neoliberal contempt for the public good. Velvet fascism was always here. Trump just stopped pretending.

Citations (APA):

  • Cronin, T. E. (1973). The Imperial Presidency. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  • Miller, G. (2012, October 23). Plan for hunting terrorists signals U.S. intends to…. The Washington Post.
  • United States Congress. (1996). Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
  • Open Society Foundations. (2020–2024). Family immigration detention timeline.
  • Wikipedia contributors. (2025). Presidency of Barack Obama; Mass surveillance in the United States; Disposition Matrix; Immigration detention in the United States. Wikipedia.

Link:
📌 https://endfascism.xyz


Discover more from WPS News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.