Republicanism is now fully a fascist movement. The hoax claims that our current elections have been «rigged» against Republicans—claims that continue to be provably false—continue to be used to stoke the convenient fear and outrage of a base that now increasingly believes the party is justified in taking control of the government through the erasure of future election results or, as happened on Jan. 6, through violence. The party is not just anti-democracy: It is demanding adherence to a lie that has already resulted in deaths and will result in more, and purging anyone unwilling to go along. This is the behavior of a cult. It is also the behavior of fascist movements throughout history, movements in which false propaganda is used to rally support for the violent «remaking» of nations. That is the context in which this CNN report on Republican candidates' near-universal adoption of the Big Lie should be considered. CNN does well enough in identifying the absolute falseness of the Republican claims, and a Republican pollster provides the grotesque context: If a Republican candidate openly admits that Donald Trump was beaten not by fraud, but legitimately, «the consequences are probably that you are going to lose» your Republican primary. Read more