Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wrote that a fascist “is someone who claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is utterly unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.”

Vice President Henry Wallace, in the heat of World War II, warned that “A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends. The supreme god of a fascist, to which his ends are directed, may be money or power; may be a race or a class; may be a military, clique or an economic group; or may be a culture, religion, or a political party.”

He added that “The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism. They cultivate hate and distrust of both Britain and Russia. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution.”

This was 1944. It sounds like 2024.

The following handout was distributed to active servicemen during World War II. It tells of using race and other irrelevant differences between people to turn segments of society against one another. It tells of a movement that gets a foothold during economic turmoil and hardship. It is a comprehensive analysis of fascism, and it describes Trumpism to the letter.

Page 7 of the handout warns, “The peoples of fascist nations are led to believe that they are the “master race,” or “Herrenvolk,” superior to all other peoples, and that it is their divine mission to dominate the earth.“ MAGA “Christian nationalists” refer to their belief that they are “the elect,” and “God’s vice-regents,” divinely called to conquer the earth through the “dominion mandate.”

That Army handout was dated 1945. Hold that thought, because I will return to it.

In the shadow of World War II’s defeat of fascism in Germany and Japan, a 1946 Encyclopedia Britannica film gave a short lesson on Despotism. The film’s inadvertent depiction of MAGA’s open, abusive disrespect toward out-groups targeted by MAGA’s modern-day brownshirts is chillingly prophetic.

In 1947, the U. S. War Department (now the Department of Defense) produced a film detailing the rise of fascism in Germany. The film’s depiction of a budding American fascist lecturing from his soapbox around 2:20 into the film is a spitting replication of Donald Trump. Once again, a shockingly prophetic window into 2020s Trumpism over 70 years prior.

Underline this time frame with a bright yellow highlighter in your mind, because all of these prophetic warnings about MAGA were made while World War II and fascism were still fresh news and current affairs in the American consciousness. Nazis and fascism had not yet been made into the political cudgels that they are today.

Today, MAGA hate propaganda are working overtime to turn American minority groups against one another. Hate propaganda aimed at Latinos seeks to turn them against the LGBTQ community. Right wing hate propaganda strives to turn Black Americans against other minority groups.

Today’s MAGA fascists are now deliberately trying to create the turmoil that led to the fall of the Weimar Republic and paved the way for Nazi Germany. MAGA fascists want sky-high inflation to match that which wrought havoc on the Deutsche Mark. They want chaos at our border, which is why they are obstructing President Biden’s efforts to secure the border.

So, what do we do about it?

If a MAGA fascism comes to power, the worst thing that we can do is recognize its legitimacy. To acquiesce to its authority is suicide.

Page 5 of the 1945 Army handout advises that the best way to stop fascism is to prevent it from taking hold in the first place. If we accept its “legitimacy” and acquiesce to its “authority,” we have immediately surrendered. If we recognize MAGA’s “legitimacy” in power, we have given into it with no resistance. Game over. Country done for.

No, acquiesence is not an option. States that have maintained their commitment to Constitutional democracy must declare a unified resolution not to recognize any orders, decrees, or any other directives from the illegitimate MAGA fascist government. The necessary first step is simple: do not accept MAGA governance.

This can be done very peacefully. California’s governor (for example) can calmly but firmly state his state’s intention and resolution to disregard MAGA governance and defy it when necessary. There is nothing about this level-headed approach that calls for violent or insurgent methods. Mature, cool-headed leadership is all that it will take.

These small-d democratic states must form a new Article of Confederation. Call it a Confederation of Constitutional Democratic States. This does not necessarily limit itself to states run by Democrats. It can include conservative states such as Utah, whose large Mormon population will be soon endangered by MAGA’s warped “Christian” fundamentalism that despises the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints almost as intensely as they despise the LGBTQ community.

There is much talk of secession by Democratic states, but we must bear in mind that if Constitutional Democratic states seceded, the MAGA fascists will sooner or later launch an unprovoked military strike against states that have seceded. Such an attack would be inevitable, as fascists hate the very existence of a free people anywhere. Fascists hate the very idea of a free people. The above pamphlet to active servicemen warns, “By all these devices, fascism creates and then is driven by forces that cannot be stopped at will. Fascism cannot stand still. Its internal and external policies are rooted in aggression. It must expand or explode. It must conquer or perish. Every measure taken by fascism—its entire economic, social, political, and military set-up—means eventual war.” Fascism is never satisfied.

No, secession will make us a target. It is a last resort, not a first. Calm, peaceful, level-headed defiance by a Confederation of Constitutional Democratic States at the very beginnings of fascism is the best approach.

Though, forming a National Guard under this new Confederation would be a highly advisable contingency plan.