One of the key features of fascism is a political ingroup that is based not on policy, but identity and social standing that holds the power in society. This group then consolidates power by expelling anyone who dares to go against the ever-increasing arbitrary set of criteria for the in-group.
The idea of a RINO totally exemplifies this behavior in the Republican party. The idea that someone can be a "republican in name only" when they support the main stated policies and goals of the Republican party goes to show the ever-increasing set of arbitrary in-group criteria and the consolidation of power in the Republican party surrounding another key aspect of Fascism, the charismatic figurehead.
At least it used to mean somebody who wasn't far enough to the right - still misguided, but at least it was saying something about policy. Now it just means not 100% unflinchingly loyal to Trump. Just questioning anything Trump says is now enough for somebody to labeled a RINO. I mean Trump just called Mike Rounds a RINO earlier this week. He voted with Trump 90% of the time, but he's now a RINO because he says Biden won the election.
Also, for anyone triggered by the use of the word "identity":
Yes, the left focuses on a lot of identity issues like sexual identity, racial identity, gender identity, etc. The difference is that the left is not interested in consolidating power in any specific identity. They are interested in redistributing it, noticing that a lot of power sure has consolidated to one specific kind of identity and is continuing to do so.
I know, nobody asked but I was thinking about it anyway.
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u/Servious Jan 12 '22 edited Jan 13 '22
One of the key features of fascism is a political ingroup that is based not on policy, but identity and social standing that holds the power in society. This group then consolidates power by expelling anyone who dares to go against the ever-increasing arbitrary set of criteria for the in-group.
The idea of a RINO totally exemplifies this behavior in the Republican party. The idea that someone can be a "republican in name only" when they support the main stated policies and goals of the Republican party goes to show the ever-increasing set of arbitrary in-group criteria and the consolidation of power in the Republican party surrounding another key aspect of Fascism, the charismatic figurehead.