Fascism’s Final Gamble

Originally published by LA Progressive

Amid the firestorm of democracy-destroying bombs Trump hurls at the institutions, values, and fragile promises of a wounded America, we must grasp the full anatomy of this assault. This is not simply an attack—it is a violent rupture in the very fabric of our society. It is fascism, thrashing in its death throes—gasping, desperate, clinging to power as the long-concealed rot of its politics collapses under the weight of its own deceit. For decades, it masqueraded beneath the banner of capitalism, but now, gangster capitalism stands naked, unable to mask its insatiable greed, its obscene inequality, and its total abdication of social responsibility. The last vestiges of its decency have fallen away, leaving only the cold, brutal machinery of exploitation.

Its only tool, now, is the naked power of the state, captured by billionaires who despise democracy, hate people of color, and dream of a society where justice and equality are treated as the toxic viruses to be eradicated. It is a power so consumed by its own hunger for dominance that it can no longer even pretend to hide its true face. Beneath the glittering promises of prosperity and the smoke screens of false patriotism, this system is pure in its drive: the preservation of an empire built on the suffering of the many, for the benefit of the few.

What remains is the scaffolding of a racialized fascism, sharpened to a brutal edge. A captive state, shackled to white supremacy and Christian nationalism, its chains wrapped tightly around the throat of the public commons. This is not just a war on democracy—this is an all-out siege on the institutions that might dare to cultivate critical thought, on the systems that once held power accountable, on the very possibility of imagining a future in which equity and justice are real. This is not mere authoritarian drift; this is a full-scale offensive. A war without mercy. A battle for the soul of a nation.

Resistance cannot afford to be fragmentary, hesitant, or seduced by the illusion of reform. It cannot mistake small, calculated compromises for lasting change or the illusion of progress for real liberation. What we face is not a system in crisis, but one meticulously engineered for destruction—a machine of cruelty and greed, crafted to serve only itself, powered by corruption, and led by a death-dealing ideology. It is a beast with blood in its mouth, with decay in its bones, and with death as its final decree.

To fight this, we must first name it, unmask it, and, in doing so, strip it of the power it so eagerly wields. This is not a time for half-measures or shallow strategies. We must rise against it with the full force of collective defiance—together, unrelenting, unyielding. We must stand in the streets and in the halls of power. Our actions must not be small or meek, but instead loud, insistent, and bold. Nonviolent uprisings, strikes that choke the flow of profit, blockades that rupture the pathways of oppression—these are the tools with which we can turn the tide. Our voices must be relentless. Our bodies must be unmovable. Our presence must serve as a constant reminder that democracy is not theirs to dismantle—it is ours to reclaim.

Only through the awakening of mass consciousness—through a tidal surge of the young, the workers, the artists, the poor, the discarded—can we shatter the gears of this machinery of cruelty. This is a call to all those who have been silenced, forgotten, or ignored by this system. This is your moment to rise and take back what has been stolen from you.

We must not stop until this monstrous machinery is halted, not with whispers of reform, but with the thunder of resistance that makes tyranny tremble. Now is the time to act, to organize, and to fight—not just for a better America, but for a better world. We must breathe life into democracy before it is suffocated forever. The clock is ticking. The stakes are too high to wait. Now is the time to rise, to resist, and to reclaim our future.

Henry A. Giroux

Henry A. Giroux currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy. His most recent books include: The Terror of the Unforeseen; On Critical Pedagogy, 2nd edition; Neoliberalism’s War on Higher Education, 2nd edition; Race, Politics, and Pandemic Pedagogy: Education in a Time of Crisis; and Pedagogy of Resistance: Against Manufactured Ignorance. His latest book is Insurrections: Education in the Age of Counter-Revolutionary Politics. His website is www.henryagiroux.com.