@mike There are few metrics by which the USA manages to avoid falling into the category of "fascist state," most obviously, when authorities can arbitrarily designate civil disobedience as domestic terrorism. Few conservatives think fascism is a good thing, so that's the shift you're seeing.

We're also seeing the late stage decline of the American Empire, which has been well underway for about three decades now. The problem with allowing one country to become "defender of the free world" (so-called) is that we haven't made adequate provisions for when that defender starts to truly implode.