It's all about fear. "Communist", "socialist" and "radical liberal" are slurs that the political right in the USA flings around in order to trigger their supporters. It's all about attempting to induce a state of terror that everything they value is under threat. The fact is that most American have very little idea what those terms actually mean. But those who benefit most from capitalism have worked for decades to convince Americans that they're all synonymous with "anti-American", so anyone who is one of those things is obviously evil incarnate.
One of the most hilarious things I've seen in a while was Kelly Loeffler staring blankly at the camera and robotically chanting "radical liberal Raphael Warnock" no no less than thirteen times during the recent Georgia senatorial debate. Whether or not Warnock would be called that by any objective assessor is irrelevant; it's a trigger phrase that Loeffler thinks will motivate her supporters to vote. (Although, since Loeffler appears to be about as bright as a ventriloquist's dummy, I'm pretty sure the phrase was actually programmed into her by Republican Party IT staff.)
You are right that "Nazi" is used in a similarly illogical and irresponsible way by those on the political left. Trump and the members of his cult aren't Nazis. Trump is definitely an authoritarian, and those who support him approve of his authoritarianism. I'm sure some even feel a desperate psychological need for an authoritarian pseudo father-figure.
Fascists are also authoritarians, and there are some aspects of Trump's view of the role the president which are rather fascistic. But as we've seen over the last few weeks, for all its faults and shortcomings, the American political system seems to (so far) still be robust enough to withstand an assault by a president who believes he should be allowed to keep the job just because he wants it.
I think communist is over used in America
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It's all about fear. "Communist", "socialist" and "radical liberal" are slurs that the political right in the USA flings around in order to trigger their supporters. It's all about attempting to induce a state of terror that everything they value is under threat. The fact is that most American have very little idea what those terms actually mean. But those who benefit most from capitalism have worked for decades to convince Americans that they're all synonymous with "anti-American", so anyone who is one of those things is obviously evil incarnate.
One of the most hilarious things I've seen in a while was Kelly Loeffler staring blankly at the camera and robotically chanting "radical liberal Raphael Warnock" no no less than thirteen times during the recent Georgia senatorial debate. Whether or not Warnock would be called that by any objective assessor is irrelevant; it's a trigger phrase that Loeffler thinks will motivate her supporters to vote. (Although, since Loeffler appears to be about as bright as a ventriloquist's dummy, I'm pretty sure the phrase was actually programmed into her by Republican Party IT staff.)
You are right that "Nazi" is used in a similarly illogical and irresponsible way by those on the political left. Trump and the members of his cult aren't Nazis. Trump is definitely an authoritarian, and those who support him approve of his authoritarianism. I'm sure some even feel a desperate psychological need for an authoritarian pseudo father-figure.
Fascists are also authoritarians, and there are some aspects of Trump's view of the role the president which are rather fascistic. But as we've seen over the last few weeks, for all its faults and shortcomings, the American political system seems to (so far) still be robust enough to withstand an assault by a president who believes he should be allowed to keep the job just because he wants it.