'More in common with the Taliban': Outrage erupts over state GOP's anti-Pride vitriol

Potato, potahto.

I really didn't. Like I keep saying, "moderate" conservatives are mythical creatures, much like unicorns or ethical billionaires. I had a "fiscally conservative" and "moderate" acquaintance flat out tell me to my face that the world would be a better place if gender minorities didn't exist and that we're all pretending anyhow

Just a small pedantic note, depending on what we want to emphasize is going on, the government they're going for is either theocratic autocracy or one-party autocracy. Fascism just describes the strategy of using hatemongering, mythical history and enemy within propaganda to distract the Republican base from noticing that they're not personally gaining anything from the abuses of the ownership class.

(Fascism depends on a myth that all the undesirables are at fault for the misery of the general population, that once they are removed from the population, the government can get right back to serving the public and fixing all the failing infrastructure and making sure everyone that remains prospers. But there are always new people added to the bottom of the undesirables-to-be-purged list. Eventually the nation will have to go to war to continue to push solidarity among the people.)

From the perspective of the Christian Nationalist movement, the goal is theocratic autocracy in which all the whims of the government are justified by the bible. (The bible, or any sacred scripture, can be used to justify anything, no matter how dire, conspicuous or indulgent. In fact, the Church is notorious for its extremes.) The establishment of a state religion also means the establishment of state positions on dogmatic minutiae, so it's not enough to be Christian but also to adhere to the specific position of the state. Anyone who doesn't will end up on that undesirables list to be purged.

From the position of the Republican Party, the goal is one-party autocracy The only thing that keeps the Republican party from completely going unhinged is that it has to continue to negotiate with the other party (the Democratic party for now), but once it no longer has to compete for votes, our legislators are enabled to do whatever they want (or whatever is dictated to them by the leaders of the party, currently Donald J. Trump and his handlers). This is why the Texas GOP is trying to reshape how elections are counted, essentially making a Texas electoral college, so Democrats are locked out. This is not for the benefit of Republican voters, but for the benefit of consolidating all power in their party.

Anyhow, autocracy is the endgame. Fascism is used to keep the public frightened and in line and accepting that atrocity may be necessary to keep the enemys at bay. (Otherwise, they might actually realize this is all bullshit and violently revolt.)