Eric, the claim of a "mandate" on a 1.5% popular vote margin is a contradiction of the word's very meaning. A mandate is overwhelming authority, not the closest, most fractured victory since 2000. That is a razor-think win of a deeply divided nation, which grants no clear public authorization to enact an extreme agenda. You have polarization, not popular mandate. Furthermore, let's address the etymology of fascism. Its root is in the right-wing ultra-nationalist movements of Mussolini and Hitler. Its characteristics are clear: A cult-of-personality leader, a fixation on national decline, demonizing out-groups (immigrants, minorities, press), and actively seeking to dismantle democratic institutions and the civil service. Nowhere in the actions of the Democratic Party, under Obama, Biden, or otherwise, do you find the systemic, stated intention to purge government of non-loyalists, weaponize the Justice Department against political opposition, or openly declare the press as "enemies of the people." Those actions are the playbook of the classic far-right authoritarianism you claim to oppose, and they have been a staple of recent Republican administrations. A critical look at the records shows that both parties have expanded the executive's power (e.g., surveillance, drone warfare), but only one has made the erosion of the fundamental structures of liberal democracy its explicit goal. The current administration's plans to replace career civil servants with loyalists and target political opponents are direct steps toward the anti-pluralist, autocratic state that defines fascism. The Democratic Party is not without fault, but its commitment remains, fundamentally, to the continuance of constitutional democracy. When the choice is between a flawed, but institutionally committed party and one that is structurally moving toward an authoritarian state, the defense of democracy itself demands the former. You are confusing political disagreement and progressive policy with the historical term for an autocratic, ultra-nationalist police state. That is a dangerous misdefinition of history.