I would argue the US is already a police state, and has been for years,
I agree with much of what you have said here, but a tiny tweak of your definition of fascism points to the fact that we are living in a fascist state, and have been for years. I would say fascism in our case could be defined as government being controlled by, and in thrall to, private interests, not the other way around. This was first evident to me during the Obama years, when we were forced to purchase medical insurance, whether we felt a need to or not. I did not, my tiny act of civil disobedience. During the covid con, we had many glaring examples of private interests in control of our executive branches - federal, state and local, Suspension of the constitution! And we did it!!! We were being primed.
I feel very slightly safer with Trump in the white house, but I believe that safety will be very short lived. He's every bit as much a player as the Biden/Harris team, showing but a different face of tyranny, the one you trust for a year or two while they tighten the shackles, with our consent, a bit more.
Hyperbole has allowed the population to supplant reality with surreal visions. Our minds have been disabled and enslaved.
Anyway, good article!!
Corporations are a legal status granted by government, and mega corporations demand political favors while politicians demand corporate support for their destructive behavior, and both thrive primarily though extorting small businesses and workers as net tax consumers. The demands that we "tax the rich" never address how much tax revenue finds it's early into the hands of these politically-connected millionaires and billionaires, and no one wants to pare back the leviathan state of bureaucracy with its revolving doors between corporate boardrooms and regulatory agencies.
I once saw a rather crude cartoon showing government and the mega corporations as stick figures. One panel captioned something like "how the left sees things" had the corporate figure railing the government. The next showed "how the right sees things" reversed the roles. Finally, "how it really is" showed mutual masturbation. I think there is some accuracy there.
People know this, and the Trump/Musk rhetoric about a D.O.G.E. pander to these concerns without any likelihood of real change.