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Jack Jedwab: If the United States is 'fascist,' what on Earth are Russia and Iran?

Jason Stanley’s academic equivalence of world powers deserves closer scrutiny

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When, in September 2025, Prof. Jason Stanley announced his move from Yale University to the University of Toronto, he framed the decision in stark, almost existential terms. The United States, he warned, was sliding toward fascism. He explained that his exodus to Canada was like leaving Germany during Adolf Hitler’s rise. By comparing his departure from the United States to Jews fleeing Germany in the 1930s, Stanley transformed a university appointment into a dramatic indictment of America.

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For some observers, his relocation reinforced a comforting narrative: that Canada remains a stable democratic refuge while the United States drifts toward something darker. Yet Stanley’s assessment — and the analytical framework underpinning it — deserves much closer scrutiny. The issue is not so much whether democratic erosion exists south of the border, but whether the language used to describe it preserves critical distinctions or severely undercuts them.

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