'What is this low level journalism doing on HN?' is a bizarre way to phrase a question that's really saying 'I disagree with the assertion/characterization' - which is one that is made routinely, over the course of many years, both through news outlets and in various forums of more substantive debate.
Some examples of using the 'fascist' label: From The Financial Times, quoting Sarkozy: “Are 6.5m French people fascists?” [http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2012/04/is-the-front-national-... ]; In 2014,German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Tuesday branded the French National Front party fascist: [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-elections-fascism-idUSK... ]; French court ruling they can be called 'fascist': [http://www.english.rfi.fr/france/20140410-front-nationals-le... ]; 'Donald Trump is Now America's Marine Le Pen':[http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/could-donald-trum... ]
The internet tells me there are about 1 million other references one could use to, in fact, make the claim this is not low-level journalism.