Fascism in America: Are We There Yet?

"believing the largely non-existent left in the United States is capable of such a thing."

I think the left does very much exist in the US - see the support that Sanders got on a more or less socialist platform. The issue is the economic left has no political power (unions in decline, the anaemic healthcare reform that Obama passed is being pushed back, etc.). The 'social' left, on the other hand, does have power (e.g. gay marriage is legal and widely accepted, and the extreme pushback to border control and enforcement of immigration law).

This contrasts with my own country (which shall remain unnamed), where on economic grounds, the left is strong (state funded education and healthcare, strong public transit and social safety nets), but, in some social areas at least, it's weak - the marriage equality referendum failed, and the very lukewarm, centrist party in power, put up a border wall within weeks of fearing we might need it, to little fanfare. Contrast that with Trump's loud threats of a wall, and the accompanying accusations of Nazism, which hasn't yet amounted to much.