The US has always been problematic in one way or another, and the seeds for the rise of fascism were planted during the Clinton era by Newt Gingrich and crew. It was definitely the exploitation of the tragedy of 9/11 that gave them carte blanche to really start pointing their powers inward. The Patriot Act, the creation of DHS, moving immigration enforcement from the DOJ, with its rules and procedures, to DHS and its complete lackmof accountability. The list goes on.