As has happened in Texas and Wisconsin, legislators from the minority party fled Oregon in order to obstruct the passage of legislation by preventing quorum. However, unlike in those states, the legislators didn't merely flee, but they also called upon local far-right terror groups for "protection." That is, the Oregon GOP called on groups like the Oregon 3-Percenters, asking them to arm themselves so that they could resist - violently, if necessary - any attempt to return the legislators to the legislature (even though such a move would be lawful). More simply, the GOP is asking terrorists to intervene in the democratic process – they are using violence as a tool in the legislative process. This is fascism.

However, one of the differences between the current rise of fascism and that which happened in the 1920s and 1930s is the diffuse nature of the current strand. Whereas the Brownshirts were card carrying members of the Nazi party, there is often no direct institutional tie between the GOP and militia groups like the 3-Percenters. And this has allowed a measure of plausible deniability, as the GOP can claim that it doesn't support these terrorists, while nonetheless acting in ways that do. And then, when the GOP needs these armed groups, they happen to be there ready for orders.

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