Recent Italian political election brought to power three political parties which are generally referred to as “the Right”. The bigger party (headed by current PM Giorgia Meloni) is actually the the one that stands to the right of the other two allied parties, and it is often referred to as “fascisti” by opponent parties. Now the term “Fascismo” has deep and dramatic implications in Italian history and it is often used as a term of “offense” to refer to the far right parties, including the Giorgia Meloni’s one.

My question is:

Are the term, fascism, fascist and the like used in contemporary American political debate. If so with what sort of connotations are these term used?

Recent Italian political election brought to power three political parties which are generally referred to as “the Right”. The bigger party (headed by current PM Giorgia Meloni) is actually the one that stands to the right of the other two allied parties, and it is often referred to as “fascisti” by current opponent parties. Now the term “Fascismo” has deep and dramatic implications in Italian history and it is often used as a term of “offense” to refer to the far right parties, including the Giorgia Meloni’s one.

My question is:

Are the term, fascism, fascist and the like used in contemporary American political debate? If so with what sort of connotations are these term used?