Crypto-fascism is when a party or group secretly adheres to the doctrines of fascism while attempting to disguise it as another political movement. The term is in a similar vein to crypto-Judaism or crypto-Christianity, referring to the secret practice of one faith while adhering to another religion publically. Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, refers to the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; people who practice crypto-Judaism are referred to as crypto-Jews. The many Marranos who publicly professed Catholicism but privately adhered to Judaism during the Spanish Inquisition, and particularly after the Alhambra decree of...

Origins

The term is mainly credited to Gore Vidal. During a television interview in 1968, during the chaos of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Vidal described William F. Buckley as a "crypto-Nazi" and later corrected himself as meaning to describe him as a "crypto-fascist". The term has been used frequently in Gore Vidal's literature and his adherents. Gore Vidal, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1948 Eugene Luther Vidal, better known as Gore Vidal (born October 3, 1925), is a well-known American man of letters, a writer of novels, plays and essays, and a leading public figure for over fifty years. ... 1968 was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... Featured at the Democratic National Convention are speeches by prominent party figures. ... William Frank Buckley Jr. ...

William F. Buckley's response to the term was, "Now, listen you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face."

In America, the term crypto-fascist has been revived by some critics to describe the neoconservative movement, especially in reference to various national security measures taken after the September 11th attacks. Many conservatives consider the term offensive, and some have even called it hate speech. Neoconservatism describes several distinct political ideologies which are considered new forms of conservatism. ... The World Trade Center on fire The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. ...