To the contrary, I see most people arguing that they're the first step towards fascism.
That is a fair concern, although I doubt it's the first step for him and the USA. Several steps are being taken at once. I liked this article from those search results, particularly the comments about the media's reluctance during the election campaign to call Trump what he is.
L Ron Hubbard wrote a story in Astounding Magazine back in the late '50s where he argued that the quickest path to riches was not investment or business acumen but starting a cult. Two years later he wrote Dianetics. Frontline's piece on Trump/Clinton is an impressive piece of media that doesn't paint Trump as a fascist. It identifies him as a bully that has never had to tell the truth so he doesn't. He's gotten to where he is by indulging his instinct for self-flattery and he's always been big enough to avoid burning out. But then, he's surrounded by sycophants with their own agendas so what we're left with is a bull in a china shop surrounded by ideologues with red capes.