He was clearly being ironic. But I agree, the GOP is fascism. A form nastier than anything ever seen because they are believed to operate under the guise of freedom. Just as Alduous Huxley predicted it would come to America. But this isn’t recent.
The US used what modern GOPers deem “socialist taxation” in the Cold War to galvanize generations of Americans against the Communism. It was never really about the USSR. Only military spending for military sake. Another indicator of fascism. Eisenhower tried to warn us.