Grassroots organization will save us.
I would argue that fascism is more of a response by the elites to prevent citizen’s frustrations from becoming revolution. While fascism certainly uses populism to get power initially, it does not rise organically from the people, but is rather imposed by the ruling class.
I think we’re mostly agreeing, but it’s important to explicitly point out that fascism is a tool of class warfare. This explains why Democratic leadership is mostly just standing by and watching - they are also members of the elite (or are bought/controlled by the elite), so they are terrified that regular people will demand change that removes them from their high tower.