I don't totally agree with him, but if you read a bit of Mussolini it is true that he defines Fascism that way, as in the strongest in economic (and on the national stage, military) fuse with the state to control freedoms, or as he put it, "Fascism is more appropriately called Corporatism, because it is a merger of state and corporate power".
Given that both Mussolini and Hitler came to power as a result of corporate backing, and survived as a result of that, it's not inappropriate to describe it as the takeover of the levers of state power by corporate power (accumulated through the free and liberal market).
Both Hitler and Mussolini did claim inspiration from the United States. Hitler also claimed inspiration from Canada. The North American politics of the time of white supremacy and of total competition and survival of the strongest were a strong and explicit inspiration of Hitler on racial and economic terms[1].
This idea of fascism as a takeover of liberalism by those that benefitted most from it is not unique, though poorly phrased, as the idea that "fascism is capitalism in decay" (author unknown). I don't fully agree with this sentiment, because in truth the decay of capitalism while it often leads to fascism, doesn't always lead to the most rigorous definition of fascism. There is some leeway though, and if you accept Pinochet as fascist, then it is essentially true that Fascism is an end result of liberal free market societies where the winners of the free market while maintaining all economic and most societal freedoms, make them contingent to such an extent as they don't exist for most.
Given that both Mussolini and Hitler came to power as a result of corporate backing, and survived as a result of that, it's not inappropriate to describe it as the takeover of the levers of state power by corporate power (accumulated through the free and liberal market).
Both Hitler and Mussolini did claim inspiration from the United States. Hitler also claimed inspiration from Canada. The North American politics of the time of white supremacy and of total competition and survival of the strongest were a strong and explicit inspiration of Hitler on racial and economic terms[1].
This idea of fascism as a takeover of liberalism by those that benefitted most from it is not unique, though poorly phrased, as the idea that "fascism is capitalism in decay" (author unknown). I don't fully agree with this sentiment, because in truth the decay of capitalism while it often leads to fascism, doesn't always lead to the most rigorous definition of fascism. There is some leeway though, and if you accept Pinochet as fascist, then it is essentially true that Fascism is an end result of liberal free market societies where the winners of the free market while maintaining all economic and most societal freedoms, make them contingent to such an extent as they don't exist for most.
[1]: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/30/how-american-r...