That bit hardcore lefties tell you about "and right after the war, we absorbed fascism, and made alliances with a ton of fascists, to fight the Cold War" is not actually a metaphor, it's quite literal. So if you're going to be sold reactionary politics and alliances with guys like Franco, right after the war to topple Hitler, it requires teaching a streamlined definition of fascism that somehow precludes all the fascists we're friends with and emulate here in the West.