Have they always been fascists?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I can’t seem to come up with a solid answer. I know in the past there has been more pushback to Trump from the Republican establishment, but I’m wondering - was the pushback for ideological reasons, or was it for optical reasons? Trump has the popular support right now and INSTANTLY every Republican fell in line to support fascism. I know a lot of you will just say it’s opportunism, but part of me thinks they’ve just been hiding their power level all along. What do you guys think?