the left cannot possibly agree with them on anything lest they be contaminated by associating with low-status opinions

I mean, its a hard circle to square, because there’s a ton of overlap in the high level messaging. Leftists and Fascists both value domestic industry. Leftists and Fascists both build support using populist rhetoric. Leftists and Fascists both value large-scale labor action as a means of leverage for their demands. And, as a consequence, both Leftists and Fascists advocate protectionist trade policies that shield their supporters from capital flight. Leftists and Fascists are both adversarial to international finance, particularly when the finance is controlled by social liberals with a penchant for culture-war rhetoric.

The underlying reasons for these rhetorical positions vary radically. And the implementation of policies vary radically. But when one or both exist on the political fringe, it can be difficult to draw a sharp dividing line between their propaganda until you get to the more radical wings of the movements. Moderate Leftists and Moderate Fascists present as nearly interchangeable, often by design, as Fascists love to smug reactionary views in under broadly appealing socialist rhetoric.

Liberals and Libertarians love to associate the two in tandem, using vague overarching Totalitarianism-versus-Freedom style rhetoric. And so Leftists - particularly whiter and wealthier Leftists - end up scrambling to unload Fascist baggage piled up by all the other competing political factions.

They must therefore be pro-NATO and pro-war.

I’ve seen plenty of Leftists thread the needle between Russia and NATO, precisely by staking an anti-war position as their primary goal. The Chinese have made this their diplomatic pillar. And on a global stage, it works well enough. None of the other surrounding regions - particularly in the Middle East and Africa - have any interest in this war continuing.

But in the US, where we don’t suffer any of the social costs associated with an ugly war in a regional breadbasket or critical fossil fuel provider operating under sanction by the local financial regime, its far more difficult to explain how you can be “Anti-War” without being “Pro-NATO”.