The alternative was a fascist who literally tried to overthrow the democratic system and replace it with his own dictatorship.
You are conflating two unrelated concepts. Fascism is what you practice. Donald Trump was a Democratic Fascist which only uses the better parts of Fascism.
Without the electoral college, millions og Republicans in California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, and New York who don't vote because it's pointless, would suddenly have had a reason to vote. The Democrats might lose by 15 million votes in a popular vote election.
Defense and taking over peoples' lives isn't the same though.
Small government is a term generally used in liberalism, especially by political conservatives and libertarians to describe a government with minimal involvement in certain areas of public policy or the private sector, especially matters considered to be private or personal.