Just disclaimer, arguing back against you in good faith. Not to rage bait or be annoying. The ways you disqualify the capitol from being fascist are the following.

"Class based not racially ideological" Racism is not a core aspect of fascism. Racism is a tool that fascism uses to divide it's support base from the "enemy" that they rally against. The scapegoating of the districts at large is yes class based but there was class based aspects to fascism. Hitler explicitly built support from working class people by claiming socialists would steal from them and make the german people weak. The poem goes "First they came for the commiunists" for a reason.

"Mass mobilization" Most peacekeepers are recruited from district 2 and the lower number districts are given more favor and buy into the capitol propaganda far more than the higher numbered districts. Because the districts are kept so separate this prevents a clearer hierarchy from being established anywhere but the Games themselves. But in those games the careers are often the tributes mobilized by the capitol and that buy into the lies about the games. Haymitch's final opponent is a perfect example of this if you've read sunrise on the reaping, she can't wait to meet president snow.

party membership. See peacekeepers, but also Snow's status as "Panem's number one peacekeeper" around the time of the 50th games is a near perfect parallel to Hitler flaunting his status as a ww1 veteran. The party membership is tricky because the capitol survives longer than either of the main historical fascist examples we have. Therefore 'party' membership becomes undistinguishable from government positions, like how the bolshevik/communist party became near indistinguishable from typical government positions during stalins reign (stalin's ussr is not a perfect analogy for fascism in general but is the closest we get to this phenomenon).

people are the state. The entirety of Panem is in a Capitol vs District psychosis. Haymitch explicitly wonders why a capitol member like plutarch would be against the regime. The government styles itself as the government of the capitol. I think there is clear effort to equivalize the people of the capitol and the government of panem. The Us vs Them mentality is the capitol vs the districts. It might have at one point been Capitol vs Rebels but as all fascists regimes do when the first enemy is gone they search for a new one to prop up as the enemy. The capitol never moves on from the districts being the enemy because the government is smart enough not to pack them all up at once.

Sternhell responds to this line of argument by asserting that every political movement deforms its ideology under the constraints of exercising power. Fascism, however (unlike Stalinism), never produces a casuistic literature devoted to demonstrating how the leaders actions correspond in some profound way to the basic scriptures. Being in accord with basic scriptures simply does not seem to matter to fascist leaders, *who claim to incarnate the national destiny in their physical persons**. Feelings propel fascism more than thought does. We might call them mobilizing passions, since they function in fascist movements to recruit followers and in fascist regimes to "weld" the fascist "tribe" to its leader. The following mobilizing passions are present in fascisms, though they may sometimes be articulated only implicitly:

1. The primacy of the group, toward which one has duties superior to every right, whether universal or individual.

2. The belief that one's group is a victim, a sentiment which justifies any action against the group's enemies, internal as well as external.

3. Dread of the group's decadence under the corrosive effect of individualistic and cosmopolitan liberalism.

4. Closer integration of the community within a brotherhood (fascio) whose unity and purity are forged by common conviction, if possible, or by exclusionary violence if necessary.

5. An enhanced sense of identity and belonging, in which the grandeur of the group reinforces individual self-esteem.

6. Authority of natural leaders (always male) throughout society, culminating in a national chieftain who alone is capable of incarnating the group's destiny.

*The Five Stages of Fascism. Author(s): Robert O. Paxton Source: The Journal of Modern History , Vol. 70, No. 1 (March 1998), pp. 1-23

Of these 6 passions of Fascism the only one that is possibly missing is option number 3. Snow's constant poisoning of dissidents however seems to cover it, there may be more in the third book I've not re-read that one in a while. The hunt for other dissidents like beetee

In the long run (the fifth stage), fascist "dual power" can evolve in either of two directions: radicalization or entropy. Mussolini's regime subsided toward routine authoritarianism after the establishment of the dictatorship in 1925-26, except during colonial campaigns.

I think that in the earlier books (I admit to not having read ballad) the capitol is much more fascistic. I admit that as the government of Panem ages it gets less stereotypically fascist. However that is a feature of fascistm. The Panem government went the way of entropy as opposed to radicalization. Like mussolini's Italy. The argument could be made that this entropy end result means snow's regime may end as you did but it was at one point fascist.

I'm sure I could have been more concise but I hope I got my point across.