As I wrote in this article here in April, 2018, "There are three basic tenets that define fascism: one is a push to eliminate any voices of opposition sources of authority and leadership. Another is an intense use of xenophobia and overt reliance on patriotism to demonize foreigners. And finally, there is the use of force and brutality."
What I continued say was "It's difficult to not see those words painted over the fullness that is Trump. Even acolytes most devoted to him, while crying out at the label, would be hard-pressed to deny the description, especially since so many revel in it. Indeed support him specifically for those reasons. But when you proudly wear the definition, it comes with the badge" I went into a lot of detail in that article, but the short version is that his "America First" slogan combined with whipping up hysteria against Mexicans and sh*thole countries, while trying to create laws that keep Muslims out of the country is the xenophobia at its fullest. His embraces of brutal strongmen like Putin, Xi Xengping, Kim Jong-Un, and Erdogan, and telling his rallies he'll pay their bail if they're arrested for beating up protesters, and telling police that they should be rough will people they arrest -- not to mention dating years back to his full-page ad calling for the death penalty of the Central Park 5 (who turned out to be innocent) -- is his foundation of encouraging brutality and violence. And not much needs to be added to his calling the press the "enemy of the people," along with his attacks on judges, all the U.S. intelligence services and firing FBI officials is as core to fascism as anything for his efforts to diminish the authority of institutions that could oppose him. So, it is not surprising to see the story that Trump's Justice Department, lead by co-conspirator William Barr, is poised to open a criminal investigation of agents within the department, most notably the FBI, to find out their supposed-part in the right-wing nut-job conspiracy story of its own Russia investigation. I'm not going to go into all the reasons why this is insane. In part because it's near-impossible to unravel this lunatic conspiracy theory, since at its heart you have to believe the Democrats hacked themselves and then released their own harmful private emails to help Hillary Clinton lose the election so that Trump could win and the FBI and ALL the U.S. intelligence services could conspire to investigate him. The only other alternative theory is that it was Russia who hacked the DNC and cyber-attacked the U.S.in order to manipulate the election, which every U.S. intelligence service has established. And just other other week, so did the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee. Occam's Razor says that when there are multiple explanations for something, then the one that is simplest is usually right. And so Occam's Razor does it again. But the main reason I'm not going to try to unravel the insane conspiracy theory behind this Trump-led Justice Department criminal investigation is that I feel pretty comfortable that there is nothing to find and nothing will be found and the Trump minions likely know that nothing will be found and, most of all, they don't care. Because the point isn't to find something deranged that doesn't exist, but rather -- to once again undermine faith and trust in the U.S. justice system. At any time, but especially when Trump is being investigated for impeachment. And this, at its most glaring, is fascism at its fullest. As I wrote in that article a year-and-a-half ago -- "I do now feel very comfortable in saying -- after having believed it for a long while at this point -- that among his other many characteristics Trump is a fascist. I don't mean that as an exaggerated description of indignation, but in the most literal sense." Trump and his administration is fascist. Unless that wasn't clear, it's best to say it another way -- Trump and his administration is fascist. Oh, that's the same way. Well...the thing is, that's pretty much the only way to say it. Not as hyperbole or in hysteria, but by the plan, direct, actual historical and political definition of the word. This is fascism. And the elected officials of the Republican Party enable it all and are not only silent, but now active and complicit. Just two days ago, we saw over 20 House Republicans store the high-secure SCIF room to break up the impeachment deposition, and some even brought in their cell phones to send reports, which is profoundly a deep security risk. And only yesterday, Lindsey Graham, (R-SC) introduced a resolution to condemn House Democrats for holding what he and many Republicans now call a supposedly "illegal" impeachment. (I haven't yet figured that one out, since it's in the U.S. Constitution and all the rules are being followed, diligently to a T.) And 44 of his fellow-GOP senatars co-signed his resolution. (Somehow three Republican senators up for reelection or retiring didn't sign.) [NOTE: When I wrote this last night, the number was nine. That's now dropped...) The only thing I have figured out is these efforts by by House and Senate Republicans to undermine Democrats and the Rule of Law is once again a core foundation of fascism. And as always, this is not about Trump, we know who he is. This is about the elected officials of the Republican Party who enable him, actively participate and are complicit.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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