The Lost Weakened
This will be long, because the specifics are necessary. And being necessary, then hopefully interesting, as well. Having said that, I think the length will not be a surprise once you get through the first sentence of the next paragraph. So, let's go there.
For god’s sake, when will the majority of Democrats in Congress and the press stop dancing around Trump and the once-upon-a-time Republican Party and start addressing the reality that I have absolutely zero doubt that they know????!
They know because they are not stupid people. They know because they deal directly with Trump and party officials behind the scenes every day. They know because they follow the news. They know because Trump has cut off much of the non-far right press from access to him at many press events. And they know that what was once the Republican Party with the MAGA base just the wing is no more. That it’s the Republicans who are now the wing, and it’s the MAGA that are now leading the party, which is why it’s no longer the GOP, but the MAGOP. They know this, they see this, they understand that whatever Trump wants, the party gives him, almost unanimously. They know this. And they know, too, that the public does not only does not support this, but hate it, because they know that at least four major polls have Trump’s approval plummeted already to a paltry 38%. They know this.
Yet despite all that – and while the majority of Democrats in Congress and the press do call out Trump and MAGOPs and criticize them, at times even harshly -- they still largely dance around their criticism, calling Trump and his party enablers at most “authoritarian,” which sounds far more genteel than the reality. Indeed, for a public that may not have a clue what “authoritarian” is, it almost sounds lovely, it even has the word “authority” in it. For that matter, some still just call Trump and his party “the conservatives.” But "conservative" left the station long ago. Most Democrats in Congress and the press can’t push themselves to use the “F” word – what today's former Republican Party, now MAGOPs, has become, fascists.
Nor have most been able to push themselves to use the “D” word – dementia, despite all the evidence and writings, even books, by expert psychologists and psychiatrists who said Trump has been showing signs of early dementia, which is degenerative, since his first term. ("Early dementia" being where the sufferer is still functioning.) For goodness sake, during the campaign, Trump stopped taking questions at a Town Hall and just danced around on stage for thirty minutes! This is not normal. Only a month ago, Trump took a walk on the roof of the White House, shouting answers to reporters down on the ground, even making hand signals to demonstrate a bomb exploding. This is not normal. It can’t be said too often – imagine if President Biden did either of that! For that matter, if that's to high a hurdle to do, then just imagine if your 80-year-old grandfather did that. Especially if you knew his father had had Alzheimer’s.
Far too many Democrats in Congress and members of the press have become lost in their decency, undermining their positions of responsibility, missing the larger reality that if people are burning down the homes in your neighborhood, it's decent to call them serial arsonists. And not only is it decent, but a rallying cry for what you're actually dealing with.
And make no mistake, Trump and his party are absolutely fascist. That isn’t hyperbole or divisive – it’s descriptive. By every definition of the word, Trump and the MAGOP are fascist. Back in Trump’s first term, I wrote a long article here explaining why in great detail. I won’t repeat it all therefore. But in the most basic terms, there are three core principles to fascism --
1. Undermine the authority of all power bases that pose an opposition threat. Other political parties, the press, the court system, elections. Arresting political officials while peacefully doing their jobs. That leaves uncertainty, and only yourself as the sole voice of authority who can fix everything.
2. The use of violence to achieve your political aims and silence your critics. Sending the military into U.S. cities. Sending the United States Marines into Los Angeles. Telling a mass meeting of all your generals and admirals that maybe they should use American cities for training. Saying to police that they no longer needed to feel restraint when dealing with people they arrest. Giving approval to your followers for attacking others by declaring your opponents the enemy, evil, less-than-human parasites and vermin, the worst of the worst.
3. Promoting xenophobia by making anyone who is different, who is “other,” the enemy.
Does any of this sound, oh?, familiar?? And Democrats in Congress and the press see this intimately every day, and know this. And yet they dance around “Our Republican friends across the aisle” and “As the Speaker said today…” – never mind that they know it had no connection to the truth or, in Trump’s case (“They could have just turned on a big spigot to release the water,” “Windmills cause cancer,” “I’ve ended seven wars”) no connection to reality.
This is not hyperbole. It’s descriptive. For heaven’s sake, “JD Vance,” who is now Trump’s own Vice President, once called Trump “an American Hitler”!! Trump said that there were many fine people in the American Nazi Party. He recently endorsed a candidate for North Carolina governor who called himself a “Black Nazi.” The MAGOP reaches out to white supremacist, fascist, American Nazi groups as part of its base. When asked to denounce them at a presidential debate, Trump instead told them to “Stand back – and stand by.” Trump and his officials are trying to position ANTIFA as terrorist enemies – when all that ANTIFA stands for is “anti-fascist.” This is not hyperbole, this is not me saying it. This is Trump, his VP and the party openly saying it out loud. Saying Trump and his MAGOP party are fascist is accurately descriptive. And Democrats in Congress and the press know this. Because they’re not stupid and deal intimately with these people behind the scenes every day.
There is a massive difference to saying, “This is authoritarian” and “This is fascist.” And one huge reason we know is that Trump and MAGOPs don’t get upset when they’re called “authoritarian,” one gets the sense they sort of even like that. But they get twisted into outraged knots when called “fascist.” Because they not only know that’s really bad, but worse, they know that most people, even their base, know that being fascist is really, really, really bad.
By the way, there’s an easy response: if you hate being called fascist, then stop doing fascist things and stop enabling people who are fascist.
The MAGOP today is fascist. By every book definition of the word. And Democrats in Congress and the press know this. And if anyone is uncertain about whether Trump and his party are fascist, and if it’s abundantly clear to Democrats in Congress and the press, just open your eyes and look. And I don’t mean “look at what they’ve been doing since Trump’s first term” – or even “look what they’ve been doing since Trump took office again in January.” I mean –
Look what they’ve been doing this past weekend!!! That’s what promoted this.
Trump threatened ABC News and NBC News over their coverage which wasn’t supportive enough of him, saying that “'The FCC should look into the license” for both news organizations.
Both Trump and his deeply-fascist advisor Stephen Miller vehemently attacked a South Carolina judge Diane Goodstein for ruling against the administration, which lead to death threats and her being doxed – and her house was burned to the ground, completely destroyed. Her husband was injured and hospitalized, and another politician injured. (Not shockingly, there was no outrage from Trump, Miller or any MAGOPs. And while the DOJ is investigating if this was politically-motivated arson or an accident, there’s no word from AG Pam Bondi if she will investigate in case there’s any responsibility of hate speech that could have caused it.)
ICE mass raided an entire Chicago apartment house in the middle of the night, using Blackhawk helicopters, and zip-typing seniors and children. Shooting legal protestors, killing one person, injuring people that required hospitalization, throwing smoke grenades, driving gun-mounted tanks through the streets, teargassing the public – including even local police. Putting snipers on building rooftops, as DHS Director Noem toured them. Making a false 9-1-1 call to police to come to an ICE detention center to quell a disturbance that turned out to be completely peaceful with news crews there confirming that nothing at all had been going on -- a false report listed on ICE records, acknowledged by a Chicago police captain. Citizens grabbed off the street, often later released, not anything close to being the worst of worst. In fact, 60% of people arrested by ICE Chicago had no arrest record. Again – this was all just this past weekend.
Trump calling Democrats evil and Satan.
Trump complaining that “I wasn't served well" by an Oregon judge he appointed who had blocked troops being deployed to Portland. Uncaring (or ignorant) that we have three separate branches of government and that no judge “serves” a president, but is part of the independent judiciary.
Trump advisor Stephen Miller calling that same court ruling by the Trump-appointed judge to be a “legal insurrection.”
Trump and Kristi Noem separately calling their efforts as being a “war” on cities.
Kristi Noem attacking the Democratic Party, saying "They aren't just liberals anymore. If you look at the Democrat Party, they're a party of communists and marxists and socialists." (Unlike MAGOPs fitting the book definition of fascist, it is unlikely that Ms. Nome could define “communist, Marxist and socials” – nor explain the difference between her use of all three.).
When Trump participated at an official, government event honoring the Navy for its 250th anniversary – not a MAGOP rally – he told the assembled military, “But we have to take care of this little gnat on our shoulder called the Democrats.” And added for good measure that “They want to give all of our moneys to illegal aliens who pour into the country.”
And there is much, much, much more – so much more to show Trump and MAGOP fascism. But again, remember, all this is only what happened largely over just the past weekend. And there was much, much more for even that. But at a certain point, its too blatant, and you have to stop to take a breath and draw a line.
Therefore, we’ll limit video documentation to just this one, ghastly video from Chicago over the weekend as a marker to it all – even though just one video (let along all videos) don’t come close to doing it justice. But this one video shows, in four minutes, unrelenting fury and violence…yet ends on a very positive note, as the public pushes back.
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