They gathered by the thousands on President’s
Day in front of state capitols and city halls. Their purpose? To denounce fascism. In Latin America? In
Russia or Hungary? No…in the United States.
Fascism is a Far Right,
authoritarian and ultranationalist political ideology. Its main feature is
government authority resting in one individual’s hands centralizing all power,
void of judicial and legislative restraints. That leader suppresses the press,
attempts to control messaging to the citizenry, seeks control of police powers,
acts above any rule of law, pushes political opposition from the table,
undermines democratic institutions and retains a hold on people through the use
of hate, fear and division.
The demonstrators say that it is
developing now. They say it has more than a foothold – they say it occupies the
White House.
Donald Trump isn’t disguising it. An
authoritarian believes he has absolute authority. Trump is claiming he has a
right to that authority declaring “When someone is president of the United
States the authority is total."
It is not just a matter of him
sharing his personal belief in an autocracy. It is his pattern. Follow his
roadmap:
When an authoritarian achieves the
role of leadership, their first priority is to control the media to control the
message. After being elected in 2016, Trump immediately called the top media
executives to Trump Tower explaining to them how he wanted to be covered. The
executives would not cooperate, so Trump went to Plan B in the Authoritarian
Handbook – destroy the public’s confidence in the press. He preached the
American press is all “fake news” and he told a Veterans of Foreign Wars
convention to ignore what they read and saw in the media and instead only rely
on him for the truth.
Today it’s worse. He recently
called for CBS and MSNBC networks to be shut down. Four months ago, he called
for revoking the licenses of NBC and ABC. He targeted CNN 13 months ago. His right-hand
Elon Musk has made it clearer. Referring to CBS’ 60 Minutes, he declares they
all “deserve long prison terms” for daring to be critical of his and Trump’s
agenda.
Authoritarians want control of law
enforcement and government employees. Trump wants federal employees to take a
loyalty oath not to the country they serve, but to Donald Trump. He’s moving
forward to purge the Department of Justice, the FBI and the CIA.
On the menu for retribution are any
FBI agent or DOJ investigator who researched his alleged crimes ranging from
illegally removing classified documents and hiding them in his home to trying
to fix the vote in Georgia to pointing his followers in the direction of the
Capitol to stop the democratic process as his last-ditch effort to remain in
office. So much for rule of law. Names he dropped as planned for political
retribution included Liz Chenny, Adam Shiff, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi,
Kamala Harris and Joe Biden with their only alleged crimes being they have
spoken critically of Trump. So much for free speech.
A fascist wants to single-handedly
enact laws and direct policy, ignoring legislators, courts and the elements of
their republic’s constitution. Trump has signed 55 orders in 19 days. Many
appear to usurp the role of Congress as it is Congress’ job to pass laws, the
Executive Branch’s job is to implement those laws. Many lawsuits have been
filed challenging the constitutionality of those actions. “We are in the midst
of a constitutional crisis,” University of California Law School Dean Erwin
Chermenisky flatly states.
Eight judges have blocked Trump
decrees on constitutional grounds. It is appearing that Trump is already
ignoring at least one court order while arguing in all cases that he has the
right as president to enact any policy he so directs despite the Constitution
and our system of checks and balances.
He argues that not only does he
have total authority, but whatever he does if in his judgement it is to save
the country “it’s not illegal.” That is not only shades of Richard Nixon
regarding Watergate, that is the exact argument Adolph Hitler used as he defended his
authoritarianism. The Supreme Court that
carries his brand seems to agree by ruling a president has immunity from laws
he may violate while serving, making Trump above the rule of law for the next
four years. “The rule of law is but an
impediment to his policy goals,” says US Judge John Caughenour. Even Republican
Senator Thom Tillis confirmed Trump “runs afoul of the Constitution in the
strictest sense.”
Vice President Vance isn’t shy of
this administration’s contempt for checks and balances much less the Supreme
Court’s role. “Judges aren’t allowed to
control the executive’s legitimate power,” says Vance. But that is exactly what
the Supreme Court’s duty is, to rule if a president is working outside the
boundaries of the Constitution.
Add to this authoritarian stew is
his past use of encouraging violence to remove protestors from his rallies and
to spawn followers to attack the Capitol to stop the democratic process, and
his campaign pledge to consider using the military to deal with protesters.
We were warned he is a fascist by
conservatives who worked for him. His former Chief of Staff stated, “he prefers
the dictator approach” and is “fascist”, his former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff said he is “a wannabe dictator” and “fascist to the core.”
Former National Security Advisor and his former White House attorney agreed
that he is “a threat to American democracy.”
Australian Senator Nick McKim
lamented “If you can’t see the slide into fascism that is currently happening
in the United States, you aren’t paying attention."
We need to start paying attention.
