Facing Fascism

 

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.