June 13, 2020
The 73rd Year
Day 86
When did it become desirable to be a fascist?
Benito Mussolini was a fascist.
Emperor Hirohito was a fascist.
Adolph Hitler was a fascist.
Mussolini, Hirohito and Hitler killed millions in the name of fascism. We fought a world war in Europe and Asia to drive the fascists from power. Some 405,000 American soldiers, sailors and marines died fighting fascism on European and Asian soil.
Why are Americans still massing in the streets to protest racial injustice?
We fought a war 160 years ago that was supposed to end discrimination, racial injustice and slavery. The north won, the confederacy lost, slavery was banned. About 650,000 Americans died on both sides in the bloodiest and deadliest conflict in our history.
Why then do so many Americans embrace the confederate flag? And why are fascist Nazi symbols flaunted at far right rallies?
Racism and far right ideology are alive and well and empowered today by President Donald Trump.
Most importantly, why has President Trump embraced fascism? Is he a fascist? Is America becoming a fascist state?
President Trump is driven by fear. He fears anything he can not control. He hides his fear with bluster. Most cowards do.
President Trump is afraid of the protests in the streets. He is afraid of ANTIFA. He has branded ANTIFA as a terrorist organization. He declared, in a tweet of course, that this would become official US policy.
ANTIFA is an acronym that stands for anti-fascist. Simply put, the president does not like ANTIFA because its supporters do not like him. In Donald Trump’s world, if you are not a sycophant, you are his enemy. And if you are his enemy, you must be crushed.
This is why the president wanted to use regular army troops to drive protesters, most of whom were young and peaceful, from the streets. In the president’s view, the local and state police were apparently not up to the job. The National Guard were not up to it. Federal corrections and other federal law enforcement flown and bussed in were not enough either.
Our president wanted crack, regular army troops, trained to do battle on foreign soil in places like in Afghanistan and Iraq deployed in DC to fight fellow Americans.
Does all this make our president a fascist? I suppose if you are “anti” ANTIFA and want to crush unarmed Americans on our city streets you are by definition pro fascist. So yes Donald Trump is a fascist.
By embracing a fascist creed our president dishonors the memory of the hundreds of thousand of Americans and millions more that died in World War II.
It will not be easy for the president and his minions to locate and shutter the ANTIFA headquarters and rout and arrest the terrorist leaders lurking there. It will be even more difficult to paper the walls of the president's bunker-hideout in the bowels of the White House with the ANTIFA organizational chart.
ANTIFA is not an organization. It has no leaders. There is no chain of command. There is no organizational chart.
ANTIFA is a label, a movement for sure but they are hardly terrorists. ANTIFA is us: Americans, “We the people...” exercising our first amendment rights and protesting against fascism, racial injustice and the growing police state.
America has plenty of fascists but it is not a fascist state, at least not yet. George Floyd’s senseless murder by uniformed police in Minneapolis has awakened a sleeping giant: young Americans, the ones that do not vote on election day.
These 20 and 30 somethings are marching in the street, many for the first time in their lives. The generation that many believed was inextricably tethered to their computers, devices and online lives has joined the real world en masse with a bang.
Younger Americans are much more diverse than the general population. Census data shows that the average age of the white population is 53. About 40 percent of all Americans in their 20s and 30s are minorities; hispanic, African American or Asian.
It is a cliche to say that young people are our future. Never before has it been more accurate. If young people vote in November the fascist in the White House and his toadies in the Congress will be driven out. If young Americans stay home, they will prevail.
This is the real reason why the president and his GOP supporters oppose election reform, making it easy to cast a ballot remotely, by mail or electronic device. The only way they win an election in November is if the turnout is really low. They do not want young Americans to vote.
The election may not end the struggle. As I have written before I fear this president will not accept an electoral defeat. Fascists never do.
So the future is cloudy. There are three certainties however; the Covid-19 virus will continue to spread, the public battle against racial injustice will grow and it will never be desirable to be a fascist.
Be safe!
The 73rd Year
Day 86
When did it become desirable to be a fascist?
Benito Mussolini was a fascist.
Emperor Hirohito was a fascist.
Adolph Hitler was a fascist.
Mussolini, Hirohito and Hitler killed millions in the name of fascism. We fought a world war in Europe and Asia to drive the fascists from power. Some 405,000 American soldiers, sailors and marines died fighting fascism on European and Asian soil.
Why are Americans still massing in the streets to protest racial injustice?
We fought a war 160 years ago that was supposed to end discrimination, racial injustice and slavery. The north won, the confederacy lost, slavery was banned. About 650,000 Americans died on both sides in the bloodiest and deadliest conflict in our history.
Why then do so many Americans embrace the confederate flag? And why are fascist Nazi symbols flaunted at far right rallies?
Racism and far right ideology are alive and well and empowered today by President Donald Trump.
Most importantly, why has President Trump embraced fascism? Is he a fascist? Is America becoming a fascist state?
President Trump is driven by fear. He fears anything he can not control. He hides his fear with bluster. Most cowards do.
President Trump is afraid of the protests in the streets. He is afraid of ANTIFA. He has branded ANTIFA as a terrorist organization. He declared, in a tweet of course, that this would become official US policy.
ANTIFA is an acronym that stands for anti-fascist. Simply put, the president does not like ANTIFA because its supporters do not like him. In Donald Trump’s world, if you are not a sycophant, you are his enemy. And if you are his enemy, you must be crushed.
This is why the president wanted to use regular army troops to drive protesters, most of whom were young and peaceful, from the streets. In the president’s view, the local and state police were apparently not up to the job. The National Guard were not up to it. Federal corrections and other federal law enforcement flown and bussed in were not enough either.
Our president wanted crack, regular army troops, trained to do battle on foreign soil in places like in Afghanistan and Iraq deployed in DC to fight fellow Americans.
Does all this make our president a fascist? I suppose if you are “anti” ANTIFA and want to crush unarmed Americans on our city streets you are by definition pro fascist. So yes Donald Trump is a fascist.
By embracing a fascist creed our president dishonors the memory of the hundreds of thousand of Americans and millions more that died in World War II.
It will not be easy for the president and his minions to locate and shutter the ANTIFA headquarters and rout and arrest the terrorist leaders lurking there. It will be even more difficult to paper the walls of the president's bunker-hideout in the bowels of the White House with the ANTIFA organizational chart.
ANTIFA is not an organization. It has no leaders. There is no chain of command. There is no organizational chart.
ANTIFA is a label, a movement for sure but they are hardly terrorists. ANTIFA is us: Americans, “We the people...” exercising our first amendment rights and protesting against fascism, racial injustice and the growing police state.
America has plenty of fascists but it is not a fascist state, at least not yet. George Floyd’s senseless murder by uniformed police in Minneapolis has awakened a sleeping giant: young Americans, the ones that do not vote on election day.
These 20 and 30 somethings are marching in the street, many for the first time in their lives. The generation that many believed was inextricably tethered to their computers, devices and online lives has joined the real world en masse with a bang.
Younger Americans are much more diverse than the general population. Census data shows that the average age of the white population is 53. About 40 percent of all Americans in their 20s and 30s are minorities; hispanic, African American or Asian.
It is a cliche to say that young people are our future. Never before has it been more accurate. If young people vote in November the fascist in the White House and his toadies in the Congress will be driven out. If young Americans stay home, they will prevail.
This is the real reason why the president and his GOP supporters oppose election reform, making it easy to cast a ballot remotely, by mail or electronic device. The only way they win an election in November is if the turnout is really low. They do not want young Americans to vote.
The election may not end the struggle. As I have written before I fear this president will not accept an electoral defeat. Fascists never do.
So the future is cloudy. There are three certainties however; the Covid-19 virus will continue to spread, the public battle against racial injustice will grow and it will never be desirable to be a fascist.
Be safe!
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