Prepare to Fight Fascism: 2017 and Beyond
First, here’s why. And lastly, here’s how.
Why
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines Fascism:
…a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
Fascism defines Donald Trump
This, of course, also defines Donald Trump, his professed philosophy, actions and where he plans to take us. Voters seem to think they elected (via the electoral college, not the popular vote, which he lost) a populist, garrulous, successful entrepreneur — a powerful corporate leader opposed to the establishment. That’s a media illusion developed through a decade on his “reality” TV show. It’s a corporate media that, first, loved him because of his TV ratings, then, second, began to attack him when they realized they had helped him become a viable candidate.
So, now, he is about to take command of the most powerful, war-aggressive military in world history, massive government spy apparatus and abusive federal legal system.
Trump, in his youth, was weaned by a real-estate father to be a business “killer” (his father’s term), and a winner and not a loser, according to PBS Frontline. In young adulthood, he was trained by the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn. Cohn made his name as a legal henchman for Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the notorious ’50s “Red-Scare” politician. Cohn represented Trump in business for years, pushing him to (1) never admit to anything negative, (2) propagandize every negative into a positive and (3) if anybody sues you, countersue. That’s not what you would call an honest life, but it is a way to help protect yourself legally.
You can get a clear view of Trump’s history, as well as Hillary Clinton’s — the formation of their thinking, philosophy, speech and actions — in the powerful PBS Frontline documentary “The Choice 2016”.
Trump has applied those three Cohn dictums in his aggressive business and political behavior for decades. And he will apply them as president. He’s let no one stand in his way. When he personally made millions off his failed Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City, he sloughed off the millions of dollars stockholders lost, saying they should have monitored their investments better, according to Frontline.
When the Trump Taj Mahal and other Trump-titled assets began to fail in the ‘90s, banks kept from busting him, deciding they’d lose all their loan money if they took his name off the buildings. He’s gone to school on that, no longer starting new hotel projects, but selling his name worldwide while others actually own and develop the businesses. He may say he’s doing the constructing, but he’s not. That, and his illusive TV persona, carry him to this day.
Can’t you just see Trump turning into a Vladimir Putin, secretly making billions off of others’ businesses when he’s president? He’s been groomed for it. And if anyone gets in his way, now he can implement presidential power to overrun them. Look for him to operate with policymakers globally, publicly pushing American nationalism, but in private saying, “Let’s you and I make a deal. What’s in it for me?”
The Constitution
So you’ll have to, first, be prepared to defend your Constitution of the United States and its Bill of Rights.
Think immediately of the First Amendment, and particularly the freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Recall that Trump, during his presidential campaign often ostracized members of the press — refusing to let them into his campaign functions — if he didn’t like their questions or articles about him.
President Barack Obama took great pains to control the press. His Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tapped the Associated Press’s emails. We included this in our column “None’s Well That’s Orwell”. And Obama’s Justice Department also tried to intimidate all reporters by going after Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter James Risen, threatening him with jail if he didn’t reveal the name of a whistle-blowing source. We wrote about this in detail in our column “National Security Depends on Press Freedom”.
Trump will be ready to put all the government power available to him to carry Obama’s press intimidation program even farther. How far will a fascist dictator go? Just research Turkey currently under its democratically-elected president-turned-dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Trump has also shown abusive disdain for minorities, immigrants, women and public protesters. And you can bet he’ll find ways to intimidate and jail them. And if he can’t pass a law to do it, he’ll simply sign a presidential executive order, and it will come into play before the public even realizes it.
Also, Congress has given the president broad emergency powers if he decides to declare a national emergency. These powers allow dictatorial control over the nation when the chief executive declares a national emergency. We wrote about the overwhelming emergency presidential powers in our column “July 4: Our Independence Versus Today’s Emergency Powers”.
Austerity and Police Power
Following the U.S. national midterm elections in 2014, we wrote the column “As U.S. Austerity Deepens, Prepare for Revolution”.
We saw the Millionaire Congress begin implementing its austerity, fighting health care, limiting unemployment compensation, caring little about hundreds of thousands returning military veterans from our endless wars with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), leading to daily suicides.
As the new Millionaire Congress (Republicans and Democrats) further ramp up austerity, and Trump supports it, look for the nation to move even closer to revolution. Hopefully peaceful revolution, but probably not.
During his campaign, Trump preached for more police control of the public, not less. Fear of revolution prompted the federal government under Obama to supply military hardware to local police forces. He reluctantly claimed to stop it late in his second term due to the public outcry. But expect Trump, flashing his mantle as Commander in Chief, to encourage greater militarizing of police nationwide.
Privatization
Internationally, American and European oligarchs have looked for chances to move into debt-torn countries and swallow up their public assets and natural resources at dirt-cheap prices, turning public services into private corporate operations. Washington has colluded with private corporations to do that, particularly in South America, as we wrote about in our column “Why Ecuador REALLY Gave Assange Asylum”.
That would be right up Trump’s alley. His top priority has always been “making a deal”, i.e. making money. And as president he’ll have national and global opportunities to secretly do that.
Cohorts will encourage it. Giuliani as mayor of New York pushed to both censor and privatize the arts, and keep the public from investigating budgets, but was stalled by federal court rulings. After his mayoral effort, he tried to privately control millions in a fund for families of 9/11 victims — until a group of police widows threatened to file suit. Christie, as governor of New Jersey, has moved water supply services from public control to the private sector.
These are the first issues to consider and respond to as Trump works to consolidate his power. We’ll be looking more at these and other issues — ranging from domestic to foreign affairs — as we move forward.
How
How can you defend yourself and your fellow citizens from the coming fascist onslaught? Peculiar Progressive for years has encouraged you to get organized (you can’t do it alone), get educated to each issue’s specifics and get active in bringing about change. It’s now going to take a massive effort to defend yourself, your children and your Constitution. It’s doubtful you’ll get much help from the Millionaire Congress — who could refuse to fund Trump efforts, but won’t — or from a conservative U.S. Supreme Court he’s about to make more conservative by appointing a ninth judge.
History shows that dictators move into power unexpectedly during economic downturns, coups d’etat, revolutions or states of emergency.
So, to your marks, get set, go.
Originally published in The Clyde Fitch Report, now in my book The Vital Realities for 2020 and Beyond:
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