Notes from the US: Fawning on fascists

The Trump administration’s political programme is still one of vengeance

~ Louis Further ~

The shooting of supremacist bigot and hate-monger, Charlie Kirk, last month provoked adulation on the broad right out of all proportion to (the ‘value’ of) his ‘work’. Many people will not have heard of Kirk or Turning Point USA before the assassination. But he was praised and sanctified almost as if his vile antisemitic, misogynistic and Islamophobic beliefs constituted some sort of coherent political theory designed to make the world he fouled a better place.

His supporters on the right hailed him as a hero—for comments like these: “America was at its peak when we halted immigration for 40 years and we dropped our foreign-born percentage to its lowest level ever. We should be unafraid to do that”; “The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different”; and “Jewish donors have been the No. 1 funding mechanism of radical open-border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies, cultural institutions and non-profits…some of the largest financiers of left-wing anti-white causes have been Jewish Americans…Jews control Hollywood, Jews control American colleges, Jews secretly fund Marxist policies, Jews use their money to fund open borders to make America be less white, the white man is in danger, white people are going to go extinct, black people are scary criminals and nobody says anything but I have the guts to say it, no black woman could possibly have gotten a law degree she would have had to have stolen that job from a white man”.

In support of such a platform schools in Oklahoma are now all to have a chapter of Kirk’s Turning Point USA fascist pressure group.

Many of those who asked for a brake on the worship of such a figure—or who actually resisted the fawning—lost their jobs as a result of what appears like a co-ordinated campaign. Some of those in Kirk’s and his followers’ crosshairs experienced increased hate attacks following public calls for a more thoughtful appraisal of what he stood for.

Fascism

Adulation for the even greater ‘great leader’, Trump himself, is growing. For instance huge banners carrying his face have appeared on some federal buildings in Washington DC. In similar ‘Big Brother’ fashion, Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, now has a lie-filled public ‘service’ propaganda video ‘announcement’ obliging passengers in some airports to listen to disinformation about the government shutdown.

Trump/MAGA retribution continues to be aided by the FCC (the Federal Communications Commission, the rough equivalent of Oftel in the UK)… comedian Jimmy Kimmel was briefly suspended last month for some pretty anodyne remarks critical of Trump. Yet MAGA apologist and long time host of the notorious ‘Fox and Friends’ fascist propaganda slot, Brian Kilmeade, advanced with total impunity his way of ‘dealing’ with homeless people: instead of gaol, “[they should be given] …involuntary lethal injection, or something. Just kill ‘em”.

Also last month White House’s deputy chief of staff, the scary Joseph Goebbels clone Stephen Miller, built on Trump’s assertion that it ought to be illegal to criticise him by claiming that merely to describe actions of the president as “authoritarian” (which this claim evidently makes them) should be a crime. His post on X received over one hundred thousand likes.

It’s to be noted that the MAGA/Trump crew is increasingly accusing opposition of doing exactly what they are: ‘weaponising the law’, ‘acting like fascists’, ‘being out of control’ and so on. Nevertheless, this whole movement is less than popular with the voting public—including the ‘swing’ voters and independents, who seem to be increasing in numbers—although a large minority of those asked in one poll think that lawlessness by the cult is justified. This may be irrelevant if this sale to a MAGA cult member of one of the systems which carries out election voting is allowed to go ahead; and/or if the MAGA gang extends Speaker Johnson’s refusal now to swear in an elected Democrat to seats which the party loses in next year’s midterm elections. Nor is it hard to see Trump’s invasion of cities whose residents did not vote for him in 2024 as an experiment in major military crackdown/takeover if they do so again in next year’s midterms.

Revenge

The political programme (in as much as there is one) of the administration is still one of vengeance. Funding for clean energy projects is being cut—again in states which did not vote from Trump. This is illegal: Congress approved the allocation; only Congress can withdraw it.

The FBI and its way-out-of-his-depths Director, MAGA Qanon conspiracist Kash Patel, has also been busy taking revenge on Trump’s enemies and trying to silence and/or otherwise do down groups antithetical to fascism, like those which track US extremism. The FBI also fired employees who dared to show support for George Floyd and gay pride—several years ago. Its former director, James Comey, has also been indicted—although legal experts think it likely that the charges will be thrown out on technicalities, as well as lack of substance. The same is widely thought to be true in the case of Letitia James, the Attorney General for the state of New York who successfully prosecuted Trump for financial corruption—as her job required.

Also truly corrupt is the far right ogre in charge of kidnapping and trafficking non-whites (the majority of whom have no hint of a criminal record) Tom Homan, was caught taking bribes last year; the Department of ‘Justice’ was told to drop the investigation into the case.

That was not the only evidence contradicting Trump/MAGA’s probity to be buried: the DOJ took down from its site a study indicating that right-wingers commit far more violent crimes than other groups. Information offered by the National Parks on (the history of) slavery is also being removed.

Meanwhile to supposedly ‘neutral’ Supreme Court is prioritising cases on which it can rule in MAGA/Trump’s favour.

Trump’s overt racism – not to mention his illusions and mental instability –  appear to be growing in number and severity. He recently posted a propaganda video touting the existence of ‘medbeds‘, beloved of the QAnon conspiracists. Then Trump sacked a long-serving museum official who advised against his stealing a sword to give as a present to the UK monarch on his recent visit to the UK.

Violence is also increasing, as ICE asserts its powers more forcefully – shooting photographers, assaulting TV journalists and members of the public.

And, as was inevitable when Trump/MAGA encourages fascist militias to join in, fake ICE raids are on the rise.

Environment

But to end on the positive, the group of young people in Montana which have already won once in court on environmental issues was back in court last month to file suit against Trump’s earth-wrecking executive orders promoting fossil fuels.

The post Notes from the US: Fawning on fascists appeared first on Freedom News.