Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Donald Trump is Marching America Towards Fascism

And Republicans Remain in Lockstep with Their Leader

Over the past several days nearly every form of American media has been flooded with a debate about whether President Donald Trump and ICE are operating concentration camps. Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushed this debate into the spotlight and numerous Republicans, including Congresswoman Liz Cheney, fired back immediately. In the midst of the debate that exploded on Twitter and elsewhere a simple question was lost, which is, why do we even need to have this debate?

This debate is taking place because the Trump administration is operating what they refer to as “detention camps” primarily along our southern border. These camps house immigrants who come to the United States without papers. Immigrants have been held in these camps for long periods of time without trial. That alone is cause for concern, but what has brought the debate over the term concentration camps to the forefront of the national conversation is the treatment of the people being detained. People have been required to sleep outside on concrete, in cages.

Children have been forcibly separated from their parents, and several children have died. Most recently the Trump administration argued in federal court that the children in these camps don’t need soap or toothbrushes. Given this information the term “concentration camp” does not seem too far off the mark. More importantly, the debate about exact terminology is a distraction from the fact that something horrible is clearly happening in the United States when the DOJ is more invested in depriving children of soap than it is in saving their lives.

The larger, scarier story, which the camps are just one part of, is the story of a country rapidly moving toward fascism. Fascism can sound like an outdated word used by college professors or historians, but the political belief system embraced by the likes of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini is alive in the United States, and may quickly be gaining momentum. Scholars have struggled to comprehensively define exactly what fascism is, because every fascist leader and regime has operated slightly differently. But there are a few key characteristics that have been embraced by fascists throughout history, and that can help make clear how Donald Trump has embraced this ideology, and is running with it.

The first, and perhaps largest component of fascism is that fascists are authoritarians, meaning they believe in strict obedience to their governments and to themselves, even at the expense of personal freedom. On a personal level, Trump makes it painfully clear again and again that he cares about the loyalty of members of the executive branch above all else. People like Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kellyanne Conway receive no repercussions of any kind for lying, and in fact appear to be rewarded for valuing their loyalty to Trump more than the truth. The President has also consistently applied this approach on a much larger scale. When he reacts to the media he criticizes stories, and networks that he doesn’t like, with no regard for the validity of their stories. They either like him, and he actively supports them (as is most noticeably the case with Fox News) or they don’t like him, and are therefore “fake news.” The desire to discredit the media, and have the American people only trust and obey the information coming out of the White House is a telltale sign of fascism.

Even more alarming is that executive branch employees’ loyalty is also valued more than the rule of law, as evidenced by Conway’s blatant disregard for the Hatch Act, and the lack of consequences for that behavior. Similarly, there has recently been a string of refusals by Trump appointees to turn information over to Congress. From Secretary Mnuchin refusing to release the President’s tax returns to the Department of Justice refusing to comply with a court order the executive branch has now repeatedly refused to comply with Congress. And Trump has backed them the entire way. This fits very clearly with the patterns of a fascist leader, who view themselves as above the law, and in fact care little for the law at all.

Most alarming has been the ethnic cleansing aspect of Trump’s recent rhetoric. Just yesterday, the President of the United State declared via Twitter that ICE would begin deporting “millions of illegal immigrants.” This concept is completely unrealistic and impossible for ICE to execute, which ultimately makes it more alarming. It indicates that Trump’s tweet is primarily about signaling to his base that he aims to make the United States into a “White’s Only” country, another standard characteristic of fascist regimes. Fascists tend to play on the economic and racial fears of their supporters, using them to gain and consolidate power. When Trump’s tweets and the language at his rallies is paired with the inhumane treatment of immigrants at our nation’s border, the picture is grim. He appears more than willing to hurt those seeking refuge here in order to build his fascist government, with him as America’s ultimate authority.

Throughout this rapid decent towards fascism the Republican Party has stood idly by. Even politicians like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who Trump repeatedly demeaned and attacked during the 2016 primary, have been won over to supporting him without any reservations. And with good reason. Part of Trump’s fascist push referenced above is the desire to have the entire country answer to him. So far, that has worked well with GOP voters, who have embraced the cult of personality he espouses. Because of his success with the Republican base, other elected officials in his party are well aware that questioning him will likely lead to the end of their political careers. And so they stand silent (with the exception of Justin Amash), or have even grown to be enthusiastic supporters. They have allowed the GOP to become the party of Trump, enabling his fascist aspirations every step of the way.

Now the Democratic Party, and, by all appearances, most independent voters in America are what stand between Donald Trump and his goal of fascist control of the United States. What exactly Democrats in Congress will do between now and the 2020 elections is unclear, and what Trump will do if he loses that election is also unclear. What is clear is that if Americans do not stand up to this man they will likely witness the end of our Democracy, and if the concentration camps at along our border are any indication, an incalculable amount of pain and suffering as well.
https://blog.usejournal.com/donald-trump-is-marching-america-towards-fascism-ae50fdd76f85