Friend,
from the Refuse Fascism Editorial Board:
Trump Indicted for Attempting to Overturn Results of 2020 Election:
A Time for Truth, Not Delusion; For Struggle, Not Complacency
On August 1, the Department of Justice indicted Trump on four counts of (and related to) conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. On January 6, 2021 Trump unleashed thousands of his blood-thirsty murderous fascist supporters to violently storm the Capitol attempting to hunt down and hang Mike Pence, all with one goal: to hold onto power through deadly force. The indictment clearly states that Trump lost the election, knew he lost the election, and spread lies in order to remain in power.
This is Trump’s third indictment, with a fourth one looming, but this is the only one that comes close to potentially holding him accountable as a fascist leader who unleashed a violent mob on January 6 to culminate a rolling coup. At the same time, he remains the Republican front-runner by miles; has not been banned or prevented from continuing his campaign; and is backed up and defended by a thoroughly fascist GOP and escalating threats of violence.
All of this is totally unprecedented in the history of U.S. elections, and these divisions, not only in government but in every institution and corner of society, have not been this deep since just before the civil war. It feels, almost, as if anything could happen. However, no positive outcome of these criminal cases is guaranteed, and celebrating a victory that is far from inevitable is a recipe for disaster. It’s worth remembering that every crisis Trump and his fascist party gets through strengthens their movement, leaving a core of battle-tested and even more dangerous, genocidal, revanchist lunatics to set the terms for all of society.
At the same time, if the millions of people who do not want a fascist America were to join together in massive non-violent struggle and resistance, Trump could be stopped, and this fascist movement could be weakened. Yet over and over, for the last seven years, at every opportunity to rise up and defeat this fascism, the decent people have been encouraged to retreat and remain passive.
On the other side, to the millions of followers who worship Trump for tearing up the norms and throwing out the rule book, for grabbing women by the pussy and calling Mexicans rapists, for withstanding two impeachments and shaping a Supreme Court that is putting women, Black people, gay people, and liberals “back in their place” – for this base that has been immunized from facts and evidence – this indictment is only more “proof” that the “deep state” is out to get their last hope and savior, and they are preparing for battle.
Neither Trump, the fascists who have cohered around him, or the ones waiting in the wings to take his place – are throwing in the towel and preparing for defeat. They are fighting for a permanent win, one that eliminates for good all of their political enemies and all of the people who they think have destroyed “their” country. Take seriously Kari Lake’s recent threat: “If you want to get to President Trump, you’re going to have to go through me, and you’re going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA.”
Take seriously the dystopian Agenda 47, crafted by a vast network of fascist strategists from the Heritage Foundation, the Claremont Institute, the America First Policy Institute, and the Conservative Political Action Coalition “working up comprehensive schemes for neofascist consolidation.” We are talking about a blatant dictatorship, in which the unchallenged domination of these fascists will be enforced at every level and by every means at their disposal. We are talking about a slow civil war quickly escalating into a one-sided slaughter.
This calls to mind a profound quote from Dorothy Thompson, one of the first American journalists to be expelled from Nazi Germany. Speaking about Hitler, she wrote, “One dismissed him, still clinging to the concept of normal, not wondering what might happen if such a man, surrounded by others with a capacity for organization, should come to the surface in a society which shared his own symptoms, a society which was also frustrated and sick.”
The fascism of Trump and his party, with its accelerating capacity for organization toward fascist consolidation, has still barely been named in the media, much less thoroughly repudiated by a mass movement of millions standing up against it. This is a time for truth, not delusion; for struggle, not complacency.
>> Stay tuned for more on this developing situation by listening to the Refuse Fascism podcast every week and share it with others. In the name of humanity, we refuse to accept a fascist America!
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