Dear Progressive Reader,

Mike Ervin this week writes about the differences between Democrats and Republicans. “I don’t understand when people say there’s no difference between Republicans and Democrats. I think that’s just an excuse for political apathy and inaction,” he begins. Well, as if to magnify his point, Donald Trump, the leading Republican presidential contender for the Party’s nomination in 2024 gave a speech on Veteran’s Day that was frankly shocking.

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country; that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” intoned the man who is currently under ninety-one indictments in four separate jurisdictions. Calling one’s opponents names is not new in politics, but this particular speech echoed many frightening tropes of authoritarian and fascist leaders of the past (and present). “What we have witnessed from Trump over the last few weeks is something new . . . Trump has clearly crossed into the domain of Nazi ideology openly," Robert Jones, founder of the Public Religion Research Institute told NPR.

But perhaps this is not so new? In a 1990 article in Vanity Fair, writer Marie Brenner noted, “Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of [Adolf] Hitler's collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed.” According to a 2021 book by Michael Bender, Trump told then Chief of Staff John Kelly, while on a trip to Europe, “Hitler did a lot of good things.” And in a 2016 article for Madison’s Capital Times newspaper, I noted that Trump had complimented a quote by Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Perhaps, as I stated during that 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump comes to town, “a look at history is in order.”

This week on our website, Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies report on the Israeli justifications for its massive bombing of Gaza being based on comparisons to U.S. justifications for its actions in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. These new interpretations of the Geneva Conventions are not recognized by other nations or international bodies. “Customary international humanitarian law demands that, as much as possible, military objectives must not be located within areas densely populated by civilians,” wrote the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq in 2007 report. As if to echo the article by Benjamin and Davies, in an interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the actions of Israeli today to the actions of the United States in World War II, “You know, you won the victory, but you then also made sure that there was a cultural change in Japan. . . . What did you do with the Nazis? . . . It [the risk of civilian casualties] didn't stop you from acting.”

As Rann Miller writes this week for our Public Schools Advocate project, “Another truth that educators must teach and defend, no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable, concerns the seventy-five-year occupation of Palestine by the Israeli government and its people.” Miller notes that schools have become “battlegrounds” of ideology, but “Truth tellers call a thing a thing in the hopes of promoting understanding for the sake of justice, so that there is peace. If educators desire to be peacemakers, we must speak the truth and do so loudly.” Similarly, as Nazish Qureshi opines for our Progressive Perspectives project, “Climate justice advocates cannot remain silent on Palestine—Climate justice and Palestinian liberation are inextricably linked and must be treated as such.”

Elsewhere on our website, Jeff Abbott reports on the decision by the United Nations to create a militarized police force for Haiti, in spite of all the concerns raised by the past history of such missions. Mark Fiore illustrates his concerns with the new so-called Code of Ethics adopted by the U.S. Supreme Court. And Jessica E. Martinez and Peter Dooley of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health raise concerns about making jobs safer for workers.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

 
Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

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