During a stretch of perfidious months under the Trump administration we have invoked the term incipient fascism when describing the conditions Americans faced, particularly the low-income and those living in communities of color.
It’s becoming increasingly unnecessary to condition fascism. Each moment, each dreadful and threatening tweet from Trump, pushes the nation closer and closer to a full-blown totalitarian state led by a man whose every move is to comfort his narcissistic demeanor.
His niece pegged him perfectly, and we have no quarrel with her diagnosis; in fact she could have gone much further in labeling and defining his lunacy. Trump is consistently out of touch with reality, and that may be a disposition derived in part from his television celebrity, which he continues to milk in order to find ways to arouse or resurrect his base.
Trump’s plan to deploy federal law enforcement agents to major urban areas to stem what he views as demonstrations that have gotten out of hand is a desperate action that many pundits assert is nothing more than another tactic to enhance his reelection bid.
Portland appears to be the testing ground for the deployment and Trump has promised that Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Oakland and New York City will also receive agents without insignias in vans with no markings to arrest protesters and take control of the cities.
Several mayors have already told Trump that federal forces are not wanted and they will take every measure to stop that from happening. His political intentions are pretty obvious since the cities targeted have Democratic mayors.
Such brazen, authoritarian plans could precipitate conflict far beyond the cultural war currently sweeping the country.
We agree with Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago who assailed Trump’s proposed action saying,“That’s not what we need.” In her letter to Trump she told him if he really wanted to help Chicago, he should enact gun control, do more to flatten the spread of COVID-19, and place more resources into the community programs.
Doing something to relieve unemployment, poverty, inadequate unaffordable housing, and the abuse administered by law enforcement officers are not provocative steps, unlike the militaristic option Trump has chosen.
Are we on the verge of another Civil War, instigated by an uncivil, dimwit at the controls? The November elections can’t come fast enough, and if he chooses to defy an unfavorable outcome we are not averse to launching another campaign of Make America Great Again—Trump Must Go!