Genocide in Palestine? Fascism in America? The arrival of uncontrovertible proof of both is becoming more evident each moment, and it will no longer be a question of incipient fascism in the U.S. but the full manifestation of it.
A new repressive example looms on the horizon in D.C as the National Guard has been activated by Donald Trump. His rationale (not that he needs one) is that Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Black woman, has lost control of law enforcement in the city, that it’s filthy and overflowing with immigrants and homeless people, and has been “taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals,” present company obviously excluded.
Trump’s announcement of the federal takeover of the capital is, like so much of his policies, based on misinformation and contrary to Bowser’s data revealing that crime “is at a 30-year low.” Of course, as we know so well, his numbers are only accurate when they are favorable for him. We now know how far his threats go, and because this move takes place in the seat of the nation’s government, there is no immunity for the rest of the country.
Many pundits believe this is nothing more than another arrow from his quiver of “mass distraction” — a way of federalizing a city while he deflects the media from the unsealing of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Even if those files are finally revealed, though, they will be less than transparent and probably so heavily redacted that the ink runs.
All of this is occurring as we reel from the further evisceration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, with only a tottering Section 2 pillar still in place, and as we witness what remains of the democratic process crumbling all around us.
The rumble you hear is the sound of tanks grinding their way to the complete militarization of the so-called nation of freedom, justice, and equality. Ah, tanks for the memory, but who needs to be reminded of totalitarian repression? In fact, we knew it was on the way long before this most recent shot across the bow. To match the tanks in the street, it’s time to put our boots of resistance on the ground!