Note: I am posting this just before the 2024 Election, but many of you will be reading it afterward. Hopefully, Kamala Harris has won the Presidency and the Democrats have kept the Senate and taken the House. This is important because one of our three branches of government, the Supreme Court, is already controlled by fascists and, unless the rules are changed, they will control it for many years. If the election has gone badly, this post is a warning about what will happen next…
The American Republican Party has promoted fascist policies and rhetoric for decades. The Trump era has accelerated this trend dramatically. If Trump returns to the White House, and/or if the Republicans keep control of the House and take control of the Senate, we can expect them to continue down the same path. There will be increasingly severe occurrences of each of the examples below.
1. Dehumanizing language. Like Hitler and Mussolini, Trump uses dehumanizing language to demonize his opponents. He calls them “radical-left thugs” who “live like vermin.” He gives them demeaning nicknames and calls them “stupid.”
2. Attacks on the press. Trump constantly attacks the mainstream press and individual reporters. He has promised to curtail the freedom of the press if he is re-elected. He loudly and consistently claims that any news he disagrees with is “fake news.”
3. Admiration of dictators. Trump calls Vladimir Putin “highly respected” and “smart.” He has said that he “respects” and “fell in love” with Kim Jong Il. He feels it to be “an honor” to be Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s friend. And has said the Xi Jinping is “a very, very, good man.” While President, Trump said that he wished he had generals like Hitler had.
4. Attacks on the rule of law. Trump has publicly attacked judges, lawyers, prosecutors, court staff, county clerks, elections officials, the FBI, and the Justice Department. He considers himself to be above the law. If a judicial decision goes against him, he declares it to be unfair and politically motivated.
5. Calls to terminate Constitutional protections. In 2022, on the “Truth Social” network, Trump called for “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
6. Use of violence and threats to overthrow democratic institutions and procedures. Fascists use violence, or the threat of violence, to achieve political goals. The classic example of this is the Trump-inspired January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
6. Incitement of violence against individuals. Fascists incite violence to intimidate and silence their opposition. Trump has regularly called for violence against specific individuals. For example, he accused the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, of “treason” and said he deserved death. Just four days before the 2024 election, Trump suggested that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney should have “9 barrels shooting at her.”
7. Use of militias and/or the military to punish political rivals. Trump seeks unchecked power. He has expressed his desire to use the government to punish political rivals and to deploy the military for personal vendettas.
It is important to understand that the old, and mentally failing, Donald Trump himself is no longer essential to these bad things happening. The stage has been set. The forces of American Fascism are now in full control of the Republican Party. J.D. Vance (or Mike Johnson, or Ted Cruz, or Mike Lee, etc.) is more than willing to be the puppet front man to promote the well-organized, and VERY well-funded, Project 2025 (or Agenda 47) on behalf of the billionaires and right-wing think tanks who seek authoritarian power and gain.
President Harris, and a Democratic Congress, will need to quickly create some very strong guardrails to protect voting rights and election processes in the future. They also need to find a way to reduce the influence of big money on our politics, create some type of check or counter to the blatant lies saturating our media, and make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
Sources:
Jeffrey Goldberg, “Trump: ‘I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” The Atlantic, October 22, 2024.
Chris Cillizza, “Donald Trump just can’t stop praising Vladimir Putin,” CNN, March 28, 2022.
Chris Cillizza and Brenna Williams, “15 times Donald Trump praised authoritarian rulers,” CNN, July 2, 2019.
It’s sad but you have this documented very well and I already know that many people will deny all of it.
I wish we had guidance from Church owned media. But we don’t. We must take care of ourselves as best we can.
Noted. That is all I can say. What a crazy world we live in.
My comment in the D-News: Well Deseret News thanks to your oh so careful treatment of Trump you have helped place us in a dictatorship. So to you – thanks for nothing.
Why has the Church offered so little guidance in this emergency?