Week One: A Preview of What Fascist America is Going to Look Like
January 24, 2025
It’s been a hard week for antifascists. The speed at which Trump is attempting to turn the United States into a fascist dictatorship is breathtaking. Even more breathtaking, perhaps (or perhaps not), is how feckless Democrats have been in opposing it. We are hearing more about Democrats wanting to work with Republicans than otherwise. Legacy media has nearly entirely capitulated to Trump, as has the tech billionaire class.
Nevertheless, there are promising signs. People across the partisan divide appear to be outraged by what’s happening; with so many Trump supporters seeming shocked that he’s implementing Project 2025 that there is a brand new subreddit devoted to reveling in telling them “I told you so.” Likewise, rank and file Democrats appear to be increasingly incensed that Democratic officials, who all campaign long told them that Trump and Republicans were dangerous threats to democracy (they are, by the way), but are now trying very hard to play nice with them. I sense a level of anger at the Democratic establishment by the rank and file that might rival the Tea Party’s challenge to the Republican establishment in 2010. The 2026 midterm primaries could be dangerous for Democratic incumbents.
There are several parallels to Trump’s first week in office and Hitler’s in 1933. Mainly due to laziness because he could not be bothered to consider cases individually, Trump pardoned (or in a few cases, commuted) every fascist charged and convicted in the January 6, 2021 coup attempt. He commuted the sentence of Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhoades, who was serving 18 years for seditious conspiracy. Rhoades expressed regret that they did not bring rifles to the Capitol that day and that he did not personally hang Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Even the cops were outraged by these pardons and commutations. At least one of those pardoned has already been arrested for committing a gun-related crime. Hitler pardoned a number of Nazis who were convicted of treason for attempting to overthrow the government ten years earlier. He needed his street thugs; Trump apparently needs his, too. Yes, this is scary.
I have a number of posts I am working on right now, including one dealing with Trump’s order to change birthright citizenship (spoiler alert: it’s already been enjoined by a court). In addition to discussing distressing legal issues like this one, I will also be posting suggestions for getting involved. Democracy requires ongoing participation, not just voting at election time. Fascism requires us to stop participating. Participation is an antifascist strategy. I’ll be writing about that in the weeks to come. This week was draining for all of us, and - speaking for me - it has been hard to get much work done. But I wanted to check in and let you know I am not going away. You’ll hear more from me shortly.