I think a lot of Americans have trouble wrapping their heads around the concept of fascism for a variety of reasons; some intrinsic to fascism itself, and some that are products of the external environment we're all raised in. Part of the problem is that fascism isn't really an ideology, so much as a reactionary recipe for the accumulation of power; which allows fascist movements to spring out of a wide variety of political struggles, and assume a wide variety of early forms - before more or less coalescing into the same old nazi shit once they reach power. It also probably doesn't help that we live in a propaganda model environment that actively encourages a narrow understanding of what fascism is so as to avoid the populace ever connecting it with American anti-communism, predatory capitalism, and free market fundamentalist ideology; but that's a much larger discussion for another day.

I've spent many years of my life studying fascism and fascist movements, so I can assure you that the Trump regime you're watching is fascist, but at the end of the day if you don't really understand what that means or aren't able to see the ways this Christian Nationalist movement are (poorly) trying to hide their fascist intentions, that isn't going to help you much. For you folks, I'd like to share this eleven minute informative video published on The Humanist Report that talks about the kidnapping and trafficking of Abrego Garcia, and why it signals the regime's intention to establish what is essentially an authoritarian dictatorship. The key here however, is that the host talks about the events in the context of "state terror" using analysis from a historian of fascism: Timothy Synder.

While I might quibble with Mike's assertion that oligarchic America was merely a "flawed" liberal democracy before Trump's second inauguration, the framework of "state terror" articulated here is simple and useful; particularly for folks who're still learning about fascism. Pay close attention to the parts about inverting the justice system to escape the law, rather than applying it, and the three forms it takes - the leader principle, the state of exception, and the zone of statelessness.

Expert on Fascism Has a CHILLING Warning About What Comes Next

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1TGlDB5uB0

"Timothy Snyder, a historian and author of ‘On Tyranny,’ recently announced his decision to leave America due to rising authoritarianism. He also reacted to Trump’s defiance of the Supreme Court by warning that it marks the beginning of a new era of “state terror” in the United States, where the government coerces people through the selective enforcement of laws and by repudiating former legal norms. In this video we’ll breakdown his warning about this phase we’re entering in and discuss what it means for Americans."

[Ab]Using the #budget - #reconciliation process, #Republican *lawmakers* are now preparing to lavish #ICE with a colossal #funding increase—enough to pay for the kind of #social & #demographic transformation of the US that #immigration hard-liners have long fantasized about achieving.

#Trump’s tactics have spread #fear & created a showreel of social-media-ready highlights for the White House. But they have not brought #ICE much closer to delivering the “millions” of deportations…Trump has set as a goal.

“We need more money,” #TomHoman, Trump’s “border czar,” told Miroff in an interview. “We won’t fail if we get the resources we need.”

This is the beginning of an American policy of state terror, and it has to be identified as such to be stopped“….

… „In the history of state terror, the escape from law into coercion takes three forms, all of which were on display, incipiently, in the White House yesterday: the leader principle; the state of exception; and the zone of statelessness.“…
#StateTerror
#Gulag
#SupremeCourt