Florida has become a Petri dish for potential fascism. DeSantis has made war on African Americans, on gays, on transgender people, on drag queens, on public schools, on higher education, even on private corporations (Disney). He likes to stand behind signs that declare Florida is “free,” but no one is free to disagree with him. That’s not freedom.
Now DeSantis has proposed to create a military force that answers only to him. To call out the National Guard, he must get federal permission. That’s not good enough for him. He wants a Florida state guard. Some other states have them, but they are not in the hands of a would-be dictator whose vanity knows no limits.
CNN reports:
St, Petersburg, Florida (CNN) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to reestablish a World War II-era civilian military force that he, not the Pentagon, would control.
DeSantis pitched the idea Thursday as a way to further support the Florida National Guard during emergencies, like hurricanes. The Florida National Guard has also played a vital role during the pandemic in administering Covid-19 tests and distributing vaccines.
But in a nod to the growing tension between Republican states and the Biden administration over the National Guard, DeSantis also said this unit, called the Florida State Guard, would be “not encumbered by the federal government.” He said this force would give him “the flexibility and the ability needed to respond to events in our state in the most effective way possible.” DeSantis is proposing bringing it back with a volunteer force of 200 civilians, and he is seeking $3.5 million from the state legislature in startup costs to train and equip them.
States have the power to create defense forces separate from the national guard, though not all of them use it. If Florida moves ahead with DeSantis’ plan to reestablish the civilian force, it would become the 23rd active state guard in the country, DeSantis’ office said in a press release, joining California, Texas and New York. These guards are little-known auxiliary forces with origins dating back to the advent of state militias in the 18th century. While states and the Department of Defense share control of the National Guard, state guards are solely in the power of a governor.
Will DeSantis use his state guard to break up peaceful demonstrations? Will he send it to drag shows to close them down? Will he it to harass teachers accused of being woke? The possibilities are frightening.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A few years back when certainly people were busily freaking out about Trump’s alleged fascist takeover if Biden didn’t win the election, some of us were warning about the actual fascist that would follow if a neoliberal like Biden did win and conditions didn’t improve for the majority of the people.
Well, now hundreds of thousands are sleeping on the streets with thousands more losing their homes every day, other people are working two or more jobs to stay in their homes, people are choosing among food, rent or medications and going without seeing a doctor. Inflation is out of control, the minimum wage is still $7.25, the age for Medicare has not been lowered, there is no public option, there’s been no student debt relief, no $2,000 checks and we’ve sent $120 billion to ukraine.
Meet Ron DeSantis, the “worse Trump” you were warned about.
Dienne,
How do you like Trump’s Supreme Court?
If the Notorious RBG had stepped down when she was massively ill rather than waiting for “the first female president” to replace her, and if Obama had pushed Garland through, Trump would only have had one appointment.
I could also, of course, talk about how Bernie would have beaten Trump if the nomination hadn’t been rigged….
Bernie could never win the presidency.
And just how could Obama push Garland through?
Mitch McConnell refused to meet Garland.
Yes, I know.
Every single reliable poll showed Bernie beating Trump. The only reason he couldn’t was that the DNC, on behalf of their corporate owners, freaked him more than they feared Trump, so they did more to stop him.
As for Garland, Obama barely tried to even advocate for him, much less use his powers like recess appointment.
I never heard of a President appointing a Supreme Court justice without Senate approval.
The only polls that count are the ones cast by voters. Hillary won more delegates than Bernie.
Hillary got more delegates because the whole primary process was rigged from start to finish. I’ve already documented tons of it. Hillary’s own emails (which have been shown to have been downloaded onto a thumb drive, not “hacked by the Russians”) show the abundant corruption in the DNC.
Hillary won the nomination because she won more primaries. Bernie campaigned for her.
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, I guess.
I get really tired of hearing the Bernie tropes.
He isn’t a Democrat. If he became one, he could squawk. Otherwise, I couldn’t care less what he does.
Justice William Brennan was appointed by recess appointment. He was confirmed when the Senate was back in session.
Thanks for the correction. I don’t think Merrick Garland would have been approved by the Mitch McConnell Senate. He wanted that seat for the next President, hoping it would be a Republican. Garland was not given the courtesy of a hearing. In fact, no Republican member of the Senate Judiciary would even meet with him.
If the Trump presidency taught us anything, it’s that the Constitution only works when people of good faith run the government.
It’s a really important lesson; just don’t think enough of us have learned it.
That’s their secret: Just do whatever you want and challenge anyone to defy you.
Also known as “being a bully”.
Recess appointments of justices are temporary. They require Senate confirmation once the Senate is back in session, or the appointment becomes void.
And while I’m sure that “corporate owners” has, I suppose, a nice, power-to-the-people kind of vibe, it’s the voters who elect a president (via electors). And there’s no way in hell Bernie would have won a national presidential election. Ever.
The Supreme Court would have had four liberals if RBG had stepped down, as I believe she should have. Merrick Garland got the cold shoulder in 2016, months before the election. Had Hillary won in 2016, she would have appointed two more liberals. Roe would still be law, gun control would have been upheld, the line between church and state would have been secure. Instead we have a Court with six right-wing justices, three appointed by Trump.
“If the Notorious RBG had stepped down when she was massively ill rather than waiting for “the first female president” to replace her, and if Obama had pushed Garland through, Trump would only have had one appointment.”
Yes the ONE appointment that decided whether the Supreme Court was led by a 5-4 liberal majority or by a 5-4 right wing majority.
And dienne77 voted to PREVENT having a 5-4 liberal majority on the Supreme Court!!
And then she had the chutzpah to blame us for DeSantis and not her own empowering of far right neo-fascist Republicans by her vote to make sure the Supreme Court did NOT become liberal. Bye bye voting rights. Bye bye restrictions on money in politics. Bye bye democracy.
Did dienne77 hate RBG so much that she preferred the right wing to control the Supreme Court by a 5-4 majority instead of the liberal wing controlling the Supreme Court by a 5-4 majority because the liberal wing included RBG and not a replacement for RBG?
Why would a progressive EVER vote to prevent a Supreme court from being led by the liberal wing after years of being controlled by right wingers?
The answer is: they would not. a progressive would not. Someone who likes Ron DeSantis would.
A person who is a rabid Trump and Putin fan can call themselves a progressive but it doesn’t make it so.
NYCPSP – I’m not supposed to be responding to you, but I need to correct you on one thing. It’s been a long time since I was a progressive, which is really just a kinder and gentler neolib. I’m leftist/socialist/communist, whatever word you want to use for anti-capitalist and anti-imperialst. I know you think the world is divided into clearly demarcated “right” and “left” and that you are on the “left” so I must be on the “right”, but I assure you there is a whole world much further to your left than you can see right now. I hope you will all find it someday.
2016 again? Really? Okay, I’ll bite. The DLC divided and conquered the Democratic Party long before 2016. They ran the least popular candidate in the country to run against the second least popular candidate in 2016. They lost. President Ex defeated Billary. They’re still scrambling for 2024. Bernie was not the least popular candidate, and would likely have defeated the Republican candidate who ran on Bernie’s platform. All of this is water under the bridge. Looking forward, it is imperative to do everything we can to support candidates not affiliated with the DLC. Globalization, privatization, and deregulation are not winning ideas once they are established practices. The people need back the People’s Party.
It’s the Democratic Party. And Bernie ain’t a Democrat.
We have found the Rosetta Stone of idiotic sophistry! “I’m leftist/socialist/communist, whatever word you want to use for anti-capitalist and anti-imperialst.” [won’t write sic because I don’t hold misspellings against anyone in the world of WordPress.] You’re not any of them because you can’t differentiate between the various definitions. Just like everyone in the cult. Hint: they’re not all the same and claiming they are will get you an F in basic political theory.
leftcoastteacher,
There was an election in 2016 where the winner would choose a Supreme Court Justice who either continued to make sure the right wing majority remained, or voted for a president who would finally — finally!!!! — appoint a justice who would join a 5-4 liberal majority. That was the situation every voter was aware of and that situation existed whether RBG had retired and been replaced or not. So it mystifies me why anyone brings RBG into this at all. If RBG had retired in 2014, the choice would still be which president did people want to fill a vacant Supreme Court seat with the Court tied 4-4.
All of had a choice and blaming someone else (or RBG!) for the outcome because we GOT our choice — the democrat was defeated, hooray!! — and it turned out to be a very bad choice is kind of disgusting.
It’s ironic to hear people trying to distract from their bad choice instead of just acknowledging that it was a bad choice. Instead they cite something totally irrelevant that they believe justifies their decision to NOT vote for the Democrat to fill that open Supreme Court seat. They cite polls that supposedly prove with 100% certainty that Bernie would defeat Trump, even though there were lots and lots and lots of polls that said “she who may not be named” would also defeat Trump. I am also totally mystified by folks who acknowledge that the polls were wrong in 2016 when everyone thought “she who cannot be named would win”, except they are absolutely certain that a poll taken months before the election that said Bernie would defeat Trump was 100% correct.
Bernie Sanders’-endorsed Democrat Russ Feingold couldn’t win Wisconsin in 2016. Bernie Sanders’ endorsed Democrat Russ Feingold couldn’t beat a right wing corporate hack Republican Senator who stands for every awful thing Bernie opposes. But sure, Bernie was 100% certain to beat Trump. His Senate candidate got fewer votes in Wisconsin than the woman who defeated Bernie in the primary. Can we please stop making a plausible but not more likely possibility a certainty so we don’t have to admit we were wrong to say it didn’t matter whether the Democrat lost? It mattered a lot.
I don’t get the Trump-like need to scapegoat others for the bad decisions we made. Own it, the way I owned my vote against Jimmy Carter in 1980. I was wrong. I was an ignorant teenager who just “knew” our country would be better off if I voted to PREVENT a Democrat like Jimmy Carter from winning. Just like people who voted to PREVENT a Democrat from filling a vacant seat with the Supreme Court tied 4-4 were wrong (unless they are a right winger).
I could have spent the next 30 years insisting that I was right and Jimmy Carter WAS the embodiment of all evil and it’s all Jimmy Carter’s fault for not declaring Ted Kennedy the true winner of the primary and letting Ted be the nominee. But unless I was pathologically unable to ever admit I had made a mistake, I wouldn’t do that.
People who thought it was no big deal for the Democrat to be defeated in 2016 made a mistake and we will feel the repercussions for a long time. If they can’t admit they were wrong, that speaks for itself. But it’s inexcusable for them to blame the people who didn’t join them in trying to defeat the Democrat for the fact that a right wing Republican won. I salute the people who got what they want in 2016 and saw the Democrat go down in flames to the Republican. If you don’t like the results, that’s on you, not us.
I voted for Bernie in the 2016 and 2020 primary and I hope I live long enough to vote for AOC. And if some angry supporter of another candidate running in the primary gets mad that AOC won and starts demonizing her and telling people they should vote 3rd party because DeSantis wouldn’t be as bad as AOC, you can bet I will tell those people to stop blaming me when their “victory” in defeating AOC empowers DeSantis to continue his neofascist agenda. Can you imagine if they tried to scapegoat AOC voters for the ugly things that DeSantis did as president? I assume you’d think they sounded as irrational as the folks here who blame Democrats for DeSantis now.
Socialism is a system of economic and political organization in which the workers own the means of production. It’s a transitional stage on the way to communism, which is a stateless, classless, moneyless society in which everyone contributes as they are able and receives what they need. Leftism is the pursuit of these radical changes. Chomsky can help you with these concepts. As well as, of course, Marx himself. Stop falling for the capitalist propaganda that’s taught in political science and economics courses.
Wow. People still talk like this?
People who have read theory, yes.
People who read propaganda, more like.
Says someone who probably thinks CNN and NYT are news.
Our friend can cut and paste based on a quick Google search! https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/socialism.asp
But seriously, your understanding of what you claim to believe is deficient at best. Here’s are two easy questions: Was Marx writing for his age or posterity? Would Marx have recognized Leninism, Maoism, Stalinism or any other ideology that uses his name if he could somehow have evaluated them? I know the second one requires informed speculation, so I expect a Supreme Court nominee-like answer about hypotheticals.
I notice none of you have provided a definition of your own. That’s what you always do. Just make fun, but never offer anything constructive. You add nothing worthwhile here.
Ah, our Trump and Putin apologist is back. Great. I needed a few laughs today.
Wow, Bob, as always, you present such a cogent and well thought out argument. Thanks, I’ll take it under consideration.
This would be a great career move for you, Dienne. You could take this comedy act on the road. Pretend, like the old Colbert, that you actually take the insane things you spout seriously.
Your constant insults simply prove you have no argument Keep going.
If I get this “argument” right…if we all voted for the Idiot the first time around, we wouldn’t have worse now. Not only that, minimum wage, Medicare, comprehensive health care for all, students would pay, there would have been no pandemic relief and Ukraine would be at peace. Give me back the bird who was coo-coo for Coco Puffs. He made more sense and had a marketable product.
If that’s what you understood, Greg, you’re not even as smart as I give you credit for.
Then explain I to us again. How pixies and fairy dust comes into our world to change it according to our desires. But only after I get a beverage and a snack.
There’s a Cajun saying: If if wuz a skiff, den we’d all be goin’ on a boat ride!
I know teachers are supposed to be patient enough to teach even the slowest students, but that’s the reason I’m not a teacher. When I’ve explained the same thing a thousand different ways, I give up and assume people are choosing not to understand. Or, if you’d rather, I can assume you really are just stupid. Your choice.
Dienne, you are no longer in moderation. I hope you and NYCPSP will not dominate the discussion with sniping at one another.
Diane, with the exception of what I just posted, I don’t respond to NYCPSP. If you’re concerned about sniping, talk to her.
But thank you for releasing me from moderation.
I missed you.
Aww, I’m flattered.
Oh, you mean for the utter nonsense you write to be taken seriously.
Yikes.
File this response under “sniping”, please, Diane.
GregB,
It’s really crazy, isn’t it? We had to destroy the village to save it. I think dienne77’s point is that we were supposed to join her to vote for destroy democracy in order to save it.
I am pretty sure Putin would agree that’s absolutely true.
dienne77
So Southern Black Voters and Older Black voters 50 and up across the Nation did not reject Bernie. You are either not as smart as you think you are. Or whatever it is you are “smoking pass some over to me”. Bernie lost the Black vote big in every State and City but Detroit.
There are various explanations for that, some a bit disturbing, as acknowledged by Cornell West in “Race Matters “. However the most prominent and plausible explanation was that Bernie did not have the surrogates to reach out into the Black Community and the Black Churches where much of that vote was generated. Cornell West, Michele Alexander and a few other progressive Black Intellectuals had little connection to these communities.
That Connection using Black Churches is not much different then the way Unions used be able turn out vote at Union Halls. Conspiracies are for losers and politics done right is a contact sport. (not physical ). Both Clinton and Biden had the support where if counted as disturbing as i found Jim Clyburn’s support of both over Bernie that’s politics not conspiracy . Plus seriously, in this Country calling oneself a Socialist and expecting to win National Elections is a mental issue. Sanders was a Liberal not a Socialist the self labeling was juvenile and a losing brand. For Gods sake they called Teddy Roosevelt a Socialist . If Bernie wanted the label it was coming anyway.
Bob,
What is wrong with you that you don’t understand a cogent argument like “the radicalization of right wing Republicans and the fact they are becoming more and more neofascists is entirely the fault of the Democrats, and those wise, all-knowing people who have worked to defeat the Democrats and empower the right wing Republican neo-fascist party and have voted to make sure the Supreme Court remains in right wing hands are entirely blameless whether they are on the far right or pretend to be progressive.”
How can you not recognize how cogent that argument is? Oh, and the brilliant argument “it’s RBG’s fault” (still trying to figure out why having a 5-4 far right Supreme Court that rubber stamps DeSantis and strikes down all laws that fight disenfranchisement of voters who are more likely to be progressive is better than having a 5-4 liberal Supreme Court that helps insure that likely progressive voters aren’t disenfranchised. But that is apparently what this person believes. A progressive nirvana can only be achieved by defeating the Democrat who would make the Supreme Court a 5-4 liberal majority that overturns Citizens United and that MUST BE PREVENTED AT ALL COSTS! For the good of the progressives!
It’s inane to say that you voted to empower the far right because you didn’t care if the far right was empowered, but then claim you aren’t responsible for anything that far right does, because it’s all the fault of an old Jewish woman who didn’t step down from her Supreme Court seat earlier.
Is Jimmy Carter to blame for everything evil and bad that Ronald Reagan and his Republican cronies did? According to dienne77’s logic, the answer is yes. It’s all Jimmy Carter’s fault. If he had stepped down in favor of a progressive candidate, that candidate would have 100% won. So we need to stop blaming Reagan and blame Carter.
Joel, I have a tee shirt and a conspiracy theory. My Bernie 2020 shirt has a picture of Bernie being arrested for protesting for civil rights. In 2016, Black Lives Matter attacked Sanders for being racist. What the bloody hell? When criticized for attacking Bernie, BLM “attacked” Hillary. But they wore kid gloves. Mainstream media talk about the Black vote as monolithic, which is a problem, but they also talk about the civil rights movement as a need for school choice, which fosters the growth of segregation. There are clearly corporate interests at play. I do not think we are being presented with true information all the time.
I live in Flor-uh-duh. I know, personally, a number of extremist Black conservatives. These folks are not, ofc, all that common, but they exist. I think of black people who support the likes of Ted Cruz or Donald Trump as like mice who support feral cats. More than a little unaware and confused.
C’mon, NYCPSP, everyone knows you have to kill the patient in order to save the patient. Who said reading Burroughs wouldn’t come in handy one day? “Death needs time for what it kills to grow in for Ah Pook’s sake!”
leftcoastteacher
We can debate the reasons for the vote. What we can’t deny is the vote itself . In Primary after Primary Sanders who I canvassed and voted for inn 16 , was defeated when the inner city and heavily black districts reported their vote. Now I did not have to like Clinton or Biden, those were the facts.
Of course the corporate media may have been described best by Upton Sinclair . When he equated them with Brothels.
But that is not the reason the Black vote did not turn out for Sanders while White Democrats did. Did White Democrats read the Washington Post or Watch MSNBC less than Blacks. Both those examples of “Liberal “actually Corporate Media did hit Jobs on Sanders in 16. No voting block is a monolith but support for Clinton in the Black Community pretty much was. In South Carolina 84% to 16%. Explain it.
The early primary contests are held in states that either have few black voters (Iowa) or that are very conservative (New Hampshire, South Carolina).
Clinton was a Southern boy and right of center.
dienne77,
You are the one who said over and over again that the way to bring about the progressive future is to vote to DEFEAT the Democrat running against Trump in 2016 because the people who voted in the Democratic primary didn’t vote for Bernie. It was quite ugly that you ignored all the African American votes in late state primaries as not as worthy as the white Bernie Bros who got to vote in nearly all-white Iowa. Bernie lost. And he lost by even more in 2020.
And there is nothing as hypocritical as you saying “the polls prove” Bernie would have roundly defeated Trump when the polls also showed that many other candidates would roundly defeat Trump — right up to the time when the Trump machine went after them because they posed a threat to Trump’s election. You cite the polls as if they are proof, and then cite them as unreliable when it suits your purpose.
You GOT YOUR WISH. You won in 2016 and defeated the Democrat JUST LIKE YOU SAID WAS THE BEST OPTION. And now that we have clear proof of what your wish got us — a right wing Supreme Court and DeSantis given free reign to go full on fascist.
And I can’t think of anything more nasty and reprehensible for you to scapegoat RGB for dying 2 months early.
In 2016 there was an easy choice because a Supreme Court seat was vacant. We all had a choice of having a Supreme Court with a 5-4 liberal majority LED BY Ruth Bader Ginsburg for 2 years, after which she would have been replaced by a younger version of herself to CONTINUE that 5-4 liberal majority, or a 5-4 Supreme Court led by far right wingers in 2016. And you chose having a Supreme Court led by far right conservatives.
And you scapegoat RBG using the inane argument that you voted to make sure that the right wing would continue to have a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court, but you believe that is admirable because you blame RBG for it being a 6-3 right wing majority.
dienne77, why did you keep saying that the Supreme Court wasn’t important to consider in 2016 when there was an open seat?
The facts are the facts. RBG steps down in 2014, and the right wingers on the Supreme Court in 2014 STILL have a 5-4 majority except one of the liberal justices isn’t RBG.
And unless dienne77 is now claiming she would have voted for the Democrat in 2016 ONLY if RBG had stepped down, then her need to keep scapegoating RBG for the fact that dienne77 voted to PREVENT the liberal justices from having a majority speaks for itself. dienne77 voted to keep the Supreme Court right wing, with a 5-4 majority.
Most rational people I know did not say “I would vote for a Democrat to fill an empty seat and turn the Supreme Court into a 5-4 liberal majority that would repeal Citizens United, but I refuse to do so because one of the 4 liberals justices is RBG instead of someone younger. Because one of the 4 liberal justices is RBG and not someone younger, I am going to vote AGAINST those 4 justices being joined by a 5th liberal justice because it doesn’t matter to me if the right wing keeps their 5-4 majority. But it would have mattered to me if one of those 4 justices was RBG’s replacement instead of RBG. ”
It’s frightening because dienne77’s point seems to be that she voted against the Democrat filling the open seat in 2016 because she did not want RBG to lead a 5 justice liberal majority in 2016. Why is she so obsessed with RBG stepping down, which has nothing to do with her vote as to whether she wanted a president who would choose a right wing justice or a president who would choose a liberal one? Because if RBG had stepped down, dienne77 would have cared whether the Supreme Court was controlled by right wingers, but because RBG didn’t step down, dienne77 doesn’t care whether the Supreme Court was controlled by right wingers?
The only people who cared about the Supreme Court are those who voted for the Democrat in 2016. The ones who didn’t should own their vote. Scapegoating RBG instead of acknowledging their error is Trumpism at its finest.
You made a mistake, dienne77. Own it. Defeating the Democrat presidential candidate in 2016 didn’t bring about the progressive nirvana you promised. It brought us DeSantis. That’s on you. So is the 6-3 majority Supreme Court.
Your logic is very, very strange. Every bad outcome is NOT the fault that you voted to prevent a right wing Supreme Court to empower fascists, but because of something we did for not agreeing with you that having Trump fill an open Supreme Court seat when the Court was tied 4-4 was a big deal.
It’s the logic of the anti-vaxxers. Every bad outcome is because we didn’t agree with them, and then they twist themselves into knots to explain why all the unvaccinated people who died of covid would have died anyway, or really didn’t die of covic.
I agree that the worse Trump might well be coming.
I agree that all these egregious evils in our society have not been addressed, and thank you for the list of them.
I agree that Biden tends toward the neoliberal. How can he stomach Garland? For example.
Here’s where you have it completely wrong, Dienne. Trump is an ACTUAL Fascist but only a WANNABE authoritarian dictator.
If Trump were an actual fascist, every person affiliated with every liberal/mainstream media outlet would have been hanging from streetlights. From 2016 onward the MSM was nothing but criticism of Trump. What fascist would allow that?
He is an actual Fascist without the means or intelligence to get what he wants. He screamed at his director of Homeland Security because she wouldn’t order the Border Patrol to SHOOT unarmed asylum seekers. He pressured the DOJ to send little green men (as Putin did in Donbas and Crimea) to go up against BLM and moms with yellow shirts, and he screamed at everyone within earshot that he wanted the BLM folks beaten, killed, arrested and tried to get the US military to do this, something that Milley and Esper refused to do.
If it walks like a goose, . . .
What Fascist would allow that?
One without the power to do that and without the intelligence and knowledge necessary to attain the ability to do that.
E.g., Putin’s dog, Donald.
One who was running a non-fascist country.
I would say the answer is “Yes” to all three questions.
Just secede already. More than happy to let Florida go.
It’s a dangerous idea. There are millions of US citizens, many of them Black and Brown, who live in Florida. Many are pretty poor and can’t just up and leave. There are also many immigrants, some documented and in various stages of security – Dreamers, for example; others undocumented but feeding many of us – migrant workers.
The same is true of many other red states, battling against limitations on voting rights, in gerrymandered districts or caught up in the penal system and unable to vote. As the GOP consolidates power in these places we can’t leave our fellow citizen to their own devices. One nation, etc. If nothing else, imagine the damage to bordering blue states when the huddled masses are our own people.
There’s nothing Putin would like more than a sundered US. Let’s not give him that win.
I thought that the GOP didn’t believe in big government and that government was the problem? So DeSantis will increase the government bureaucracy with this military force and how will he pay for it? Will he raise taxes or close down some other programs that benefit low income Floridians? I hope the projected military force becomes unionized and goes on strike for better pay and benefits.
“Oh, no, uh… we meant big federal government. We want a ‘well-regulated’ state government… and militia”
We meant a big federal government not doing what we want it to do, such as attacking protestors and asylum seekers, preventing women from controlling their own bodies, keeping gays and lesbians from getting married (or even from being gay or lesbian), preventing trans folks from expressing their identities. Big government that does any of these things or acts the military bully throughout the world is just peachy with these people.
They LOVE big government–just their own Fascist variety of it.
The Florida militia would be DeSantis’ personal “blackshirts” brigade that will do his bidding on demand. He is following the fascist script.
The Intercept has a hair raising story about what happens to folks who get themselves in DeSantis’ crosshairs. There has to be a way to derail DeSantis.
The person referenced below is 72 years old.
The last 74 days had been an ordeal. There are about 1,800 people in the county’s lockup facility; Miller was in a pod with 80, he said, but there were just 56 seats for meals. On his first day, a jailmate offered to adopt him and get him a seat at meals in exchange for some of his food, a bargain he eagerly accepted. On the second day, he said, he won protection from a gang leader. “Oren Miller, you are protected in here because you’re a senior citizen,” the man said, according to Miller. “‘But understand, don’t cross any lines.’ … And so I minded my p’s and q’s.” Violence broke out regularly, Miller recounted, and he watched two men beaten nearly to death. He moved to try to break up the first fight, but two men held him back, explaining that if he got involved, he’d be called later as a witness, and you don’t want to be a witness against somebody who sleeps in the same open room as you. So he let them fight.
Miller went days without his heart or thyroid medication, and grew weak and dizzy. Complaining of chest pain, he was eventually given an EKG, which the staff told him showed no problems. “My EKG hasn’t been good in 15 years,” he said. “I will never have a good EKG. I’ve got an irregular heartbeat all the time.” He said they gave him medication despite claiming to detect no heart trouble — the same type of heart medication he’d been prescribed but hadn’t been getting.
https://theintercept.com/2023/02/05/ron-desantis-florida-villages-oren-miller/
Wow, Christine!!! Backroom Just Us.
Achtung, baby!
Also in the news just now, from the “Here and Now” (NPR/WBUR) program, is a story about a HS librarian in Norman OK who covered their state-banned books up with paper as directed. BUT, she put a QR code on the paper barrier so students could find the banned books on their own.
She was fired from the school district, then hired by the Boston Public Library as a banned-books for teens librarian. She has been receiving death threats and calls for her criminal prosecution, but others in Oklahoma and elsewhere are putting giant QR posters in their yards and QR stickers on their cars.
(Check this out on the “Here and Now” website and make corrections if necessary–I listened to this while distracted at work.)
AWESOME!
@ retired teacher
Yes, Mussolini and the Voluntary Militia for National Security (Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Natzionale), better know as the Blackshirts, is a much more accurate analogy than comparing this crowd with Hitler and the Nazis. It is an analogy that should be mentioned more frequently. Perhaps, the new creation would be known as the “Florida Patriotic Militia for Preservation of Our Culture”?
I recommend that those interested watch Franck Capra’s “Why We Fight: Prelude to War” (available on YouTube). The resonances from the situation more than eighty years ago are more profound and scarier than you might imagine.
DeSantis is more like Mussolini than Hitler.
A Mussolini with someone advising him about the hindsight of history, how to tap into and build resentments among people, and a pliable bureaucracy and media. Much scarier, but much, much slicker and harder to detect (or more likely, admit to detecting long ago).
So DeFascist makes the trains run on time? Are there any trains in Florida besides the Amtrak Silver Star between New York and Miami? Everyone drives everywhere in Florida. 🙂
There are no other trains in Florida, and few reps will vote for them because the GOP is in Big Oil’s pocket.
Well said, Bill W!
I’ve spent the past eight months reading a lot about the history of political violence in Germany from 1919-1938. From the assassination of Walther Rathenau in 1922 through the growth of politically violent extra-legal groups and their reorganization into arms through Kristallnacht to the evolution of concentration camps into death camps one thing is obvious to me. There are advisors to DeSantis (Bannon & Co) who know this history intricately and are using it as a guidebook for today. Nothing we see is new. It is only dressed up in nicer clothing. Nothing they want to accomplish is different other than the fact than rather wanting to kill us (collateral damage is to be expected), they’d rather have the legal framework to put us in our place. And violence and the constant threat of it is essential to that strategy. In fact, it’s the most important part. It’s right there for everyone to read about in past history if they choose.
In fact, it is the most important part. Yup. Gotta keep ’em terrorized. Send the Gestapo in with guns drawn, waving these in front of the kids, if the state employee dares report accurate Covid numbers, for example.
Every aspiring Fascist needs his SA.
You’re the expert, I’ve never worked on textbook definitions. But does one aspire to be a fascist? It seems to me that aspire implies an upward, positive direction, which are direct opposites of the traits required to be a fascist. Ever downward, negative and preferably a very weak bogieman around the corner. If there’s not one there, we’ll make one up.
Perspiring Fascist???
I’m thinking the “process,” for lack of a better term now, to become a fascist is more of a downward spiral than an aspiration.
Did Dr. Evil aspire to run the world? Was that evil? Does Donnie Trump aspire to be just like the big boys he so admires–Trump, Kim, Bolsonaro, Duterte, and so on? I think the language allows this usage. Re: bogeymen, yup, that’s what Fascists do.
I, on the other hand, aspire to understand just how far downward fascists can spiral! Or do I? 😬
I have often wondered this, Greg. It’s an example, I suppose, of metaphysical speculation. Goldwater? Nope. Low, but not low enough. Reagan? Nope. Lower, but not low enough. Bush, Jr.? Lower still, but still not low enough. Trump? Surely the lowest. But nope. DeSatan? Yikes.
Perhaps its exponentially increasing cruelty and stupidity all the way down. Ad nauseam, ad infinitum.
As far as definitions go, I am no expert, though I have spent A LOT of time thinking carefully about what terms mean and ought to mean, having written many a glossary. This is a fascinating endeavor. One discovers many things. E.g.: There are many terms with no agreed-upon definition (poetry, for example); there are many that cover networks of things with at best what one might call, metaphorically, “family resemblances” (poetry, again); there are many that break down if one attempts to give them any specificity of description (essay, for example); and there are many that are COMMONLY misdefined because people haven’t thought carefully enough about them (metaphor, for example). So, for example, the bestselling K-12 literature textbook series in the country defined metaphor as “an indirect comparison not using like or as,” as opposed to simile, “an indirect comparison using like or as.” But, of course, this isn’t so. A metaphor invites making comparisons but is not itself a comparison. In a metaphor, one speaks of one thing (the tenor) as though it were another thing (the vehicle) because of real or imagined similarities and does this, typically, in order to transfer the associations with the other thing (the vehicle) to the thing one is speaking of (the tenor).
Every aspiring Facist needs his RNC.
Though the DNC (the national organization) is happy to give an assist, it seems–attempting to ensure that the first Democratic primary happens in one of the most conservative states in the union (South Carolina). Ofc, when it comes to aspiring to Fascism, the Repugnicans have it all over the Dims.
from Latin ad + aspirare (to + breathe) So, it can mean, etymologically, simply panting with desire for in addition to rising toward like smoke
They play these important roles, don’t they? Plausible deniability. Distancing the Fascist from the dirty work. In addition to the straight-up violence and intimidation.
Yup, Greg. See the news from 2025, below.
One of the few remaining principled liberals discusses the real danger of authoritarianism in America.
It should be a matter of no great difficulty for DeSantis. I’m sure the KKK has a strong presence in Florida; ProudBoys and OathKeepers are surely lining up to bring the units up to strength.
DeSantis won’t be satisfied until he personally experiences the thrill of commanding a bunch of condottierri. Ignore Machiavelli’s lessons at your peril, Boyo!
yup
Ah…DeSantis Thugs. Will Putin foot the bill?
DeSatan has been conspicuously quiet about Ukraine, hasn’t he?
Describing what has occurred since that “ill-fated day” 14 years ago when the disintegration of the nation began,
“The warning signs of this approaching disintegration are all about us…
“The government wants to work – and it will work. It was not this government which led the … nation into ruin for 14 years. This government wants to lead the nation to the top once more. It is determined to pay the debt of 14 years in four years. But it cannot make the work of reconstruction dependent upon the approval of those who are to blame for the collapse.”
No – not 2008…
Excerpt of the new Chancellor’s address in February 1933.
Then the book burning, labeling groups, monitoring language and schools, control over curriculum, firings of professors… and “state” military
You don’t need a state militia to shut down a demonstration or a drag queen show. What’s the fear here, that Florida will invade and annex Georgia?
FLERP, maybe you can explain why DeSantis suddenly feels the need to have a state militia controlled by him.
DeSantis has said that it’s designed to give Florida a state guard that would respond to natural disasters, like the National Guard but controlled by the state rather than the federal government. Florida has a serious problem with natural disasters. Apparently Florida used to have a state guard—how many atrocities and invasions did it commit? While reviving the guard may be an attempt to play on red state hostility toward the feds, It doesn’t sound especially nefarious or dangerous to me.
We don’t need to completely freak out about every thing Ron DeSantis does. Keep the powder dry.
It still has a state guard. The National Guard is under state control unless and until called into federal service. Until that happens, DeSantis is the commander in chief of the state guard.
And I have never heard that the Florida National Guard is not up to the task. But DeSantis has never let the law get in the way of his dictatorial tendencies. He’s already ignoring the First Amendment. As the courts have ruled.
I don’t recall Florida having a governor before who had fascistic inclinations.
The article said that Gregg Abbott called out the Texas state guard because of a QAnon rumor that the federal government was planning an invasion.
“Keep the powder dry” sounds like a condescending thing folks said to the Jews worried about Hitler’s laws. What’s the big deal about wearing a Star? It’s all NOT a big deal, with complicit folks who are almost always the ones who are not going to be the targets of fascists chiding other people to shut up, shut up, shut up and wait until the person does something that bothers those with privilege, like him. When it’s often too late.
This from the guy who is outraged about the extreme danger to the delicate psyches of young white students because some hapless educator is talking about white supremacy and some phrase that is meaningless is amplified to “prove” the extreme danger to young white students.
DeSantis’ goon squad will do his bidding, both moral and fascist causes. DeSantis constantly overreaches authority just like a dictator. It is his nature to target and silence.
Flerp, DeSatan first floated this as a presence to have at polls “to ensure election integrity” (to intimidate?)
Facists love quasi-military forces at their sole command. It’s their thing.
Fascists
“In most circumstances, the National Guard is under the control of state governors and not the President of the United States. However, there are times when the President can call upon those involved in the National Guard to serve their country.”
“How many soldiers are in the Florida National Guard? 11,000 members
The Florida National Guard is composed of over 11,000 members, including more than 2,300 full-time federal personnel. The Guard serves as a reserve component of the U.S. Air force and Army”
The only reason Dangerously Deranged DeSantis wants a seperate Florida Army is to have one he controls, totally.
Still, the U.S. Constitution is gong to get in the way of what DDD wants.
“No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/article-1/section-10/clause-3/#:~:text=No%20State%20shall%2C%20without%20the,will%20not%20admit%20of%20delay.
To pull this off, DDD will need the support of the six fascists justices on the US Supreme Court and rely on “… ir un such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.”
This is a test run by a monster, that if he succeeds at the state level and ends up in the White House one day, DDD will become the Putin of the United States.
I came to the comments on this post only to read what you had to say about it, Lloyd. You’re the resident expert on this subject. Thank you.
Thank you, Lloyd!!!!
States have the authority to have a National Guard. All states do, I believe. That’s the “militia” of the Constitution.
Not sure where this new, “other” authority to raise an army can be found…
“The militia of the united states consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and under 45 years of age.” -US Code S246.
There are 2 classes of the militia: 1) Organized militia which consists of the National Guard. 2) unorganized militia which consists of men who are not members of the National Guard.
This is why we have a 2nd amendment, so the people can regulate their own militia that is not the National Guard. Please do not confuse what DeSantis is doing to what a true militia is. States do in fact have the right to set up a state military that is NOT a militia.
So Madison was thinking of a non-existent National Guard when he drafted the Second Amendment?
Have you even read the congressional debates that resulted in the Second Amendment? Have you even read the Constitution? Because no one was talking about “two militias”. And the Constitution doesn’t refer to “two militias”.
There are so many of these right-wingers who have been utterly brainwashed about the 2nd amendment and militias and what was going on historically. Endless utterly ahistorical nonsense from the extremist rightwing media. It’s really sad and frightening. One wishes one could gather them together all at once and give them an accurate history lesson.
I’ve been waging this war for decades. It’s tiring.
I know it is, but thank you, thank you, for continuing the battle. We’re winning the minds of younger people. That gives me solace.
What truly annoys me is that people seem to think that the Framers spoke 21st Century colloquial English.
Haaaaa!!!!!! Beautifully said, jsr!!!
Below, jsr, is a list similar to one that I made when watching the Convention. It’s not the same one, but there are lots of overlaps.
Ah. That long post, below, is in moderation.
That. Is. Terrifying.
Hmm, so it’s ok for states that have governors that you like to have a state military, but not the states that have governors that you don’t like?
Examples?
Current US states that maintain a state defense force: Alaska, California, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington.
Furthermore, state defense forces are primarily used for rescue operations and/or to supplement the State National Guard. DeSantis is looking to re-establish his state defense force which was last active during WW2. Seems that Ms. Ravitch does not want Florida to have a state defense force because DeSantis is a “tyrant”. He also is a republican. Is she ok with democratic states like New York and California having their own defense forces?
New York and California do not have power-mad governors who want to censor and punish everyone who dares disagree with them.
State defense forces are individually authorized by Congress, otherwise they would be illegal. Interestingly, Florida already has one. So why does DeSantis want another one?
Under the Article I of the Constitution, any new “state defense force” would have to be authorized by Congress as well. And it is quite unlikely the current Congress would authorize such a new force for Florida, given that it already has one.
State defense forces are not particularly designed for combat, nor used for it. And states still have their National Guards. So this seems like DeSantis is practicing his Mussolini act.
Mustn’t lose our sense of humor to the fascists:
https://thenib.com/ron-desantiss-banned-book-club/
lol
From Truth Times: Exceptional News for an Exceptional Nation, Thursday, May 1, 2025
“Well, they feel strongly about this”
President InSantis reacts to Portland violence
By Cub Reporter Jimmy Olsen
In recent weeks, an angry nation has watched as lawless Socialist Antifa mobs protested in the sanctioned sanctuary city of Portland against the vote interventions by state legislatures around the nation that swept President InSantis to power. Refusing to accept democratic processes and the peaceful transfer of power under the Independent State Legislature rule, protestors have blocked streets, burned draft cards in trash cans, and even written letters of protest that they have read aloud using megaphones.
Reacting to calls from around the country to take their city back, the Three Percent Citizens Militia SA took action to regain control of this once peaceful, law-abiding city.
The violence, which left 49 dead and 86 wounded, erupted when the Yellow Shirt Moms, a militant, man-hating wokeanarchofeminist wacko wing of Antifa, held a candlelight vigil to protest the completely accidental killing of one of their number by police.
As the ominous Pachouli-oil-scented candles burned, reminding us of the fires that destroyed Rome under Nero, Citizens Militia patriots gathered, locked, loaded, and ready to protect and serve as necessary. For a full hour, they exhibited remarkable order, resolve, and restraint. Then, however, the Yellow Shirt Moms dared light sage bundles to “cleanse” the area of the protest.
It was too much. “It’s paganism, pure and simple,” said Whitey “Buzz” Beatty, former Navy Seal and Portland Gruppenführer of the Citizens Militia SA. “It’s just the kind of anti-Christian filth that has infected our schools and our country for too long. We had to snuff it out.”
President InSantis reacted immediately to the events that followed: “While we regret the actions taken by the 3%CM SA, I need to remind you that this is a spontaneously arising citizens group, and, well, they feel strongly about this. As they should.”
Senate Passes Election Integrity Act
By Political Theory Rectification Reporter Leonard Riefenstahl
Since the stolen election of 2020, patriots have grieved over that breakdown of democratic processes and vowed to ensure that this will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Today, the Senate did just that by passing the Election Integrity Act of 2025. The key provision of this act: Henceforth, in Congressional and Presidential Races, the name of the incumbent will appear on ballots, and other candidates may be written in by voters. This ensures, for the first time, that the choice of leaders will be truly Democratic and not determined by politicians in back rooms who choose which candidates they will support.
Other key provisions: Fraud-prone mail-in balloting will be prohibited, and citizens will be relieved of the enormous burden of paying for polling places, which falls most heavily on the poor, by keying the number of polling places per district, nationwide, to local property taxes. So, the wealthy will pay more—as is only fair—and have more polling places, which is also fair because they will be shouldering the burden. It’s a win-win.
So Democracy advances under Glorious Leader.
Breaking News
Patriot Youth (PA) rally to insist on their Second Amendment rights and in support of new Arm Our Students legislation winding its way through Congress, chanting, “We won’t run. We want guns!” Story inside.
Also Inside
National Curriculum
The latest updates
Education Desk
The new National 1776 Curriculum Working Group completes draft of “Bringing the Lord to the Savages,” Part 1 of the New National Glorious Leader-Approved Curriculum.
Support Your Leader
Home prayer teams
Lifestyle Desk
How can YOU support President InSantis and his Patriot team? Learn how you can organize a home prayer group to ensure that Jesus has his back!
Market Rally
Defense $$$ drive surge
Public-Private Partnership Desk
In a great week of historic highs, markets rallied on news of the new two-trillion-dollar foreign and domestic defense budget. Make sure to report any suspicious activity!
Bob – whew! That says it all.
When I saw the intro and “2025” I thought it was 1925!
I repeat from yesterday from way up in this string. Read Hitler’s very first speech as Chancellor in February 1933. “The warning signs of this approaching disintegration are all about us…” and his plan for cleaning up from the past 14 years and not doing it with the consent of the other party.
Then look at the events that followed… a one by one by one match including now the brown shirts.
YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
Somewhere on one of these posts from the Divine Dr. Ravitch, I made a list of about 30 similarities between the last Repugnican Convention and Nazi symbolism, iconography, messaging, language, etc. I’m not going to recreate it here. But the parallels are breathtaking.
We are Germany in 1932.
What happens in the next election is extraordinarily important.
The 2020 RNC convention was too Nuremberg for me.
I was wondering throughout where Leni Riefenstahl was to film this.
https://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2022/08/29/are-trump-and-his-supporters-in-fact-fascists/
Correction: I made a list of about 30 examples of extremely Nazi-like symbolism, iconography, messaging, language, etc., at the 2020 Repugnican Convention. To anyone who is familiar with the Nazi stuff, the parallels were shocking, obvious, disgusting, frightening.
Are Trump and His Supporters and Imitators in Fact Fascists?
Posted on August 29, 2022 by Bob Shepherd
A few years back, a friend, someone whom I respect, challenged me on Facebook, saying that Trump might be a lot of things, but he wasn’t an actual Fascist. Well, I beg to differ. If it steps like a goose, . . .
Here are a few of the clear signs that, yes, Fascist is precisely the term to describe Trump, his supporters, and those who wish to assume the orange mantle:
Alliance with other Fascists/Authoritarians. D.T. allied himself with violent, extremist authoritarian nationalists around the globe—with, of course, his handler, Vladimir Putin, but also with Rodrigo Duterte, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, Recep Erdoğan, Viktor Orbán and even, shockingly and weirdly, with Kim Jong-un. Hitler allied himself with extremist authoritarian nationalists around the globe—Mussolini of Italy, Hirohito of Japan, Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria, Horthy of Hungary, Antonescu of Romania, Tiso of Slovakia, and Pavelić‘of Croatia (see the Tripartite Pact signed in September of 1940 and joined later by other members of the Axis Powers).
Use of Violent Citizens’ Militias. D.T. supported and employed on numerous occasions armed, right-wing citizens’ militias, notably
a) at the March on Charlottesville by neo-Nazis who chanted “Jews will not replace us” and murdered an antifascist protestor;
b) when a group of these self-appointed militiamen invaded the Michigan Capitol and Legislature, armed, and plotted to kidnap and murder Michigan’s governor; AND
c) when several groups of these, including the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, broke into and ransacked the U.S. Capital, beat police officers, caused injuries that led to deaths, called for hanging the Vice President, and tried to overthrow the incoming government of the United States by preventing its certification.
Trump approved of all these actions by Citizens’ Militias, saying in the first instance that there were “Good people on both sides”—the Nazis and those opposing them–and in the latter instances that these were “patriots.” And, of course, he planned and stoked the last–the January 6th insurrection. In addition, he called on his Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to violate the Posse Comitatus Act and send federal troops to attack BLM protestors, which Barr sort of went along with his little green men (Esper and Milley, to their eternal credit, declined). Hitler, of course, infamously used citizens’ militias, the Sturmabteilung (the SA, or brownshirts), to provide protection at rallies, to attack enemies, and, with the SS, to carry out the infamous attacks on Jews during Kristallnacht. When asked to denounce white supremacy in a debate, Trump responded by saying, “Proud Boys—stand back and stand by.”
Monumentalism. D.T. loved monuments and monumental architecture and got a lot of political mileage out of riling up supporters of continuing to have on display in the public sphere commemorative statues of genocidal maniacs and enemies of the United States (Columbus; slave-owning men who led forces of insurrection during the Civil War). He organized a Republican Convention that was replete with monumental architecture and iconography. To do this, he violated the law by using the White House and its grounds as a political campaign/convention set. He called for absurdly expensive military parades of the kinds one sees in Communist China, North Korea. and Putin’s Russia. Trump called for building a massive “patriotic” sculpture garden. He held monumentalist nationalist events like the 4th of July military airshow at Mount Rushmore. Hitler, of course, employed Albert Speer to build monumentalist fascist architecture and devoted a great deal of his time to this.
The Cult of Personality. D.T. constantly referred to himself as “the best” or “the greatest” this or that and plastered his name on everything, from massive amounts of merch (Trump steaks, Trump straws, Trump flags) to buildings to letters accompanying Covid relief checks. He turned every discussion of every issue into one about himself and how great he is, even events that were supposed to be to honor Gold Star families or present information about how not to die from a virulent pandemic. Like a mob boss or any other Fascist leader, he required loyalty oaths and fired people who didn’t make them. At every cabinet meeting, cabinet members were expected to preface their remarks with long exhortations about the greatness of Trump (for an abject lesson in human self-abasement, go listen to a recording of one of these delivered by Mike Pence, to whom, of course, Trump showed no corresponding loyalty). He literally described himself as “the only” person who could solve the country’s problems. Clearly, Trump suffers from malignant narcissistic personality disorder. Conjure in your mind, if you have the stomach for it, a typical Trump rally. Trump created a cult of personality, just as all Fascist strongmen have done—Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Mao, Pinochet, the Kim Dynasty of North Korea, etc. The difference, of course, is that Trump was merely a WANNABE Fascist strongman.
The Myth of the Return to Racial and National Greatness. D.T. constantly referred to a mythical Golden Age to which he would return the country and even made this his official slogan (“Make America Great Again,” or MAGA). This was, of course, precisely what Hitler did, calling for a return to a time of Aryan and German greatness–the major theme of his propaganda and writing and speeches.
The Racial Supremacy Myth/Use of Racism to Mobilize the Masses. D.T. constantly issued racist dog-whistles, from his ad attacking the innocent members of the Central Park Five to his Obama birtherism to his calling asylum seekers “caravans” and “hordes” of “rapists and murders” to his references to “s—thole countries” to his “Good people on both sides” to his planning of rallies at sites of racist violence (near the Alamo, Tulsa, etc.) to his suggestions that China purposefully engineered and released SARS-COV-2, which Trump variously referred to, in his racist way, as the “China flu,” the “Wuhan flu,” and so on. And, of course, Trump built his whole campaign, initially, on the racist idea that America was being taken over by immigrants and that in order to “have a country,” we would need to keep out the brown-skinned hordes. In fact, this is why Jeff Sessions, Steve Bannon, and Stephen Miller chose Trump to run in 2015 to begin with. See the Frontline documentary about this, Zero Tolerance (2019). Trump called for the Border Patrol to SHOOT innocent asylum seekers and screamed at his Secretary of Homeland Security for saying that she couldn’t do that. Hitler baked anti-Semitism into the Nazi ideology. Both leaders ran concentration camps targeting members of particular ethnic groups. Both committed horrific Crimes against Humanity (Hitler’s genocides; Trump’s kidnapping of immigrant children and separation of these from their parents).
Scapegoating and Call for the Elimination of Enemies Within. D.T. constantly referred and continues to refer to “enemies within” that have to be eliminated “or you’re not going to have a country anymore.” These he refers to as Socialists, the “Radical Left,” “Antifa,’ and so on. One of Trump’s favorite and most often used slurs is Enemy of the People, a phrase that goes all the way back to Roman times and was famously the title of a great play by Ibsen. Calling for the elimination of enemies within is, of course, exactly what Hitler did, blaming Germany’s troubles, such as its loss of World War I and its hyperinflation on “enemies within”—Jews and Socialists and Communists—who had “stabbed the country in the back.” But it was, of course, the extreme left-wing Fascist leaders in Russia and East Germany, during the Stalin Era, who made Enemy of the People a standard catchphrase in the 20th Century, but Trump is too ignorant to know this, to know that every time he calls Biden or Fauci or whomever an “Enemy of the People,” he is sounding just like the murderous Joseph Stalin. (And yes, you can have Fascists who come to it from the left.) And even if Trump did know this, it probably wouldn’t bother him in the least bit. Trump has expressly said that he was unhappy with “his” generals because they didn’t show him the deference that Hitler’s generals showed to Hitler. Of course, Trump doesn’t know, because he is profoundly ignorant, a bear of very little brain, that a number of those very generals tried to assassinate Hitler several times. LOL. Be careful what you wish for, Donnie!
The Fascist Rally. D.T.’s main method of communication with his base was the large-scale rally—precisely the sort of method used by Hitler, with Goebbels and Speer as organizers and Leni Riefenstahl to film these.
Indoctrination of the Young. Trump called for the creation of an overtly exceptionalist, nationalist curriculum. Hitler did the same (see, for example, the Nazi textbook on Aryan supremacy, Rasse und Seele) and also created his Hitler Youth, his League of German Girls, and his Lebensborn Program.
The National Supremacy Myth. Trump’s American Exceptionalism, Hitler’s Übermenschen and Deutschland über alles. Same diseased thought.
Eugenics and Genetic Determinism. D.T. constantly referred to his “good genes” and what he called his “racehorse theory” of what constituted a fine woman–one who was properly bred. Despite the fact of his almost total scientific ignorance, he was and is committed to a myths of Eugenics and genetic determinism–one of the central myths, of course, of Nazi ideology. And this myth, of course, supports the racial and national superiority myths.
The Erasure of the Concept of a Nation of Laws and Totalitarian Insistence That His Will Is the Law. Trump insisted, “I have an Article 2 that says I can do anything I like as President.” He seems to think that he could just magically wave his hand and declassify documents and that, at any rate, rules about preservation and secrecy didn’t apply to him because NO RULES apply to him. Trump treated agencies and departments of the government as HIS, insisting, for example, that “His” generals and “His” DOJ and “His” everything else be absolutely subservient, and he fired or attempted to fire anyone who disagreed with him about anything. Barr went along with basically turning the DOJ into Trump’s private law firm. Hitler, of course, had the Enabling Act, making his will and the law identical. This the Fascists like Trump and Hitler share with Absolute Monarchists, the idea that L’état, c’est moi. Belief in the absolute authority of the Glorious Leader (Trump thought his image should be carved onto Mount Rushmore) is what puts the “total” in Totalitarianism.
The Portrayal of Himself as the Ultra-Masculine Leader, the Archetype of the Masculine, the Strongman. Trump loves to talk about how tough he is and constantly made threats via Tweet, yelled at staff, tore up briefs, and actually threw things when he got mad. And he constantly degraded women, speaking of grabbing them by the genitals, bragging about being able to get away with sexual assault, yelling at his female Secretary of Homeland Security and calling her “Honey,” making disgusting remarks about female celebrities and reporters. He actually ran a freaking old school beauty pageant. He bragged about walking in on the women while they were dressing because as owner, he could get away with it. He was a big pal of Jeffrey Epstein’s. Of course, Trump didn’t have the physique to portray himself as a male sex symbol, so he tweeted out pictures of his face Photoshopped onto the body of fictional boxer Rocky Balboa and actually sold this image on his website. Over twenty-five women have accused him of sexual assault. He paid off a porn star and a Playboy bunny to keep quiet about affairs with him. And in these respects, Trump was in the mold of other Fascist leaders who promulgated hyper-masculinized images of themselves (along with a big dose of hyper-sexism)–think Mussolini and Pinochet and Berlusconi and of Hitler’s military garb and Putin’s shirtless, horseback photoshoots.
One could go on and on. In Trump one had and has ALMOST the complete Fascist package. The one element that was missing was the competence to pull it off. Trump is far too ignorant and stupid to have effected a Fascist revolution in America. The next guy will have all Trump’s Fascist tendencies but be smarter and more knowledgeable.
P.S.: It is extraordinarily important to call Fascism out when it rears its monstrous head, to call it what it is. Why? Because silence is complicity. It’s letting it happen again. It’s making the same mistake that Germans made back in 1932-33, expecting that it’s not going to be all that bad. That experience is behind us all now. We are supposed to know better. It CAN get that bad, that quickly. Been there, done that. In the middle of the last century, we fought a war to end this shit. Here we are seeing it again, right here, on our soil. Who would have imagined that we would have slid so far backward? These must be more than just words: Never again.
Thank you, Bob. (Even though your post confirms all my fears and is terrifyingly true.)
I think it is a problem when those who are complicit in helping to normalize the fascists are given credibility, even if on this blog. Fascist normalizers – whether they are Jim Jordan or Ron DeSantis or Matt Gaetz or Bill Barr or a person who comments on this blog — should be treated like George Santos. Someone who “only” spews untruths or propaganda “sometimes”, but other times may say something true, should have the same credibility as George Santos. Unfortunately, soon George Santos will be normalized and his statements presented as if they are just as credible as anyone who disagrees.
No one can normalize George Santos. Ever.
Special emergency legislative session to clean up DeSantis’s messes:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/desantis-makes-a-mess-and-florida-lawmakers-use-special-session-to-clean-up-after-him-opinion/ar-AA17f4O1?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=abd33e403e694cefa1ad8d551bbb0f32
The American people, regardless of race, gender, class, identity, religion, or residence, should be EXTREMELY concerned. Everybody jumped on his opponent for liking DeSantis to Hitler…but his blue print from denying people the opportunity to name their struggle, banning books, indoctrinating people into his ideology under the guise of “patriotism,” trying to create a State that obliterates the constitutional protections of its citizens, and not creating an internal military…is straight from the Nazi Propaganda and Holocaust preparation playbook. Nobody recognizes it because it appears to be about Black identity; however, if you’ve ever visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC…They say first they came for…..and when they got to me, there was nobody left.