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The banner on the USDA website, blaming the loss SNAP benefits on Democrats wanting to fund “healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures” hits like a gut bunch. They are fanning the flames of hatred against our communities to excuse denying food and healthcare to millions, while they take away jobs from those working to provide the food we all eat. MAGA wants you to forget that they are the ones fomenting a crisis that will plunge millions of us into suffering and death. Instead they want you to hate who you are told to.

They are hoping that you will turn away from your sense of morality and compassion to join them in fear. Fear is all they understand. Fear is all they will ever have, because their politics have failed repeatedly and will fail again; the only question is how many have to die before we recognize it.

When fascists take control of government, they know that they have to move fast to stop any opposition that might rise to expose the weakness that lies at the heart of their movement. They know that have a fanatical base that will believe any lie and can be called on to create mayhem in the streets. They know that they can blame whoever they like and send the cops in to clean up their mess. They know that they have skilled brazen liars and propagandists who will tell us, with authority, that black is white. But they also know that all that isn’t enough.

MAGA knows that all of that amounts to a tenuous grasp on power because the public will quickly turn on them when the promises that they made don’t pan out. They know that many of the millions who voted for them did so hoping for better times and despite their misgivings for the moronic narcissist in chief. They are already seeing those who supported them in the election turn against them now as the market price for their crops plummet, the price of groceries go up, the premiums and deductibles of their health insurance sky rocket, and the wave of layoffs continue to grow. They know that there are many, so many more of us than there are of them. What seems like an invulnerable enemy is actually a craven paper tiger, one that has no choice but to continually feed their failing Ponzi scheme with more cruelty and bluster.

They may feel secure behind their instruments of coercion and bigoted propaganda, but we can all see that it is really hubris. Don’t be afraid to call them out for what they are, let people know that going against the spirit of the regime is possible, preferable, and what must be done.

Fascists are obsessed with you. There are two stories out in the last couple of days that are illustrative of just how obsessed they are, and how they will rewrite the narrative with lies and punish anyone that says or thinks any different to serve their need for sacrosanct control of our thoughts and feelings towards them.

The Trump administration’s Justice Department is bringing charges against local politicians in Chicago who were at protests against ICE’s raids in that city. The charging documents allege that they were “conspiring to impede a federal officer.” The story also details that there is video of one of the defendants, Kat Abughazaleh, in a crowd of people attempting to block a black SUV. The charges carry a possible 6 years in prison. Abughazaleh, a social media influencer and candidate for an open Congressional seat, posted a short social media video about it on Instagram. Ms. Abughazaleh makes clear that she isn’t backing down, is still running for Congress, and asks for donations for legal fees. 6 years in prison for what amounts to a mild form of civil disobedience.

The second story involves the suspension of two federal prosecutors who made the mistake of referring to the January 6th insurrection as “riot” and the participants a “mob” in a sentencing document for a man charged with weapons charges in DC who had been of the participants of said riot. The man charged is a weird little guy who was live-streaming himself driving around DC in his van that he said had a bomb in it. He said he was looking for “tunnels” that would take him to Obama’s house. (Like I said weird little guy, but I digress.) The important thing here is that these two prosecutors made the news because in a document they told the truth about what happened on January 6, 2021.

MAGA is a malformed ideology based on a mythical version of America, aka White Supremacy. They want to return to something that never existed. The things they want to do to get there won’t work, and will only end up causing immense amounts of suffering for not only their enemies and targets, but for many who supported his election. So when things go wrong, and they are, they have to blame everyone else, shut them up, and punish anyone who refuses join their bourgeoning death cult.

US Cities under Democratic Party political control have been building the infrastructure for a police state that will be quickly co-opted by MAGA as it continues to transform our open society into a cruel authoritarian dystopia. This, we are told, is a “centrist” approach to public safety because the electorate prefers “law and order” to paying for social programs. So the funds for an always increasing regiment of law enforcement and incarceration flow easily and endlessly in the hands of liberal “centrists”. The right, MAGA and otherwise, pays no attention to reality and paints the left as being soft on public safety despite liberals repeatedly pointing to declining crime statistics. Meanwhile both sides continue to build the police state. We have seen this happen with immigration.

The Obama administration deported a then record number of undocumented people; tacking right in the hopes of undermining Republican’s grasp on what they had claimed as their issue. The shift towards this record level deportations yielded us the first Trump administration and immigration officers who enjoyed their work and wanted more of it. Then in the early days of the Biden administration the same tactic was employed, with VP and eventual presidential candidate Kamala Harris telling migrants “Do not come,” to the US while she was on a trip to Guatemala. The message was unmistakable, as was the new record number of deportations that Biden oversaw, breaking the record set by Trump which had broken the one set by Obama. Once again the attempt to undermine the Republicans from the right yielded results; a second Trump administration, one that is ready and able to remove the final vestiges of an open democratic society. In short the centrism of the Democratic Party on immigration was a complete disaster and there is more to come.

Despite the uprising following the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the calls to prioritize funding community needs like housing, health care, education, etc. over law enforcement (aka Defund the Police), local governments are increasing electronic surveillance of our communities and are expanding the size of police forces to deal with growing unhoused populations and what corporate PR operators call “organized retail theft.” The rhetoric from these so-called liberal politiicans may be softer and more polite than what comes from the mouths of MAGA demagogues, but the load bearing pillars of authoritarianism are there nonetheless; mainly that to deal with the cruelties of capitalism we need to increase the cruelty of the police state and dehumanize its victims. There are few that hold political office that are willing to assign the blame to the system they serve, so in order to serve their true constituencies they blame the poor for being poor and seek to dispose of them as quietly as possible.

The result is that liberals have cultivated an institution staffed by those who are trained in (and defer to) violence as a solution to any “problem” they happen are assigned to. I won’t go into the history of policing here, but I will say that cops have always been the protectors of the powerful and their wealth, and their role is openly and proudly acknowledged. Police forces are racist and queer-phobic institutions, often staffed by those who enjoy promoting these values in their professional lives. The 2020 uprising laid bare the ongoing reality of all this, with the behavior of the cops themselves at times exposing the problem in stark relief.

With the Trump administration openly implementing a fascist state, this is an exceedingly dangerous dynamic as many police are MAGA adherents. They may be leashed under the control of local officials who are (at least rhetorically) enemies of Trump, but it isn’t hard to imagine cops choosing usurp local control and join the growing ranks of American fascism regardless of what the rules say. Their unions are decidedly reactionary and right wing, and work to make sure that they remain above the law that they claim to uphold and that they are able to violently live out the bigotry they brought to the job.

The right as usual is painting liberals as being abolitionists regardless of the fact that Defund the Police policies were never really pursued and were quickly abandoned as rhetoric after the uprising died down. The response to this problem by liberal politicians is telling. They are seeking further expansion of police funding, surveillance, and powers. The threat of fascism is apparently not as big of a concern as unsightly camps of people dealing with being unhoused and the imagined effect that they have on the property values. Liberals wring their hands at the criticism from the right and resolve that the way to regain the moral high ground (that they never had) is by moving to a center that continues build a violent and well trained force that will inevitably be used against us and eventually against themselves. The Trump administration of course has its own plans for dealing with unhoused poverty, and it involves an expansion of the carceral state disguised as “treatment”.

Fascism is not a political movement of compromise, shifting political tides, or acknowledgement of commonalities, it is here to enforce its vision through violence and repression. The solution is that we recognize that liberal politics no longer (and arguably never did) offer us any protection from the far right or a system designed to oppress us. It didn’t in 2020. This was seen clearly by those with little property and position to protect and who could not afford the luxury of ideological doctrines and slogans used to justify the brutality that they lived under. So they took to the streets to fight back against a government that had built and maintained an institution that was murdering them. The uprising spread quickly across the country, outside the boundaries class and race. The powerful were thrown off balance and began scrambling to contain the problem. Promises were made for a reformation that would lead us toward a new era of accountability and equity. They were abandoned in favor maintaining the power of these elites whose system is creating the problem in the first place.

Liberal politicians succeeded in quelling the uprising and opened the door to the reactionary backlash against the few reforms and cultural shifts that remained. The backlash continued to build as life for most people became increasingly unaffordable, the climate continued to break down, and armed conflicts and genocides outside of our borders broke out and worsened. We all see that things aren’t going well and a change is needed. In a America the working class has always been controlled through a self-hatred that breaks down along economic, racial, and sexual identity lines; and so the reactionary simplicity of fascism once again rose up, seduced the electorate, and seized power. Unflinchingly liberals continue to build the infrastructure for an expanded police state.

We can rise up again, and this time we don’t have to take the bait of promised reform without doing away with the system causing the problems in the first place. We can continue to build solidarity that rejects the bigotry of those that see themselves as our masters. We can fight and we can win. Our lives depend on it.

Yesterday the Department of Homeland Security, via the US State Department, detained and ordered the deportation of a visiting dissident. The reasons for Sami Hamdi’s detention is stunningly honest:

“‘Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country,’ Ms. [Tricia] McLaughlin said in the social media post on Sunday.

…

“‘As a direct result of … my relentless pressure on the [state department] and Department of Homeland Security, US officials have now moved to take action against Hamdi’s visa status, and his continued presence in this country,’ Loomer posted on social media.”

“On its X account, the State Department reposted Ms. McLaughlin’s announcement about Mr. Hamdi and added: ‘We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans. We continue to revoke the visas of persons engaged in such activity.’”

Sami Hamdi, a Britain based journalist, had been speaking at events for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) when detained at the San Francisco airport. CAIR is the largest civil rights organization in the US. Both Hamdi and CAIR are noted critics of Israel’s US supported genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. That is what drew the attention of the bigot who now is taking credit for Hamdi’s detention, Laura Loomer:

“‘As a direct result of … my relentless pressure on the [state department] and Department of Homeland Security, US officials have now moved to take action against Hamdi’s visa status, and his continued presence in this country,’ Loomer posted on social media.”

Loomer, a rabid Islamophobe, has become quite the influencer in the White House and is close to Trump personally; so it is not surprising that when she called for his deportation the Trump administration followed through. These people are hateful white supremacists that are quickly moving to reassert the racial animas and repression that America history is rife with; but there is another factor that animated this base violation free speech, mainly their unrelenting pursuit of what French philosopher Guy Debord defined as The Spectacle.

While it is true that MAGA-ites are skilled manipulators and creators of spectacle, they are also supplicants to its rules and addicts to what it offers them. Trump and Loomer are stunning examples of how debased, evil, separated from reality people can become when they crave being at the center of… well, everything. They worship one god, their own narcissistic desire. When it comes to MAGA ideology, the vehicle for that desire is the self-aggrandizing hatred of white supremacy and American nationalism (white nationalism for short). This is what Loomer wanted when she started posting about Hamdi’s speaking tour on X and why she challenged the Trump administration to deport him. The administration followed through soon after because they are well aware that their continued grasp on power rests on their continual creation of spectacle for masses that know that things aren’t going their way.

But the illusion of the spectacle is not only what fascists use to manipulate the masses, it is what motivates them to do so, and the victory that rewards them only with the desire for more.

They have to be stopped.

What we want isn’t a utopian dream or a radical redefinition of our lives. What we want is reasonable, attainable, and most of all benefits just about everyone. The only people that don’t want a better world for everyone are those who are addicted to power and control, those that would prefer hoard privilege and wield cruelty even if that means driving humanity to extinction.

What we want is simple, freedom. The freedom to live our lives as we choose and as our authentic selves. Freedom from an economic system the forces us to work for a boss to earn wages that are then handed over to our landlord, leaving us with barely enough to survive today let alone to build a future for ourselves.

We are fighting for the freedom from the bigotries and violence created by those who profit from the severance of our common humanity. We want the freedom to join together and organize a community that sees to our shared needs, faces our common problems, and creates a future for us and our descendants. Our bonds as fellows, family, and friends are much stronger than the greed, exploitation, and superiority of the rich and powerful; which is why they never leave us alone to simply live. When we provide for ourselves and solve our own problems amongst ourselves, we have no reason to agree to our own exploitation.

If we are accepted as ourselves and except others as themselves, we don’t need to buy entry into their artificial hierarchy. We don’t have to eternally compete against those who write and rewrite the rules of a game that serves their unstable illusions built on the violence and repression they inflict on us.

We want a world where monsters have no ability to command others to kill and be killed. The formula of “today’s solutions are the gateway to tomorrow’s problems” has led us to grim final solutions repeatedly. The law and order we are told they maintain serves their common good not ours.

We want the abundance of human efficiency and technology for everyone, not the unsustainable artificial scarcity of their capitol. Food deserts in our communities are not natural geography, they are created by the powerful. The housing crisis was created by landlords, not by people needing a place to live. Why should we let these things continue?

We want the power to govern ourselves.  Anything less is slavery.

As the Trump administration continues to escalate the war on our communities across the country, and specifically in Chicago, the question has to be asked; what is stopping people en masse from opposing such a blatant violation of our rights and freedoms? Why are we choosing to side with those that are making war on us?

When we look at the self-loathing that working and poor people in America have for themselves (which they would claim is a hatred for the lazy, criminal, and alien), the source of it is unmistakably that they are not part of the ruling class and they are told that they should be. The toxicity of the American Dream lies in its simultaneous inclusive promise and exclusionary practice.

We are told that just by being a part of this country (mind you a legitimate part), we are exceptional people that have risen above the stagnation of the rest of humanity. It doesn’t matter how much money you have (it does) so long as you work hard (never hard enough). It doesn’t matter where you came from or what color of skin you have (it always will), so long as you assimilate into American culture (which will never be allowed). In this country you can live freely (within limits that are enforced with viscous cruelty) and no one has the right to tell what what to think or believe (just make sure you freely choose correctly).

All we ask is that you believe in America, its unblemished past, and that its best days are yet to come. Just don’t associate with anyone who is different, aka Un American.

Certainly don’t organize to address any problems that you and your fellows may have. If there are poor people that is their fault (your fault). If people are being attacked for being different it is because they refused the dream they were offered, so join in the persecution or you will become its target. And most of all never ever, ever point out that everything that they are telling you is a lie. That is the most unforgivable sin that America has.

This is why we hate ourselves, the path to exceptionalism is an impossible Esher staircase that almost never leads anywhere. We spend our lifetime being beaten down by the ruling class, we are taught to hate ourselves for it, and so we then turn that fury on our fellows with a cruelty that the bosses admire. That is the true heart of American Exceptionalism.

There is another way.

When others say that we have to be careful about what we do for fear of repression, we need to understand that our enemies are going to do it anyway.

When troops are sent into our cities and we counter by holding up charts showing crime statistics going down, it is a feeble meaningless gesture because they were going to do it anyway.

When people are censored, blacklisted, and eventually disappeared, it isn’t for the words they uttered, the was state going to repress us anyway.

When we are pushed past a breaking point, and someone lashes out against their oppressor in a moment of anger, which leads to the razing of communities, the imprisonment and murder of our comrades, and the genocide of peoples; blaming the victim that fought back is pointless, because the fascists were gonna do that anyway.

We have no choice, no standing, and no voice in the court of a cruel and inhumane government made up of the moronically insane. The age of harm reduction is over.

The only way out is to fight and defeat them, knowing that whatever moves we make, they were going to do it anyway.

Today Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was detained for a second time after being deported to a torture prison in El Salvador by the Trump Administration. His crimes are living here while not being white, raising a family, contributing to his community, and contesting his own oppression.

The Trump Administration is terrorizing anyone that fits this description to further solidify its authoritarian power. But they will come for you next. There is no loyalty or supplication sufficient for fascists, they always want more.

The only way to deal with dictators willing to persecute the innocent is to refuse to comply with their illegal orders.

The attacks on trans people (and indeed on all groups targeted by this dictatorship) is a calculated attempt at erasure and part of a broader policy of dehumanization to justify present and future crimes. Crimes against their humanity, our humanity, your humanity.

The flaw in their plan is that erasure isn’t possible if we loudly proclaim the opposite, and force them to clumsily attempt the repression they hoped to do out  of sight. 

That is what SJ Johnson did when they helped hang a trans flag from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. SJ, a Park Ranger at Yosemite, was fired for their role in action, an obvious retaliation for choosing to protest Trump’s attack on trans people. The retaliation may not stop there, criminal charges are being considered as well.

That is a steep price to pay, and no doubt it is meant to chill any future similar protest. But it carries an unintended consequence as well, it stops their attempts at the erasure of trans people. Erasure isn’t possible when protest brings the targets to the foreground.

When that flag was hung, they weren’t proclaiming an ideology, political goal, or movement. They were announcing their existence and refusal to participate in erasing it.

They were telling the world that if they were going to be attacked for who they are as people it would have to be done openly in public with the world watching. It was an unmistakable invitation to us all to stand in solidarity and fight back, to not let the inevitable retaliation go unanswered. It showed us that this reckless hatred can be stopped.

The choice is yours.