Why Aren't We Talking About Trump's Fascism? [View all]
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The Nation) The 2024 presidential election, like the two previous ones, boils down to a simple question: Should the United States remain a representative democracy, or should it become a right-wing autocracy? Unfortunately, the crucial debate we should be having about Trumps fascism has been derailed in the wake of Joe Bidens terrible debate performance on June 28, which has made Bidens own fitness to continue as a nominee the most discussed topic in politics.
Donald Trumps authoritarianism, which culminated in his refusal in 2021 to accede to the peaceful transfer of power and his incitement of a mob that attacked Congress, is well known. It has not receded in time but has only gotten worse. On Monday, The New York Times carried a story with this shocking headline: Trump Amplifies Calls to Jail Top Elected Officials, Invokes Military Tribunals.
According to the article:
Former President Donald J. Trump over the weekend escalated his vows to prosecute his political opponents, circulating posts on his social media website invoking televised military tribunals and calling for the jailing of President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and former Vice President Mike Pence, among other high-profile politicians.
Mr. Trump, using his account on Truth Social on Sunday, promoted two posts from other users of the site that called for the jailing of his perceived political enemies.
One post that he circulated on Sunday singled out Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman who is a Republican critic of Mr. Trumps, and called for her to be prosecuted by a type of military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals.
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Trump would be empowered by not only the judges he himself appointed in his first term but also by a Republican Party and conservative movement that has increasingly fallen under his sway. As amply documented by The Nation and other publications, the Trump agenda for a second term being prepared in Project 2025 by right-wing think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation involves a wholesale attack on guardrails of American democracy such as civil service neutrality. Trump and his political allies are preparing to reshape the federal government so that it ceases to be a bureaucracy with rules and norms and becomes instead the plaything of their whims. ...................(more)
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/biden-distraction-trump-fascism/