Creeping Fascism

If you are going to say that the Trump administration is unique in consolidating power in the Oval Office, you better check what former presidents, Democrat as well as Republican, have been doing.

As a codicil to my post from yesterday about “fascism” being a meaningless term, I need to add something to preserve intellectual honesty.

Facebook friend Yuri Makedonov shared it this morning, and a commenter first claimed it was AI generated, assuredly to try to diminish the point I made but he went further and asserted that it was all Trump and his fascist regime that:

Fascism doesn’t occur overnight. Hitler took many steps to consolidate power.

We are seeing the same steps taking place now. No longer is there any attempt at dialogue or compromise, which is always necessary in a functioning democracy.

When Trump doesn’t get his way, it is because part of the judicial branch has pushed back…

Trump, and his cronies are actively trying to jail anyone who disagrees with them. So bringing in JFK and other presidents is a superfluous argument.

This is the centerpiece of authoritarianism. We haven’t seen this since the McCarthy hearings in the 50s.

Trump has explicitly said those who oppose him are enemies of America.

“the radical left is the enemy of our country” example.

Trump has repeatedly called his opponents “enemies” or “traitors,” and he’s talked about consequences ranging from jail to deportation. Over the years he’s said critics should be prosecuted, imprisoned, “purged,” or “held accountable,” and he’s used lines like “they will pay” or “we will deal with them.”

He has repeatedly sued those who disagree with him. He punishes states that disagree with him by withholding funds.

Through Project 2025, they are firing people within the federal government who do not pass the loyalty test.

Their stated implication is a one-party nation centered around Christian nationalism that everyone would have to adhere to. (yes, I have read PJ 2025 twice).

Trump has repeatedly ignored any oversight. From attacking sovereign nations, the takeover of the Kennedy Center, the tearing down of the ballroom, the list goes on and on.

So, the Russian tactic of whataboutism doesn’t work here.”

The accusation I was in league with the Russians reminded me of one of my favorite songs, one called “Lawyers, Guns and Money” by Warren Zevon, which includes the lyrics “I went home with the waitress the way I always do, how was I to know she was with the Russians, too?

Nice touch, I thought the narrative that if you come back with facts to a leftist, you are automatically working with the Russians was used up. I guess it is still a thing.

As to the charge of fascism, the commenter noted: “Fascism doesn’t occur overnight. Hitler took many steps to consolidate power.”

Evidently Trump is a savant in fascism, if this guy is to be believed. Trump’s first term was a lost quadrennial, with the Democrats blocking appointments for nearly a year until the Mueller investigation could start, then the two asinine impeachments plus covid, Trump had way less than a year to get his fascist ball rolling and here we are about 16 months into his second term and you can just smell the fascism cooking.

He did say one thing with which I agree – the executive branch, especially the presidency itself, has been accumulating power for a very long time, starting with JFK and running an unbroken line through Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, Obama and Biden as well as GOP presidents like Nixon, Ford, Reagan, HW Bush, Dub Bush, and now Trump. That covers every year since 1961 – that’s 65 years running.

But to claim it is all Trump, you just have to ignore the consolidations of power done since JFK to claim that Trump is the real fascist, and all of these presidents were secretly in league with him even before he ever declared his candidacy in 2015.

The simple exercise of government is the commonality, not the presidents.

It is the socialist tendencies in government, every action of government that claims to “help” one must, by necessity, take from another and that is the very definition of redistribution of wealth. With each transaction, the next becomes easier. Some presidents consolidate power to do more redistribution, some to slow or stop it. Trump is of the latter.

The fact is that every single charge substantiating the rise of fascism through the presidency, Obama and Biden did against Trump. Biden and Merrick Garland conspired with Alvin Bragg and Tish James to put Trump in jail and his family out of business – the law in New York was specifically changed to allow E. Jean Carroll to sue him - and she lied to the court, under oath, about it being funded by Reid Hoffman. Democrat Secretaries of State even tried to take him off their ballots - and for what?

Being a danger to them.

Obama’s DOJ wiretapped the Trump campaign, kicking of a two-year impeachment process based on a “whistleblower” overhearing a phone call. Biden’s DOJ was surveilling PTA meetings, claimed being Catholic was a doorway to domestic terrorism, and tried to censor social media - and the radical left IS a danger to the country - the DSA being a prime example.

The Trump administration is withholding money from states that have committed fraud or are not willing to help the federal government in the enforcement of federal law.

Project 2025 is just another blanket excuse for imbecility. Trump is reducing the size of government and is firing people who are obstructing his policies and agenda just like every president before him. Obama fired every single US Attorney and several hundred military officers that might not trust him.

The list goes on and on because no other president has had to undergo being constantly sued by people in partisan district courts with judges overstepping their jurisdiction like this administration has. No past administration has had to jump through the loops Trump has had to – and the accusers fail to note that he is abiding by the judicial rulings, even when they are patently ridiculous.

There’s no “whataboutism” here there is just objective history of escalating the concentration of power no matter the party, the left just woke up on the day after the election and decided now that it Trump won, fascism was back on the march.

If they want to be treated seriously, the next time they accuse Trump of something, they might want to check if Obama or Biden did it first.