This Week In Fascism is a weekly Refusefascism.org feature that exposes the rapid unfolding of a fascist USA and the necessity to stop it.
This week made clear, with the reinstatement of the Trump Regime’s Muslim Ban and the Senate’s proposed Better Care Reconciliation Act, that the notion of saviors from up-on-high to stop this fascist direction are a dangerous fallacy. It also is a wake-up call that this regime is doing anything but slowing down.
Emboldening Shock Troops
- Saturday June 24, Wilton Manors, FL: During a racial-justice seminar held at the Stonewall National Museum white nationalist members of Identity Evropa stormed the conference, inciting fear.
- Friday, June 23, Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on the Family received affirmation of the Trump/Pence regime’s commitment to Christian Fascism with Mike Pence speaking at their 40th anniversary celebration. Pence lauded the work of Focus on the Family, “you’ve fearlessly engaged our culture and advocated in the public square for the timeless values that our society needs to hear, now more than ever.” He is praising a rabid christian fascist organization that promotes conversion therapy for LGBT persons and a viciously anti-choice platform. Pence continued his legacy of unprecedented public advocacy for Christian Fascists by being the first Vice President to speak at a Focus on the Family event just as he was the first to speak at the annual March for Life. Pence used this opportunity to reiterate his promise to close Planned Parenthood and let the fascists know that they, “have an unwavering ally in President Donald Trump.”
- Saturday, June 24 Washington, DC: The Trump Regime refused to host Eid-al-Fitr dinner breaking with two decades of tradition. This dinner marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
Codifying White Supremacy
- Monday, June 26 Washington, DC: The Supreme Court reinstated large parts of the Muslim Ban. While they will hear the full case in October, in the meantime they have lifted much of the injunction from the lower courts – meaning that large parts of the Ban will go into effect immediately. Anyone from the targeted predominantly Muslim countries without what the court considers to be “bona fide” pre-existing ties to an individual or entity within the U.S. will NOT be allowed in. Gorsuch, along with Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, wrote that they would have lifted the ENTIRE injunction. Read more
- Wednesday, June 21 Cedar Rapids, IA: President Trump declared that he was crafting legislation to bar new immigrants from receiving welfare for at least five years. This however is already law and has been since 1996 with the exception of a few categories. So immigrant children, refugees, and military veterans are now at risk of losing their exempt status.
- Monday, June 26, Washington, DC: Supreme Court will rehear a court case with significant implications for the immigrant community. This case is on whether undocumented people can be indefinitely detained or have access to a regular bond hearing while awaiting determination of deportation.
- Friday, June 23, Washington, DC: Despite the spike in anti-semitic crimes the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism (the State Department Office which addresses the targeting of Jews worldwide) will close its doors as of July 1st.
Endangering Life on Planet Earth
- Monday, June 26 Washington, DC: While speaking at an energy conference Greg Walden, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee praised fracking, Trump’s withdrawal from Paris Climate accord, and the dangers of tax breaks for renewable energy sources.
- Tuesday, June 27 Washington, DC: During a press conference at the White House Energy Secretary Rick Perry called for climate change conversation. Despite the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change (that the global climate is rising and that it has an anthropogenic cause) Perry stated,”The science isn’t settled yet. I tend to say, okay, let’s have a conversation and get these guys together.”
- Tuesday, June 27 Washington, DC: The Trump Regime has begun the repeal process for EPA regulation over the pollution of wetlands and tributaries that flow into the largest rivers in the country known as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS). This rule protected 60% of the nation’s waterways. This repeal proposal poses real danger to the health of our waters and ourselves.
Attacking Women, LGBT people, and Those Who Are Sick or Poor
- Thursday, June 22 Washington, DC: Senate unveiled the Better Care Reconciliation Act which was crafted in unprecedented closed-door meetings. This bill, if passed, will cut the healthcare of 22 million people. It guts Medicaid and puts women’s lives in peril.
- Thursday, June 22 Washington, DC: Disability rights activists held a die-in of approximately 60 people (many in wheel-chairs) at Mitch McConnell’s office in protest of the BCRA and its shredding of Medicaid. 50 activists were violently arrested, dragged out of wheel chairs, or picked up and thrown to the ground.
- Monday, June 26 Washington, DC: The Supreme Court announced that it will hear the anti-LGBT wedding-cake case brought by christian fascist group Alliance Defending Freedom. This is ominous given Justice Gorsuch and others contempt for the separation of church and state.
- Thursday, June 22 Mississippi: The 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court lifted the injunction blocking Mississippi from enacting HB 1523 known as the “religious freedom” law. This predatory legislation is the most menacing bill on the books targeting LGBT persons. It legalizes discriminatory practices against the LGBT community including but not limited to: refusal of services including medical care, firing based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and eviction.
- Wednesday, June 21 Missouri: In outdoing the misogyny of the previous Senate version, the Missouri House voted to pass SB 5, a bill straight from the Dark Ages which puts medically unnecessary restrictions on clinics, allows employers to fire women who use birth control, allows landlords to evict women who have an abortion, take birth control, or are an unwed mother.
Gutting Academic Freedom, Free Speech, and Free Press
- Wednesday, June 21 Essex County, NJ: Lisa Durden, an adjunct professor at Essex County College in New Jersey has been terminated for comments she made as a guest on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” She was fired for telling the avowed white nationalist Tucker Carlson: “Boo-hoo-hoo, you white people are just angry you couldn’t use your white privilege card to get invited to the Black Lives Matter all-black Memorial Day celebration.”
- Monday, June 26 Hartford, Connecticut: Professor Johnny Williams was targeted by the alt-right after posting a link to an article on his personal facebook page. In response, the college has conceded and colluded with the fascists and indefinitely suspended Prof. Williams.
- Tuesday, June 27 Washington, DC: Trump seized on a retraction at CNN and the resignation of three employees to further his agenda of curtailing and demonizing the media, tweeting: “So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News!”. Later in the morning, Press Aide Huckabee-Sanders urged people to watch a video about CNN by James O’Keefe, who has been tried and convicted (but avoided jail time) for creating misleading videos which do not stand up to scrutiny. Attacks issued directly from the president and his staff against organizations that are investigating him serve to censor any and all criticism and investigation of the government and are clear violations of constitutional law.
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This week has been a blow to the majority of people living in this country and devastating for people worldwide. What the Trump/Pence regime has done, is doing, and plans to do is rightly causing so many of us to be filled with anguish, terror, and rage. These feelings are compounded when you see those in the halls of power, including the courts, providing no respite from this nightmare. Now isn’t the time to accept all of this as the new normal. Now is the time to hit the streets in protest, bringing along everyone you know. Endorse, join, and donate towards Refuse Fascism’s July 15 Nationwide Protests demanding that the Trump and Pence Regime Must Go.
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