Fascism rules by organized repression and terror by the government: civil liberties are stripped away, law rewritten, dissent criminalized, the courts packed with fascists, and the separation of powers and of church and state ultimately eviscerated.

 

Indicted for Stripping Away Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, and Ramping Up Repression and Terror

What they have done:

• Trump appointed a Christian fascist, Neil Gorsuch, to the Supreme Court, and is one appointment away from packing the court with a solid majority of fascists. Source
• The administration has installed a record-breaking number of judges, reshaping the courts for decades. They include judges who compared abortion to slavery; mocked climate change; defended anti-LGBTQ bigotry; defended racially targeted voter suppression; claimed that transgender children are evidence of “Satan’s plan” and more. These courts get the final word on about 60,000 cases a year. The Supreme Court hears roughly 80. Source 1 Source 2
• Trump has repeatedly called the press the “enemy of the people” and “fake news.” According to CBS News’ Lesley Stahl, Trump told her he continually bashes the press “to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.” Source 1 Source 2
• Trump has repeatedly threatened to revoke the licenses of major media outlets that criticize him and to expand libel laws to make it easier to sue the media. Source
• Over 230 protesters arrested at Trump’s inauguration were charged with multiple felonies simply for being present at a demonstration where crimes allegedly took place. More than a year later, 59 people were still facing up to 60 years in prison. Source
• ICE, an agency charged with administering immigration law, is being used as a vehicle for political suppression, targeting immigrant rights leaders for deportation including Ravi Ragbir, Maru Mora Villalpando, Eliseo Jurado, Jean Montrevil, and outspoken DACA recipients. Source
• Trump invoked the possible assassination of Hillary Clinton. Giuliani asserted that Trump could shoot former FBI Director James Comey without facing indictment. This invocation of unbridled violence against political opponents violates long standing norms and emboldens political violence among Trump’s base. Source 1 Source 2
• U.S. agents now search cell phones and other electronic devices of people traveling internationally at a rate four times higher than in 2015. The head of Department of Homeland Security said visitors to the U.S. should be required to give up their online passwords and submit to social media searches. Source
• Trump’s FCC ended net neutrality, removing impediments to monopolization of the internet and subjecting oppositional political content to extreme marginalization and outright censorship. Source
• Trump’s DOJ has pursued three times as many leak investigations as were open at the end of the Obama era. The Obama administration itself prosecuted more leak cases than all previous administrations combined. Source 1 Source 2
• Trump incites hatred and violence against protesters. During his campaign he openly longed for the days when a protester would be “carried out on a stretcher.” More recently, he urged the firing — and possibly removal from the country — of professional athletes who took a knee during the national anthem to protest racialized police violence. Source 1 Source 2
• Trump has repeatedly denigrated the courts, calling judges who ruled against him “so-called judges” and claiming that a judge’s “Mexican heritage” made him unfit. Trump’s Senior Policy Advisor, Stephen Miller, asserted that the judiciary “has taken far too much power,” and that “the powers of the president to protect our country… will not be questioned.” Source 1 Source 2
• Trump’s pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio had “the purpose and effect of eviscerating the judicial power to enforce constitutional rights,” according to one of many lawsuits filed against this. Source

What they said they will do:

• Trump asserts his unconditional right to pardon himself. Source
• After Edward Snowden, a government security contractor turned whistleblower, revealed vast U.S. spying on people’s communication, Trump and Pompeo — now the Secretary of State — called for Snowden’s execution. Source
• Trump suggested revoking citizenship and imprisoning people who burn the flag, in violation of Supreme Court protections. Source
• Trump repeatedly threatened political rival Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey with prison. Source 1 Source 2

What they have unleashed

• • Trump supporters are systematically attacking academic freedom. They have targeted progressive professors with online threats and terror, and fascist goons have gone to campuses to spread hate and attack students and professors. Source
  • State legislators in nearly 20 states proposed or passed bills in 2017 that would criminalize and physically endanger protest, including making it legal to run over protesters as long as the driver claimed it was an accident; allowing the government to seize assets of people who participate in or help plan protests that “turn violent;” outlawing mass picketing aimed at blocking access to streets and highways, airports, train tracks, or places of business; and wearing a robe, mask, or other disguise at a protest. Proposed new penalties for protest include fines up to $1,000,000 and up to 10 years in prison. Source
  • A Black activist was jailed without bail for five months — in part because of his Facebook posts criticizing police — under the new secretive FBI effort to track “black identity extremists.” Source
  • It is now common for Trump supporters to show up and try to intimidate and provoke anti-Trump protesters — often while bearing arms. The National Rifle Association put out inflammatory videos, inciting Trump supporters against anti-Trump protesters. Source
  • In an unprecedented move, Trump-loyalists in Congress opened an investigation targeting people in the FBI and DOJ who were investigating possible crimes committed by the Trump campaign. Source
  • Reporters are being arrested, physically ejected from government events and assaulted. After Republican Greg Gianforte body-slammed a reporter, Trump hailed his re-election as a “great win.” CNN and AP reporters were physically barred from an EPA meeting. At least six journalists were arrested and charged with felony riot for covering protests during Trump’s inauguration. Source 1 Source 2

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