“It will never be the same again.”
It feels as if a dam has broken. But that dam is not American outrage at seeing the country turned into a fascist dictatorship. Nor is it public disgust with their elected leaders sitting on their hands as it happened, although that outrage is growing.
Historian Garrett Graff believes we have turned a corner:
The United States, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism. In the end, faster than I imagined possible, it did happen here. The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed.
People with their eyes open have posted lists of actions the Donald Trump administration has taken recently to indicate a tipping point passed. If it looks like a duck, etc. Still, people have not taken to the streets in protest en masse. The press refuses to call it what it is, leaning as usual on euphemisms, Graff complains:
They will presumably for some period of time — perhaps even a long period of time — stick to euphemisms (with lines like “No president has asserted such direct and sweeping control over the nation’s capital” and “Through immigration crackdowns and cultural purges, President Trump is wielding government power to enforce a more rigid, exclusionary definition of what it means to be American.”) and continue to give voice to “both siders,” but the reality is that only one political party is responsible for this moment. They will say that Trump’s motives are inscrutable or unclear — but the effect of Trump’s governing style is undeniable.
American fascism looks like the president using armed military units from governors loyal to his regime to seize cities run by opposition political figures and it looks like the president using federal law enforcement to target regime opponents.
American fascism looks like the would-be self-proclaimed king deploying the military on US soil not only not in response to requests by local or state officials but over — and almost specifically to spite — their vociferous objections.
The echoes are obvious even to those with only grade-school history:
Just months short of the nation’s 250th birthday, Donald Trump is close to batting a thousand at speed-running the very abuses of power that led to the Founders to write the Declaration of Independence in the first place. Does any of this sound familiar:
- He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
- For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments
- He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
- He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
- He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
- He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
- For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world
- For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent
- For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury
- For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
Even as history repeats itself, Congress and the Supreme Court have rolled over and played dead, Graff argues. Yes, blue-state governors Gavin Newsom and J.B. Pritzker have stepped up where party members inside the Beltway remain effectively supine. But the Congress and the courts have failed to hold the line, either unwilling or too cowardly to stop what Bill Kristol calls “a march toward despotism.”
Trump declared in one of his Truth Social rants on Monday that he has fired Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook. The same Trump found guilty of 34 felonies for falsifying business records and who lost a civil fraud lawsuit in New York (an appeals court threw out the fine as excessive) cites unsubstantiated allegations of mortgage fraud by Cook as justification for firing her:
In a statement, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, called the move “an authoritarian power grab that blatantly violates the Federal Reserve Act, and must be overturned in court.”
Trump knows or suspects that. This action will go to court. But he knows that the gears of justice grind slowly and, even if he loses, Dear Leader will have made his point: to instill fear in any officials who might dare cross him.
Experts like Warren believe Trump lacks the authority to discharge Cook. She refuses to resign. Whether Trump eventually wins or loses, the question now is whether he will dispatch police-state agents willing to physically and illegally remove her.
Read the entire Graff commentary that ends with this:
Where America goes from here is a story yet to be written. It will surely get worse — Trump’s push now is clearly focused on locking in an illegitimate claim to power. Whether we can come back from this moment is a story yet unknown. But it’s clear today America is different and, even if we fight our way back, it will never be the same again.
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