In this past week, the Trump Administration and MAGA are openly calling for the arrest and prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey for sharing a photo that says, “86-47.”
Apparently, we can now pick and choose what parts of the Constitution we like and ignore the rest. The First Amendment is only reserved for violent insurrectionists who are incited to overthrow a free and fair election for their “Daddy” and “King” Donald Trump. However, if you’re a grad student, like Rumeysa Ozturk, you’ll be kidnapped and detained for the “thought crime” of co-writing an op-ed. If you’re a news outlet that doesn’t parrot MAGA propaganda or flatter the Orange vulgarian, then you’ll be called “enemy of the state,” threatened with violence, and sued.
How about the 14th Amendment that guarantees birthright citizenship? We can do away with that now because white nationalists, such as Stephen Miller, are in power and believe Black and brown babies represent an “invasion.” We can also ignore the 5th Amendment that guarantees due process to all people, including immigrants, because it gets in the way of Trump’s draconian immigration policy, which is willing to unleash rogue ICE agents to kidnap and deport children with cancer, fathers, and students they don’t like.
Even mayors and judges aren’t safe from being attacked and threatened. Alas, if only the rest of us had a $400 million luxury jet we could use as a bribe to protect our family and communities. But, none of this merits national headlines and 24/7 coverage, because we have to concentrate on Joe Biden, who is no longer President, and discuss his physical decline even as Donald Trump is repeatedly falling sleeping during meetings with foreign heads of state.
It’s the upside-down where lies become “alternative facts” and professional, slick propagandists are willing to distort reality for our first Reality TV show President. The intersection of greed, racism, media double standards, and corporate complicity helps explain why so many Americans are fine with their rights, freedoms, and Medicaid being sacrificed to a thoroughly transactional and corrupt Trump Administration that is beholden to no virtue, value, or law.
In this important Chai Talk, I invite a scholar on authoritarianism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, editor of the excellent Lucid Substack, to connect the dots on how the Trump Administration is an authoritarian regime, and how the majority can use its powers and voice to resist and fight back.
Thank you
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