“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
We’ve all heard variations of this oft-used quote and confession uttered by Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller after the fall of Hitler. Niemoller lamented the complicity and silence of his fellow Germans during the rise of Nazism.
Unfortunately, we live in the United States of Amnesia, and history tends to rhyme and repeat.
Ahead of the 2024 election, Republicans spent over $200 million targeting and bullying trans people, less than 1% of the population. Trans people were the latest victims of the right wing’s manufactured bogeyman campaign following in the footsteps of welfare queens and a caravan of immigrant “invaders.” There are now more anti-trans bills than actual trans athletes in the United States. On Wednesday, the Trump Administration paused $175 million in funding to UPenn over their trans athlete policy, citing one athlete who swam over 3 years ago. Hooded ICE agents picked up and detained Badar Suri, an Indian-born Georgetown postdoc, because of the alleged pro-Palestinian views of his wife.
MAGA justifies these cruel policies by saying they are necessary to protect women and children even as they embrace alleged sex traffickers, Andrew and Tristan Tate, and celebrate Connor McGregor, who was found liable for rape in a civil case but was nonetheless invited to spew an anti-immigrant rant at the White House.
Their leader and “king” is Donald Trump, a convicted criminal who was held liable for sexually assaulting and defaming a woman. However, that’s all fine because he has promised to root out undocumented criminals, terrorists, rapists, and sex traffickers. This is why he pardoned 1,600 people who took part in a violent insurrection against our free and fair election. This is also why he pardoned Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, which was the digital hub for drug and sex trafficking. It’s all projection all the time for authoritarians. They say they’re for law and order but they break our laws. They say they’re for national security, but they incite a violent insurrection against our elections.
The way to sell this “upside down” reality is by creating a public villain. It’s a pretext to go after all critics and perceived enemies.
Senator McCarthy realized he could gain political power by fear-mongering as well. He spread the lie that the State Department was “infested with Communists” and promised to purge the “enemies within.” This is almost the same language and conspiratorial propaganda espoused by Trump and MAGA about the deep state and undocumented immigrants who are allegedly subverting democracy and national security. First, Trump went after the trans community. As of last week, he’s going after Palestinian students with green cards. Over the weekend, he defied a judicial order and deported immigrants without due process to El Salvador after claiming they were members of a Venezuelan gang. Now, he’s promising to go after individuals who vandalize Tesla vehicles as “domestic terrorists.”
It won’t stop with immigrants, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. The question is will the majority wake up and speak out before the Trump regime comes after all of us and our families?
In this Chai Talk, I talk to Haris Tarin, the Vice President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and a former National Security Advisor at DHS, who breaks down the white nationalist agenda of the Trump regime and how their initial crackdown on students and immigrants will pave the way for a full-scale assault on all of our rights and security.
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