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Which Side Are ‘We the People’ on—Democracy or Fascism?
The MAGA movement has now shown us who they really are, and we should believe them.
Mar 24, 2024
It was once said that when fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.
For years, Americans have watched the troubling rise of the Tea Party/Make-America-Great-Again (MAGA) Republican Party’s thinly-veiled authoritarianism—fervent Christian nationalism, voter suppression, gerrymandering, disinformation and propaganda, dark money, corruption, intolerance, international isolationism, idolatry of world dictators, anti-regulation zealotry, self-interest over national interest, contempt for civil rights and the rule of law, coercion, intimidation, repression, misogyny, homophobia, racism, false morality, ethnic homogeneity, demagoguery, fear-mongering, pathological lying, denial of science, delusional conspiracy theories, personality cult, fomenting hatred, encouraging political violence, book banning, protecting corporate greed, declaring a free press “the enemy of the people,” packing the courts with far-right ideologues, dismantling the “administrative state” (aka, democratic institutions), vilifying opponents as “vermin,” claiming immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” and use of government mainly to enhance their own wealth and power.
Yet all the while, they have publicly pretended to still believe in democracy and the Constitution. Until now.
The MAGA goal is indeed to overthrow our constitutional democracy and replace it with their own dystopian dream.
At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), MAGA Republicans—paying homage to their deranged “dear leader,” who is beholden to the Kremlin, and if reelected promises to be a dictator on day one, release convicted felons who support him from prison, order mass deportations, and to selectively terminate the Constitution—finally said the quiet part out loud. The conference opened with this astonishingly candid statement:
“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this, right here.”
The fanatic crowd erupted with glee. The only thing missing (we presume) were the jack boots and black arm bands.
There it is, in plain sight—full-blown fascism as a major political movement in America—precisely what our nation’s founders worried about, and what America and its allies fought WWI and WWII to prevent. This is an overt admission that January 6 was not a “demonstration that got out of hand,” but a failed coup (as most already knew), and that the MAGA goal is indeed to overthrow our constitutional democracy and replace it with their own dystopian dream.
Ironically, as lies and propaganda (including from foreign intelligence services) have been so effective with MAGA devotees, they could even succeed this November using the very electoral democracy they seek to overthrow. If they are not successful that way, they promise to keep trying.
Poet Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” The MAGA movement has now shown us who they really are, and we should believe them.
Fortunately, there are some principled Republicans who are not onboard the MAGA train. Unfortunately, they remain a minority in the neo-fascist Republican party today.
America’s political fault line is now crystal clear. This is a dangerous, existential moment for our nation. The question is which side “we the people” are on—democracy or fascism?
We’ll soon see.
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Critics Warn Orbán Visit Aimed at Tutoring Trump on 'How to Destroy a Democracy'
"If you want to see Trump's and the GOP's vision of America's future, just look at what Orbán's done to Hungary," said one observer.
Mar 07, 2024
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is set for a Friday meeting with former U.S. President Donald Trump, an admirer—and potential emulator—of the far-right European leader as progressive voters in Europe, the United States, and dozens of other countries push back against a surging worldwide wave of "soft fascism."
Trump—who has all but officially secured the Republican presidential nomination—will welcome Orbán to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for what's being described as a "strategy session" ahead of upcoming elections in both the United States and European Union, where far-right parties are poised for major gains in the European Parliament.
"Orbán is the textbook example of why autocrats are often much more dangerous the second time in office."
Orbán spoke Thursday on a panel with the head of the Heritage Foundation, the influential conservative think tank that fawns over the prime minister's "European values," and his demonization of progressives and shared bogeymen including Hungarian American philanthropist George Soros. Critics have sounded the alarm on the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which has been described as a "far-right playbook for American authoritarianism" in a second Trump term.
Conspicuously absent from Orbán's agenda is any meeting with Biden administration officials, a rare situation given Hungary's NATO membership.
"While the present liberal administration in the U.S. may not actively seek to strengthen ties with Hungary, there is undeniably a growing interest in Hungary among U.S. conservatives," Balázs Orbán, the prime minister's unrelated political director, toldThe Guardian. "Prime Minister Orbán is visiting the United States to strengthen these relationships."
As Orbán—who has ruled Hungary for 14 years over four terms—consolidates his power by systematically eroding democratic institutions and strengthening his Fidesz party and its parliamentary supermajority, Trump and many Republicans have embraced his brand of populist autocracy. Orbán has spoken to adoring audiences at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) events in Texas and Budapest, the Hungarian capital where then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson interviewed him while relocating his show for a week.
"Orbán has become a role model for many American politicians, particularly those in the GOP's Sedition Caucus," Thom Hartmann wrote Thursday, referring to the 147 Republican U.S. lawmakers who tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in service of Trump's conspiracy theory that the contest was rigged by Democrats and the so-called "deep state."
Trump and many of his supporters are drawn to Orbán's open racism—which includes embraces of eugenics and the "great replacement" theory—xenophobia, homophobia, and Christian nationalism, as well as his aversion to helping Ukraine defend against Russian invasion. Like Trump, Orbán is also an oligarch, with a net worth estimated in the hundreds of millions of graft-boosted dollars, and under whose rule Hungary has been ranked as the E.U.'s most corrupt country.
"Orbán is well on his way to staying in office for the rest of his life."
"There is a great man, a great leader in Europe—Viktor Orbán," Trump—who has infamously praised some of the world's dictators—said in a speech last month. "He is a very great leader, a very strong man."
The admiration is mutual. Speaking last month, Orbán said that "we cannot interfere in other countries' elections, but we would very much like to see President Donald Trump return to the White House and make peace here in the eastern half of Europe. It is time for another 'Make America Great Again' presidency in the United States."
The European Parliament has condemned Orbán's rule as less than democratic, calling his government a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy." Others have called it a form of "soft fascism." Orbán calls it "illiberal democracy," touting its universal appeal to international conservatives, including U.S. Republicans and their fixation on "owning the libs."
"Hungary is actually an incubator where experiments are done on the future of conservative policies," Orbán said at CPAC Budapest. "Hungary is the place where we didn't just talk about defeating the progressives and liberals and causing a conservative Christian political turn, but we actually did it."
While there has been some recent pushback—most notably in Brazil, Colombia, and Chile—observers are warning of the dangers of a still-ascendant right as voters prepare to head to the polls this year in the E.U. and in countries from Mexico and India to Indonesia and the United States.
In the case of the U.S., Protect Democracy editor Amanda Carpenter warned this week that "Orbán is the textbook example of why autocrats are often much more dangerous the second time in office."
"They learn from their mistakes, shortcomings, and—above all—the things that caused them to lose power previously. Orbán is well on his way to staying in office for the rest of his life," Carpenter added. "On that too Trump aims to do the same."
Hartmann wonders whether Orbán is "going to be instructing Trump in how to destroy a democracy," having "already pulled it off in Hungary."
"If you want to see Trump's and the GOP's vision of America's future, just look at what Orbán's done to Hungary," he added. "Forewarned is forearmed. Spread the word."
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Trump Vows 'Judgement Day' for Opponents and 'Largest Deportation in History' If Elected
"Our country is being destroyed and the only thing standing between you and its obliteration is me," the far-right former president declared during his speech at CPAC
Feb 24, 2024
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said Election Day in November this year will end up being a "judgement day" for his political opponents if he wins and vowed mass deportations on a scale never seen in the United States.
As part of a rambling and bizarre speech at the annual CPAC gathering of far-right activists and GOP operatives, Trump said, "For hardworking Americans, November 5 will be our new liberation day. But for the liars and cheaters and fraudsters and censors and imposters who have commandeered our government, it will be judgement day."
Watch:
Trump suggests he is God and will punish Americans who oppose him: November 5th will MAGA’s liberation day. It will be Democrats’ Judgment Day pic.twitter.com/PEZpsBzRGH
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) February 24, 2024
Though he previously served as the President of the United States and remains de facto head of the Republican Party, Trump cast himself to the fascist audience members as a political "dissident" who would have his "ultimate and absolute revenge" on President Joe Biden and the Democrats who he claimed had turned the nation into a "living hell."
Federal statistics show that crime rates have fallen since 2022, but that didn't stop Trump from characterizing the nation as a crime-ridden dystopia on verge of annihiliation.
"Our country is being destroyed and the only thing standing between you and its obliteration is me," Trump declared, harnessing his familiar demagoguery in which he characterizes himself as an authoritarian savior.
Trump promised to enact that "largest deportation in the history of our country" if put back in the White House as he continued his vilification and dehumanization of immigrants and asylum seekers.
Trump dehumanizes migrants: "They are terrorists ... it'll be the largest deportation in the history of our country." @atrupar
pic.twitter.com/AIqnXl0RuU
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) February 24, 2024
"We have no choice," Trump declared. "It's not a nice thing and I hate to say it, and those clowns in the media will say 'Oh he's so mean.' No, no. [Migrants are] killing our people, they're killing our country."
Earlier this week, the Washington Postreported that Trump and his allies are already planning ahead for an aggressve anti-immigrant plan that would include use of the military to round people up, hold them in detention camps, and remove them from the country.
"He was obsessed with having the military involved," said one former senior administration official who spoke to the Post.
In a particularly bizarre and racist digression, Trump claimed Saturday that migrants coming into the U.S. are speaking languages "that nobody in this country has ever heard of" and carry diseases "nobody ever heard about."
Following Trump's CPAC speech, the Biden campaign's rapid response director Ammar Moussa, dismissed Trump as a "loser" and said the American people have previously made clear they've seen enough of what he represents.
"America already had the opportunity to choose if they wanted another four years of hell with Donald Trump's chaos, division, and crazy—they said no—and will again in November," Moussa said.
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