Clashes at the Top...
But the Fascists Fight for the Initiative

July 31, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Viewed from the prism of “normal” politics, this past week could be seen as marked by defeat and disarray for the Trump/Pence regime. Trump fired his chief of staff after an ugly public attack. A few days before, the regime failed in its drive to deprive tens of millions of people in the U.S. of health care—at least for now. And, indeed, the latter was a defeat—and the conflict within the regime has been, and remains, extraordinarily sharp.

But Donald Trump is not normal, and neither is the regime he heads. As Bob Avakian has pointed out, Trump gained the nomination and the presidency precisely on the basis that he promised to break up the “norms.” So with that in mind, let’s look again at this past week.

Take the high-profile speeches Trump made to the Boy Scouts, to his supporters in Youngstown, Ohio, and to police on Long Island, New York. These speeches demonized and dehumanized whole groups of people, as well as his ruling class opponents. Trump called for extraordinary repression and openly encouraged police to batter and endanger the lives of those they arrest. Officials associated with the groups may have tut-tutted afterward, but the audiences roared enthusiastically.

Internationally, the Trump/Pence regime moved forward with its extremely aggressive and extremely dangerous policies, especially in regard to risking nuclear war. Trump’s moves against LGBTQ people were vicious, heartless and going in the direction of the pink triangles of Nazi Germany. And meanwhile, on the ground and often away from the cameras, untold damage continued to be done to millions and millions, in the form of administrative moves.

Trump has also used the week to whip his core into shape, humiliating some and firing others, trampling on notions both of rule of law and individual dignity. The crude, humiliating, and ignorant gangster-style behavior with which it was done was an essential part of the message, part of the point, to anybody who would oppose him. Then he appointed the first military man in the highest White House position (chief of staff) since Richard Nixon’s administration. Some forces aligned with the Democrats actually applauded this move—as if a more organized, “tighter ship” of fascism would be a good thing.

All this is bad. Very bad. Untold damage to millions around the world and to the environment has already been done; still more damage is done every day it goes on; and unless this is stopped, unimaginable and truly horrific damage will almost certainly transpire. Even in response to defeats and disarray, the regime continues to set the terms; it does not “see reason” but steps up the bullying and intensifies the mobilization of its loyal followers, egging them on to go after those it considers enemies.

The terms that this fascist regime sets, the moves it makes to seize back the initiative and fight for advantage—the moves that were in fact the most salient part of the last week—should reawaken and exponentially deepen the foreboding and anguish that tens of millions felt on the morning of November 9, 2016. Faced with this reality, there is an urgent need to expand the depth of our political understanding of the monstrosity we face and the breadth of our political imaginations on how to fight it; to challenge and rally others in their millions, and raise the level of what we are all willing to put on the line to stop it.

With that in mind, get into this issue. Get into the articles that detail and analyze what’s been happening. Learn about—and more than that, become part of the movement that is building to both resist but, even more important and in fact crucial, to drive out this regime. And get into—seriously get into, and engage—the deeper analysis as to the cause of the problem and the ultimate solution we need: revolution, and a whole new world.

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