Trump/Pence Barrel Ahead with Fascist Offensive

Armed Thugs Attack BLM Protests; Attacks on November Elections and Mail-in Voting Escalate; Trump/DeVos Promote Government-Funded Religious Education; Executive Orders Aim at Restructuring Government to Serve Fascism

August 17, 2020 | revcom.us

The fascist Trump/Pence regime has been moving rapidly, aggressively, and in many dimensions to develop and implement fascism. Below are some measures taken or that came to light in the past week alone.

Armed Fascists Attack Black Lives Matter Protests in Rural Nevada and California
Trump Escalates Threats on November Election, Postal Service, Vote by Mail
Attorney General Whips up Hate, Organizes Repression
Trump Threatens Public Schools, Promotes Increased Funding for Religious and Private Schools
Trump’s Pandemic Executive Orders

On August 8, about 25 teenagers and BLM supporters protesting in Minden, Nevada, “were immediately attacked and harassed by dozens of counter protesters who were heavily armed, dressed in military fatigues and carried assault rifles, bats, hand guns and shotguns….” (Photo: AP)

Armed Fascists Attack Black Lives Matter Protests in Rural Nevada and California: A violent movement is increasingly engaging in street combat against what it perceives as opponents of the fascist Trump/Pence regime. On August 8, about 25 mostly teenaged Black Lives Matter (BLM) supporters who protested in Minden, Nevada, “were immediately attacked and harassed by dozens of counter protesters who were heavily armed, dressed in military fatigues and carried assault rifles, bats, hand guns and shotguns….” The website CarsonNow reported that “no deputies stepped in during any of the numerous assaults witnessed by protesters as well as this… reporter.” The protesters had been holding weekly BLM demonstrations in nearby Carson City but came to Minden because the local sheriff was infuriated at the library board for drafting a “diversity statement”; his threats on the library got national media attention.

The following day in the same mountainous region, in Nevada City, California, there was another assault on a peaceful BLM protest. The Sierra Nevada Daily reported that “enraged men wearing Trump regalia pushed, shoved, slapped, and destroyed the signs of BLM protesters marching on Broad Street.” As in Minden, uniformed police allowed the assaults on protesters to continue, and at least one cop not in uniform was with the fascist mob.

The USPS, under direction from a Trump ally and “mega-donor,” has instituted major cutbacks in personnel and disruptive organizational changes, and decommissioned hundreds of pieces of essential equipment, such as these mailboxes in Wisconsin. (Photo: @tomaskenn)

Trump Escalates Threats on November Election, Postal Service, Vote by Mail: The Trump/Pence regime is systematically and relentlessly working to further consolidate its fascist stranglehold on power as the November election approaches. The regime is both trying to suppress as much of the vote as possible, especially of Black and Latinx people, and to declare in advance that the election is a “fraud.” In an interview on Fox “News,” Trump defended massive cuts for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), including funding intended to support mail-in ballots during the pandemic: “That means they don't get the money. That means they can't have universal mail-in voting, they just can't have it.” Under the direction of a Trump ally and campaign “mega-donor” as postmaster, the USPS has instituted major cutbacks in personnel and disruptive organizational changes, and decommissioned hundreds of pieces of essential equipment. These have already slowed down mail delivery in many places. The Washington Post reported that in late July the USPS sent letters to 46 states and Washington, DC saying it can’t guarantee that all ballots cast by mail for the November election will arrive in time to be counted. This week Trump repeated that if there is large-scale voting by mail, the November election will be “the greatest fraud in history.” And he boasted, “We have many lawsuits out there [to challenge the legitimacy of vote-by-mail and the November elections].” Trump is essentially announcing that he won’t accept the legitimacy of an electoral defeat.

Attorney General Barr, August 10.

Attorney General Whips up Hate, Organizes Repression: U.S. Attorney General William Barr unleashed a threatening, deceitful tirade against Black Lives Matter protests, Antifa, and the Democratic Party in a long interview on Fox “News.” He claimed Black Lives Matter is “a revolutionary group that is interested in some form of socialism, communism.” Barr also called Antifa “highly organized” as it wages a “new form of guerilla warfare” and said the Democrats believe in “tearing down the system.” These are deliberate, conscious lies. Barr’s rant was aimed at justifying in advance the escalating repression of protest his Department of “Justice” is spearheading, and at inflaming the audience of fascists who watch Fox to associate these groupings (and other protesters) into one target of their seething, increasingly violent hate. Refuse Fascism, and the protests it is calling for, are included in that target, at least by implication and inference.

Reposted from RefuseFascism.org:

As Trump threatens the elections and sends fascist stormtroopers into cities:

Stay in the streets in August
Build for UNITED NATIONWIDE MASS PROTEST
Saturday September 5
DEMAND TRUMP PENCE OUT NOW!

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A suburban Atlanta county opened its schools on August 3. After four days, nearly 1,200 students and staff were ordered into quarantine because of COVID-19 infections. The photo shows a hallway packed with students with no masks at one high school; the student who took the photo and put it on social media was suspended. (Tweeted photo)

Trump Threatens Public Schools, Promotes Increased Funding for Religious and Private Schools: In a White House ceremony, Trump, Pence, and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos called for opening up schools. Trump and DeVos also announced a proposal to reduce federal funding for public education and send more money to private schools. Trump asked, “Why are we paying if a school is closed?… [Federal funds] should follow students so parents can send their child to the private, charter, religious or home school of their choice.” DeVos, a Christian fascist, added that a bill now in Congress “would do just that.… And with the President’s bold leadership, I think we can get it done.” As Bob Avakian has pointed out, Christian fascists like DeVos ultimately want to eliminate public education and replace it with Christian fundamentalist indoctrination. And right now, the fascist regime is working diligently toward that goal by undermining public education and building up private and religious—in particular Christian—schools.

New Orleans, scene in front of eviction court. (Photo: AP)

Trump’s Pandemic Executive Orders: On August 8 Trump signed four executive orders he claims will cut through congressional stalemate and provide much-needed aid to tens of millions of people who are out of work, out of money, and on the edge of homelessness because of the economic crisis triggered by a rampaging pandemic. This is bullshit. Trump has a long and despicable record of not giving a damn about people in this country and around the world upon whom his regime has inflicted enormous misery.

Taxing and funding policy are among Congress’s constitutionally mandated powers. Trump’s move is aimed in part to discredit and disempower Congress (where his Democratic Party opponents dominate the House), concentrate more power in the hands of the president, and further break down the “separation of powers” that has been a cornerstone cohering the U.S. political system since the country was founded. It also is intended to further shred what remains of the “safety net” that is supposed to keep people from utter destitution, while pretending to prop it up for a few months. For example, the postponement of payroll tax payments Trump proposes would do nothing for the tens of millions of people officially unemployed now, and it would undermine long-term funding for Social Security and Medicare, programs fascists have had in their crosshairs for years. And whatever meager benefits people may receive from his orders will need to be repaid in full when they expire.

Whether or not Trump’s orders will take effect is uncertain. But what is clear is that the Trump/Pence regime is rapidly and aggressively consolidating its fascist domination of the federal government, and moving to reorganize and redirect how the government functions, to serve those fascist ends.

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An Impending Disaster and an Urgent Challenge

The above is some of the damage done by the fascist Trump/Pence regime—in one week! The consequences to humanity and the planet if this regime remains in power worsen daily, and will be disastrous if it isn’t stopped.

As Bob Avakian wrote in his recent statement, “Right now, for everyone who is concerned with ending injustice and oppression, and with the question of whether humanity will have a future worth living—or will have a future at all—removing the Trump/Pence fascist regime from power is an immediate, urgent question and truly historic imperative.”

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