From RefuseFascism.org

Trump’s Summit With Putin: A Leap Towards Fascism

by Refuse Fascism

July 18, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

What the world saw this week with Trump at the NATO meeting and then at the press conference following his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin was the shredding of the alliances, political protocols, and norms that the U.S. first put together after, and has used for decades since, World War II to strengthen and enforce the U.S.’s dominant position in the world. What we witnessed from Trump was the Trump/Pence regime’s America First fascist program being further bludgeoned into place – working to rip up what has been a multi-lateral approach (NATO, UN, etc.) of asserting U.S. world dominance couched in lofty terms of cooperation, spreading democracy, etc., and moving to replace this with a zero sum game of the open assertion of the gangster logic of raw power. Trump’s aggressive assertion of “compete and conquer” and “win or lose” global relations is a high stakes situational dog-eat-dog arrangement that heightens the danger of even greater wars than those already going on, like in Yemen for one example.

Trump and the powerful forces who back him and his regime and who now dominate the Republi-fascist Party regard the complex web of 70+ years of U.S. assumed “responsibilities” for Europe and the world as a hinderance and obstacle to the U.S. being “free” to forcefully and unilaterally assert even greater economic and military power in the world.

RefuseFascism.org’s 2018 Call to Action makes two powerful and highly relevant statements:

“The Trump/Pence regime is radically remaking society – step by step hammering into place a vicious American fascism.”

And, “The world as we have known it is being torn asunder…”

This accurately describes the extraordinary events of the last week. Which is why we say: In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America!

RefuseFascism.org needs to be in the midst of the struggles of people shocked and outraged by the radical reactionary moves of the Trump/Pence regime, bringing to these protests the understanding that what we are witnessing is the further cementing of a fascist America First approach to the world. People need the RefuseFascism.org Call to Action that says, “WE RESOLVE that nothing short of removing this whole illegitimate regime from power will stop this nightmare.”

The Trump/Putin Summit and the NATO visit come on the heels of a week that also saw the appointment of an extreme right wing Supreme Court nominee whose record shows he will almost certainly vote to uphold the fascist prerogatives of Trump/Pence regime if he is confirmed. The future of women’s fundamental right to control their own reproduction through access to abortion and even birth control, marriage equality and other LGBTQ rights, environmental protections and much more hang in the balance. Meanwhile, the Crimes Against Humanity committed by this regime against immigrants with mass detention camps and thousands of children separated from their families continue.

Yet the Trump/Pence regime’s monumental crimes against immigrants, Muslims, women, LGBTQ people, the environment and the people of the world are being pushed from the public eye and all too many who are sickened by this fascist regime are being bamboozled and lined up by MSNBC, the Democrats and a section of the intelligence and federal police forces (the CIA and FBI) to instead become the strongest flag wavers and supporters of U.S. raw power. Those who are leading the people to cry “treason” are out to line you up to support wars and unjust actions by the U.S. These are the very same forces who for decades operated behind the scenes as part of the arms of the U.S. government that staged military coups, interventions, widespread election manipulations, and more in far flung countries around the world. And, yes, these most vociferous voices who carried out these crimes are now calling Trump “treasonous” because they see what he is doing as endangering the U.S. empire. But people who care about justice for humanity are being played by this – not just for mid-term electoral partisan advantage, but for something much worse: the jingoism they are being enlisted into will leave them and lead them with no ground to stand on when the Trump/Pence regime embroils the U.S. in still greater crimes and wars around the world.

The Trump/Pence regime must be opposed not by trying to be more “America First” and jingoistic than Trump himself, but by standing with all of humanity against the fascism he and his regime are imposing.

The outrages of the last week – the incredible onslaught of fascist policy and words – should impel everyone outraged to find the ways to work together, to unite, behind the demand:

This Nightmare Must End: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

All this underscores the importance of:

[1] Reading, signing, and spreading very broadly the RefuseFascism.org Call to Action.

[2] Popularizing – on posters, social media, stickers, t-shirts, and beyond – these two slogans:

In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America!

This Nightmare Must End: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

[3] Spreading the RefuseFascism.org Indictment against the Trump/Pence Regime for Crimes Against the People of the World.

[4] Watching and sharing on social media and in person the clip, “Free Yourself from the GTF!,” which challenges people to break out of jingoism and America-First thinking from Bob Avakian’s talk, “The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America – A Better World IS Possible!”