President Trump is a fascist, but you probably knew that by now. The only question is, what did he do this time?
Well, he started revoking security clearances as political retribution against people who criticized him.
Yes, that is fascism, or at least one component of it.
The President of the United States has many powers. Too many, possibly; this nation became complacent at some point, trusting that the reins would always be in the hands of someone who was at least minimally competent. I’ve heard liberals and progressives say that they even miss the days of President George W. Bush. I mean, sure, he engineered a needless invasion of Iraq and started an endless war that has killed thousands of innocent civilians, but hey, at least he’s not Trump, right?
That’s how low the bar is these days. Anyway.
As President, Donald Trump has the power to unilaterally rescind security clearances, and he has exercised this power for the first time:
Trump’s decision to revoke a former top intelligence chief’s clearance marked an unprecedented use of a president’s authority over the classification system to strike back at one of his prominent critics.
Brennan is the first former national security official to see his security clearance revoked since the White House announced last month that Trump was considering taking that action against Brennan and other vocal critics.
Others on the list include former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA director and National Security Agency chief Michael Hayden, and former FBI Director James Comey.
Two of Umberto Eco’s fourteen common principles of fascism are “disagreement is treason” (rejecting the scientific or modern belief that honest disagreement advances knowledge) and “obsession with a plot” (creating a sensation among followers that they are besieged). Political retribution in a fascist state touches both at the same time. Political retribution punishes disagreement to suppress open discourse, and casts itself as a moral response to a plot against leadership.
And why did Trump target Brennan? He outright said it was connected to the Russia investigation. Could it also be because Brennan challenged Trump to focus on the crisis in Puerto Rico last year instead of kneeling football players?
Do not lose sight of this. This, the abuse of executive power for personal gain and punishment of one’s enemies, is fascism.