Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from our team.
You have Successfully Subscribed!
Individual Americans may be afraid for a bit, but mainly we get pissed off and have no allergy to saying so, loudly.
About 150 years ago, masked men terrorized Black citizens in the South. The masks back then were crude white hoods. Today, the white hoods have been traded for Kevlar helmets, body armor and full face masks—from the people who 5 years ago whined that you couldn’t breath in a mask.
These are the tools of Trump’s trade in asserting his grip on modern American Society. Of course he has now added another one, going to war, but we’ll get back to that.
Many comparisons have been made between the actions and demeanor of ICE agents and the Gestapo. The parallels are apt. Gestapo is actually a contraction of the full name of Geheime Staatspolizei which literally translates to “Secret State Police.” So you can see where the idea of no insignia and masked faces comes from.
Like our current crop of ICE operatives—who are definitely not the snappy dressers like their Nazi predecessors—Gestapo agents cared very little for the actual law part of “law and order.” You were supposed to be afraid of them, that’s what they liked and expected. The very idea of having your name given to the Gestapo was terrifying, much the same as it would have been in Russia—then and now—with whatever names their secret police ran under: Checka, NKVD, Sluzhba, KGB, FSB, etc. It is all about the fear.
Free people don’t much like being bullied. And Americans are used to pushing back against these kinds of tactics. A few million, as much as 2 percent of the population, turned out to display their ire on No Kings Day.
Again, the dictator’s agents don’t really care that they are picking up people who do not belong in their nets. They’ve got quotas to meet and much like the body counts of the Vietnam days, they are slaves to their numbers and will let the “system” sort it out. Except for the minor detail that since ignoring the law and thus ignoring due process—and those annoying niceties of warrants—there’s little to sort. So there’s nothing for ICE to do but arrest those who point out their crimes and call in National Guard support when too many people get outraged. There aren’t any concentration camps—yet—so the people being kidnapped are simply being shipped off to torture prisons (El Salvador) or countries that happen to be in the middle of genocidal wars (Sudan).
The Gestapo didn’t care, why should ICE and why should Trump?
There was no more lawless organization than the Gestapo. It was a machine that generated fear in society and fear was a primary tool that Hitler used. Trump is trying to do the same thing with his lumberjack-shirted ICE flunkies. So far it has not been working. By and large, individual Americans may be afraid for a bit, but mainly we get pissed off and have no allergy to saying so, loudly.
So Trump needs a bigger distraction. War.
Iran kind of makes sense as a target. Long-time state sponsors of international terrorism and fomenters of strife and violence in the Middle East, the Ayatollahs certainly do not have clean hands. The biggest international fear around that country has been their nuclear development program coupled with their support of jihadist terrorists. Of course, a deal had been worked out to restrain that program 10 years ago. But since that was under the Obama administration—and thus signed by a Black man—Trump tore it up in his first term. But in spite of the economic sanctions imposed on their country over the decades, as Lucian Truscott points out, their per capita GDP is higher than Russia’s. So don’t expect Iran, the most populous nation in the Middle East, to be a pushover.
One of the reasons Iran has excelled at the practice of fostering groups that employ suicide assassins may be that the practice was invented there, hundreds of years ago. About 200 km north of Tehran is the ruins of the fortress of Alamut from which drug-addled assassins were sent forth with the idea that if they died in the execution of their mission they would return to “paradise.” Sound familiar?
Now Trump has banded together with another wannabe dictator, Netanyahu—who has survived politically largely by fomenting conflict for decades. Thus we now have war and attack headlines that are supposed to generate some sort of patriotic fervor to shift attention from Trump’s racist domestic agenda and blatant criminal activities. Also not working. Americans are getting more pissed off.
We should expect—and participate in—nationwide demonstrations that will make the record turnouts of No Kings Day look tiny. Maybe we can even get Congress to come out of its collective coma to take action to impeach the guy who just bypassed them yet again.
No Kings also means No Dictators, No Divine Right, No American Führer. Just because Trump loathes America doesn’t mean we have to lay down for it.
Marty Kassowitz
Marty Kassowitz is co-founder of Factkeepers. As founder of Interest Factory and View360, he brings more than 30 years experience in effective online communications, social media management, and platform development to the site. He is a writer, designer, editor and long time observer of the ill-logic demonstrated by too many members of the species known as Mankind. After a long history of somewhat private commentary on a subject he totally hates: politics, Marty was encouraged to build this site and put up his own analyses as well as curate relevant content from other sources.
{"id":null,"mode":"form","open_style":"in_place","currency_code":"USD","currency_symbol":"$","currency_type":"decimal","blank_flag_url":"https:\/\/factkeepers.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/blank.gif","flag_sprite_url":"https:\/\/factkeepers.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/tip-jar-wp\/\/assets\/images\/flags\/flags.png","default_amount":500,"top_media_type":"none","featured_image_url":false,"featured_embed":"","header_media":null,"file_download_attachment_data":null,"recurring_options_enabled":true,"recurring_options":{"never":{"selected":true,"after_output":"One time only"},"weekly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every week"},"monthly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every month"},"yearly":{"selected":false,"after_output":"Every year"}},"strings":{"current_user_email":"","current_user_name":"","link_text":"Leave a tip","complete_payment_button_error_text":"Check info and try again","payment_verb":"Pay","payment_request_label":"Factkeepers.com","form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","general_server_error":"Something isn't working right at the moment. Please try again.","form_title":"Help Support Factkeepers","form_subtitle":null,"currency_search_text":"Country or Currency here","other_payment_option":"Other payment option","manage_payments_button_text":"Manage your payments","thank_you_message":"Thank you for being a supporter!","payment_confirmation_title":"Factkeepers.com","receipt_title":"Your Receipt","print_receipt":"Print Receipt","email_receipt":"Email Receipt","email_receipt_sending":"Sending receipt...","email_receipt_success":"Email receipt successfully sent","email_receipt_failed":"Email receipt failed to send. Please try again.","receipt_payee":"Paid to","receipt_statement_descriptor":"This will show up on your statement as","receipt_date":"Date","receipt_transaction_id":"Transaction ID","receipt_transaction_amount":"Amount","refund_payer":"Refund from","login":"Log in to manage your payments","manage_payments":"Manage Payments","transactions_title":"Your Transactions","transaction_title":"Transaction Receipt","transaction_period":"Plan Period","arrangements_title":"Your Plans","arrangement_title":"Manage Plan","arrangement_details":"Plan Details","arrangement_id_title":"Plan ID","arrangement_payment_method_title":"Payment Method","arrangement_amount_title":"Plan Amount","arrangement_renewal_title":"Next renewal date","arrangement_action_cancel":"Cancel Plan","arrangement_action_cant_cancel":"Cancelling is currently not available.","arrangement_action_cancel_double":"Are you sure you'd like to cancel?","arrangement_cancelling":"Cancelling Plan...","arrangement_cancelled":"Plan Cancelled","arrangement_failed_to_cancel":"Failed to cancel plan","back_to_plans":"\u2190 Back to Plans","update_payment_method_verb":"Update","sca_auth_description":"Your have a pending renewal payment which requires authorization.","sca_auth_verb":"Authorize renewal payment","sca_authing_verb":"Authorizing payment","sca_authed_verb":"Payment successfully authorized!","sca_auth_failed":"Unable to authorize! Please try again.","login_button_text":"Log in","login_form_has_an_error":"Please check and fix the errors above","uppercase_search":"Search","lowercase_search":"search","uppercase_page":"Page","lowercase_page":"page","uppercase_items":"Items","lowercase_items":"items","uppercase_per":"Per","lowercase_per":"per","uppercase_of":"Of","lowercase_of":"of","back":"Back to plans","zip_code_placeholder":"Zip\/Postal Code","download_file_button_text":"Download File","input_field_instructions":{"tip_amount":{"placeholder_text":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like.","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."},"invalid_curency":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How much would you like to donate? You can change this amount to anything you would like."}},"recurring":{"placeholder_text":"Recurring","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"How often would you like to donate this?"}},"name":{"placeholder_text":"Name on Credit Card","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter the name on your card."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please enter the name on your card."}},"privacy_policy":{"terms_title":"Terms and conditions","terms_body":null,"terms_show_text":"View Terms","terms_hide_text":"Hide Terms","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."},"unchecked":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Please agree to the terms."},"checked":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"I agree to the terms."}},"email":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email address"},"not_an_email_address":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Make sure you have entered a valid email address"}},"note_with_tip":{"placeholder_text":"Your note here...","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"empty":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"not_empty_initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Attach a note to your tip (optional)"},"saving":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Saving note..."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Note successfully saved!"},"error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to save note note at this time. Please try again."}},"email_for_login_code":{"placeholder_text":"Your email address","initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your email to log in."}},"login_code":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"success":{"instruction_type":"success","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"blank":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Check your email and enter the login code."}},"stripe_all_in_one":{"initial":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"empty":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"success":{"instruction_type":"normal","instruction_message":"Enter your credit card details here."},"invalid_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is not a valid credit card number."},"invalid_expiry_month":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration month is invalid."},"invalid_expiry_year":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is invalid."},"invalid_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is invalid."},"incorrect_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incorrect."},"incomplete_number":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card number is incomplete."},"incomplete_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incomplete."},"incomplete_expiry":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration date is incomplete."},"incomplete_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code is incomplete."},"expired_card":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card has expired."},"incorrect_cvc":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's security code is incorrect."},"incorrect_zip":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's zip code failed validation."},"invalid_expiry_year_past":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card's expiration year is in the past"},"card_declined":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The card was declined."},"missing":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"There is no card on a customer that is being charged."},"processing_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"An error occurred while processing the card."},"invalid_request_error":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"Unable to process this payment, please try again or use alternative method."},"invalid_sofort_country":{"instruction_type":"error","instruction_message":"The billing country is not accepted by SOFORT. Please try another country."}}}},"fetched_oembed_html":false}
