IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK…ADDENDUM TO PREVIOUS POST ON “COMMUNISTS” AND “RADICAL LEFTISTS”
Dr. Common Good
This is an addendum – to be read in conjunction with the previous post. A news item this morning about Defense Secretary Hegseth and his policy of requiring journalists to have “escorts” when they are in the Pentagon was a stark reminder that it is the Trump administration which acts like the supposed “communists” he and his mindless minions rail about. Think about that. Escorting journalists is exactly what happened in the former Soviet Union. And here is just a partial list of other Trump administration actions that mimic the authoritarian practices of countries that are often labeled as “communist” (though the labels mafioso or fascist are actually more appropriate):
- Using the government to punish the expression of opinions, news and even comedy unfavorable to Trump in the broadcast media (by the threat of withholding licenses, withholding regulatory approval, etc.).
- Gaining control of the broadcast media and the information it disseminates through the purchase of media organizations by Trump cronies.
- Ideological censorship — forcing the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution to take down or modify park exhibits that contain information or express views that conflict with the ideology approved by the administration, even when doing so is misleading or false. Suppressing reports and information from multiple federal agencies that do not support the administration’s ideological line. Threatening to withhold research funds, and imposing topical restrictions on research, even to the point of dictating the kind of language to be used, along with the potential implementation of a “political commissar” to act as the ideological gatekeeper for the disbursement of research funds.
- Labeling legitimate protests against the administration as dangerous, radical and the work of “enemies,” thus legitimizing the harsh suppression of such protests and the arrest or even murder of individual protestors.
- Supporting the perpetration of sham elections that are distorted through extreme gerrymandering and the amassing of huge amounts of donor money that is funneled to preferred candidates willing to tow the Trump line.
- The flagrant use of federal resources and the federal Department of Justice to target enemies (e.g., James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff, John Brennan, Mark Kelly and other members of Congress) in a manner that is so obvious and blatant that, even when unsuccessful, serves to intimidate.
- Glorification of the president as “Dear Leader” – this is straight out of the North Korean playbook, with significant shades of Mussolini. Trump, like no other president, has sought to rename public buildings after himself, build gaudy monuments to himself, remake the White House as a Trump monument (and not the people’s White House), institute passports and coins with his likeness, name national parks for himself – on and on ad nauseum.
What do you call this?