#authoritarianrule — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #authoritarianrule, aggregated by home.social.
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Congressional Analysis: #GOP Tax Gifts to #Rich Would Explode Deficit They Always Complain About
"This bill gives enormous additional tax cuts to wealthy people and corporations, spikes the deficit, and strips healthcare from millions of Americans," said one critic.
Jessica Corbett
May 13, 2025Excerpt: " 'Reckless tax cuts for the top and new corporate loopholes appear to be the big features of this bill, and they're paid for by cutting our healthcare and making American communities more vulnerable to floods, fires, and storms,' she stressed. 'The revenue raisers—which don't stop this from being extremely expensive—seem to be about picking winners and losers, rather than passing rational, consistent policies.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gop-reconciliation-package
#BigUglyBill #Environment #Ethics #TaxBreaksForTheRich #CorporatePolluters #AirIsLife
#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife
#TrumpHatesTheEnvironment
#TrumpHatesThePoor #Corporatocracy #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#SilencingDissent #USPol #HR9495 #StopHR9495 #TaxPackage #Authoritarianism #AuthoritarianRule
#FightForTheFuture -
What’s in Trump’s big bill? Trillions in tax cuts, changes to Medicaid and more
By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO
Updated 8:21 PM EDT, May 13, 2025WASHINGTON (AP) — "#Republicans in Congress are moving with rapid speed to advance President Donald Trump’s big bill of #TaxBreaks, #SpendingCuts and beefed-up border security funding as leaders work to enact many of his campaign promises.
"House committees have been laboring for months to draft the legislation, which Republicans have labeled 'THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,' a nod to Trump himself. Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing to approve the package and send it to the Senate by Memorial Day.
"Democrats say they will fight what House party leader #HakeemJeffries calls 'this extreme and toxic bill.' "
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tax-cuts-bill-medicaid-work-requirements-17cbde167f3b434e925a199c3253b8e1#BigUglyBill #Environment #Ethics #StudentLoans #Medicaid #TaxBreaksForTheRich
#CorporatePolluters #AirIsLife
#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife
#MAGADeathCult #TrumpHatesTheEnvironment
#TrumpHatesThePoor
#AntiLife #Greenpeace
#Indivisible #FreePalestine
#CREW #PeaceAndJustice
#Corporatocracy #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#SilencingDissent
#USPol #HR9495 #StopHR9495
#TaxPackage #Authoritarianism
#AuthoritarianRule
#FightForTheFuture
#Section112209 -
This is what I sent to Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King...
Dear Senator Collins / King, I beg you to vote "no" on Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill." The passing of this will hurt many Mainers, and could impact Maine non-profits (Section 112209). Many Mainers are already struggling to pay their bills, and putting more of a burden on them, while giving tax breaks to the rich is unfair to working and disabled Mainers. Thank you.
#HR9495 #BigBeautifulBill #BigUglyTaxBill #ToxicBill #Environment #Ethics #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #TrumpHatesTheEnvironment
#TrumpHatesThePoor #CorporatePolluters #Corporatocracy
#CharacteristicsOfFascism
#SilencingDissent #USPol
#HR9495 #TaxPackage
#Authoritarianism #AuthoritarianRule #StopHR9495 #FightForTheFuture
#Section112209 -
House Republicans look to help Trump strip tax-exempt status of nonprofits he says support terrorism
By ALEXA ST. JOHN and MATTHEW DALY
Updated 1:37 PM EDT, May 13, 2025WASHINGTON (AP) — "A proposal by Republicans in Congress would allow President Donald Trump’s administration to remove the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that it says support #terrorism, creating what some #nonprofits say is an arbitrary standard to financially punish #charities that advocate for issues that don’t align with his agenda.
"Unusual language added Monday to a reconciliation bill from the House Ways and Means Committee — the tax-writing committee — would allow for terminating the tax-exempt status of groups the administration deems 'terrorist supporting organizations.' The language mirrors a bill from the last Congress that passed in the House but did not pass the Senate.
"The definition and criteria for determining whether or how an organization supports terrorism are unclear. The bill also targets nonprofits in other ways, echoing complaints by Trump, who has called the tax-exempt status a 'privilege' that has been 'abused.' Trump has threatened to revoke tax-exempt status for groups that don’t abide by his directives or agree with his views."
[...]
"Michelle Roos, executive director of the Environmental Protection Network, which represents hundreds of former scientists and regulators, said last month 'we all pay the price' when charitable organizations are silenced based on politics.
"For example, the move to revoke #TaxExempt status could choke off funding for groups that urge greater action to promote clean air, water and land, work to help communities most affected by industrial pollution and advocate for projects and policies to combat #ClimateChange — among other issues.
" 'It threatens the rights, health, and future of every community,' Roos said in a statement.
Last month, Trump said he could target environmental groups and the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."
#Environment #Ethics #AirIsLife #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #MAGADeathCult #TrumpHatesTheEnvironment #TrumpHatesThePoor #AntiLife #Greenpeace #Indivisible #FreePalestine #CREW #PeaceAndJustice #CorporatePolluters #Corporatocracy #CharacteristicsOfFascism #SilencingDissent #USPol #HR9495 #TaxPackage #Authoritarianism #AuthoritarianRule #StopHR9495 #FightForTheFuture #Section112209
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Only one thing is going to stand in Trump's way — and he knows it | Opinion
by Thom Hartmann, April 28, 2025
"It didn’t happen in some shadowy back alley or under the cover of night.
"It happened in broad daylight — in the heart of an American courthouse.
"Federal agents, acting without even the decency of a signed warrant, stormed into Judge #HannahDugan’s courtroom on Friday morning and dragged her away like a common criminal. No warning. No legal process. No respect for the law she had spent a lifetime upholding.
"But they made sure the cameras were there, so America could see what they were doing. Because this was not about justice. This was about terror.
"This was a warning shot aimed directly at the beating heart of America’s judiciary: 'Fall in line — or you’re next.'
"In that moment, the world’s oldest democracy lurched closer to the edge of #AuthoritarianRule. In that moment, America became a little less free — and a lot more like the nightmare #VladimirPutin always hoped we’d become.
"The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan last Friday without even having a legal arrest #warrant; this is as outrageous and #PoliceState illegal as an administration can get.
"And #PamBondi’s performance Friday — after her federal agents swarm-raided this county judge — wasn’t staged for the general public.
"The real audience was a very small, select group: America’s judges.
"Their message is very simple: 'P--- us off, judges, and you could end up in prison, too.'
"Trump has already pacified the Article I branch of government — Congress — and now he’s in the process of pacifying the Article III branch, the Judiciary.
"There are only 3 branches to our government: cowing both Congress and the nation’s Judiciary will leave only the president in charge of the entire country under all circumstances in all ways.
"Nothing and nobody else will be able to stop him, short of a military coup (and he’s already decapitated the senior leadership of the military) or unending demonstrations in the streets (demonstrators who may soon face live ammunition).
"That is called dictatorship. Real dictatorship. Vladimir Putin-style dictatorship where you are punished for the smallest deviation from orthodoxy and can find yourself in #prison or sued into #bankruptcy if you dare speak out in public.
"It appears more and more every day that #Putin is Trump’s mentor, if not his handler. Trump is doing everything he can, with help from a South African billionaire, to destroy the historic American infrastructure (which has been an example for the world for 250 years) and turn us into the newest member of the #dictators club, joining Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Hungary, North Korea, and the rest of the #fascist and #authoritarian world.
"To get there, now that they’ve pacified every single Republican member of Congress (most recently, Don Bacon criticized Trump’s schizophrenic tariffs; a day later he started talking about retiring), they only have to seize control of the Judiciary, and then nothing except We The People will stand in their way.
"Nothing. Will. Stand. In. Trump’s. Way. Except We The People. And he knows it.
"Look at the striking parallels between Putin’s strategies and Trump’s actions:
"From installing Trump’s loyalists in the military and the federal police agencies of the Department of Justice and FBI, to his open threats against freedom of the press, to the GOP’s efforts to rig elections and purge voters, Trump’s subversion of US democracy looks eerily familiar.
"He’s taking pages directly from the autocrat’s handbook.
"Trump has openly quoted and praised autocrats like Putin and Hungarian strongman #ViktorOrbán, who has presented his leadership in speeches to the GOP and CPAC as a model of an '#illiberal' state.
"Trump’s not hiding his admiration for dictators; he’s flaunting it. And now he’s putting the final stages of their script into action.
"Trump’s movement toward authoritarianism follows 'a known playbook. It’s unfolded in many other countries,' as journalist Anne Applebaum notes. 'These are democratically elected leaders who characterize themselves or describe themselves as deserving of no opposition. So I am the true Hungarian, or I am the only real American.'
"In a mere matter of weeks into his presidency, Applebaum says, Trump and his allies “have managed to push America into that space somewhere between (no longer) democracy and full-scale autocracy.”
"The speed is shocking, but it shouldn’t be surprising. It only took #Hitler #53Days to completely end democracy in Germany. Others, like Lukashenko, Orbán, Putin, Mussolini, Duterte, El-Sisi, and Erdoğan took longer (none longer than two years), but you could argue that Trump has been working at this project for 9 years now."
#Fascism #TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#ResistAuthoritarianism -
Only one thing is going to stand in Trump's way — and he knows it | Opinion
by Thom Hartmann, April 28, 2025
"It didn’t happen in some shadowy back alley or under the cover of night.
"It happened in broad daylight — in the heart of an American courthouse.
"Federal agents, acting without even the decency of a signed warrant, stormed into Judge #HannahDugan’s courtroom on Friday morning and dragged her away like a common criminal. No warning. No legal process. No respect for the law she had spent a lifetime upholding.
"But they made sure the cameras were there, so America could see what they were doing. Because this was not about justice. This was about terror.
"This was a warning shot aimed directly at the beating heart of America’s judiciary: 'Fall in line — or you’re next.'
"In that moment, the world’s oldest democracy lurched closer to the edge of #AuthoritarianRule. In that moment, America became a little less free — and a lot more like the nightmare #VladimirPutin always hoped we’d become.
"The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan last Friday without even having a legal arrest #warrant; this is as outrageous and #PoliceState illegal as an administration can get.
"And #PamBondi’s performance Friday — after her federal agents swarm-raided this county judge — wasn’t staged for the general public.
"The real audience was a very small, select group: America’s judges.
"Their message is very simple: 'P--- us off, judges, and you could end up in prison, too.'
"Trump has already pacified the Article I branch of government — Congress — and now he’s in the process of pacifying the Article III branch, the Judiciary.
"There are only 3 branches to our government: cowing both Congress and the nation’s Judiciary will leave only the president in charge of the entire country under all circumstances in all ways.
"Nothing and nobody else will be able to stop him, short of a military coup (and he’s already decapitated the senior leadership of the military) or unending demonstrations in the streets (demonstrators who may soon face live ammunition).
"That is called dictatorship. Real dictatorship. Vladimir Putin-style dictatorship where you are punished for the smallest deviation from orthodoxy and can find yourself in #prison or sued into #bankruptcy if you dare speak out in public.
"It appears more and more every day that #Putin is Trump’s mentor, if not his handler. Trump is doing everything he can, with help from a South African billionaire, to destroy the historic American infrastructure (which has been an example for the world for 250 years) and turn us into the newest member of the #dictators club, joining Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Hungary, North Korea, and the rest of the #fascist and #authoritarian world.
"To get there, now that they’ve pacified every single Republican member of Congress (most recently, Don Bacon criticized Trump’s schizophrenic tariffs; a day later he started talking about retiring), they only have to seize control of the Judiciary, and then nothing except We The People will stand in their way.
"Nothing. Will. Stand. In. Trump’s. Way. Except We The People. And he knows it.
"Look at the striking parallels between Putin’s strategies and Trump’s actions:
"From installing Trump’s loyalists in the military and the federal police agencies of the Department of Justice and FBI, to his open threats against freedom of the press, to the GOP’s efforts to rig elections and purge voters, Trump’s subversion of US democracy looks eerily familiar.
"He’s taking pages directly from the autocrat’s handbook.
"Trump has openly quoted and praised autocrats like Putin and Hungarian strongman #ViktorOrbán, who has presented his leadership in speeches to the GOP and CPAC as a model of an '#illiberal' state.
"Trump’s not hiding his admiration for dictators; he’s flaunting it. And now he’s putting the final stages of their script into action.
"Trump’s movement toward authoritarianism follows 'a known playbook. It’s unfolded in many other countries,' as journalist Anne Applebaum notes. 'These are democratically elected leaders who characterize themselves or describe themselves as deserving of no opposition. So I am the true Hungarian, or I am the only real American.'
"In a mere matter of weeks into his presidency, Applebaum says, Trump and his allies “have managed to push America into that space somewhere between (no longer) democracy and full-scale autocracy.”
"The speed is shocking, but it shouldn’t be surprising. It only took #Hitler #53Days to completely end democracy in Germany. Others, like Lukashenko, Orbán, Putin, Mussolini, Duterte, El-Sisi, and Erdoğan took longer (none longer than two years), but you could argue that Trump has been working at this project for 9 years now."
#Fascism #TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#ResistAuthoritarianism -
Only one thing is going to stand in Trump's way — and he knows it | Opinion
by Thom Hartmann, April 28, 2025
"It didn’t happen in some shadowy back alley or under the cover of night.
"It happened in broad daylight — in the heart of an American courthouse.
"Federal agents, acting without even the decency of a signed warrant, stormed into Judge #HannahDugan’s courtroom on Friday morning and dragged her away like a common criminal. No warning. No legal process. No respect for the law she had spent a lifetime upholding.
"But they made sure the cameras were there, so America could see what they were doing. Because this was not about justice. This was about terror.
"This was a warning shot aimed directly at the beating heart of America’s judiciary: 'Fall in line — or you’re next.'
"In that moment, the world’s oldest democracy lurched closer to the edge of #AuthoritarianRule. In that moment, America became a little less free — and a lot more like the nightmare #VladimirPutin always hoped we’d become.
"The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan last Friday without even having a legal arrest #warrant; this is as outrageous and #PoliceState illegal as an administration can get.
"And #PamBondi’s performance Friday — after her federal agents swarm-raided this county judge — wasn’t staged for the general public.
"The real audience was a very small, select group: America’s judges.
"Their message is very simple: 'P--- us off, judges, and you could end up in prison, too.'
"Trump has already pacified the Article I branch of government — Congress — and now he’s in the process of pacifying the Article III branch, the Judiciary.
"There are only 3 branches to our government: cowing both Congress and the nation’s Judiciary will leave only the president in charge of the entire country under all circumstances in all ways.
"Nothing and nobody else will be able to stop him, short of a military coup (and he’s already decapitated the senior leadership of the military) or unending demonstrations in the streets (demonstrators who may soon face live ammunition).
"That is called dictatorship. Real dictatorship. Vladimir Putin-style dictatorship where you are punished for the smallest deviation from orthodoxy and can find yourself in #prison or sued into #bankruptcy if you dare speak out in public.
"It appears more and more every day that #Putin is Trump’s mentor, if not his handler. Trump is doing everything he can, with help from a South African billionaire, to destroy the historic American infrastructure (which has been an example for the world for 250 years) and turn us into the newest member of the #dictators club, joining Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Hungary, North Korea, and the rest of the #fascist and #authoritarian world.
"To get there, now that they’ve pacified every single Republican member of Congress (most recently, Don Bacon criticized Trump’s schizophrenic tariffs; a day later he started talking about retiring), they only have to seize control of the Judiciary, and then nothing except We The People will stand in their way.
"Nothing. Will. Stand. In. Trump’s. Way. Except We The People. And he knows it.
"Look at the striking parallels between Putin’s strategies and Trump’s actions:
"From installing Trump’s loyalists in the military and the federal police agencies of the Department of Justice and FBI, to his open threats against freedom of the press, to the GOP’s efforts to rig elections and purge voters, Trump’s subversion of US democracy looks eerily familiar.
"He’s taking pages directly from the autocrat’s handbook.
"Trump has openly quoted and praised autocrats like Putin and Hungarian strongman #ViktorOrbán, who has presented his leadership in speeches to the GOP and CPAC as a model of an '#illiberal' state.
"Trump’s not hiding his admiration for dictators; he’s flaunting it. And now he’s putting the final stages of their script into action.
"Trump’s movement toward authoritarianism follows 'a known playbook. It’s unfolded in many other countries,' as journalist Anne Applebaum notes. 'These are democratically elected leaders who characterize themselves or describe themselves as deserving of no opposition. So I am the true Hungarian, or I am the only real American.'
"In a mere matter of weeks into his presidency, Applebaum says, Trump and his allies “have managed to push America into that space somewhere between (no longer) democracy and full-scale autocracy.”
"The speed is shocking, but it shouldn’t be surprising. It only took #Hitler #53Days to completely end democracy in Germany. Others, like Lukashenko, Orbán, Putin, Mussolini, Duterte, El-Sisi, and Erdoğan took longer (none longer than two years), but you could argue that Trump has been working at this project for 9 years now."
#Fascism #TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#ResistAuthoritarianism -
Only one thing is going to stand in Trump's way — and he knows it | Opinion
by Thom Hartmann, April 28, 2025
"It didn’t happen in some shadowy back alley or under the cover of night.
"It happened in broad daylight — in the heart of an American courthouse.
"Federal agents, acting without even the decency of a signed warrant, stormed into Judge #HannahDugan’s courtroom on Friday morning and dragged her away like a common criminal. No warning. No legal process. No respect for the law she had spent a lifetime upholding.
"But they made sure the cameras were there, so America could see what they were doing. Because this was not about justice. This was about terror.
"This was a warning shot aimed directly at the beating heart of America’s judiciary: 'Fall in line — or you’re next.'
"In that moment, the world’s oldest democracy lurched closer to the edge of #AuthoritarianRule. In that moment, America became a little less free — and a lot more like the nightmare #VladimirPutin always hoped we’d become.
"The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan last Friday without even having a legal arrest #warrant; this is as outrageous and #PoliceState illegal as an administration can get.
"And #PamBondi’s performance Friday — after her federal agents swarm-raided this county judge — wasn’t staged for the general public.
"The real audience was a very small, select group: America’s judges.
"Their message is very simple: 'P--- us off, judges, and you could end up in prison, too.'
"Trump has already pacified the Article I branch of government — Congress — and now he’s in the process of pacifying the Article III branch, the Judiciary.
"There are only 3 branches to our government: cowing both Congress and the nation’s Judiciary will leave only the president in charge of the entire country under all circumstances in all ways.
"Nothing and nobody else will be able to stop him, short of a military coup (and he’s already decapitated the senior leadership of the military) or unending demonstrations in the streets (demonstrators who may soon face live ammunition).
"That is called dictatorship. Real dictatorship. Vladimir Putin-style dictatorship where you are punished for the smallest deviation from orthodoxy and can find yourself in #prison or sued into #bankruptcy if you dare speak out in public.
"It appears more and more every day that #Putin is Trump’s mentor, if not his handler. Trump is doing everything he can, with help from a South African billionaire, to destroy the historic American infrastructure (which has been an example for the world for 250 years) and turn us into the newest member of the #dictators club, joining Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Hungary, North Korea, and the rest of the #fascist and #authoritarian world.
"To get there, now that they’ve pacified every single Republican member of Congress (most recently, Don Bacon criticized Trump’s schizophrenic tariffs; a day later he started talking about retiring), they only have to seize control of the Judiciary, and then nothing except We The People will stand in their way.
"Nothing. Will. Stand. In. Trump’s. Way. Except We The People. And he knows it.
"Look at the striking parallels between Putin’s strategies and Trump’s actions:
"From installing Trump’s loyalists in the military and the federal police agencies of the Department of Justice and FBI, to his open threats against freedom of the press, to the GOP’s efforts to rig elections and purge voters, Trump’s subversion of US democracy looks eerily familiar.
"He’s taking pages directly from the autocrat’s handbook.
"Trump has openly quoted and praised autocrats like Putin and Hungarian strongman #ViktorOrbán, who has presented his leadership in speeches to the GOP and CPAC as a model of an '#illiberal' state.
"Trump’s not hiding his admiration for dictators; he’s flaunting it. And now he’s putting the final stages of their script into action.
"Trump’s movement toward authoritarianism follows 'a known playbook. It’s unfolded in many other countries,' as journalist Anne Applebaum notes. 'These are democratically elected leaders who characterize themselves or describe themselves as deserving of no opposition. So I am the true Hungarian, or I am the only real American.'
"In a mere matter of weeks into his presidency, Applebaum says, Trump and his allies “have managed to push America into that space somewhere between (no longer) democracy and full-scale autocracy.”
"The speed is shocking, but it shouldn’t be surprising. It only took #Hitler #53Days to completely end democracy in Germany. Others, like Lukashenko, Orbán, Putin, Mussolini, Duterte, El-Sisi, and Erdoğan took longer (none longer than two years), but you could argue that Trump has been working at this project for 9 years now."
#Fascism #TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#ResistAuthoritarianism -
Only one thing is going to stand in Trump's way — and he knows it | Opinion
by Thom Hartmann, April 28, 2025
"It didn’t happen in some shadowy back alley or under the cover of night.
"It happened in broad daylight — in the heart of an American courthouse.
"Federal agents, acting without even the decency of a signed warrant, stormed into Judge #HannahDugan’s courtroom on Friday morning and dragged her away like a common criminal. No warning. No legal process. No respect for the law she had spent a lifetime upholding.
"But they made sure the cameras were there, so America could see what they were doing. Because this was not about justice. This was about terror.
"This was a warning shot aimed directly at the beating heart of America’s judiciary: 'Fall in line — or you’re next.'
"In that moment, the world’s oldest democracy lurched closer to the edge of #AuthoritarianRule. In that moment, America became a little less free — and a lot more like the nightmare #VladimirPutin always hoped we’d become.
"The FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan last Friday without even having a legal arrest #warrant; this is as outrageous and #PoliceState illegal as an administration can get.
"And #PamBondi’s performance Friday — after her federal agents swarm-raided this county judge — wasn’t staged for the general public.
"The real audience was a very small, select group: America’s judges.
"Their message is very simple: 'P--- us off, judges, and you could end up in prison, too.'
"Trump has already pacified the Article I branch of government — Congress — and now he’s in the process of pacifying the Article III branch, the Judiciary.
"There are only 3 branches to our government: cowing both Congress and the nation’s Judiciary will leave only the president in charge of the entire country under all circumstances in all ways.
"Nothing and nobody else will be able to stop him, short of a military coup (and he’s already decapitated the senior leadership of the military) or unending demonstrations in the streets (demonstrators who may soon face live ammunition).
"That is called dictatorship. Real dictatorship. Vladimir Putin-style dictatorship where you are punished for the smallest deviation from orthodoxy and can find yourself in #prison or sued into #bankruptcy if you dare speak out in public.
"It appears more and more every day that #Putin is Trump’s mentor, if not his handler. Trump is doing everything he can, with help from a South African billionaire, to destroy the historic American infrastructure (which has been an example for the world for 250 years) and turn us into the newest member of the #dictators club, joining Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Hungary, North Korea, and the rest of the #fascist and #authoritarian world.
"To get there, now that they’ve pacified every single Republican member of Congress (most recently, Don Bacon criticized Trump’s schizophrenic tariffs; a day later he started talking about retiring), they only have to seize control of the Judiciary, and then nothing except We The People will stand in their way.
"Nothing. Will. Stand. In. Trump’s. Way. Except We The People. And he knows it.
"Look at the striking parallels between Putin’s strategies and Trump’s actions:
"From installing Trump’s loyalists in the military and the federal police agencies of the Department of Justice and FBI, to his open threats against freedom of the press, to the GOP’s efforts to rig elections and purge voters, Trump’s subversion of US democracy looks eerily familiar.
"He’s taking pages directly from the autocrat’s handbook.
"Trump has openly quoted and praised autocrats like Putin and Hungarian strongman #ViktorOrbán, who has presented his leadership in speeches to the GOP and CPAC as a model of an '#illiberal' state.
"Trump’s not hiding his admiration for dictators; he’s flaunting it. And now he’s putting the final stages of their script into action.
"Trump’s movement toward authoritarianism follows 'a known playbook. It’s unfolded in many other countries,' as journalist Anne Applebaum notes. 'These are democratically elected leaders who characterize themselves or describe themselves as deserving of no opposition. So I am the true Hungarian, or I am the only real American.'
"In a mere matter of weeks into his presidency, Applebaum says, Trump and his allies “have managed to push America into that space somewhere between (no longer) democracy and full-scale autocracy.”
"The speed is shocking, but it shouldn’t be surprising. It only took #Hitler #53Days to completely end democracy in Germany. Others, like Lukashenko, Orbán, Putin, Mussolini, Duterte, El-Sisi, and Erdoğan took longer (none longer than two years), but you could argue that Trump has been working at this project for 9 years now."
#Fascism #TrumpIsABully #USPol #TrumpIsPutinsPuppet #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#ResistAuthoritarianism -
The War on #Masks Has Taken on a New Meaning
This time, the masks have nothing to do with #COVID19.
By Henry Grabar
Feb 05, 20254:57 PM"Last month, state legislators in New York introduced a bill that would create a new crime: 'masked harassment.'
"That, the law explains, is when you wear a mask 'for the primary purpose of menacing or threatening violence against another person' or 'placing another person or group of persons in reasonable fear for their physical safety.'
"If that seems like a bit of a niche offense—threatening violence is already a crime, after all—it’s because the language has been watered down to attract political support. It’s a sign of New York Democrats’ cautious new approach over masks in public life, and a retreat from last spring, when anti-Israel protests, on top of a widespread urban crime panic, pushed leaders from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to consider mask bans.
"In its original form, the New York bill would have banned masks at public assemblies entirely. But the outcry from #DisabilityRights advocates, #CriminalJustice reformers, #HealthCareWorkers, and #CivilLiberties groups was swift, and so New York wound up with this bill on 'masked harassment' instead.
"Elsewhere, the pandemic-era leniency on masking in public is over. #NorthCarolina Republicans overrode a gubernatorial veto last summer to once again #BanPublicFaceCoverings, except to stop the spread of contagious diseases. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost dusted off an old law to threaten #StudentProtesters with #felonies. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the state’s Senate to consider a bill to #unmask #protesters this year.
"For Republicans, it’s a chance to kill two birds with one stone. They can strike back against the perceived overreach of pandemic-era #HealthDirectives and make it easier to arrest #demonstrators at the same time.
"In #Ohio and North Carolina, the original statutes were written in the 1950s to stop demonstrations by the #KuKluxKlan, but had been ignored or suspended during the #pandemic and the #GeorgeFloydProtests. Many lawmakers have cited the recent demonstrations in defense of #Gaza as a reason to crack down again. Defending the proposed mask ban in New York, Anti-Defamation League [#ADL] president Jonathan Greenblatt said the demonstrators were using '#KKK tactics' to intimidate Jewish New Yorkers.
"That instinct was bolstered by the sense among many city residents and elected leaders that widespread masking was a factor behind the pandemic-era crime spike. That led to #Philadelphia banning #SkiMasks in parks, on trains, and in public buildings. A more recent, high-profile example came in December with the Midtown Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO #BrianThompson by a #MaskedAssassin, which prompted New York Mayor Eric Adams to call for cab drivers and business owners to ask customers to remove their masks. The new New York bill has won over the liberal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who endorsed the 'tailored' approach. As the police say: #NoFaceNoCase.
"For what it’s worth, there are too many confounding variables and too little data to be sure if mask-wearing is associated with crime, said Ernesto Lopez at the Council for Criminal Justice, which collects crime reporting statistics from various cities. 'From a theoretical statement it makes sense that could occur, but it has not been demonstrated that’s the case,' he told me.
"But if all that weighed in favor of more mask bans, there was also widespread resistance. Disability advocates mobilized to defend the right to mask; North Carolina had to write a medical exemption into their bill at the insistence of a GOP House member. #PoliceReformers observed that #MaskBans have often been used for pretextual #policing and racial profiling against #BlackAmericans. (#AtlantaGeorgia tabled a mask ban for that reason.)
"What looms largest, as the second Trump administration begins, is the role of protest. As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, masks have become a badge of left-wing protest culture. That’s in part an extension of politicized COVID-era concerns about health and civility, but at this point it is mostly a tactic to preserve anonymity in an era of #FacialRecognition, streaming video, and #doxing. Last year, the anonymous #ProIsrael website the #CanaryMission posted photographs of hundreds of students and faculty at campus protests and posted their names and photos online, labeling some as supporters of terrorism.
"'The concern takes on new urgency as Donald Trump pledges to revoke the visas of pro-Palestine protesters, and the Trump-Musk GOP embraces the naming and shaming of otherwise private citizens. A conservative group called the American Accountability Foundation has begun circulating lists of federal workers, many of them Black, who should be
'targets' for their alleged involvement in #DEI initiatives at work."Clearly, the masked protest does not always sit well with an older generation, many of whom cut their teeth in the protests of the pre-internet age. As Georgetown professor Michael Kazin told the New York Times last year: 'I do think if you are going to demonstrate, and it’s something you feel deeply about, you should be willing to stand up and be counted.'"
Source:
https://slate.com/business/2025/02/mask-bans-new-york-los-angeles-crime-protests-criminalize-face-coverings.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
#Fascism #AuthoritarianRule #BigBrother #BigBrotherIsWatchingYou #SurveillanceState #SilencingDissent