Preparing for the Normalization of a Neofascist White House
Preparing for the Normalization of a Neofascist White House
Juan Cole
Common Dreams
Despite all the cries of ‘no’ to normalization on the left, Trump will be normalized by the same corporate media that virtually boycotted Bernie Sanders. He will be respectfully called “the president” and his wishes and goals will be praised on cable news, and not just on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Fake News. He’ll flash a smile and be friendly and anchors will treat him like a buddy (despite his having threatened their colleagues with bodily harm at his rallies and despite his having pledged to weaken the first amendment and sue reporters for libel). Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal is already pledging never to call Trump out when he is obviously lying. Since Trump is, like Dick Nixon, a pathological liar, this is like pledging not to cover his presidency.
Then Mother Jones reported that Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Labor thinks workers are over-protected and that they should not get breaks. Contempt for the weak is a major theme of Trump and his team. Such huuje losers. Don’t deserve a doctor visit or a coffee break. Bah humbug.
What do you want to bet that the secretary of labor’s position never even gets discussed on a national news channel?
Trump will be normalized. All the rest of us can do is simply keep in mind that he is a fascist, and to continue to point to his record on fascism, from hatred of Mexicans and African-Americans and Muslim Americans to his contempt for women to his pledge to carpet bomb Iraq and Syria to his threat to imprison his chief political opponent. We can continue to remember his determination to deprive workers of their basic rights. We can remember that Steve Bannon, the editor of the Neo-Nazi rag Breitbart, is among his closest advisers.