I’m not talking about the period after the French Revolution. I’m talking about the contemporary situation in the USA.

The Memorandum

On September 25 Trump issued a memorandum defining certain beliefs—unconnected to any criminal activity—as domestic terrorism. These include “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity,” “support for the overthrow of” the federal government, “extremism on migration, race, and gender,” and opposition to “traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

I understand this to mean that if you believe in socialism, you are a terrorist. If you support gay marriage or trans people, you’re a terrorist. I have no idea what some of the other categories signify. Who is anti-Christian? I’ve never heard of such an ideology or met an anti-Christian person, though heaven knows we’ve all seen plenty of anti-Semitism.

What is extremism on race and immigration? Does it include labeling, as Trump has done, all the people from Somalia as “garbage?” Or labeling immigrants with dark skins as coming from “shithole” countries, while laying out the welcome mat for white South Africans and any Scandinavians foolish enough to come here? Does it mean, as he declared, that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of America?”

“Poisoning the blood”—that’s almost a direct quote from Hitler’s Mein Kampf.

What about opposing “traditional American views on family, religion, and morality?” Aside from excluding LGBT+ people, does he mean return to the 1950s, when Father Knows Best was popular on our black and white TVs? Or even farther back, when women couldn’t vote and their earnings were property of their husbands? Some GOP ideologues have seriously proposed repealing the 19^th Amendment. Traditional morality?—that’s rich, coming from Mr. “grab ‘em by the pussy.”

As for terrorists supporting the overthrow of the federal government, who was it that encouraged the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol, when the election didn’t go his way? And who subsequently pardoned his army of thugs after their convictions?

The Threats

He has attacked military officials who don’t kiss his ass—even when he was out of office. According to Reuters, after that assault on the Capital, General Mark Milley “called China to reassure Beijing of U.S. stability. Trump, in a social media post, described the phone call as ‘an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.’”

Once Trump was back in the White House, his lackeys pulled Milley’s security clearance and personal security detail despite credible death threats, and also suggested pulling him back to active duty and trying him for treason.

This November Trump threatened Democratic members of Congress who reminded the military that they don’t have to obey unlawful orders. He called for them to be arrested, tried for treason, and executed by hanging.

Trump controls the GOP by threatening to primary any officials who don’t vote the way he tells them. Members of his MAGA cult have swatted and sent bomb threats to such officials—also this November, against 11 GOP legislators in Indiana. One Indiana legislator had his door kicked in, and guns pointed at him.

His threats to others—imprisonment, death by firing squad, etc.—are so numerous I can’t possibly have space to list them.

The Thugs

I’m talking about ICE, our American Gestapo, but also any National Guard troops, police, or others who inflict or facilitate the infliction of cruelty at the orders of this administration. We’re told they’re going after “criminal illegal immigrants”—when what they do is arrest any non-citizen with so much as a traffic violation and also anyone who speaks Spanish in public and anyone who doesn’t look white enough. Like for instance dozens of Navajos. The ICE agents said their tribal ID “looked fake.”

I’m talking about thugs who kidnap people off the streets, at work, or when they are attending scheduled court hearings to legalize their status. Thugs who smash people’s car windows, drag them off in handcuffs, “disappear” them into jails hundreds of miles from their homes, and don’t let them contact their attorneys. Thugs who tear children from their parents’ arms, who deport a child to another country so as to force the parent to follow. Thugs who send people to countries where they have no connection—countries that may be at war, or (like El Salvador) are ruled by a dictator happy to accept $6 million in return for keeping the deportees in prisons, overcrowded, underfed, and tortured by sadistic guards.

San Francisco has declared itself a sanctuary city. But ICE has abducted hundreds of immigrants in the middle of court hearings there. This week—on Tuesday, December 16—a huge crowd of demonstrators, including ministers, rabbis and imams blocked the entrance to the ICE office and chained themselves to the doors. The city’s firefighters (shame on them!) cut the chains and the DHS cops zip-tied and arrested 44 people.

Who’s Next?

Right now ICE is going after non-citizens. But Trump wants to be able to strip citizenship from an immigrant who has already obtained it, and has asked the Supreme Court to let him end birthright citizenship. If SCOTUS grants his wishes, he’ll be able deport anyone who opposes his tyranny.

To be continued…