You Are Here -- Tom Sullivan

[erronis]

https://digbysblog.net/2025/08/26/you-are-here/

“It will never be the same again.”

The U.S. Department of Labor has now placed a large banner of President Trump on the outside of the department’s building in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Benjamin Alvarez via Twitter)

It feels as if a dam has broken. But that dam is not American outrage at seeing the country turned into a fascist dictatorship. Nor is it public disgust with their elected leaders sitting on their hands as it happened, although that outrage is growing.

Historian Garrett Graff believes we have turned a corner:

The United States, just months before its 250th birthday as the world’s leading democracy, has tipped over the edge into authoritarianism and fascism. In the end, faster than I imagined possible, it did happen here. The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed.

People with their eyes open have posted lists of actions the Donald Trump administration has taken recently to indicate a tipping point passed. If it looks like a duck, etc. Still, people have not taken to the streets in protest en masse. The press refuses to call it what it is, leaning as usual on euphemisms, Graff complains:

They will presumably for some period of time — perhaps even a long period of time — stick to euphemisms (with lines like “No president has asserted such direct and sweeping control over the nation’s capital” and “Through immigration crackdowns and cultural purges, President Trump is wielding government power to enforce a more rigid, exclusionary definition of what it means to be American.”) and continue to give voice to “both siders,” but the reality is that only one political party is responsible for this moment. They will say that Trump’s motives are inscrutable or unclear — but the effect of Trump’s governing style is undeniable.

American fascism looks like the president using armed military units from governors loyal to his regime to seize cities run by opposition political figures and it looks like the president using federal law enforcement to target regime opponents.

American fascism looks like the would-be self-proclaimed king deploying the military on US soil not only not in response to requests by local or state officials but over — and almost specifically to spite — their vociferous objections.

. . .

[johnnyfins]

1. I was wondering when the giant TSF

Banners were coming. Anyone else want to say we are not in a dictatorship yet?

Not getting my hopes up for the midterms if we even have them.

[Buns_of_Fire]

2. I see the side of a building greatly in need of a projection. nt

[Qutzupalotl]

3. Oh, for a paintball gun...

[spanone]

4. Wait till he starts spitting out the Montly Jobs Numbers by his sycophant.

The dictatorship is upon us

[Wounded Bear]

5. Arbeit macht frei...

Freedom is slavery
War is peace

[Donkees]

6. 'I fake it, I make believe I know all about it, which is what you're supposed to do as an actor' - Lloyd Bridges