This is what happens when the war on terror is turned inward, on America

[marmar]

This is what happens when the war on terror is turned inward, on America
Hamilton Nolan

Trump has realized that our vast post-9/11 security state can be used to police internal bogeymen like antifa


(Guardian UK) A strange and necessary ingredient of America’s descent towards fascism is that it will have little impact on the majority of people. As militarized federal agents are deployed into major cities to snatch protesters and charge them with harsh federal crimes for daring to deface the ruling party’s monuments, most Americans will continue living their normal lives with no discernible changes, at least for the time being. People wake up and eat breakfast and spend their days doing mundane tasks in fascist countries, too.

If there was ever a tipping point, we are past it. Trying to stare hard at the daily news to determine the exact point at which we slip into fascism is like staring at a baby to see when it turns into an adult. By the time you perceive it, it’s already happened. It is important to understand that the crackdown phase that we are now in – the unaccountable government forces, the riot police, the teargas, the targeted political prosecutions that will come next – are not something new, but something old. This isn’t about Donald Trump. This is about America, baby. This is what we do.

Trump, a fool ruled by impulse rather than strategy, did not build the fearsome machine of government oppression that is now being aimed at his political opponents. This machine was systematically assembled and lovingly tended to by generations of presidents before him – Democratic, Republican, Whig. Trump is only broadening its aperture. All of these tools have been sharpened on the bones of Native Americans and Black people and immigrants and Muslims overseas. America has always needed someone to oppress. Mostly so that we could steal their stuff, but also so that the rest of us didn’t turn against one another. This country has managed to avoid a class war by giving poor white people an array of minorities to abuse, a trick that has benefited rich white people for centuries. We have used injustice not just as a way to get ahead, but as a release valve. Our leaders have long calculated that it is safer to subjugate and mistreat a minority of the population than to risk dissatisfaction in the majority. In doing so, the government has become very adept at creating enemies and wielding power against them in flagrant shows of force. .............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/24/trump-security-state-war-on-terror-america

[Laelth]

1. Painfully illuminating. Recommended. n/t

-Laelth

[lagomorph777]

2. Trump has declared war on America.

This needs to be our new slogan - simple and brutally honest.

[Newest Reality]

3. I have read...

I have read similar perspectives on how this dynamic works and I agree.

If we take into account the wars and exploitation of the American Empire, it is not difficult to see how empires can turn that inward on their own populace.