Resist This Regime

December 3, 2017            Letter-to-the-Editor Submitted by Eric Engle, Parkersburg

I’m not usually one to dabble in hyperbole, but I don’t think it’s the least bit hyperbolic to say that America is being “governed” by a fascist regime.

As I write this I have just read where Trump has retweeted three anti-Islamic tweets by a notorious British fascist, Jayda Fransen, who is facing charges of religiously aggravated harassment. Trump has repeatedly used his Twitter account, with approximately 43.5 million followers, to do things like hype conspiracy sites like MagaPill, retweet a Mussolini quote, share a post from an account called @whitegenocidetm, push false and racially inflammatory crime statistics, and more.

Trump famously accused New Jersey Muslims of celebrating the 9/11 terrorist attacks; accused Muslims of knowing about in advance and deliberately not reporting the San Bernardino mass shooting; he even claimed that an American general once defeated terrorism through mass execution with bullets dipped in pigs’ blood. All of this is verifiably untrue.

But words and tweets aren’t really the problem. Trump has appointed people to the administrative state and judiciary who are dismantling our institutions, including civil liberties protections, consumer protections, labor protections, and especially environmental and public health protections. Our government is now blatantly being handed over to industry, corporations, banking and financial interests, and the wealthiest 1 percent and especially 0.01 percent of Americans.

The hallmarks of fascism are hyper-nationalism and theocracy. We’re witnessing complete sociocultural capitulation to white male “patriots” and conservative evangelical protestants, especially with the threatened repeal of the Johnson Amendment in the House version of the tax reform bill, which has been embraced by Trump since his campaign.

I love our constitution and our multicultural society where all — regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, religious affiliation (or lack thereof), age, or physical and mental abilities — should be able to live peacefully and thrive. As such, I humbly ask that you join me in peaceful, non-violent resistance to the Trump regime.

Eric Engle     Parkersburg