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The electoral college will make it official today. America elected a president that continuously shows us he has fascist and tyrannical tendencies.
Professor Robert Reich posted the following on his Facebook page a few hours ago.
Professor Robert Reich is one of the few that are undeterred in calling a spade, a spade. He recently wrote the article titled “The 4 Syndromes of Passivity in the Face of Pending Tyranny” urging Americans not to let up on challenging Donald Trump as he follows the path to tyranny. A few weeks earlier he wrote “Trump’s Creeping Tyranny” where he wrote the following.
No President or President-elect in history has ever publicly condemned individual citizens for criticizing him. That occurs in two-bit dictatorships intent on stamping out dissent. No President or President-elect has ever bypassed the media and spoken directly to large numbers of his followers in order to disparage individual citizens who criticize him. That occurred in the fascist rallies of the 1930s.
America came closest to this in the 1950s when Senator Joseph McCarthy wrecked the lives of thousands of American citizens whom he arbitrarily and carelessly claimed were communists. McCarthy’s reign of terror ended when a single man asked him publicly, during the televised hearings McCarthy was conducting, “have you no decency, sir?” In that moment, Americans began to see McCarthy for the tyrant he was. McCarthy’s assistant was Roy Cohn, an attorney who perfected the art of character assassination. Roy Cohn was also one of Donald J. Trump’s mentors.
And then there is his article titled “Trump’s Seven Techniques to Control the Media and Kill Democracy” where he wrote the following.
Democracy depends on a free and independent press, which is why all tyrants try to squelch it. They use seven techniques that, worryingly, President-elect Donald Trump already employs. … The word “media” comes from “intermediate” between newsmakers and the public. Responsible media hold the powerful accountable by asking them hard questions and reporting on what they do. Apparently Trump wants to eliminate such intermediaries. Historically, these seven techniques have been used by demagogues to erode the freedom and independence of the press. Even before he’s sworn in, Trump seems intent on doing exactly this.
Many in the media are in the process of normalizing Donald Trump. They are continuing their dereliction of duty as Trump disregards accountability.
Trump got away with not releasing his tax returns which would have helped Americans deconstruct his conflicts of interest with nations around the world. The media continues to cover his lie tirade laden rallies which are tantamount to the bloodstream of fascists. Trump filled his cabinet with millionaires, billionaires, and generals.
Now we learn from the Politico article titled “Trump private security force ‘playing with fire’” that above and beyond the Secret Service,
President-elect Donald Trump has continued employing a private security and intelligence team at his victory rallies, and he is expected to keep at least some members of the team after he becomes president, according to people familiar with the plans. The arrangement represents a major break from tradition. All modern presidents and presidents-elect have entrusted their personal security entirely to the Secret Service, and their event security mostly to local law enforcement, according to presidential security experts and Secret Service sources.
But Trump — who puts a premium on loyalty and has demonstrated great interest in having forceful security at his events — has opted to maintain an aggressive and unprecedented private security force, led by Keith Schiller, a retired New York City cop and Navy veteran who started working for Trump in 1999 as a part-time bodyguard, eventually rising to become his head of security.
We must stay vigilant and not acquiesce to tyranny with our silence or fear.
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