Learn to Accept the Awful? NO!
by Andy Zee | May 22, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
To learn more about the roots of the Christian Fascist movement get into this piece by Bob Avakian:
“The Truth About Right-Wing Conspiracy… And Why Clinton and the Democrats Are No Answer”
Bill Maher, host of HBO series Real Time with Bill Maher, has been in a fury for several shows against everyone who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton because it is their fault that Donald Trump is president. On the May 19 broadcast a heated exchange erupted with Cornel West, who Maher lambasted for not supporting Hillary Clinton. Maher was emphatically arguing that Clinton would have been far better on the issue of police murdering Black people than Trump, as well as on every other issue. Cornel West said “better than Trump” is a low bar, but West’s arguments for not supporting Clinton is not my point here, although I must say that Cornel West was standing by his principles, whereas Maher advocates doing what is expedient, whatever the cost to humanity.
After Maher made this argument, David Frum, the conservative but anti-Trump editor of The Atlantic said: “[I]f you have any hope, better hope that Mike Pence becomes president as rapidly as possible...” Bill Maher excitedly replied: “I could not agree more. Mike Pence is well within the parameters of awful that we have come see as the normal. I’ve seen Mike Pence before... he’s the typical hypocritical Christian....”
Everything about this statement is wrong and dangerous starting with seeing Mike Pence as normal, except perhaps if you have come to accept actual fascism as normal. The problem is, to do this you have to ignore what fascism actually means to real people’s lives, and a person with any decency at all should never normalize fascism.
Mike Pence is a Christian fascist. He is now vice president of a regime that is in the throes of consolidating fascism. Fascism is not just an insult, but an accurate description of a regime that is an even more openly and brutal qualitative change from the “normal” exploitive and oppressive workings of the system, and the normal repressive apparatus that enforces that exploitation and oppression, including, mass incarceration and the police murder of Black and Latino people (if you want to get into it Bill Maher).
Fascism is a more blatant form of terroristic dictatorship—subverting the separation of powers, the separation of church and state, the rule of law, and, as the Refuse Fascism Call to Action states: “fascism essentially eliminates traditional democratic rights.”
Right now, there is much talk of Trump being removed from office and Mike Pence becoming president in the wake of Trump’s firing of FBI chief Comey and then openly bragging about obstructing an investigation of his campaign and government—which was a fascist move by essentially declaring that HE and his regime, including Mike Pence who continues to defend and advance Trump’s words and agenda, are above the law, and thereby essentially are the law.
Who is Mike Pence?
Mike Pence has been a major political force within, and now is the political leader of a Christian fascist movement that has been permeating U.S. society, political/government institutions, and especially its armed forces and police forces. Mike Pence assembled a cabal of Christian fascists in the Trump cabinet. They are moving ahead to destroy women’s very lives and much more.
You can not say Trump is a crazy and not Pence, and be truthful; Mike Pence will not even eat a meal with a woman if his wife is not present. I believe this is likely certifiably lunacy even for many who lived in the Middle Ages. More, there is not a single thing that Trump has done without Pence being a part of it and standing with Trump.
To David Frum and Bill Maher: MIKE PENCE MIGHT BE MORE DANGEROUS THAN DONALD TRUMP PRECISELY BECAUSE PEOPLE LIKE YOU WILL ACCOMMODATE AND CONCILIATE WITH HIM AND WITH FASCISM, IF IT JUST LOSES ITS GROTESQUE FACE IN DONALD TRUMP.
NO! Trump and Pence must both go... along with the whole cabal they have assembled.
Frum and Maher both put forward that people should support Trump being removed from office and Pence becoming president as soon as possible, and then they could vote him out if they so wish in 2020.
The problem is, if we wait for the workings of the just appointed special counsel to possibly indict Trump... if we wait for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings, there are two problems: (1) As indicated above, Pence could be president and as such will continue to lead in the consolidation of a fascist America and many people, such as Frum and Maher, are currently saying they are willing to accommodate to that—with no regard for what that will mean for the lives of millions of people, including the half of humanity that is female. And (2), and even more dangerous, the Trump/Pence fascist regime could consciously or even inadvertently provoke an international crisis or war, or create or confront a domestic incident or crisis that allows them to declare an emergency and rapidly enact measures that prohibit dissent and which could further unleash their rabid fascist base and paralyze those who oppose them. And, then it would be “too late.”
No Bill Maher, if you accommodate a “quieter,” more polite fascist who can speak in sentences but who nonetheless heads up a fascist regime; it is not wise, practical, or “adult”; it is complicity and collaboration.
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