This extremely important truth from the Refuse Fascism call for masses of people to flood the streets of DC on November 5 was driven home over and over again this past week. In addition to the key political battles surrounding the cynical fascist attempt to use the assassination of Charlie Kirk to further their lockdown of society, MAGA steamed ahead on these other important fronts as well.

Mahmoud Khalil Threatened with New Deportation Order

The Trump fascist regime continues to target Mahmoud Khalil for his political views. On September 12, an immigration judge in Louisiana ordered the deportation of the Columbia University graduate and activist against Israeli genocide and for Palestinian rights. Khalil is a Palestinian who grew up in Syria and migrated to the U.S. On March 8, he was kidnapped by federal agents in front of his New York City home, and thrown into an ICE prison 1,400 miles away in Louisiana—forcibly separated from his wife (a U.S, citizen who was more than eight months pregnant) , and his lawyers. He does not have a criminal record and has not been charged with any crime. But the Trump regime has gone after him, and other students from overseas, for speaking out for the Palestinian people and against the mass slaughter of Palestinians by the U.S. attack dog Israel. 

In June, a federal district court judge in New Jersey ruled that Mahmoud be released. The judge said that the Trump regime’s justification for imprisoning and deporting him—that he posed a threat to “a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest” because of his stand against Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide—was likely unconstitutional. That district court judge also issued an order saying the government cannot deport Khalil while he is challenging the case against him in the federal courts on constitutional grounds. But the Trump regime came up with a new bogus justification for trying to deport him, claiming that he failed to disclose some information about past work history when applying for permanent residency. And now, Khalil has been put in a very perilous position after the Louisiana immigration judge—who is part of Trump’s “Justice” Department, like other judges in the immigration courts—ruled that Khalil should be deported to Algeria or Syria as demanded by Trump officials. 

Mahmoud Khalil said in response: “It is no surprise that the Trump administration continues to retaliate against me for my exercise of free speech. Their latest attempt, through a kangaroo immigration court, exposes their true colors once again. When their first effort to deport me was set to fail, they resorted to fabricating baseless and ridiculous allegations in a bid to silence me for speaking out and standing firmly with Palestine, demanding an end to the ongoing genocide. Such fascist tactics will never deter me from continuing to advocate for my people’s liberation.”

The Trump fascist regime must not be allowed to get away with the totally outrageous and unjust attempt to silence and deport Mahmoud Khalil!

U.S. Military Attacks and Sinks Fourth Venezuelan Boat

Under Trump’s orders, on September 19 the U.S. military carried out a lethal attack on a boat in international waters near Venezuela for the fourth time this month. Trump said three people onboard were killed. This follows the incineration by missile of a Venezuelan boat on September 2, killing 11 people, and a second attack on September 15, killing three.  Trump also announced that a boat was sunk by the U.S. on September 16, but provided no further information. In all four attacks, the Trump regime claimed that the people killed were “narco-terrorists” and that the attacks were acts of “self-defense” because the boats were carrying dangerous drugs that posed an immediate danger to the U.S. 

Trump and his minions have offered zero proof of their claims—and if they do produce supposed “evidence,” why should the world believe anything these proven pathological liars say? But suppose drug traffickers were on those boats—so what?!? Drug trafficking is a crime, but it is not punishable by death—even if you are convicted in a fair trial, much less simply “assumed” to be guilty based on your presence on a boat. 

These attacks take place as the Trump regime has built up massive air, sea, and land military forces in the Caribbean region. They have escalated accusations and demonization directed at Venezuela’s president Maduro, and the danger that the U.S. may militarily attack Venezuela itself looms large. And according to a New York Times report, the White House and MAGA fascists in Congress are hammering out legislation that would give Trump “sweeping power to wage war against drug cartels he deems to be ‘terrorists,’ as well as against any nation he says has harbored or aided them.”

Any U.S. war on Venezuela would be a completely unjust act of imperialist aggression, and must be met with massive protest, especially here in the U.S.

Dangerous Leap in MAGA Fascist Targeting of Trans People

From day one of the Trump regime, MAGA fascists have been carrying out open demonization and persecution of transgender people, aiming to erase them from public life entirely—including banning trans people from the military and outlawing gender-affirming care for youth. Now, this war on trans people is being ramped up to even more dangerous levels. Journalist Ken Klippenstein writes: “The Trump administration is preparing to designate transgender people as ‘violent extremists’ in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, two national security officials tell me.” The official criminal charges against the alleged shooter of Kirk, Tyler Robinson, include statements that he had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights” recently and that his roommate was transitioning genders. These and other allegations are being seized on by MAGA fascists to claim that trans people as a whole are characterized by violence and pose a major threat—even though actual evidence shows trans people are no more likely than average to commit violent crimes, and are in fact more likely to be victims of reactionary violence than perpetrators. 

According to Klippenstein, “The senior [national security] official explains that there is no process per se for dealing with trans people as a ‘threat group,’ but feels that trans individuals will be increasingly targeted under the banner of ‘violent extremism.’ Under the plan being discussed, the FBI would treat transgender suspects as a subset of the Bureau’s new threat category, ‘Nihilistic Violent Extremists’ (NVEs).”

At this time, this is a “leak”—not a confirmed story. But what IS confirmed are recent anti-trans MAGA rantings that are designed to play on ignorance and incite hysteria: 

• Fascist lunatic Laura Loomer, who has major influence on Trump, posted to her X account on September 13 , where she has 1.8 million followers, “It’s time to designate the transgender movement as a terrorist movement. Trans people are a threat to society. We can’t allow them to continue killing people. They need to be socially ostracized and the President should make medical transitioning ILLEGAL in our country.”
• Donald Trump Jr. went on Megyn Kelly’s YouTube show September 11 and said, “I can’t name, including probably like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, a group that is more violent per capita than the radical trans movement.” In actual fact, by any calculation the percentage of mass shooters (killing four or more people) who are trans is very small—estimates range from 0.1 percent by the Gun Violence Archive, which began compiling figures in 2013, to a high from a Secret Service study of mass shootings in which less than 2 percent were trans. Again, Trump Jr. is whipping up lynch-mob style hysteria here.
• The fascist think tank Heritage Foundation and the Oversight Project (formerly part of the Heritage Foundation) are urging  the FBI to add a new designation to its list of domestic violent extremist groups for Transgender Ideology-Inspired Violent Extremism, falsely claiming violence from trans people and allies is increasing.

On September 19, J.D. Vance appeared on Fox (Fascist) News and was asked, “The militant transgender movement — is that a domestic terrorist threat?” Vance’s answer, pointing to the Trump regime’s intent to dial up repression further: “If you are encouraging people to commit acts of violence against the US government or against your fellow Americans, absolutely—you're involved in a terrorist movement…. What you increasingly see is you see people in the trans community and other members of the far left who are saying they are so threatened by negative rhetoric that they must take arms and attack people.” This conscious lie by J.D. Vance would be outrageous in any context, but coming from the Vice-President of the U.S. it is extremely dangerous.

The vicious, dangerous attacks on transgender people must be opposed—as part of the movement to drive out the Trump fascist regime.

Government Panel Stacked with RFK Jr. Appointees Puts More Limits on Vaccines—Endangering Many Human Lives

Last week the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—the main expert panel in the U.S. government on vaccine approval and use—met and issued restrictions on two types of vaccines. They voted to stop recommending the combined measles, mumps, rubella, and chickenpox (MMRV) vaccine for toddlers. And they voted to place more restrictions on COVID vaccines, by recommending that people talk with a doctor before getting a shot. This adds to the restrictions previously placed on the COVID vaccine by Trump’s “health czar” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the past few months.

Vaccines for measles, smallpox and other serious diseases have saved more than 150 million lives worldwide in the past 50 years—most of them children younger than five years. It's estimated that 2.5 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccination globally. Hundreds of scientific studies have shown that vaccines are safe. In the face of this solid scientific evidence, RFK Jr. and other anti-vaxxers have mounted lunatic—and dangerous—attacks on vaccines, and on scientists and health professionals. When an anti-vax gunman fired over 180 shots at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta earlier this year, Kennedy took 18 hours to issue what the former CDC director characterized as a “tepid response.” Earlier this year, RFK sacked all previous members of the ACIP, and many of the replacements he put in are “vaccine skeptics.” 

Before last week’s meeting, many medical and public health experts had feared that the ACIP would restrict vaccines even more harshly. But the additional restrictions that the ACIP voted on in this meeting, even if partial, will cause real harm to human lives by putting up more barriers for people who want to get vaccines and sowing unscientific “doubt” about the vaccines broadly in society. A doctor who oversaw the COVID workgroup at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until June, said of the ACIP decisions last week, “There will be preventable deaths that result from these decisions.” And Susan Monarez, who was fired as head of CDC by RFK for refusing to go along with his anti-vaccine madness, said a day before the ACIP meeting, “Any decrease in vaccination coverage in older adults will lead to more hospitalizations and death in this age group.”

There will be more attacks on vaccines, and on public health overall, under RFK and the Trump regime—unless and until they are removed from power. This underscores the urgent and essential point that THERE IS NO LIVING WITH THIS FASCISM!