Lower the temperature of water, and it will freeze. Do it drastically enough, and you will approach absolute zero—where there is no motion, no life, even possible.

How cold is it in Trump’s America?

Last week, these things happened:

• 238 immigrants were accused without a legal hearing of being members of a Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, and flown to El Salvador—against a judge’s orders that they NOT be shipped. The fascist president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele first mocked them, and then shipped them to a dungeon in a remote area. Prisoners are stacked up in bunks on beds of steel without mattresses. For misbehavior, they are put in the worst solitary confinement cells ever imagined, often pitch dark, and where no visitors are allowed. ICE has admitted that many of those deported have no record of arrest, but in a case of classic circular logic says that this fact doesn’t matter because—since ICE claims that they’re in a gang—it would have been only a matter of time before they got arrested. Go here to read the full outrageous story behind this brutal kidnapping, including how even people who had been political prisoners under the Venezuelan regime have been swallowed up in it. Then think about the fact that by the end of the week Trump was so in love with his remote never-see-daylight hellhole that he was threatening to send anyone accused of breaking the window of a Tesla dealership to El Salvador. 
   

• Trump threatened another law firm—this time the powerful Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison firm—with an executive order that would cripple it. The order was nearly identical to one the against the firm Perkins Coie, which we covered last week. That order forbade lawyers in the practice from even entering federal buildings (even though their clients would be on trial in these very buildings!). The Paul Weiss firm, however, is a far more powerful firm with ties high up in the Democratic Party. According to the New York Times, other firms offered backing if Paul Weiss would fight it. Instead, on Thursday, Paul Weiss capitulated. 

  Trump announced that the firm had agreed to do $40 million worth of free work for causes favored by Trump and to end any sort of commitment to diverse hiring and advancement within the firm. Trump then vowed to go after other firms with more such executive orders. This, again according to the Times, “left other firms even more vulnerable to Mr. Trump’s retribution campaign by demonstrating that his intimidation tactics could lead even a powerhouse like Paul Weiss to make public concessions… [F]irms would now face a choice between bowing to Mr. Trump or abandoning their principles or political beliefs to avoid financial calamity.” Many lawyers at these firms are furious at this betrayal; many made their anger known in different ways, with one—Rachel Cohen—going so far as to quit and say why. (Listen here for a report on resistance in the industry and a powerful interview with Cohen on PBS Newshour.)

• Finally, last week we reported how the Trump fascist regime had cut $400 million in funding for scientific research at Columbia University until the school agreed to a list of nine demands. This Friday the school president, Katrina Armstrong, caved in to some of Trump’s demands. Columbia gave over 30 “security personnel” on campus the right to arrest students. They broadened their definition of anti-Semitism to include “certain double standards applied to Israel.” While the school was purposefully unclear about what this means, presumably anyone who criticized Israel for genocide in Gaza without also criticizing genocide going on in Congo or Sudan or Myanmar would be up for expulsion—even though the U.S. stands fully behind the Israeli genocide, and thus makes all its citizens responsible for stopping it! The school also appointed a “senior vice-provost” to oversee the Middle Eastern, South Asian and Africa Studies Department—which most academics think amounts to the “receivership” (control) that the Trump Administration demanded. Trump has not yet announced whether Columbia’s president has groveled low enough to win back the money. Meanwhile, Chris Rufo, the fascist “theoretician” who has led this assault on academia, said, “This is only the beginning.”

And there we have the one sentence of truth to come out of the mouth of a fascist all week: “this is only the beginning.”

The Need—and the Immediate Chance—to Act Together

At the same time, there are increasing voices calling this fascism out for what it is, for where it is heading and how fast it’s getting there, and for what to do about it. In addition to the important stand of Rachel Cohen, the past week has seen powerful messages delivered by Jay Inslee, the former governor of Washington; and Joe Howley, a professor at Columbia.

Readers, this is a time to ACT. How much closer to absolute zero does the political and social temperature have to get before you turn up the heat to high with your words, your deeds, and your public stand? How many more people and groups will be plunged into the deep freeze, before you say NO MORE!! 

Bob Avakian has said, in an important statement, “Trump’s fascist rule, like Hitler’s before him, is a regime of horrors—and is completely illegitimate”:

To fully understand what we are dealing with, it is important to dig into why and how this fascism has come to power here and what this has to do with the fundamental nature of the system of capitalism-imperialism and its historical development in this country. At the same time, there is this crucial immediate goal:

Before Trump’s fascist rule can become fully consolidated and carry out even far worse horrors than what it is already perpetrating, it must be defeated through powerful mass mobilization—overcoming all “divide and conquer” schemes, uniting all who can be united, from many different viewpoints and perspectives, in actively opposing, defying and resisting this fascism, in continually growing numbers—moving to quickly involve millions, determined to create such a profound political crisis that Trump cannot govern the country and continue to implement his fascist program, with all its terrible consequences.

In that light, there has been an important call to action from the group Indivisible to demonstrate in Washington, DC and cities around the country on April 5. These demonstrations provide an opportunity to make this resistance broader, deeper and more determined. RefuseFascism.org is mobilizing for these demonstrations with rallies and feeder marches. RefuseFascism.org is also planning regional organizing conferences in New York and Los Angeles and perhaps other areas for Saturday, April 19. There are also the important calls to fight for Mahmoud Khalil (go here), the Columbia graduate and legal resident of this country whom ICE seized in the middle of the night and is now trying to drive out of the country. 

The thing missing now is YOU, stepping forward to rise to these challenges, seize these opportunities, and make these efforts as powerful as possible.