March 12th 2020

By James Rogers Bush

A while back, I wrote a note entitled ‘The Second Civil War.’ At the time, due to the extreme polarization of the Clinton and Trump camps, I postulated that we might be on the cusp of a possible second civil war. But, with the election and with the subsequent actions of the Trump administration, I’ve come to realize that what we are actually in the midst of is, in fact, a neofascist coup - a neofascist coup that is being perpetrated upon the American People by a gang of neofascist imposters and interlopers bent on destroying everything they see as liberal, socialistic, anti-white, anti-male, anti-Christian, anti-big business, and anti-nationalist.

Neofascism has its roots in Mussolini’s fascist Italy of World War II. Since World War II, neofascism has continued to exist around the world. And, in one form or another, with varying degrees of success, it has sometimes raised its ugly head and attempted to insert itself into the leadership of a nation. Now, unbelievably, this lurid political philosophy is sitting in the White House. And, in its latest U.S. incarnation, the likes of Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka, and Stephen Miller were, in the beginning, all part of Donald Trump’s campaign and administration. Thankfully, the first three are now out, but the worst of the lot still remains. Stephen Miller, ironically the son of Jewish liberals, is still in the White House, joining and advising Trump in trying to figure out how to get around our constitution, so they can implement their neofascist agenda, which includes getting rid of social liberalism in all its many forms.

In the minds of these men, ever since Franklin Roosevelt implemented his New Deal, America has been on the wrong path, and they want to return it to what they believe is the right path, first by undoing all of the social programs that progressivism has created in the last 60 plus years, and then by enacting their own agenda, which includes returning dominance of the nation to whites, males, heterosexuals, Evangelical Christians, extreme nationalists, corporate capitalists (especially from the fossil fuel industry), and aggressive militarists. This agenda also includes making sure that there is a pliable news media, a subservient intellectual community, and a passive populace. If they have their way, these and all other groups, i.e. people of color, LGBTQ folks, immigrants, women, non-Christians (especially Muslims), Native Americans, environmentalists, and socialists, will be required to kowtow to the dominant groups or be put in their place. One shudders to think of what that place might be.

We Americans must face the fact that a political coup has occurred and is continuing. Our White House and the presidency have been taken over by a gang of imposters and interlopers. These imposters and interlopers carry in their minds a sick, neofascist political philosophy, which is always waiting in the wings, looking for weaknesses in our representative system of government, and watching for an opportunity to grab the reins of power and take us all down a path that must inevitably lead to an end to our republic as we know it, and, as a result, a hell for both the U.S. and the rest of the world. Creating crisis, manipulating the military, questioning treaties and alliances, doing away with civil liberties in the name of national security, neutralizing the press, disparaging intellectuals and scientists, hogtying dissent, creating fear in the populace, and promoting hatred of those who are different, are all weapons in their bag of tricks, and these gangsters are in the process of pulling them out, even as I write this.

Those of us who are aware of the magnitude of the threat and can see the importance of the peoples’ rising resistance to it, know that a majority of Americans are now at war with a form neofascism coming out of the White House. And as this war continues, more and more of us will face the choice to either become warriors or victims in this war. Because, if we do not fight like warriors now, with every weapon and tool our constitution affords us, then we will end up being victims, and we will lose our constitutional democracy. So, it is now up to each one of us to decide what he or she will be, a victim or a warrior in the very real and present fight to save our republic.