Welcome to creeping fascism; welcome to Trumpism.

The Republican Party is dead. It died when Donald Trump became its presidential nominee — a monster of its own making, out of control. The party has become an empty shell, its carcass devoured from the inside out by Trumpism — a reactionary populism (for some, a fanatical cult), threatening our security and democracy; a white nationalist at its core, immigrants and people of color to Trumpism what Jews were to the Nazis. Trump’s wall is a wall against truth and empathy. Trump’s swamp is not a swamp of wealthy corruption of government, but a swamp as government itself.

There is no other way to describe such demagoguery and the seriousness of the current situation. The vilification of the media, the purge and intimidation of government and law enforcement agencies, the “America First” undermining of traditional global alliances, the befriending of authoritarian despots, the deliberate foment of an atmosphere of confrontation and violence — which Trump has every intention to exploit to suppress dissent (the “dangerous mob”), suspend civil liberties and consolidate power in the interest of “national security and law and order” — these are the signs of creeping fascism. And, expect continued and expanded neo-Jim Crow voter suppression and gerrymandering strategies to rig elections that Trumpite Republicans could not win any other way.

We must continue to reject and revisit Trumpism and autocracy and defend and expand democracy.

Mike Kelly

Albert Lea