Full Blown Fascism

Media muzzling, antifa terror designation, kidnapping neighbors. We must fight back.

Photo by Jean on Unsplash

By now you know that Jimmy Kimmel has been taken off the air by ABC. The first domino fell when Nexstar Media, one of the largest owners of TV stations in the US, said it “strongly objected” to Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk and wouldn’t show his program. Before we get to what Jimmy actually said, we should note that a month ago Nexstar’s CEO was praising the Trump administration as he announced his company’s intent to conduct a $6.2 billion merger with a major rival. That merger of course needs to be approved by the Trump administration.

The single most important person in approving the Nexstar merger is FCC Chair Brendan Carr, and before ABC pulled the show Carr was on the podcast of far-right influencer Benny Johnson’s urging local broadcasters to stop airing Kimmel’s show, saying they were “running the possibility of fines or licensed revocation from the FCC.” It wasn’t subtle. The head of the Federal Communications Commission was using his considerable power to pressure ABC and local broadcasters. Nexstar has billions riding on his approval of their merger, and acted fast.

At almost the same time, Sinclair Broadcast Group — which owns more ABC stations than any other TV conglomerate — announced it would run a tribute to Kirk during Kimmel’s timeslot on Friday. Sinclair, owned by a conservative billionaire family, is also absurdly asking Kimmel to donate to the Kirk family and his right-wing organization Turning Point USA.

It’s a complete fascist victory, won by the prototypical fascist alliance. The Trump stooge at the FCC, conservative business owners, and the far-right mob all teaming up to weaponize the death of one of their own and transform his killing into more fascist power. MAGA gets increased control over the media, and the ruling class bends the knee not so much out of cowardice but because they think it’s the way to further their own interests. As the quote widely attributed to Mussolini goes, “Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”

Photo by rob walsh on Unsplash

What Jimmy Kimmel actually said was this: “The MAGA gang [is] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” And he was right. He didn’t say Tyler Robinson was MAGA, he correctly stated that the Trump administration and the collection of fascist propagandists in their ecosystem were trying to paint the alleged shooter as a lefty, as trans, as anything but one of their own.

But being right doesn’t matter here. Kimmel underestimated, as so many have, the acceleration of the fascist movement. They’re moving fast in the wake of Kirk’s death, and they were already moving quickly leading up to it. The Trump administration is sending the national guard into our cities, they’re firing on random boats near Venezuela, they’re kidnapping our neighbors. In the media circus around Jimmy Kimmel some folks missed that the regime is now ordering that Mahmoud Khalil be deported to Algeria or Syria. This, like everything described in this paragraph, has no basis in the law. And, of course, the regime does not care.

More than not caring about the law, the fascist onslaught is in fact premised on breaking the law again and again, flagrantly violating so many laws at once that the courts struggle to keep up. There have been countless instances of corruption that would have ended other administrations, but in the deliberately manufactured blitzkrieg that is Trump world they pass under the radar.

It doesn’t help that our media environment is controlled by a handful of billionaires. In 1983, 50 companies controlled 90% of the U.S. media market. That number is now down to 5. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 reduced the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations on cross ownership, leading to rapid consolidation of the industry and helping lay the groundwork for the problems we face today.

The merger of state and corporate power proceeds much more swiftly when a few Robber Barons and their corporations readily agree to bend the knee to the authoritarian leader under the presumption that it’ll help their bottom lines. We’ve seen this again and again, from CBS, to Mark Zuckerberg, to Jeff Bezos and now ABC. It’s not simply that the companies and the people who run them are cowards. They are, but they’re also motivated by a greed that cannot be satisfied, and to them fascism is a small price to pay for increased profits.

So press freedom is being sacrificed at the altar of fascism. The FCC is now yet another extension of Trump’s whims, the billionaires who run mass media are playing along with him, and the death of a fascist propagandist is being used to fuel these developments. And it’s clear that Kirk’s death has emboldened the right. This isn’t about him, none of it is really about Charlie, but MAGA is cynically using his shooting to accelerate their existing plans.

And they’re not hiding any of it. They’re emboldened, and they act like 13 year-old boys about it. This is no surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention, but sometimes it can still manage to shock. This little interaction just about sums it up:

If you can’t see, that’s a GIF from the TV show The Office. The most childlike possible response celebrating the assault on freedom of the press, sent by the head of the federal regulatory agency overseeing the media. This is where we are.

I’ve spent time hoping that the petulance and stupidity and childishness of these fascists will somehow bite them in the ass. That now seems like wasted hope. With a weak opposition party, an unorganized populace, and consolidated billionaire control of media and so many other industries, our half-baked fascists have been able to steamroll this country. There are countless other factors, from bigotry to our insistence on business as usual no matter how the fascist advance proceeds. But it’s time to wake up. It’s time to toss aside the mentalities that have kept us from full resistance, from full opposition to the fascist regime. They aren’t hiding who and what they are, they aren’t holding back, and neither can we.

The clearest declaration of intent came directly from Donald Trump in the midst of the media firestorm around Jimmy Kimmel. Right as everything was unfolding he decided to declare “antifa” as a terror group;

People will rightly point out that there is no organized “antifa.” There is no formal organization using that name, or formally organizing the anti-fascist movement. But none of that matters. This is a declaration of intent. This administration and Republican members of Congress have already been beating the drum of going after progressive and liberal non-profits. Left-leaning media, groups that advocate for traditionally liberal causes, organizations that fund Democrats — this is who could be designated as antifa terror orgs.

The next stage of fascism is here, and it’s being openly declared. The man who opposes anti-fascists is telling us who he is, and we’re seeing that unfold in real time. Cities being invaded, our neighbors being kidnapped, the media being muzzled — there is no room for ambiguity here, there is no room for self-delusion. We have no choice now but to organize and fight back on every level. Members of the so-called opposition party who refuse to fight back must be removed. Corporations who ally with Trump must face consequences. And in our daily lives we must organize and build the power to topple the fascist regime once and for all. - JP

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P.S. You can find links to help you get into organizing here: