Beware of NSPM-7

It might already be too late.

• "Biden, Harris and their socialist comrades will fundamentally change this nation.”       

– Kimberly  Guilfoyle (former cohabiting girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr.)

• "Their [Democrats’] vision for America is socialism.” – Nikki Haley (former governor of South Carolina)

• "Democrats have chosen to go down the road to socialism." - Ronna McDaniel (former chair of the Republican National Committee, before being replaced by President Trump’s daughter in law)

• "Socialism is the mainstream of the Biden campaign and it's not the mainstream of America.” – Donald Trump

• “She’s a Marxist [referring to Kamala Harris]. Everybody knows she’s a Marxist. Her father is a Marxist economics professor, and he taught her well.” – Donald Trump

These are just a few examples of Republicans labeling Democrats as socialists or Marxists. It’s a common Republican refrain, particularly now that MAGA has conquered the GOP. My goal here is not to focus on disproving those Republican claims—although doing so is an easy task (see below). Rather, I want to highlight Republicans’ hypocrisy when they passionately condemn any Trump critic for labeling the president as a fascist.  

Socialism Is as Socialism Does

Here's how Webster’s Dictionary defines “socialism”: “any of various egalitarian economic and political theories or movements advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.”

Democrats have held the presidency for 24 of the past 50 years. Yet, America’s economic system is still based on capitalism rather than on collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods. At no time during those 24 years did a Democratic President attempt to replace capitalism with “governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” (Rather, it’s been Donald Trump who has taken steps to have the federal government take on “ownership and administration of the means of production,” Intel, for example.)

But the Trump administration continues to vigorously promote the Democrats-as-socialists narrative—and to use that spurious conflation as justification for targeting those who oppose their agenda.

Meanwhile, Republicans howl at the slightest suggestion that Trump and his MAGA followers are promoting a fascist agenda. But a compelling case can be made for labeling Trump a fascist.

So, when folks on the left band loosely together to oppose what they see as emerging fascism and refer to themselves as ANTIFA, that is, anti-fascism, those on the far-right vilify them as “un-American” and “radical communists.” And such labels are soon followed by plans to investigate and perhaps prosecute these “enemies.”

But This Is Not Fascism?

What plans? According to NSPM-7, easily available to view on the White House website,

This “anti-fascist” lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties. Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.

The United States requires a national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.

(c)  The JTTFs shall also investigate:

(i)   institutional and individual funders, and officers and employees of organizations, that are responsible for, sponsor, or otherwise aid and abet the principal actors engaging in the criminal conduct described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section

To make sense of this presidential edict, we must ignore facts, such as these listed below from the right-leaning libertarian think tank Cato Institute,

Right-wingers are the second most common motivating ideology [first was Islam, based on the 9/11 attacks], accounting for 391 murders and 11 percent of the total. The definition here of right-wing terrorists includes those motivated by white supremacy, anti-abortion beliefs, involuntary celibacy (incels), and other right-wing ideologies.

Left-wing terrorists murdered 65 people, or about 2 percent of the total. Left-wing terrorists include those motivated by black nationalism, anti-police sentiment, communism, socialism, animal rights, environmentalism, anti-white ideologies, and other left-wing ideologies.

Regardless of statistics to the contrary, the White House claims domestic violence comes exclusively from the left. And then, it refers to "domestic terrorists [who] wage a violent assault against democratic institutions."Surely, the administration is not referring to the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2001. (And if—as many MAGA folks claim—it was ANTIFA folks pretending to be MAGA folks who rioted, then why did Trump pardon them?) 

But according to the official proclamation above, liberals are to blame for the nation's acts of political violence. It follows, then, that those on the left who dare to speak against capitalism and/or Christianity, or who hold "extremist" views on "migration, race, and gender," or who are "hostile" toward "those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality" will be investigated based simply on suspicion, "before" they break any law.

Who decides what constitutes "Christianity," or "extremist" views on "migration, race, and gender"? Who decides what is a hostile intention or act toward "traditional American views on family, religion, and morality"? And who decides what constitutes “traditional American views” on the mentioned topics?

It gets worse:

Any institutional [or] individual funders, and officers and employees of organizations, that are responsible for, sponsor, or otherwise aid and abet the principal actors engaging in the criminal conduct described in subsections (a) and (b) of this section will be investigated and be subject to criminal prosecution.

Then, add in the president's statement at the recent convocation of the nation's top military leaders: "We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military."

Our nation is entering a dark time of emerging fascism where lies are the currency of right-wing political discourse. And those lies will soon be used as pretext for targeting anyone who opposes Donald Trump and MAGA fascism.

The time to act for truth, decency, and democracy is running out.