Tag Archives: trump

Trump is a Vicious Cult Leader

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For the past couple weeks, Donald Trump has been stirring up hatred for the Somali community with lies and fearmongering. And the result has been a surge in white supremacism.

This is what fascist regimes do best. While they are totally unequipped to govern, they use the rhetoric of scapegoating and demonization to distract from their complete ineptitude. It becomes the only policymaking that they are capable of.

As the American economy continues to decline and the US becomes more isolated, Trump and his regime are becoming more and more unhinged in their cruelty toward the most vulnerable and marginalized. And since fascism demands cultlike devotion, this cruelty runs through the entire society like a rancid effluence, poisoning everything in its path.

The American project was built upon racism, one which justified genocide, slavery and apartheid. And it has never reckoned with this in any meaningful way. So, the obvious outcome has been the current president.

Trump isn’t an anomaly, he is a prime example of America with its mask of civility finally ripped off. A narcissist who is convinced of his greatness, much like the many Americans who have been bamboozled into thinking they live in the greatest country on earth. An arrogant ignorance impervious to the reality of having no universal healthcare, few worker protections, crushing debt, poor education, crumbling infrastructure, rampant gun violence and rapidly rising economic inequality.

So, what can we expect in the coming months or even years? Trump is a vicious cult leader who is oblivious to the stench of his own rot. Even as his health (both physical and mental) declines, he cannot see through the elaborate web of lies he has woven around him. And the sycophants in his court will never tell the emperor he is has no clothes.

Cults rarely dissipate peacefully. In almost every case, they end up devolving into paranoia, conspiracy theories, delusion and violence as their blind obeisance to power backfires and the shoddy worldview they invested everything in breaks down under the weight of its own incompetence and madness.

Sometimes cults merely self destruct. But more often than not, they lash out on anyone within their orbit, with the most vulnerable being the first victims. Either way, what comes next will not be easy to endure, especially for communities like the Somali.

Kenn Orfanos, December 2025

Performative Protests Are Not Enough Against Fascism

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Trump’s crude response to the “No Kings” protest shouldn’t come as a surprise. Fascist regimes don’t care about protests. Every instance of dissent to their depravity is an opportunity for more mockery and cruelty. Never for introspection or reflection.

As with all fascist regimes, the Trump regime will not be persuaded by civility or appeals to their humanity. Simply put, they have neither. While yesterday’s event was impressive, admirable and perhaps helped some make lasting connections with other like minded people, they will have no real or tangible impact on policy.

These events essentially serve as valves to let off steam or for funneling public rage into managed and watered down safe spaces, such as the Democratic Party, which offers no real resistance to the current arrangement of power.

Fascist regimes aren’t voted out. History has shown that the only way they end is through a coordinated mass movement that disrupts and grinds society and the very machinery of power to a halt, a war or military coup, or the death of the fascist leader, which can take decades.

This is not to crush the hopes of those who participated. On the contrary, those ordinary people who rallied did so because they understand something is terribly wrong and that they needed to do something. For many, this was their first time protesting. And that is commendable. But false hope is as dangerous as despair because it can often lead to complacency.

White, heterosexual American liberals have never had to face the terror of state violence before. This is new terrain. But they can learn from Black Americans who led the way with bus boycotts and bridge shutdowns. Or Queer Americans who shutdown entire cities with riots against police brutality. Or the movement against the Vietnam War. Or, more recently, the anti-genocide encampments on university campuses.

Hope lies in the copious examples of courage from marginalized and oppressed groups. Begin there.

Kenn Orfanos, October 2025

*The attached photo is Trump’s response to the protests, which is self explanatory.

There is no greater threat to democracy or human decency than fascism.

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Following an unprecedented mandatory meeting of US military commanders, the Trump regime’s attack on Chicago was another test. Sending 300 ICE agents to abduct immigrants, including children, by rappelling from Blackhawk helicopters onto an apartment building in the middle of the night was a clear message of state terror.

Borrowing from other fascist regimes throughout history, Trump and his minions are seeking absolute control over the republic through intimidation, threats and ruthless domination. And they continue to demonstrate that they can do this with virtually no opposition from any established political entity.

The Democratic Party has proven ineffective and unwilling to meet this moment with the resolve needed to thwart a complete takeover and dismantling of what is left of American democracy. And the judiciary, lacking any enforcement, appears unable to keep up with this rapid descent into fascist dystopia.

The American mainstream media, tasked with the role of watchdog, has been all but silent on the war the Trump regime is waging. Preferring to comply in advance and self-censor, instead of risking costly lawsuits by challenging the regime. This should not come as a surprise since these outlets have traded their journalistic integrity and credibility for ratings and profits long ago.

The regime now has its own army. ICE has a budget that dwarfs the US Marines. Its masked thugs seem to enjoy impunity, attacking civilians without provocation, firing rubber bullets into crowds, and shooting at the media. Its campaign of terror is only just beginning.

And speaking of terror, the regime is quickly acting on its threat of labeling anyone who disagrees or dissents from their policies or actions as domestic terrorists. This is the kind of thought policing that all fascist regimes resort to when challenged by a public that is not adequately complying with its dictates.

The regime will try to cast a wide net, ruthlessly persecuting and prosecuting all individuals, organizations and agencies they deem to be “radical leftists.” And that net will include anyone who is not Maga. Anyone who protests US support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Anyone who supports gay and transgender youth. Anyone who teaches science, talks about climate change or opposes the destruction of the environment. Anyone who challenges racist or misogynistic policies. Anyone who advocates for the unhoused or the rights of the mentally ill. Anyone who is not a white, heteronormative, evangelical or fundamentalist Christian. And this will include going after the liberals who have long attacked the left and progressives themselves.

At a time when most Americans are struggling with crushing debt and rising costs, the regime will not address the needs of the people. Instead, it will attempt to silence critics, criminalize the poor and use marginalized communities as scapegoats for all the suffering that is yet to come. This is not a prophetic declaration. It is a prediction based on mountains of evidence from every other fascist regime in history.

There is no greater threat to democracy or human decency than fascism. It is a poison to any society. And once administered, it is breathtakingly difficult to extract. For years, this brew of nationalism, oligarchic tyranny, racism and social animus has been allowed to simmer. And with the fascists now in power, it is reaching a rapid boil.

None of this is to discourage complacency or defeatism. In fact, the stakes have never been higher. Americans still have some freedoms left to them. And challenging this nightmare is paramount to reducing its cruelty and harm. But for many, especially those who are not white, Christian or who do not conform to the regime’s accepted optics, escaping is the only viable option.

Americans have long ignored the warning signs. They have long swallowed the bromide that “it can’t happen here.” But it has happened there. Over and over and over again. To Black and Brown people. To women. To immigrants. To Indigenous people. To queer communities. To the poor. And to the Global South that American imperialism has ruthlessly targeted for nearly 250 years. The difference now is that maw of brutality is much, much wider.

But at every moment of fascism’s rise, there has been resistance. It is not invincible, although fascists would like us to think so. The most powerful tool we have is our shared humanity. And this is why they want to rob us of that. Never forget that behind the bravado of every fascist is a cowardly bully, trembling in fear at the power of solidarity.

Kenn Orfanos, October 2025

We Are All Gaza Now

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Perhaps the greatest paradox of our times is the illusion of distance. We can now see and hear what is happening on the other side of the planet in mere seconds. But even though this has dispelled the myth of a small world, the screens we all carry around in pockets and purses give us the veneer of separation.

Gaza is the best example of this. The two year long genocide has been the first livestreamed one in history. We have witnessed both the horror and suffering of the Palestinians every single day, but also the depravity and sadism of the perpetrators. In addition to this, there is the staggering normalization and mendacity from Western media and political leaders.

What Gaza has showed us is that our leaders, almost all of them, are capable of committing or justifying the most unimaginable crimes. And if they are capable of that, they can also turn that toward us.

This is demonstrable in the actions and threats of the Trump regime in the United States. Like the Biden administration, it has supported, funded and defended Israel as it commits an obvious genocide. And now, the fascist regime is turning its sights unto its domestic population.

The recent meeting of generals and other military brass by Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump, was a loyalty test. The goal was to get the military to align with the fascist policies of the regime. Whether or not it was successful is debatable. The duo, who looked more like used car salesmen than statesmen, managed to insult almost half of them with racist comments and body shaming. Certainly, many of the commanders looked visibly disgusted or, at the very least, disturbed by the spectacle.

But the regime is seeking to quell the rising tide of unrest rising within the US. With an economy that is strangling more and more people, a distaste for the repression of civil liberties, and increasing disgust of ICE thuggery, Trump and his cultish team see their only option as being the unmerciful hammer of state violence or in its threat. And it has several progressive or liberal cities in mind for carrying out its plans. In deed, Trump’s next war will be on the so-called “enemy from within.”

To many white Americans, the idea that they could suffer a similar fate as the Palestinians is absurd. They have been inured by the racist illusion of privilege for so long that they cannot fathom their own government trapping them and relentlessly attacking them until they either die or submit. But this toxic mythology may lead to complacency in the face of an increasingly belligerent fascist regime.

Even today, there are political operatives and media figures openly talking about locking up people with autism or who are transgender, gunning down unarmed protestors in the street, or euthanizing the unhoused. This type of language is insidious. It has the effect of normalizing future atrocities by making such ideas mainstream or socially acceptable. And when they are repeated over and over again, they numb our response.

To be sure, the prospect for becoming Gaza is likely many years down the line for most white Americans. But any cursory glance at American history should dispel the erroneous notion that “it can’t happen here.” In fact, the US has used far worse tactics of destruction on the Global South for well over a century. We know what it is capable of. And domestically, the US has ruthlessly crushed people of colour many times over. One glaring example was the bombing of a city block by police in Philadelphia in 1985.

As the Trump regime ramps up its attacks on dissent, labeling anyone who disagrees with its policies as terrorists, it would be unwise to underestimate how far it will go to hold on to power. Fascist regimes never give up power willingly. The idea of voting them out is ahistorical and dangerous. They are either brought down by coups, military actions or civil war, or they lumber on for decades, rotting a society until the last fascist in power dies.

Since the beginning, Trump and his minions have told us what they want to do. They may couch it in jokes that are in bad taste or in outright proclamations. But fascists aren’t very good at nuance or in hiding their true intentions. The regime seizes on any opportunity it can to advance its objectives. The death of a racist podcaster. A mass shooting. Its own ‘Reichstag fire’ is whatever incident it can weaponize.

The last two years have shown us how far Western leaders can go. It may seem like half a world away, but we live in a very different world now. That perceived distance from us is an illusion. And one of the most difficult things to come to grips with is that our leaders either do not care or worse, they have a taste for doing things we once thought unthinkable. Thus, it would be supremely unwise to ignore the glaring fact that we can all suffer a similar fate by a political and media class that see most of us as either expendable, a useful scapegoat, or as an impediment their mission. In essence, we are all Gaza now.

Kenn Orfanos, October 2025

Mike Huckabee and the Evangelical Cult of Death

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How do we make sense of US Ambassador Mike Huckabee’s fervent support for Israeli genocide? How do we grapple with a man so devoid of compassion, reason and basic human decency that he would cleave to the most murderous and racist elements of Israeli society? Well, we have to understand the evangelical Christian culture he emerged from.

I am familiar with this culture. I grew up in it, although I would classify my parents as Jimmy and Rosalind Carter kind of Christians. They were people of faith, but it guided them to be fair, kind and loving. They took the best parts of Christ’s message, the beatitudes, and they tried their best to live by them.

Others I knew weren’t so enlightened. Their puritanical sensibilities drove them to judge everyone but themselves. They invented a god that took great pleasure in causing ordinary people enormous suffering. They conjured demons everywhere to explain why anyone would dare disagree with their spiritual or worldview. And they were drunk on the notion of vengeance and in destroying a world they viewed as irredeemably wicked.

Huckabee comes from such a culture. He views the world through an eschatological prism where Christ is chomping at the bit to return to a lost and devastated earth. One where only people of his particular faith and denomination are saved. Where the return of Jesus is heralded by the destruction of God’s “enemies.” And those enemies, not by coincidence, happen to be the same ones of the American Empire. It isn’t a stretch to think that Huckabee believes he is an instrument of this fantastical “End Times” plan. That he sees himself as a “vessel of the Lord.”

I knew men and women like Huckabee. I went to church with them, sat in their Sunday school classes, and was put on their prayer lists when I “backslid” in my faith. When I began to see through the veil of their supremacist theology I saw a group of terrified and willfully ignorant bullies. Ones who used their faith as a bludgeon against anyone who they deemed sinful, defiant or a heathen. Their racism, or homophobia, or misogyny, or Islamophobia, or anti-science beliefs became their god’s beliefs. Their narrow and culturally prescribed interpretation of Biblical stories and myths became the sacrosanct and inerrant “Word of God.” And anyone who had a different view was cast as being blinded by Satan.

When I was growing up, I saw many religious tracts penned by the infamous Jack Chick. He was a master at drawing human beings he disliked as grotesque caricatures with twisted faces and usually followed by ghoulish demons sitting on their shoulders. Looking at them now gives me a chuckle, but I remember the fear they instilled in me as a child. And I began to realize that this was the worldview of so many people around me. A cartoonish and deeply cynical understanding of the world and its people. A spirituality grounded not in love or understanding, but hatred and sadism. Devoid of curiosity and wonder and full of sanctimonious preachiness. Huckabee makes me think of those tracts. And his worldview seems to be like a page from one of their fear-laden issues on sin and wickedness.

It is the only thing that can explain how evangelical Christians can adore a man who, by their own definition, is sinful, full of pride and ungodly. One who delights in cruelty. Who has fornicated and committed adultery, both grave sins in their theology. But he is fulfilling their end time dreams. So, everything else can be overlooked or even forgiven.

It is the only thing that explains how they can stomach the burning, bombing and imposed starvation of millions of people, including hundreds of thousands of children. It is all part of God’s plan. The Jews must return to Israel for Christ to return. But it isn’t out of any kind of love for them. On the contrary, they believe that two-thirds of all the nation of Israel will be cut off and die. The rest will supposedly “come to the light” and accept the American evangelical version of the messiah as their lord and savior. The Palestinians, in their worldview and as Huckabee has stated publicly, simply do not exist.

Huckabee is in a cult of death. Scary in and of itself, but even more so because this cult is in charge of the most powerful empire in history. And its mission is to bring about the end of the world. In truth, we are all being held hostage by its unhinged and maniacal policies, machinations and plans. We can only hope that this cult is dissolved before it embraces a final solution for us all.

Kenn Orphan, 2025

The New Testament of Maga Christianity

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When constituents of US Iowa Senator, Joni Ernst, shouted their anger that cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would cause people to die, an impish smile stretched across her face. “Well, we are all going to die,” the senator responded.

People were stunned. A senator laughing at the certain deaths of human beings due to lack of food and healthcare? Due to the deliberate cutting of the very thing that keeps them alive? Laughing at the deaths of the elderly, disabled and children?

But the senator didn’t feel one bit of remorse. In fact, she doubled down on her stance, posting a video of her standing in a cemetery. In it, she sarcastically took aim at those who were outraged. “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this earth,” she said. And proceeded to proselytize to them about how accepting her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, would ensure everyone eternal life. Ironically, she said this after mocking her constituents for believing in the tooth fairy.

But was this out of character for the senator? After all, this is what she believes. This is Maga Christianity. It is the firm belief that the only respite you are entitled to in this life is in some afterlife you are sent to if you believe in their narrow, heavily curated and extremely exclusive version of spiritual salvation.

Maga Christianity, like the one espoused by Ernst, is not a new phenomenon. It is the natural evolution of American Christianity. One that was born out of the rationalization of Indigenous genocide, justification for the enslavement of Africans, the normalization of perpetual war, and a fanatical adoration of the predations of capitalism.

It is what enables them to overlook the cesspit of Donald Trump’s morals, trash the environment (after all, God is going to destroy it anyway), and support genocide in Gaza. The latter comes down to an eschatological worldview that requires the state of Israel to exist so that the second coming of Christ will be ushered in. Never mind the fact that this worldview posits the forced conversion or eternal condemnation of Jewish people. Never mind that it ignores the very existence of Palestinian Christians. Never mind that hundreds of thousands of people, including thousands of children, are being bombed, burned alive, and starved to death.

Their worldview demeans and diminishes life here. It ridicules suffering or says it is inevitable or necessary. Well, at least for those they deem subhuman or “sinners” or heathen. But for Maga Christians, their eternal reward begins here with unfettered access to power and wealth.

Ernst and her ilk will likely never come to see her faith as a bludgeon. She will likely never develop a real sense of empathy. And since empathy is rapidly being classified as a sin in the Maga religion, why would she?

To the rest of us, her callous cruelty and sadism will not be forgotten, nor forgiven. Her little joke at the expense of the ill, the disabled, children, elderly, impoverished and dying will forever be likened to the phrase “let them eat cake.” And we all know what happened to the person that was attributed to.

Kenn Orphan, June 2025

Fascists Love Registries

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Last week, US Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., gave his first address to the public in that role. His focus was autism. In his speech, which has received enormous backlash, he said people with autism “will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go on a date.” He also made unfounded speculations as to the cause.

From chemtrails to HIV denialism to raw milk to anti-vax quackery, RFK is no stranger to conspiracy theories. And they are far from harmless. Over 70 people died in Samoa thanks to his disinformation about the measles vaccine. He also speculated that Covid-19 was engineered and that Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews were mostly immune.

There is something about RFK that chills the soul. A deadness behind his eyes. An icy countenance that betrays any compassionate words he might utter. It is hard to put ones finger on what it is exactly, but if you could you would probably have to scrub it with bleach.

Stories from family members about his penchant for mutilating dead animals abound, from grinding up chicks and mice in a blender for his pet falcon to beheading a beached whale and tying it to the roof of his car. The stories lend credence to those uneasy, unsettling feelings one gets when you see him on a stage talking about health and wellness.

RFK’s new role appears to be in keeping with this lifelong legacy. And he is keeping pace with the general madness and misanthropy of the regime. His idea for “wellness farms” and “reparenting” for people who deal with drug addiction or who are taking psychiatric medications unsurprisingly sparked controversy for its similarity to communist “reeducation camps.” Now, RFK is planning a new registry to track people with autism.

What makes this all so chilling was the ease in which RFK diminished the value of human beings. These disabled people are “deficient.” They cannot work and pay taxes. By characterizing autistic people as unproductive members of society, he has already set them up as a problem. A drain on resources. A burden. A registry will only industrialize this otherization and make it easier for experimentation, institutionalization and disposal.

Fascists adore registries. They relish in categories and lists for people. Especially people who do not conform to their idea of normal. Whom they deem weak and that make them feel uncomfortable. Like the others in this diabolical regime, he is merely copying a dark page from history verbatim.

Kenn Orphan, April 2025

The End of American Higher Education

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It seems that education in the United States is becoming something of a bygone era. And it isn’t just about the impending demise of the Department of Education, which the new Secretary, Linda McMahon, has vowed to eradicate. She has already fired 50% of its staff. It also appears to be the end of American higher education as well.

In the last few weeks there has been growing uncertainty and chaos on college and university campuses. Just recently, Harvard University announced hiring freezes as they wait for the Trump regime to implement massive federal funding cuts. Schools like the University of Washington, North Carolina State, Cornell, Emory, and Notre Dame, have issued similar hiring freezes. Northwestern is introducing preemptive cost-cutting measures. Several colleges and universities have drastically decreased the number of graduate students and have rescinded many offers to PhD candidates. Scores of students are now scrambling to figure out their next move as their future plans have crumbled before them.

In its culture war, the Trump regime has suspended funding to the University of Maine because the school refused to discriminate against transgender athletes. Last week, the administration revoked $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University over bogus claims of antisemitism during this past summer’s student-led protests. That university has been ruthless in its crackdowns and has collaborated with ICE in persecuting students who opposed the schools investment in Israel as it commits genocide. And the Department of Education has threatened schools with massive funding cuts if they don’t eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and related language in their curriculum.

All of these cuts affect far more than the universities themselves. For instance, the Trump regime also stopped $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University. Officials at the school and local business owners are saying that these draconian funding cuts will not only ravage current research projects but the entire state’s economy since the university is the largest private employer. And the long honoured tradition of national endowments are also in jeopardy. Congress is looking to raise the current 1.4% tax rate on university endowments to 10%–20%, essentially ending them for most programs.

It appears that the Trump regime has taken notes from Putin’s crackdown on higher education in Russia following its war of aggression against Ukraine. The result of this was catastrophic as scientific research programs were shuttered, the humanities were rendered toothless, and scores of Russian intellectuals fled the country.

Donald Trump once said, “I love the poorly educated.” It appears he intends to expand that love to the entire country.

Kenn Orphan, March 2025

A Warning for those of us on the Margins of Empire

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Last nights atrocious spectacle was a wake up call. And we may not have many of those left. The speech Trump gave before the US Congress was a glimpse into the madness he has in store for all of us. The United States is rapidly falling into the maw of fascism before our very eyes and there is little organized political opposition from the anemic Democratic Party to stop any of it.

For those of us on the margins of American Empire, we cannot afford to ignore this. Trump’s imperialistic fantasies are not only disgusting, they are serious. He is demolishing the current arrangement of power on the global stage, not to empower the people, but to consolidate even more power and wealth into the hands of a few oligarchs and despots.

Like all US presidents, he has opened the coffers for Israel to continue its apartheid and genocidal project. When he shared a vulgar AI-generated video of a Trumpified Gaza, complete with casinos and an enormous gold statue of himself, he gave us insight into his depraved narcissism. He has no capacity for empathy or grace.

This was also on display with the shameful shakedown of Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office by him and his sniveling side kick. His admiration for dictators and war criminals, from Putin to Netanyahu, should be seen as the cruel template he plans to implement against his neighbours in the Americas.

For those of us here in Canada, Trump’s continued ridicule and threat of making our sovereign country the 51st state is no joke. As in Greenland, he is eyeing Canada’s rich resources, from petrol to timber to minerals to water. He sees the imperial benefit of a melting Arctic Sea. And no matter how unhinged these threats may seem, he intends to make good on this by attempting to collapse the Canadian economy with draconian tariffs.

If there is any silver lining in any of this, it is that there is still some time to resist. The Trump regime is not all powerful. Fascism is gaining ground, but has not taken complete control… yet. And they have demonstrated a striking aversion to facts which will likely lead to their downfall.

In addition to this, the American Empire is in steep decline. Its economy is no longer the only dominant one on the world stage. Its infrastructure is crumbling. Its military is over-extended as its soft power around the world wanes. All while others rise, namely China and the BRICS coalition of nations. Most of its leaders are fatally corrupted, duplicitous and stupid. And its populace is struggling while a wealthy minority blames them for their plight and laughs in their faces. They are getting more and more angry, and things are likely to boil over soon.

For the world, the downside of all of this is a that we inhabit a very different portion of human history now. One with the looming existential behemoth of climate chaos on the horizon, the specter of artificial intelligence, and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. As it descends, the American Empire will lash out even more violently to regain its former glory, even if it is merely a myth. And this makes the next few years the most dangerous in all human history.

Like all empires, the American variation will eventually collapse. We can only hope that when it does, it won’t take everyone down with it as it goes.

Kenn Orphan, March 2025

The Madness of Fascism is the Point

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Like many of you, I watch the implosion of the United States in horror. It seems like madness. And on one level, it is. But on another, it is not. What I mean by the latter is that what is happening isn’t some random craziness. It is a calculated plan. It is the “tear it all down in order to build it up” approach, similar to how other fascist and authoritarian regimes operate.

These regimes see any democratic institution as an impediment to the glory of the state or the empire. Consolidation of power is viewed as the only way forward for saving it. Thus, the oligarch Elon Musk has been tasked with the unraveling. He has been given the keys to the kingdom. And like a petulant and sociopathic child, he has gone inside, turned over the crockery, fired all the servants and dumped out the treasure chest.

And this brings me to the Maga phenomenon. Because this is the heart of this particular iteration of fascism. “Make America Great Again” is of course a silly and sophomoric bit of nonsense. Which era of “greatness” do they mean? Indigenous genocide? Slavery? Lynching? Jim Crow? Red Scare? Bombing dozens of nations?

In reality, the only “great” part of America has been the magnitude of its scope, scale and power. If there is any noble greatness, it has come from its oppressed peoples. From Indigenous, Black, Brown, working class women, LGBTQ, and other marginalized communities who resisted the brutality of the American boot on their necks. Certainly not the ruling class that runs corporations and both political parties.

To the leadership of this cult of Maga, it is not only about demonizing, otherizing, scapegoating and persecuting anyone who is not white, cis-male, Christian, capitalist and heterosexual. This part is an essential characteristic of fascistic rule. But it is also about bullying the vassal and client states of the American Empire into submission. It knows it can’t do this with its own oligarchy, so it focuses on tributes, concessions and relinquishing of territory from rivals and allies. Its “great” past was one brimming in arrogant and unmerciful dominance. And this is the one they want to return to.

The problem is that the world is different now. The American Empire is in steep decline. Its prominence and prestige are waning. Even its vaunted dollar is increasingly tenuous. The unilateral hegemony it once knew is crumbling while other empires and coalitions rise. So, it is doing what all dying empires do. It installed a madman to restore its greatness.

And we should not think this madman is holding the US hostage. His approval rating among Americans has been mostly positive in these first few weeks. He embodies the very worst characteristics of the American stereotype. He is boorish, intolerant, anti-intellectual, averse to facts, arrogant and ruthless. And he is admired for this. This should not be surprising as all fascist leaders share similar traits and they enjoy cultish devotion because of them.

The problem with madmen is that they have a tendency to burn things down far greater than they build or rebuild things. And once fascism makes a home in a country it becomes exceedingly difficult to remove it. 

Kenn Orphan, February 2025

*title image is from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.