On August 25, the White House released another executive order by U.S. president Donald Trump, ostensibly “to address the crime emergency in the District of Columbia” (D.C.). Coming on the heels of Trump’s hostile takeover of the D.C. police, and his deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard troops and hundreds of federal agents in the U.S. capital, Trump’s August 25 executive order represents a major escalation in his unmistakable march toward dictatorial rule.
In its first month in office, the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump has made clear in word and deed it represents a break from liberal democracy — the form of government that has prevailed in the United States through most of the country’s 250-year-long history. It is an abrupt shift to the right in U.S. politics, one with grave dangers for the working class and all who favor democracy. The evidence points to the danger of the rise of an incipient fascist movement. “Incipient” in the sense of beginning to come into being or to become apparent. This is the second of two parts.