Purge Thy Neighbor (or Worse)
Back in April of 2023, I wrote a post here, warning of “the language of eradication in America” and citing examples of public figures who want to be rid of their countrymen. It begins with complaints about people “among us” who are “not like us.” History indicates that it ends in ethnic cleansing or genocide.
Donald Trump and Stephen Miller are doubling down on plans for mass detentions and deportations. Don’t fall into a game of “just the tip” and believe that it will stop with migrants. Rhetoric indicates that all opponents of the Trump / MAGA movement will be in jeopardy. Various people of lesser fame that I pay attention to, in measurement of right wing sentiment, continue to follow a pattern of escalating rage and ill will, then suspicious distraction with mundane things.
I won’t gloat and say, “You read it here last April,” but instead warn that the DOJ and courts are contorting themselves in an effort to not jail Trump pretrial. While he is still free, he takes advantage by continuing to rant in favor of purges during rallies, interviews, and in social media.
Expect attempts to finish the coup started by Trump in 2020, which went hot on January 6th, 2021. J6 was a calculated move to take the government, with an assumption that there would be no slaughter of the massed insurrectionists. There is no such calculus for the next try; mob action after a Trump conviction or electoral loss could be extremely ugly.
In her book, “Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915–1930” , Jelly J. Baker cites early 20th century Christian nationalist rhetoric from the Klan which is startlingly similar to the modern far right agenda: Seven Mountains Dominionism and Project 2025. Today’s Republicans, who live among us, are fully on board with the MAGA extremists. They will at least accept the belief that there should be no separation of church and state, and that the United States is a Christian nation, with a Bill of Rights which originated from God. Those same people absolutely hate the Fourteenth Amendment (and seem blind to the violent history of the Reconstruction era christofascist Klan).
Baker’s account of the Klan reveals stunning similarities between those early twentieth century christofascists and present day MAGA Republicans. In summary: they weren’t defeated, but instead adapted, went undercover, got stronger, and are now mainstream. They don’t wear hoods because they no longer need to.
At the very least, it is necessary for every sane person to refuse to elect them, and convince others to make the same refusal.
Stand in the front door of your residence. Look to your left and to your right. One of your neighbors will vote for Trump, the fascist Republican front runner. If you get lured into a debate with them, you may hear talking points about “elderly Biden, low taxes, industrial deregulation, or law and order.” Never, ever forget that those words are part of that game called “just the tip.” The subsequent game, to be played on you, is called “purge thy neighbor.”
