Normalization: A Tool of Fascism

It’s been a couple of weeks, hasn’t it?  With such outrageous abuses of power, and the chaos of actions and retractions, lies and reversals, it’s hard to keep track of the immensity of the horror of our country’s rapid descent into fascism. Remember that the chaos is intended to overwhelm us, and we must resist being overwhelmed. But in case you’ve been avoiding the news, here’s a mere sampling of the ways Trump and Musk are destroying America’s health, well-being, economy, education system, access to vital information, freedoms, and international stature.

Some of the science-related news:  The Administration has severely weakened the CDC in a time when measles and bird flu may both become epidemic—but of course we no longer have the ability to know the extent of those diseases’ spread since the government has discontinued the national collection of data. Medical research of every kind has been drastically cut. RFK Jr. has ordered a study of the link between vaccinations and autism, a link that has been scientifically disproven many times over. Meanwhile, he advises Americans to take cod liver oil to prevent measles, much as Trump advocated bleach and a horse sedative to prevent Covid during his first presidency. The layoffs and cancellations at NOAA and the US Geological Survey mean, among other things, that we in the earthquake-prone Northwest no longer have seismic monitoring in many locations. Eighty thousand jobs are on the chopping block at the Department of Veteran Affairs, strongly suggesting that Trump’s love for veterans goes only skin deep. Other cuts at the VA have hampered the capacity to sterilize medical instruments to be used in surgeries in VA hospitals. Cuts at the EPA are seeing immediate results as well. The Administration vigorously denies climate change, calling it a hoax, and has cut off all climate-change research and planning. Instead, they’re installing an Office of Faith, directly violating the separation of church and state.

The Consumer Protection Bureau, which has kept millions of Americans safe from scams, is just about dead. IRS offices are closing; jobs are being eliminated; we can no longer call the IRS with tax questions and expect anyone to pick up the phone. Arrests of those scapegoats our immigrant neighbors, continue apace; arrests of legally documented immigrants clearly show that ICE is not just rounding up “criminal” and undocumented people but anyone the government disagrees with. Meanwhile, stiff tariffs are on, then suspended, then on again, then partly off again—throwing the stock markets and American businesses into chaos and confusion (and, for example, adding up to $10,000 to the price of a new car).

MAGA has ordered the shuttering of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at universities, as well as in the government; the government also has a snitch line for reporting instructors or institutions who don’t comply. The government just snatched away $400 million in grant funding from Columbia University, making clear that encouraging educational opportunity for all is some kind of crime that will be punished. Their actions send a chill throughout higher education.

USAID has been gutted: over 85% of the grants for food and essential medicines and shelter, mostly for people in countries in Africa and Asia, have been cancelled, their lifelines to aid severed.

he fates of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare are in limbo. Trump says no one will touch Social Security, but with big job cuts there too, and Musk in control, many experts doubt whether we will receive our Social Security checks in the future.

Last week the DOGE website (DOGE.gov) listed hundreds of Federal buildings and properties to be sold off—but that list disappeared a couple of days ago.

This pattern of not only on-and-off, but self-contradiction, makes us feel like the unluckiest children in the world, abused, lied to, by psychotic or sociopathic parents.

The US’s likely abandonment of NATO, the absurd but real threats to Canada and Mexico, are part of the gravest of Trump’s moves: America’s rejection of its traditional allies and its cozying up to Russia and other dictatorships. And to invite Zelenskyy, a war hero, to the White House in order to call him a dictator and say he started the war, to set up that press conference in front of the cameras and then to berate him for speaking up in front of the cameras… that’s the strategy of sociopaths.

 Read the magnificent, clear speech by a French statesman, Claude Malhuret. Malhuret spoke to France’s Senate five days ago, and gave a rational, historically informed picture of the jaw-dropping malice of Trump’s realignment of American power and its consequences. It’s highly useful to hear a European perspective on the Trump regime and the damage it’s doing to the world order.

We want to end this overview with a reflection by a wise political observer.

“REALITY CHECK.” Andrew Weissmann is an attorney and professor; he was an Assistant US Attorney from 1991 to 2002; he has worked in the Department of Justice as chief of the Fraud section; he is currently a professor at NYU Law School, and a commentator on NBC.

This past Saturday, he eloquently expressed his alarm that all the Administration’s lies and cruelty are being normalized—for instance, that people are taking it as a “good sign” that the Supreme Court made a rational decision, agreeing with a lower court to uphold the injunction against Musk-Trump’s denial of foreign aid. When we hear the slightest shard of not-so-bad news, he says, we’re uplifted. It’s like putting your finger in the dike, behind which there is an enormous destructive tidal wave.

   Weissmann cites the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who, reflecting on World War II and the Holocaust, coined the famous phrase, the banality of evil. The banality of evil describes a mentality that can take hold, the sense that evil is normal and acceptable. Banality of evil is what allowed the German nation to normalize deportation, torture, and dehumanization of the Jews that ended up killing six million. The point is that unless people remain actively aware of what’s going on, they can get used to anything. Weissmann is right to be profoundly worried about that same process unfolding in Trump’s America.

He says the present normalization of lies and cruelty makes us “so thankful … when a little bit of good happens in a world of crazy.”  He gives many examples of the crazy; just one of Trump’s crazy acts, such as his blanket pardon of all the convicted January 6 rioters, should be enough for us to say “game over.” But no one has succeeded in declaring “game over.”

This is where we are, and nothing about it is normal. We must not allow MAGA to move the goalposts and try to convince us that things aren’t as bad as they are. In the big scheme of things in our highly abnormal country right now, we must not be distracted or placated by those shards of not-so-bad news.

  Finally, Weissmann raises the question of what to do about it: he assures us that there’s much each of us can do.  The main thing is make our voices heard, in all the ways we can. The power of elected officials comes from us. They work for us. Use your phones, use your wallet if you have the resources, definitely attend rallies and speak up and encourage others to do so as well. The bigger and louder our hue and cry, the more the polls will plunge, hopefully our elected representatives will find some courage, and the more movement in Olympia and Washington DC we’ll see. 

Find Weissmann’s video where he discusses this normalization here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HRMP8MFL18