The Green Party has long been the canary in the coal mine. It is our duty to build a ground up movement to take our country back from the oligarchy. The urgency of this moment demands courage to denounce injustice and rally Greens to fight tyranny.
Under the leadership of Donald Trump, America is witnessing an unprecedented assault on free speech and due process of the law. We are facing a Constitutional Crisis, as Trump continues to defy two court rulings to return deported migrants to the United States, who are now imprisoned in El Salvador’s CECOT (Center for Terrorism Confinement) prison. Trump claims that those deported migrants are members of the dangerous criminal gangs MS-13 from El Salvador or Tren de Aragua from Venezuela. The Trump Administration has designated each of these gangs as terrorist organizations. NO individual deported to CECOT was given a court hearing about their deportation and alleged ties to criminal gangs. 90% of them have no criminal record in the United States. They were grabbed off the streets by ICE agents and arrested before being deported.
On April 10th, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia must be returned to the United States because his deportation was illegal due to a withholding order already in place barring his removal to El Salvador. He claims to have left that country to escape the MS-13 gang. Government officials admit his deportation was an administrative error. The Trump administration argues that since Garcia is El Salvador that the Supreme Court ruling does not apply and the El Salvadoran government now has jurisdiction over his fate. The Supreme Court has refuted the Trump Administration’s argument as incorrect. The El Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele is refusing to release Garcia. The El Salvadoran government was paid $20,000 per head by the US government to house the migrants now designated as terrorists. Donald Trump has formed close ties to Nayib Bukele.
This constitutional crisis is taking place simultaneously with the arrest of foreign Visa students and Green Card holders, who have protested against Israel’s Gaza genocide while supporting a Free Palestine. The Trump Administration claims the students are engaging in Antisemitic protests that support Hamas terrorists. Columbia graduate and permanent US resident, Mahmood Khalil was the first to be illegally arrested without a warrant by unidentified ICE agents and flown to a detention center in Louisiana. He has broken no laws and is married to an American citizen. He was involved as a negotiator between Palestinian rights student demonstrators and the Columbia University administration. The second arrested was Tufts University Ph.D student Rumeysa Ozturk, who merely co-authored an op-ed. Other arrests of law abiding individuals have followed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming to have a list of 300 students that the Trump administration plans to deport.
In both cases, the excuse of terrorism was used to disregard the rule of law and the First Amendment. These blatant authoritarian acts have shocked many Americans and people around the world. Most liberal critics will argue that these actions by the Trump Administration are a radical departure for the norm. A look at the past 24 years shows this is inaccurate. The Trump dictatorship is the logical progression of the steps toward fascism, that began after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, with the Patriot Act and incarcerating terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Every presidential administration since 2001, whether Republican or Democrat, has continued the assault on civil liberties. Things have been heating up for decades, but most Americans have hardly noticed or been at all concerned. Now that the assault on civil liberties is coming to a boil, many more people are alarmed. We are witnessing a dramatic shift from Democracy to Fascism. This shift has always had an imperialist agenda behind it, that required suppressing dissent to control public opinion.
The US government did not bring us to this point without some consent from the governed. It is the failure of the American people to break from the two party system that has led to the rise of American fascism. The majority of Americans have continued to vote for their perceived lesser of two evils candidate. As long as Americans continue the back and forth between the duopoly parties, our country and constitutional rights will only continue to deteriorate.
There is a growing angry grassroots opposition to Trump’s policies including the illegal deportations along with the firing of federal workers and gutting of public agencies like the Social Security and Veterans Administrations. The nationwide Hands Off protests saw huge turnouts. Bernie Sanders and AOC’s “Fight Oligarchy” tour are Sanders largest rallies ever. However these events are designed to corral Progressive activists inside the Democratic Party and not challenge US imperialism or the Israel Lobby.
Bernie said it was a sad day when Trump announced his goal to end the Ukraine War. Bernie has repeatedly stated at the events, that “Israel has a right to defend itself” and “we must be very careful about using the word “genocide.” He has received angry responses and chants of “Free Palestine” interrupting his speeches. At a Fight Oligarchy event in Nampa, Idaho, two anti-genocide protesters were arrested for unfurling a Palestinian flag in response to Bernie’s defense of Israel. Sanders remained silent and ignored their arrest.
This exposes the completely fraudulent nature of the Sanders – AOC Fight Oligarchy tour. Bernie is doing exactly what Zionist billionaire and Trump donor Miriam Adleson would want him to do. It’s the billionaires that benefit from US imperialism, not the working class. It is the poor man that fights the rich man’s wars.
The Hands Off protests have been organized by the Democratic Party and its front groups like Indivisible. Along with people protesting deportations and DOGE cuts, there is a large contingent with Ukraine flags opposing Trump’s effort to end the war. There is a general absence of Stop the Gaza genocide, Stop bombing Yemen and No war with Iran at the Hands Off protests, while Hands Off NATO was listed on the event posters.
The Green Party has long been the canary in the coal mine. It is our duty to build a ground up movement to take our country back from the oligarchy. If America is ever to free itself from the stranglehold of the oligarchs it must denounce the entire Washington DC political establishment and not just the Trump Administration. The urgency of this moment demands courage to denounce the injustice and fight tyranny.
The Assault of Civil Liberties Over Four Presidential Administrations
1. Bush Administration: Torture (waterboarding, etc.) of detainees at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and foreign Black Sites. Spying on Americans with the Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping. Creation of the Department of Homeland Security.
In her book END OF AMERICA – Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot (2007) Naomi Wolf identifies the 10 steps that every democratic country takes to become a fascist state (or in order words, “Closing down an open society”). Every Fascist government has used the excuse of terrorism to crack down on civil liberties. All 10 steps were taken by the Bush Administration.
The 10 steps are as follows:
1. Invoke An External and Internal Threat
2. Establish Secret Prisons
3. Develop A Paramilitary Force
4. Surveil Ordinary Citizens
5. Infiltrate Citizens’ Groups
6. Arbitrarily Detain and Release Citizens.
7. Target Key Individuals.
8. Restrict The Press.
9. Cast Criticism as “Espionage” and Dissent as “Treason”
10. Subvert The Rule of Law
A documentary film about the book, End Of America was released in 2008.
Short video about the 2008 documentary was also released. Important information includes an American journalist who spent over 200 days in prison for not turning over video he filmed of a protest. Naomi Wolf was on the dangerous to fly list for speaking out on the Bush Administration’s assault on the Constitution and the rule of law.
2. Obama Administration: His Drone Program killed an American citizen and very few terrorists. Less than 2% of the foreign citizens killed in US military drone strikes were terrorists.
Section 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 NDAA.
Support Due Process: Repeal Sections 1021 and 1022 of the NDAA
* The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) was signed into law by President Obama on December 31, 2011. The law authorizes the U.S. military to carry out domestic anti-terrorism operations and indefinitely detain Americans and others suspected of terrorism without charge or trial.
* Section 1021 of the NDAA vaguely endorses the claimed presidential authority to indefinitely detain Americans as enemy combatants under “existing law,” i.e. the Authorization to Use Military Force Act.
* Section 1021 of the NDAA explicitly allows for the indefinite detention of Americans captured abroad, as well as foreigners.
* Section 1022 of the NDAA authorizes the indefinite military detention of Americans. While this section does not require the military to detain U.S. citizens, the authority or option to do so remains.*
* The power to indefinitely detain individuals under the NDAA remains “until the end of hostilities” — an indefinite and undetermined length of time.Â
* The NDAA is unconstitutional as it disregards the Fifth Amendment guarantee of due process for “all persons” and the Sixth Amendment right to a fair and speedy trial.’
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012 Information for Concerned Activists
“Section 1021 is more expansive, as it seems to authorize detention of Al Qaeda members, as well as those who support Al Qaeda or “associated forces.” ere is no limitation requiring knowledge or intent to support Al Qaeda, and no limitation on what is meant by “associated forces.” e law could be interpreted to extend to someone who unwittingly donates money to a charity they believe supports orphans but is really an Al Qaeda front, or to members of groups which did not exist at the time of 9/11 and have no actual connection to Al Qaeda, but who the government says are inspired by (and thereby associated) with Al Qaeda.”
3. Trump Administration -1st term: COVID-19 pandemic response was an exercise in controlling the population by fear. There was massive social media censorship to stifle scientific debate on COVID-19. The CARES Act became the largest upward transfer of wealth in history. In 2020, 85 million Americans fell into poverty during the lockdown while Wall Street billionaires added significantly to their wealth. Low interest rates and the infusion of over $6 trillion into the banks from the CARES Act and the Federal Reserve fueled Market speculation with Cryptocurrency and many stocks attaining record highs.
Note some of the steps taken: 1. Invoke An External and Internal Threat. 8. Restrict the Press.
Similar to the Crash of 2008, the duopoly always protects the interests of the billionaire ruling class. They privatize the profits while socializing the losses.
4. Biden Administration: Social media censorship on COVID-19 vaccines continues. This leads to more censorship of individuals opposing the Western narrative that the Ukraine War was “an unprovoked invasion by Russia.” RT America shut down and its YouTube channel was removed. The young journalist and political commentator, Jackson Hinkle was suspended from Patreon, Paypal and finally YouTube for speaking out about the US proxy war against Russia and reading Russian media articles from RT and Tass.
In 2023, Uhuru 3 were charged by the DOJ for acting as unregistered foreign agents of Russia. Members of the Uhuru Movement and African People’s Socialist Party had traveled to Russia. In 2022, Uhuru chairman Omali Yeshitela declared Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a defensive act. In 2024, the three individuals were acquitted of the foreign agent charge but found guilty on the conspiracy charge. They received no jail time and were sentenced with time served for doing community service.
On August 7, 2024 the FBI raided the house of former UN Weapons Inspector and Marine Intelligence officer, Scott Ritter seizing his electronic devices and documents for suspicion of acting as an unregistered foreign agent of Russia. Scott Ritter has been an outspoken critic of US foreign policy, especially the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
Ritter had traveled to Russia in December 2023. He had plans to attend the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia in June 2024 but was removed from a commercial flight by US Customs and Border Agents on orders from the State Department.
The Brutal police crackdown on Palestinian rights student protests began during the Biden Administration. President Biden mislabeled the protests as Antisemitism and encouraged university administrators to end the Gaza encampments. He did not condemn the police brutality or acknowledge the violence committed by Pro-Israel students.
The House of Representatives passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act which would codify into law the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism , which included criticism of Israel and Zionism. The author of IHRA’s working definition testified before Congress and objected to it being codified into law. Three university presidents were forced to resign after being interrogated by Congress. Teachers were fired and students were suspended for participating in the anti-genocide protests.
5. Trump Administration 2nd Term – The Present:
1. Invoke An External and Internal Threat = immigrants are criminals and gang members and foreign Visa students who are Palestinian activists.
2. Establish Secret Prisons = CECOT in El Salvador
3. Develop A Paramilitary Force = ICE agents in plain clothes.
4. Surveil Ordinary Citizens = Pro-Palestinian activists.
5. Infiltrate Citizens’ Groups = Thanks to social media platforms, government officials can infiltrate grassroots movements and activist organizations easier than ever before. Police departments are using the social media monitoring service Dataminr.
6. Arbitrarily Detain and Release Citizens = Foreign Visa students protesting against Israel’s genocide on University campuses. Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi is released from detention while his deportation is ongoing. Mahmood Khalil and Tufts University Ph.D student Rumeysa Ozturk remain in an ICE detention center in Louisiana while their deportation case is slowly dragging on.
7. Target Key Individuals = Columbia graduate, Green Card holder and Palestinian activist Mahmood Khalil. A Letter From Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil
8. Restrict The Press. US Justice Department rescinds Biden-era protections for press
9. Cast Criticism as “Espionage” and Dissent as “Treason”
10. Subvert The Rule of Law – Ignore Federal judge order and Supreme Court ruling. Arrest a Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan. Trump says “the courts are holding us back.”
Stay tuned for more to come. Things will likely get worse. Never a dull moment.