Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Donald Trump’s call for Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice to investigate the New York Times for running an anonymous op-ed that embarrassed his administration is a watershed moment. It represents Trump’s full shift from rhetorical to real-world fascist. The president has a history of flirting with authoritarian figures, be it his adoration of Kim Jong Un’s regime, or his efforts to foster stronger ties with Vladimir Putin. But his consistent verbal attacks on the media have now shifted to active efforts to criminalize dissent.
It’s one thing to complain about the press, but quite another to badger the Justice Department to engage in open partisan hackery by granting legal immunity to one’s political allies, while persecuting one’s “enemies” in the media. And yet, this is precisely what’s happened in recent days, via Trump’s slam on the Attorney General and the DOJ for bringing federal charges against Republican electoral candidates, and his pressuring of Sessions to begin a criminal investigation of the New York Times for publishing an op-ed from a disgruntled member of the administration labeling him/herself part of the Trump “resistance.”
We are living in very dangerous times. After sending up countless trial balloons over the last year-and-a-half, this president has now crossed over from a state of “aspirational fascism” to full-blown fascism. The “creeping” fascist president is no more, as…