Monitor

America: One Nation Under Occupation

The promise of American carnage has arrived

Federal officers operate amid tear gas while clearing the street in front of the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse on July 21, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Photo: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.” — Author unknown

Given his latest authoritarian antics, one would think Donald Trump read this quote before he decided to send a cadre of armed men in camouflage to patrol American streets. If you have been paying attention since his inauguration speech, then the actions Trump has taken against the American people in the past few months, while extremely unsettling, are not shocking. On January 20, 2017, Trump, before a pitiful crowd, swore that “this American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” At that moment, no one could understand what he was talking about. At that time, thanks to President Barack Obama, the United States had been pulled from the Great Recession and was beating back climate change, the child obesity epidemic was under control, the housing market was on the upswing, and LGBTQ Americans could marry.

However, if you listened a little more carefully to Trump’s ominous message, you understood that he and his sycophants understood the “carnage” Trump was referring to were not actual bodies in the streets, but instead the decimation of the…