The First Enemies of Fascism are Those Who Have a Voice
That doesn't mean giving up; it means fighting back harder
The freedom to dissent is a hallmark of democracy.
The foundational elements of liberty are the ability to challenge your elected leaders, oppose their actions, and hold the powerful accountable. If you can’t do that, then you don’t have freedom. You have the illusion of it.
In a democracy, leaders are meant to be servants of the people, not rulers over them.
When authoritarianism rears its ugly head, the first thing it seeks to do is silence dissent. In authoritarian regimes, heirarchy is everything; there is a favoured ‘in-group’ and a hated ‘out-group.’
While the out-group is marginalized, reviled and demonized to stoke fear and hate and force some semblance of unity, the government strips them of their power and credibility.
They pose little threat in that state. It’s like recess in the schoolyard; the big kids gang up on the little kids, and there isn’t much they can do to fight back.
The first real threat that the government has to deal with doesn’t come from the targeted ‘other.’ It comes from the members of the in-group. It’s the powerful, respected people at the peak of the heirarchy who publicly oppose them.
When one of the big kids turns around and protects the bullied little ones, it’s disruptive. It threatens the power structure. Bullies are cowards by nature, and when the person in front of them can actually fight back, they retreat.
The first targets of an authoritarian regime are the political opponants of the leader in charge. As the old poem says, in Nazi Germany, “First they came for the socialists…”
They had to go first, to pave the way for what would come later.
There’s a reason Gavin Newsom is being catapulted to the front of the resistance in Donald Trump’s mind.
There are many powerful, prominant progressive and moderate voices speaking out against the Trump administration and offering sustained, impactful resistance to the MAGA ideology and policies based on it.
People like Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who is utterly fearless in her criticism and entirely consistent. She is a staunch backer of voting rights and democracy, healthcare as a human right, and reproductive choice.
People like Zohran Mamdani, another unyielding critic of the Trump administration and a strong candidate promising real change and more financial stability for New Yorkers. He’s popular, beloved, and feared even by his own party because he bucks the status quo.
People like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, Senator Alex Padilla and of course, Senator Bernie Sanders.
These people have all stood up and raised questions, pushed back, and called out the corruption and illegal activity of the Trump administration — hell, Senator Padilla even got physically grabed, forced to the ground and handcuffed when he turned up at a press conference to demand answers.
There are so many people in positions of power who are pushing hard to fight back, and are not being centered in the discussion at all. Why? Well, they’ve all got something in common.
Most of them are easily dismissed by MAGA cultists as ‘DEI hires’ on account of their gender or skin colour, or are considered evil communists by right-wingers who think universal healthcare will bring about the collapse of society.
As such, they can be safely disregarded and ignored. They aren’t considered a real threat. They can be mocked without raising much outrage.
In order to stay in power, an authoritarian regime needs to silence dissent from within its own circles.
When you get powerful members of the in-group pushing back against the government’s position, it creates a schism. Their own base can wind up being split because they’re hearing complaints from the mouths of people they identify with and respect, not just the people they’ve been taught to look down on or hate.
So when a man like Governor Gavin Newsom steps into the limelight — regardless of his past actions attempting to placate Trump — he’s immediately sitting on the bullseye.
He’s a tall, relatively handsome white man with a strong backing, plenty of wealth and privilege and a history of replicating some Trump-aligned policies. Take his ‘Make America Film Again’ stunt, which I’ve heavily criticized in the past.
He wants to be the next President of the United States. I don’t think he should be, but that’s a different matter.
But Trump responds to him, not by ignoring him like he does with most of the people I’ve named above, but by calling him Gavin ‘Newscum’ and bashing his chances of ever winning a Presidential campaign because he’s incompetent.
It seems the Governor has struck a nerve. And to his credit, he decided to use this focused attention and take it to the front lines.
Now, I may have my issues with Newsom as I stated above, but don’t mistake me — I’m not saying he shouldn’t be fighting.
On the contrary. I’m thrilled.
Like I said, it’s members of the in-group that pose the greatest threat and offer the biggest challenge in the eyes of Trump’s base. It’s really shitty, and it’s utter racist, sexist bullshit, but that’s how it currently works.
Frankly, that’s how it’s worked for a while in the United States. Senator Elizabeth Warren can be rebuked and silenced for reading a letter, but when four male Senators step up to read the same letter later on, they’re allowed to speak.
It sucks, but there it is.
The fact is that in order to gain the attention and momentum required for real change, minority-led movements need the backing and support of white, straight, cis, able bodied allies.
Good allies who genuinely put the work in to understand what needs changing and fight for it — that’s so important. As long as they don’t try to take over the fight and speak over the people they claim to be trying to help, of course.
We’re allies, not leaders.
Speaking as a disabled LGBTQ+ woman, it’s so easy for people in power to dismiss my voice when I speak up. I get dismissed as a woke, blue-haired lib social justice warrior.
I don’t have blue hair, by the way. It’s brown. Sorry.
When one of their own repeats and amplifies my words, though, they damn well hear it.
So when somebody like Gavin Newsom steps up to back Senator Padilla after he is arrested and disrespected, it gets Trump’s attention. When he calls out JD Vance for getting Senator Padilla’s name wrong, it makes a splash.
When he talks about fighting dirty to curtail Republican attempts to subvert democracy because the situation is that dire, people listen.
When he insults Trump for his racism and corruption, his words catch headlines and get shared all over social media like wildfire. He becomes a lightning rod and a nemesis for the federal government, somebody they genuinely need to worry about.
This is good. It also means he’s in serious danger.
The first ememies of a fascist regime are those who have a voice that people will listen to and respect.
They’re the people who need silencing if the government is going to tighten its hold on power and kill the citizens’ power to fight back. By speaking out and taking action like he is, Governor Newsom is making himself into a target.
People like Newsom introduce doubt and dissent into the mix, and authoritarian leaders like Trump cannot let that fester. It introduces the possibility of revolt.
It ignites protest and inspires people to step up and say ‘no.’
MAGA cultists can ignore BLM activists and victims of police brutality and make up stories to smear them, they can dismiss Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett as a DEI hire, they can claim Kamala Harris only got her job by sleeping her way to the top.
None of those tactics work very well against Governor Newsom.
They can call him incompetent and blame him for things going wrong, but that doesn’t pack the same degrading punch as the insults they can lob at women and people of colour.
He’s dangerous. That’s why they’ve already started threatening him.
But Gavin is not the only one who has a voice, here. A lot of people fit the same profile as him. Lifelong Americans, citizens with privilege, people who fit the description of ‘real Americans’ as seen by MAGA.
Y’all have got a lot more power here than I think you realize. You just have to be willing to use it.
You see these MAGA assholes stirring shit, you get in their way. Be the neighbours holding hands to block ICE, be the person filming them and demanding to see their identification.
Be the people standing up at press conferences and making a stink at town halls, be the people choosing to amplify the voices of those who are being oppressed. Read their statements out loud, force the powers that be to hear them — though, please respect anonymity if requested.
Let the targeted groups lead, but back them up and use your privilege to build the momentum they need.
In Trump’s America, you can be the big kid who turns on the bully and stands in his way. And if enough of you do that, he’s going to get scared.
That’s how you preserve democracy.
By exercising your freedom to dissent before Trump manages to take it away.
Solidarity wins.
This time, this world we are in is totally not about politics. It’s not about parties or the labels we’ve been duped into believing are better-than or worse-than. It’s not about anything but the last gasp of empire. Its feet of clay time with none of the trusted ideas or ideals working anymore. All the noise is just distraction to keep humans sleeping while the planet implodes. To keep us from noticing that all the centuries of empire have resulted in the destruction of our home. As far as we know, there’s no playbook, no historical precedent, for human-induced planetary destruction. We can’t stop
It or prepare for it by ordinary means. The only path forward is quite literally to trust God and do whatever you can to help others in front of you. It’s feet of iron and clay time folks, and getting all worked up over the latest political outrage will just keep you distracted. The empire guys? Don’t worry about them. They have their reward. They honestly believe once they’ve squeezed everything they can out of nature and humanity they will jet off to Mars and start over again. I like Daniel 2 better. The rock that knocks Empire into oblivion and takes over the whole earth.