A watch indicating a scant five minutes between America and an almost irrevocable loss of representational democracy may not seem like a good thing — it’s not — but considering that the last such image had the minute hand just one minute from midnight makes this edition of Fascism Watch something special. This is the first time, since these images began appearing following the election of Donald Trump, that the hands have move in the good direction, the direction that indicates democracy is more likely to survive this brush with autocracy.
The situation is far from good. Donald Trump is still employing the executive branch to selectively regulate the economy, picking and choosing winners by the extent to which they contributed to his campaign and limitless inauguration fund. ICE and other agencies continue to detain American citizens on suspicion of being not-white. Republican efforts to pack the courts with judges that will hammer their conservative social requirements reached a fresh peak in the last week as the Supreme Court allowed Trump to enforce his trans-ban within the military.
And yet … the reopening the government with an agreement that gave Trump not one inch of what he had requested demonstrated a genuine moment of triumph for resistance inside and outside government. The direct cause of Trump’s collapse was stalwart unity among Democratic legislators, bolstered by sterling leadership from Nancy Pelosi. That unity was bolstered by some very smart actions among new legislators, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who has proven to be a genuine treasure since arriving in Washington. And none of that might have mattered had not polling repeatedly demonstrated that the public did not support Donald Trump’s actions. The results at the polls in November weren’t a one time thing.
Also in the past week, special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment and arrest of Roger Stone demonstrates a willingness inside the Justice Department to pursue a man who has, for four decades, gleefully abused every aspect of American Democracy and formed a key link between old guard dirty tricksters and new right willingness to replace democracy with almost anything else. Together Stone and his long time partner Paul Manafort have defined the politics of sociopaths. Their departure from the scene in orange jumpsuits is an undiluted good.
At the end of the week, Trump retains the threat to use the national emergency act to have his way, and there is still the threat that in his react-first, think-never way, he will employ that threat just to get Ann stop calling him a ‘wimp.’ But Trump emerges from his bedroom this morning a considerably weakened figure. The real crisis triggered by his election is far from over. But this week it’s winding back, by four minutes.
In other news, Fascism Watch’s “papa,” the Doomsday Clock, remained locked at two minutes to midnight this week.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is keeping the Doomsday Clock set at two minutes to midnight — a metaphor for the end of the world — calling the threats against humankind “a new abnormal.”
The scientists announced Thursday that the clock is stuck at 11:58, citing nuclear weapons and climate change as two existential risks that leave the world dangerously close to an apocalypse.