By Glen Reaux

“What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” Donald J. Trump, July 24, 2018, Veteran of Foreign Wars convention, Kansas City.  This statement was made just eight days after the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki where Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to a question from an American reporter stated that he not only wanted Donald Trump to win the 2016 presidential election, he actually ordered Russian officials to help him win the election.

So, as an American Citizen you are forced to understand the question put forth by these monumental series of events, “Do I believe my eyes, ears, common sense, all of my years of education and my gut or do I believe Donald Trump who is currently under federal investigation for colluding with the Russians to defraud the American public and steal the 2016 election?”  The very man that Vladimir Putin boasted to the entire world that he wanted to win and that he ordered official interference in the American election to make that happen.  He is also under investigation for obstruction of justice.

Investigations into Russian interference have been conducted by the Senate, the House, the FBI and all seventeen US intelligence agencies.  All of which came to the same conclusion as stated by Vladimir Putin, Putin ordered the hacking and interference of the 2016 American election.  Knowing this, one must wonder how can The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, the only government official in this country and Russia deny the truth.  Russian president Putin proudly proclaimed it to the world.  So according to King Donald or Emperor Trump, he is right and the whole world is wrong. Are your eyes lying to you or is Trump?  In light of this he proudly said to a convention of our country’s finest heroes, men who fought and many of whom have suffered life changing injuries on behalf of this country, the Veteran’s of Foreign Wars, “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.”  In essence Trump said I’m right the world is all wrong and don’t believe your lying eyes.

Russia is by their own admission our greatest enemy.  This is the country that supported North Korea in the Korean War, the country that was kicked out of the G8 for invading Crimea, the country that has been cited by the United Nations for human rights violation and rigging its own elections, the country that has shot down civilian airliners with missiles, the country that attacked American troops in Syria during the months of February and March of this year, the country that attempted to place nuclear missiles ninety miles off of our southern shores, and finally on July 16^th proudly admitted to the world their interference in our 2016 presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump.  So basically Donald Trump has said to our greatest heroes you are fools if you believe anybody or anything but me.  No one or nothing else bears the truth, just me.  In making this statement to our heroes, Putin’s choice for president put all of America on notice; Don’t believe your lying eyes.  I am the truth and I shall set you free.  I am King Donald.

Despite the fact that Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation has brought forth five guilty pleas which include pleas from his foreign policy advisor George Papadopolous, deputy campaign Manager Rick Gates, campaign manager Paul Manafort, National Security Advisor General Mike Flynn, seventeen 17 indictments with more to come and Putin’s boastful admission of guilt, Trump says don’t believe any of this.  Your eyes and ears are lying to you.

This position is indicative of dictators such as Kim Jong-un, Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Bashar al-Assad, Rodrigo Duterte and most recently Vladimir Putin.  Trump has recently showered praise on Kim Jong-un, Duterte and Putin.  Is this the behavior of an American president, someone that has been compromised or that of an individual that desires to become a dictator. Throughout history, fascist states have been and are ruled by dictators.  While the very idea that this country could be ruled by a dictator is unfathomable, let us open our lying eyes.

To quote our 32^nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a true patriot and the only president to serve more than two terms, he served for 3 terms (12 years), “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”

The novelist Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Adolph Hitler (Germany), Benito Mussolini (Italy) and Franco (Spain).  All of these regimes functioned due to fourteen defining characteristics.  Thirteen of these fourteen characteristics are currently being exhibited by our government.  They are:

1.) Powerful and continuing nationalism “Make America Great Again”

2.) Disdain for the recognition of human rights – trumps separation of immigrant children from their parents, Trump’s promotion of police brutality, gutting of the voting rights act of 1965

3.) Identification of enemies/scapegoats – support of white supremacist/nationalist groups, race baiting, use of dog whistles and racist policies, Muslim ban, Hispanics are rapist, murderers, current immigration policy and build the border wall or I will shut down the government

4.) Supremacy of the military – Trump cabinet stacked with generals

5.) Rampant Sexism – Trump “grab them by the pussy”, public denigration of women

6.) Controlled mass media – fake news media, attack on the first amendment and free press

7.) Obsession with national security – border wall, increased military spending

8.) Corporate power is protected – corporations are people, Citizens United court decision, recent tax laws

9.) Labor power is suppressed – labor unions are under attack

10.) Disdain for intellectuals and the arts – education infrastructure and arts budgets are under attack

11.) Obsession with crime and punishment – Trump is the law and order president

12.) Rampant cronyism and corruption – Trumps cabinet and appointees

13.) Fraudulent elections – gerrymandering, Russian interference in 2016 and 2018 elections

When you compare these characteristics to those of Nazi Germany and World War II Fascist Italy and Spain you have to ask the question, are your eyes lying to you or is America becoming a fascist state with a fascist ruling party rallying around a fascist leader?  Is Trump like any other American President in history?  Is he defending the constitution form all enemies foreign and domestic?  Has an American president ever been less patriotic on the world stage like when Trump bent a knee and kissed Putin’s ring at the Helsinki press conference?

Do you really believe Trump when he says, “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,”   If so, then you might as well drink the fascist cool aid, become blinded in the process, kiss America the Beautiful goodbye, welcome America the Fascist, click your boots together, say zig hajl mein fuhrer to Donald Trump and “go gentle into that good night!”

If you don’t believe Trump, you must realize that America the Beautiful is under siege and now is the time to act.  Wake the American public.  As a symbol of our nation in distress, you must fly the American flag upside down before it’s too late.  Fly it from your car’s radio antenna, on your bumper or the back of your truck, outside your home, on your desk at work, on social media pages, in your emails and text, fly it everywhere.  Do it now!

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