We suffered first so we're justified in making others suffer

I finished reading All Boys Aren’t Blue by George Matthew Johnson. Yes, it is one of the frequently banned books. Johnson tells the story of growing up both black and queer. Along the way he explains things because he wants young black and queer kids to know things he learned the hard way. His ability to explain (well, that and a couple sex scenes) is why the book is so frequently targeted for banning. He talks about trauma and how we don’t help kids to recover from trauma. He talks about being effeminate and more comfortable playing with girls than boys and the girls more accepting of him than the boys are, though when challenged to play football he’s pretty good. He talks about microaggressions and explains what they are and how the target can respond. He also talks about his family. As he grows he discovers his extended family’s LGBTQ members – a cousin who is trans, a much older half brother and a cousin who are gay. So his family is an oasis and the families of other black queer kids are not. He is especially thankful for his grandmother, called Nanny, who is a major caregiver because his parents work long hours. She also recognizes why he doesn’t have a circle of friends and provides that friendship. He talks about names. He is called by his middle name and doesn’t learn of his first name until well into his school years. He goes into a Catholic high school and they insist on using his first name. So he’s Matthew to some and George to others. He says we have a right to name ourselves. He thinks college in another state will allow him to be fully out, but his hesitancy follows him. He understands that now – even if a child knows they will be accepted they still may not be ready to tell others. And a person should take the time they need. I highly recommend this one. Johnson writes at a level a teenager can understand and explains things well. It’s also a pretty good story. Charles Jay of the Daily Kos community wrote about the similarities between the nasty guy and Hitler. This was prompted by the nasty guy referring to the January 6 insurrectionists as martyrs. After showing where and when the nasty guy called them martyrs Jay quoted one of Yale history professor Timothy Snyder’s Substack articles.

The cult of criminals as martyrs also suggests a historical context: the fascist politics of violence. Before Hitler came to power, Goebbels worked hard to find a violent Nazi who could be portrayed as a victim of the far left. He eventually found a dubious character called Horst Wessel, who became the subject of the Nazis' main song. Trump has made an eerily similar move, turning his coup criminals into musicians of martyrdom. The fascist-style martyrdom cult justifies violence, in two ways. It makes a hero of criminals, thereby making criminality exemplary. And it establishes prior innocence – we suffered first, and therefore anything we do to make others suffer will always be justified. The Nazis sang their Horst Wessel Song as they conquered countries and killed millions.

Jay also quoted New York University historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarian leaders.

Fascism evolved out of paramilitary environments, with a cult leader who orchestrated violence. Once in power, Fascists used propaganda to change the public's perception of violence, associating it with patriotism and national defense against internal and external enemies. Rallies were crucial to that end.

We’re not immune from fascism. An Associated Press article posted on Kos begins:

Donald Trump's new joint fundraising agreement with the Republican National Committee directs donations to his campaign and a political action committee that pays the former president's legal bills before the RNC gets a cut, according to a fundraising invitation obtained by The Associated Press.

Give to the RNC and a big chunk goes to the nasty guy’s campaign (and a chunk of that goes to his legal bills). Another big chunk goes to this Save America PAC and most of that goes to pay the nasty guy’s legal bills. Whatever is left over goes to the RNC where they might have a few coins to help other Republicans get elected. In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin had a couple interesting quotes. First, from Bill Scher of Washington Monthly. Scher talks about the ominous things the nasty guy says, like he recently said, “bloodbath.” Democrats should not get caught in trying to parse what he was referring to and what it means. That debate obscures the problem. Instead, the Biden team and other Democrats can simply say:

There he goes again, turning Americans against each other with irresponsible rhetoric. We know how this ends.

Dworkin quoted David Rothkopf, writing in Haaretz, which is pretty much summarized in the title.

If Gaza's Children Starve, Israel Will Lose Its Moral Legitimacy Forever

Down in the comments is a cartoon posted by Joe Heller. A man going through airport security asks, “Why am I scrutinized more than the aircraft?” David Nir of Kos Elections reported that Rep. Ken Buck, who had announced his resignation from the House previously had his last day Friday, leaving as the Passover/Easter break began. Also on Friday Rep. Mike Gallagher announced his resignation, effective April 19. While Buck will be replace by June, Gallagher resigned after certain deadlines so his seat won’t be filled until November. Add to that a special election for a safely blue seat to be filled on April 30 and the Republican majority will be down to one vote. That might be why many Republicans aren’t willing to oust Johnson. They’re afraid he’ll be replaced with a Democrat. In another pundit roundup Dworkin quoted Thomas Zimmer writing for his Democracy Americana on Substack and about Project 2025. That’s the effort to have authoritarian plans in place for any future Republican president who may want to use them. Zimmer notes that many people believe a second nasty guy presidency would feature the bumbling oaf of the first, and that Republican are too fractured to have the necessary discipline for an ambitious agenda. Then Zimmer wrote:

But too strong a focus on Trump’s erratic nature and the many rivalries on the Right obscures the fact that reactionaries are actually united by the desire to punish their enemies, “take back” the country, and restore the “natural order” of unquestioned white Christian patriarchal rule – a unity that is indicative of a broader realignment on the Right towards an aggressive embrace of state authoritarianism.

A meme and a cartoon from the comments in a third pundit roundup. The meme was posted by Kos member exlrrp.

Best meme of the day, bar none [Photo of Biden] Raised the bar [Photo of Rep. Jim Jordan] Failed the bar [Rep. Lauren Boebert] Worked at a bar [Rudy Giuliani] Lives at the bar [Eric Trump] Can’t spell “The Bar” [nasty guy] Should be behind bars

A cartoon by M. Wuerker shows a huge crowd with signs and banners that say: Love, Say No to Hate, United We Stand, Hate Has No Home Here, Hope. In front of them are four people, one in a Klan robe, holding up: Hate. The many people of the media are focused on the four people and not the huge crowd. The news has been full of reports from Moscow about a concert hall that had been attacked. There are 133 reported dead, many more injured. The attackers used explosives to burn the hall, leaving it a ruin. ISIS extremists claimed credit for the attack. The US says they had warned Putin. Thom Hartmann of the Kos community discussed what came next. When Putin finally gave an address he didn’t mention ISIS. He did try to link the attack to Ukraine. And the “special operation” has officially become a war. Hartmann then discussed when other such attacks gave a despot an opportunity to attack his perceived enemies. Back in 2002 another attack on a Moscow theater gave Putin the chance to massively attack Chechnya. The Reichstag fire in Berlin in 1933 prompted Hitler (who had been warned) to implement his harsh takeover of Germany. In 2001 Bush II (who had been warned) used the 9/11 attack to launch a war in Afghanistan and Iraq (yeah, 9/11 had nothing to do with Iraq, which is the point). Last year Netanyahu of Israel ignored the warnings of an attack by Hamas and when it happened he used it as a reason to commence what now looks like an attempt at genocide of Palestinians. And in 1914 the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo triggered WWI. So will Putin use a ruined theater and 133 dead and many more injured as a reason to massively bomb Kyiv? That would provoke a stronger response from NATO which has several countries considered Putin’s likely next targets. Now combine that with the Republicans in Congress holding up military aid to Ukraine. Will this attack be what triggers WWIII?