Fighting Fascism with Dumbledore’s Army

It is a normal, very human urge to want to stand your ground against an antagonist. It is a very classical Western concept as well; the light of individuality, justice, hope, etc. resisting tyranny and wickedness. For several years now, this classic conflict has sparked and raged across much of the world, and focused right here in the United States. It was set in motion by the declaration of a New York real estate mogul that he intended to run for the office of the presidency. What came next was a hurricane of socio-political activity most people hadn’t seen in their lifetimes up to that point, and the fallout and ramifications would linger long after he left office.

What many Americans fail to realize is that Donald Trump is “literally” Hitler. The man might be a fairly milquetoast centrist who leans right economically and conservative on some social matters, but with famous men and politicians alike, perception is often more true to the public than reality. How many examples have we seen of news media or the leftists decry Trump’s actions or statements, or outrage at his behavior, only for it to be shadowed by their own hypocrisy or villainy? A mean tweet or callous statement is somehow worse on a moral scale than drone striking non-combatants or the systematic slaughter of the unborn; the morality of one’s actions no longer matter, rather, it is the perception and reception of their actions that render public judgment. With the scandal involving (soon-to-be former) Governor Cuomo of New York, it is clear as day that to modern America getting seniors killed by forced regulations somehow pales in comparison to the crime of “sexual harassment.” While the allegations against Cuomo are certainly nothing to make light of, it stands to reason that given that the allegations are harassment rather than outright assault, that Cuomo’s actions never went beyond words and hugs with these women; as such, Cuomo getting people killed by a sloppy COVID response is entirely fine while sexualized words and touching are not.

The last four years of Trump’s Nazi rule were brutal for marginalized and oppressed groups in America. People of Color were rounded up on the streets by MAGA hat wearing death squads. Young feminists were dragged through public spaces having their heads and armpits shaved by marauding gangs of Chads in polo shirts and khakis. LGBTQ+ individuals (and actors) were tarred, feathered, beaten, and denied any and all civil rights, while white supremacists yelled victoriously, “This is MAGA Country!” Mexican children were locked in sweltering cages as ruthless, sadistic guards spat tobacco juice at them. Elections were stolen with the help of the evil Russians. Believe it or not, but it was worse than The Handmaid’s Tale. Overseas, poor Syrian children cried themselves to sleep knowing that no American bombs would be falling on their houses. This author can scarcely recall such morose days without suffering a nervous breakdown.

Oh, wait a moment. None of that happened, and every “marginalized” group spent the last four years flexing on the fact that people, who were supposedly powerless and in the minority, used their unironic privilege afforded to them by an occupied nation brainwashing its citizens into self-hatred to utterly destroy any sense of identity or self. The Trump, excuse me, Hitlerian, presidency showed us that, contrary to the claim that they have no control, they have all of it. Or, they will shame, bully, and physically attack people until they do. It isn’t just one interest group either, it is the umbrella of “marginalized” peoples. If a group of hyenas are picking at the corpse of a lion they killed while it slept, it is insanity to call the hyenas oppressed. But, when they return to the watering hole, the scavengers will testify to the courts of the jungle that the lion deserved his fate by being so good at hunting and with such a mighty roar. It was making the other animals feel discriminated against. It does not matter what the lion did, it does not matter what Trump did, it does not matter what you did. You exist as you are, and are, therefore, an antagonist to the neoliberal world view. That is the only crime against them that you have committed, and it is the only one you ever need to.

Standing against this age of supposed fascism and autocrats are the brave young men, women, and transgenders of Dumbledore’s Army, the Rebel Alliance, and real patriots who love freedom and democracy. Known to reality as brainwashed soy-induced millennials and zoomers who feel a psychological compulsion to label anything arrayed against them as a servant of the Dark Lords of the Sith. These are people who think the Republican Party are a cabal of evil overlords with tremendous guile and vile brilliance, yet in reality they’re greedy idiots who can’t stop panhandling to both the Christian Right, ideological libertarians and civic nationalist-style patriots, and are all too eager to sell out to their enemies as long as the money flows and no one calls them a bigot. The amount of bravery it takes to be a rebel freedom fighter in modern America is the apex of virtue and civic duty. Twitter and Tik-Tok are the domains of those who love democracy and equality. We have spent half a decade, as a country, entertaining these fantasies and the delusions to the point where political discourse is dead, and no political or civic solution remains.

What was once the world’s foremost superpower has been rendered into a social justice playground by people who believe spineless Republicans are actual fascists, women have penises, and that maple syrup is racist. People who unironically compare political figures to Voldemort control the narrative now, and as such, Donald Trump is Hitler. He is Voldemort, he is Emperor Palpatine, he is Snoke, he is some Marvel Comics villain (I know nothing about cape movies). And, so is the next guy to genuinely pose a threat to the Left, even if they’re hardly a rightwinger themselves. So is the next, and the next, and all of them from now until the shattering of the firmly established neoliberal order in the Western world.

What the Trump presidency established is that no matter how hollow or disappointing a political leader or public figure is, anyone who deviates slightly from the neoliberal new age will be promptly destroyed, their memory erased, and described as “literally Hitler.”

Buckle up, cowpokes. This is the beginning.