The rogues’ gallery that Donald Trump is filling with prospective cabinet nominees foreshadows the anti-people policy offensive that’s coming when he seizes power in January, but the fascist grassroots isn’t waiting around until then. Online, in schools, and on the streets, the Trump terror is already starting.
While analysts and economists debate the financial and other factors that might have convinced millions of people to vote for Trump last week, it’s undeniable that for hardcore MAGA loyalists, the Republican nominee’s open racism and sexism were among the most important incentives driving them to the polls.
With their leader on the way back to the White House, they’re feeling emboldened and ramping up their threats and intimidation against people of color, immigrants, and women.
On Nov. 6, the morning after Trump’s win, African Americans – including children and students at HBCUs – in locales all around the country started receiving text messages that included some variations of the following:
“Greetings,
You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 1:00 pm SHARP with your belongings. Our Executive Slaves will come get you in a Brown Van, be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter the plantation. You are in Plantation Group C. good day.”
The FBI, the Attorneys General of Virginia, Ohio, and D.C., along with several schools and universities are all investigating. The spam messages were reported in at least ten states and followed a wave of bomb threats that targeted majority Black polling locations on Election Day.
As NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson points out, the texts and threats “perpetuate a legacy of evil that dates back to before the Jim Crow era.”
Meanwhile, “Close the Border” rallies in Massachusetts and other places are targeting immigrants and ginning up support for the deportation schemes of Trump and his new “border czar,” Tom Homan. A Sunday event in Boston slammed Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who has refused to commit state resources to any mass migrant roundup.
Among the chants popular with attendees: “They should all be out of here.” These initial protests are probably only a preview of what’s to come in the next few months when several states and cities work to block Trump’s pending anti-immigrant raids.
But perhaps it is the motivating power of misogyny that has been on the most blatant display over the last several days. “Your body, my choice” – the Trump boys’ pro-rape rallying call, has flooded social media and jumped over into the real world as well.
The new MAGA mantra is a twisted inversion of the “my body, my choice” slogan, which asserts women’s autonomy over their bodies and the right to make their own health, reproductive, and sexual choices.
White supremacist and former Trump dinner guest Nick Fuentes coined the phrase on election night, posting on X: “Your body, my choice. Forever.” The declaration of male supremacy over women comes as no surprise, of course, as the adjudicated rapist Trump built his campaign on appealing to misogyny and a hierarchical gender order.
Pro-Trump men have adopted the slogan, and it’s spreading like wildfire. The far-right “Groyper Army” of online trolls, Gen Z men, white nationalists, Elon Musk fanboys, and others see Trump’s return to power as their moment. They believe this is their chance to make male dominance mainstream in society again. Shirts and hats are now being sold with the slogan.
These successors to the “alt-right” phenomenon of 2016-17 peddle in memes, “jokes,” and supposed sarcasm, but the politics behind the humor façade are deadly serious. They are out to normalize the idea that women’s body autonomy is conditional and that those conditions are to be dictated by men.
Women and girls are being attacked and taunted with the slogan on TikTok, in school hallways, on public transit, and in workplaces. And the attacks are not just about reproductive health choices – they’re also a threat of forced sex. Rape is being openly threatened.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue tracked the use of the “your body, my choice” slogan and similar phrases, like “get back to the kitchen” and “repeal the 19th,” on X, TikTok, Facebook, and Reddit during the five days after the election. The results showed a 4,600% increase in usage compared to the month prior.
The latter phrase refers to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote in 1920 and was the product of the long campaign for women’s suffrage. “Repeal the 19th” is likely being propelled by a particular event.
Just a few days before the election, Trump adviser John McEntee posted a video on X saying, “They misunderstood. When we said we wanted mail-only voting, we meant male—’M-A-L-E.’ Sorry, we want MALE only voting. The 19th might have to go.” The video has been viewed millions of times.
Even cruder and more derogatory language has been used on such platforms to degrade particular women, including Kamala Harris and TV personalities like Rachel Maddow. There’s no need to repeat it here.
The takeaway for those struggling against fascism and for economic and social justice is that anti-racism and anti-misogyny must remain central principles of our movements and should figure prominently in everything we say and do.
As groups coalesce to plan the resistance to the next Trump regime and strategize how to go about strengthening and re-building working-class unity, they will also have to work to expose and combat the reactionary elements emboldened by the election results.
As important as inflation and other economic factors are in understanding the Trump win, another part of the explanation is that open white supremacy, nativism, and misogyny are exactly the things that fired up a huge chunk of the voters who cast ballots for him. These groups were neither deceived nor tricked; they knew exactly what they were voting for.
The needs, interests, and perspectives of African Americans, women, Latinos, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and other targeted groups cannot take a back seat in the fights ahead, which is effectively what some “anti-woke” commentators in the liberal media establishment are advocating. Racism, sexism, and homophobia, just like rising prices and wealth inequality, are also class issues.
The way to beat them is not to retreat into our own circles or spurn any possible allies. Unity is still the best weapon our movements have, and that unity is what’s needed so we can both protect those who are currently in the far-right’s crosshairs and also bring new forces into our coalitions.
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, this article reflects the views of its author.
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