An American Gestapo

 During the Red Scare of the 1950's Senator Joseph McCarthy proclaimed the American government was rife with Communists, especially in the State Department, but beyond that, the whole government riddled with Reds.

Herblock's McCarthy

And that wasn't all: there were "fellow travelers" who were, if not card carrying members of the Party, were in sympathy, a nasty secret "fifth column" of evil doers wishing the American nation ill.

Today, we would call them "terrorists."

All this, of course, was the way Senator McCarthy sought attention, presumably to position himself to run for President eventually.

But that was more than 70 years ago, and Americans forget, do not follow history, or get their history from QAnon.

Now, we have the Trumplings in power going after the opposition as a disloyal opposition, trying to take down a U.S. Senator, Jeanne Shaheen, and trying to get to her by suggesting her husband and a family friend and lawyer, Celine Atalah, are fellow travelers with Muslim terrorists.

Both Atalah and Shaheen have been pulled out of TSA checkpoints for searches at airports.

"New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen's Husband Traveled with a Known or Suspected Terrorist Three Times in a Single Year," a June 4 Department of Homeland Security press release said. 

And, of course, in Ms. Noem's world, there is really no difference between "known" and "suspected."

Prostrate-tution

So now we have Kristi Noem going after the loyal opposition and accusing it of being disloyal.

Trump World

During the McCarthy era, it was a single loud mouthed Senator in the legislative branch trying to scapegoat targets, and he had little more than the media to help him. But now, we have the executive branch, with all its departments abducting people, searching them at airports, and claiming that well, it's all Biden's fault.

Trump World: Nice Red

You see, Biden weaponized the Silent Partners Quiet Skies program and targeted people like Tulsi Gabbard (now chief spy for Trump) and so this is, well, payback.

So whether it's using the IRS to harass political opponents or dissenters, or using the TSA to strip search them at airports, the Trumpland willing accomplices have organized to shut down or imprison any opposition.

Straight Out of Central Casting

From the point of view of those MAGA hat wearing fans, this is all fair play, and, well, they deserve it. The images of brown men, heads shaven, linked with handcuffs been whisked off to prison in El Salvador makes the MAGATs grin and cheer. Finally! Somebody's getting tough on all those murderers and rapists! And just look at the photo of that guy Trump abducted to the prison in El Salvador with MS13 "tattooed" on his knuckles! Yes, look at that photo in the hands of Mr. Trump. As Jon Oliver pointed out, the MS 13 part did not even conform to the knuckle hills and valleys and is such an obvious fake it is embarrassing to even contemplate Mr. Trump trying to sell this as a sort of Trump steak or Trump University diploma.

So we are in the fantasy phase of Trump World. Whatever the Trumplings say, it must be true because there are all those voters in the 40% out there who will nod their heads and shout, "Right on!" Beat up those swamp dwelling Deep State woke suckers!

Trump World

Daniel Goldhagen wrote a book in 1996 called "Hitler's Willing Accomplices," the thesis therein was Hitler could not have succeeded without the enthusiasm and support of the German public. That caused a storm in 1996, as Germans protested that to smear the entire German nation for an aberration like Hitler was outrageous. But, no. It was not. For years after the end of WWII, photos of Hitler on the covers of magazines in Germany were outlawed: It was thought too many would be framed and hung in homes and pubs and beer gardens.

Isn't She Just So HOT?

Right now, in the U.S., the idea of being tough, of meting out retribution in the most brutal way possible is the central feature of the ruling party. The brutality is the point. It means we are tough. 

Don't Let Your Daughters Grow Up to Be Cowboys

We'll find out in 2026 how many willing accomplices Mr. Trump has in America.