Criminalizing Dissent in the Land of the Free.
It has already begun. The exercise of promoting the inefficacy of the opposition by criminalizing speech and political thought has begun to be carried out with a vengeance. Those who believed that American elections could only render a mere change at the helm with no systemic threat challenges, given the perception of sound institutional palladiums in place, have not fully understood what has been happening in America.
The dirty war against Trump
First, at a creepy-crawly speed with Barack Obama’s ascent into the presidency in 2008 and the soft power, gradualist approach to system overhaul. Then there was the idea that Hillary Clinton would surely win and carry leftism forward. Donald Trump’s unexpected 2016 presidential victory put the left in ballistic mode. From there, the socialist war for power went to a different level. Constant resistance against the new Republican administration ensued.
An invented Russia collusion conspiracy theory along with a wild federal probe followed, producing no relevant criminal conviction, and then the discredited impeachment trial, etc. The coronavirus authoritarian shutdowns convinced some that American society could be domesticated and it served as a formidable laboratory experiment. The Black Lives Matter/Antifa uprising since May 2020, took socialist revolutionary action to unimagined heights.
From city streets to corporate boardrooms through to our favorite consumer products and sporting programs, the indoctrinating stamp of Marxist subversion has been everywhere. Anyone who dare publicly question or condone this threat to liberty, is ostracized at best and in some instances, criminally charged for “hate” crimes. Violence became glorified by the “social justice” cultural Marxist agenda. Now that the oblique and questionable 2020 election undertaking has settled in, the thought that the presidency, both chambers of congress, mass and social media, the oligarchic technocracy, woke commercial empires and Hollywood are all in power, it now becomes the common people and the brave opposition, the only actors to temper the intended illiberal onslaught.
What the cultural front reveals
We are already witnessing early signs of this. Rick Klein, political director of ABC News, recently suggested in a January 7th, tweet that America needs to “cleanse” itself of Trump supporters. The since deleted tweet but conserved in a photo screen shot, reads: “Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part. Cleansing the movement he commands is going to be something else.” This is outrageous and should have been rebuked by his peers. This barbarousness is unacceptable as it suggests genocide for political thought.
I want people to remember that @rickklein made this comment today about people who have a different political view. He is the Political Director of ABC News. The word he used “Cleansing” is beyond disturbing considering his position. To state 75 million Americans must be cleansed pic.twitter.com/TClStsCX2X
— Diane B (@dmb1031) January 8, 2021
When Barack Obama denigratingly referred, in 2008, to rural, blue-collar, working-class people as those who “cling to their guns or religion”, he had the future Trump supporter in mind as has been stereotyped by the left. Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” characterization of Trump supporters at a fundraiser in New York City in 2016, reiterates this same elitist disdain for basically half the country.
The left hates Trump and his supporters because they embody an opposition capable of mobilizing the masses and affronts the left’s claim to hold a monopoly on knowledge. This opposition is viewed by the woke establishment as being brutish and unworthy of First Amendment protections. The treatment of violence is a strong case in point that highlights the gross moral double standard.
Violence and its use through idelogical lens
The condemnation of violence as political expression is conveniently swerved to fit worldview objectives. The left are master hypocrites in this specialization. They use, approve, and rationally defend its use when its purported mission subscribes to its implementation. When it is utilized by the opposition, as in the case of the Capitol Building assault, which was carried out principally by supporters of the president, the left cynically converts into Gandhian missionaries. If there was not such overwhelming evidence of their apology for its weaponization when it is employed in favored activities, this would not be so tragic.
The examples of this hypocritical farce by the left abounds. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined a Black Live Matter (“BLM”) protest, two days after the Marxist group attempted to burn down St. John’s Episcopal Church, in June 2020. So large scale was this terrorist act, that the president of the United States had to be evacuated from the White House quarters as a result.
The presence of the top figure of the House at this event was a clear message of validation of this insidious act. Democratic Representative Ted Lieu from California insisted, in 2018, that there would be “widespread civil unrest” if the president exercised his lawful duty and fired Special Counsel Robert Mueller. This could sound like a threatening call to arms. Hillary Clinton stated that “you can’t be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for”. That certainly sounds like a declaration of violent war against Republicans. This echoes what the Castro regime in Cuba says about the opposition.
The accusations against President Trump for being the intellectual author of the Capitol Building incident based on his rhetoric at the rally, are absurd. If those are the parameters for accusing someone of inciting a riot, then a good many prominent Democrats would need to go to jail.
Former attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. citing Michelle Obama’s peddling of a turn-the-other cheek analogy, said “when they go low, we kick them”. Believe it or not, this violence provocateur was the nation’s Attorney General from 2009-2015. Holder sadly remains a respected figure within the left. This list goes all the way to the top. The now certified President-Elect, Joe Biden, in 2018, said that if they were in high school he would “beat the hell” out of Trump.
The issue of violence, with the left, is not one of right versus wrong. Well, in a way it is. The “right” in political terms, specifically the New Right, is the opposition to be eliminated. The Democratic Party and the media-techno-globalist complex know that their main obstacle to hegemonic control, in the United States, is the conservative, nationalist, faith-based, constitutionalist, free enterprise mass movement that Trump gave a voice to.
They are after Trump, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Matt Gaetz and other brave and lawful republicans who have challenged their claim to political dominance because they are its leaders. Violence, as Biden so shamelessly said when referring to Antifa, is just an “idea” when it is practiced by the left. The BLM revolt is, according to this perverse logic, a provocative but acceptable form of social discontent expression. Hypocrisy and soft power authoritarianism are reaching new heights. Democracy is perilously under threat.
©The Cuban American Voice. Originally published in @El American. All rights reserved.
🖋️Author Julio M. Shiling
🖋️Author Julio M. Shiling
Julio M. Shiling is a political scientist, writer, columnist, lecturer, media commentator, and director of Patria de Martí and The CubanAmerican Voice. He holds a master’s degree in Political Science from Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida. He is a member of The American Political Science Association and The PEN Club (Cuban Writers in Exile Chapter).
📚Published books 📺In the media 👨🏫 Conferences and Symposiums 🎙️Podcast The Shiling Summary
- Keywords:
- Criminalizing Dissent
- Land of the Free
- begun criminalizing speech
- political thought has begun
- carried out with a vengeance
- Trump
- criminalizing political opposition
OTHER ARTICLES:
Julio Articles

Does the U.S. Have Political Prisoners?
Does the U.S. Have Political Prisoners? Leer en Español There is a consensus, for the most part, as to what constitutes a political prisoner. Ideological inclinations, however, often stand in the...
[Cotinue reading]
Why Are Cubans Going to Ukraine?
Why Are Cubans Going to Ukraine? Leer en Español Cuban soldiers and conscripts are officially present in the Eurasian region. Their mission is customary, given the role Cuban communism has played...
[Cotinue reading]
Criminalizing the U.S. Constitution
Criminalizing the U.S. Constitution Leer en Español The United States has a big problem. Its version of democracy is being deconstructed. Free speech, a prerequisite of democratic rule, is being...
[Cotinue reading]
Trump Indictment III: Free Speech and Fair Elections?
Trump Indictment III: Free Speech and Fair Elections? Rigging an election is a form of theft, and there are many ways to achieve this. Leer en Español The latest indictment against former...
[Cotinue reading]
The Power of the Imponderable
The Power of the Imponderable "The 11th of July Popular Uprising (11J) of 2021 marked a watershed moment for the communist dictatorship in Cuba." Leer en Español Hannah Arendt argued that...
[Cotinue reading]
Dissecting the Trump Documents Indictment
Dissecting the Trump Documents Indictment “No one is above the law” is a phrase that once had depth in the U.S. It has become a lame cliché Leer en Español Few who believe in a free society can...
[Cotinue reading]
The Cuba-China Espionage Nexus: New or Old?
The Cuba-China Espionage Nexus: New or Old? Leer en Español The use of alien elements to assist in Cuban communism’s longevity is old stuff. When will the U.S. and the West figure this out and...
[Cotinue reading]
Putting the Caimanera Protests into Context
Putting the Caimanera Protests into Context Leer en Español Maintaining political power by force is an art. It is not an ethical practice or an exercise of a moral task. Nonetheless, it is a chore...
[Cotinue reading]
Biden’s Rush to Rescue Castroism
Biden’s Rush to Rescue Castroism. Cuban communism (yes, a kleptocracy can be communist also) continues faithfully to exercise dictatorial pragmatism, a policy institutionalized in 1959. Sharp...
[Cotinue reading]Cuba’s Influence in American Academia
Cuba’s Influence in American Academia. Leer en Español To accurately fathom the success of the Castro-Communist regime[1] in Cuba, as measured by its ability to fructuously withstand the pressures for democratic[2] liberalization and persevere in...
The real reason why Hispanics voted for Trump
The real reason why Hispanics voted for Trump. The 2020 US presidential election has not yet been officially decided. Some things, though, are indisputable and already a matter of truth. A big surprise for many was the fact that a staggering and sur...
Trump, Hamilton and State Legislatures
Trump, Hamilton and State Legislatures. Trump, by insisting on going to the courts and, above all, to the state legislatures, to denounce the fraud in these elections with abundant evidence, is defending democratic institutions Alexander Hamilton n...
New Right or Trumpism?
New Right or Trumpism?A New Right had been forming before, and increasingly since 2016. Broadly speaking, it is soundly Conservative with Classical Liberal undertones in the economic sphere. “Trumpism” is a concept commonly being tossed around these...