Footnotes & Context
This is a reference page for more comprehensive footnotes to provide context within each article. To keep each piece concise and avoid repetition, some more elaborate and nuanced explanations have been placed here. I want my essays to maintain a base level of readability and density so this is a way to allow the reader to gain that context if they desire. Each instance is hyperlinked with a ⁺ symbol.
Accelerationism
This is the niche leftist belief that a larger left movement will be achieved when the conditions of capitalism and, by extension fascism, are so bad that the people have no choice but to start a revolution. I find an issue with this in a few ways. First, you can’t guarantee that people will oppose their oppression right away or at all if the right has so much power that revolting is not possible. Next, this goes against the principle of reducing suffering; a fascist America would bring suffering to minorities and queer people along with deepening imperialism abroad. Along with that, there isn’t a convincing reason why making political gains under fascism would be easier than under a centrist government. I don’t think rolling back years and years of gains for the fleeting possibility of revolution would be worth it, especially for the global south and for the earth’s climate crisis.
Campaign Efficiency
This is a rough metric used to track how much money a campaign spent compared to the end vote totals. It’s simply tracking how many dollars were spent per vote so lesser values is better.
The raw data is displayed showing various campaigns from 2020 and 2024. See the full spreadsheet here.
Donald Trump is a Fascist
Much of the liberal mainstream media prefers to maintain a high level of professionalism and etiquette. This means they will often lie by omission to avoid hyperbole. When we discuss Donald Trump as a fascist, we are not being hyperbolic, but accurate. The word may be perceived as having lost its meaning and to some extent that’s true but it is important to realize that our capitalism-dominated country has shifted the Overton window far to the right.
Fascism — a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.
Using this definition you may already be able to plug in the variables with Trump’s own statements. Much of the right-wing can be easily associated with fascism since they typically will lash out in authoritarian, militaristic ways when challenged, just look at the last 75 years of American wars. Solely focused on rhetoric though, Trump’s main strategy is less about how to help his supporters but telling them who to blame for their perceived problems. Late-stage capitalism has begun to degrade the privileges and opportunities for working people over the years and the response that Trump gives is to blame the lower classes. It is to blame the drug addicts, the homeless, the refugees, the ‘thugs’, the families of immigrants, and the people on welfare. The construction of a movement around ‘us’ and ‘the other’ is a key move from the fascist playbook, in fact, their entire philosophy. The other is about power. Whether it sounds right to admit it or not, Donald Trump is a populist. He uses popular sentiment from conservative-minded people despite not believing in it at all. Ever wonder why he can’t name a Bible verse or can’t commit to a position on abortion or flip on every foreign policy position? It’s because it is not about the policy, it’s about the rhetoric, the same way every other fascist regime implemented a robust system of propaganda. Trump gained this power because of the rhetoric. While the rest of the republicans were playing by the rules of being friends, he was on that debate stage in 2016 to make enemies. This continues to this day, there are always enemies for his base to fight against even if that enemy is a democratic election. The other key tenant is returning a nation’s greatness. For Trump, this is right in the slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ which refers to the 1980s during Reagan’s presidency which, coincidentally, set in motion America’s degradation of wealth equality, social programs, labor rights, and state control. That slogan was actually directly copied from Regan’s campaign which he used to reference the post-war 1950s which was also when the country was segregated. For fascists, the nation’s well-being is not measured by the level of social equality or diminishing suffering but by how well off the upper class is compared to the underclass. The upper class of rich, white, traditional, Christian people is the identity of ‘us’ which the MAGA ultra-nationalists rally around. These ideas are explored more in this video:
Then comes the actions. On January 6th, 2021, in Washington DC on the same morning that the electors were to certify Trump’s election loss, he held a rally. Trump pressured his Vice President, Mike Pence, to challenge and overturn the election, then blamed him for not abandoning his constitutional duty. After the rally, the energized supporters, including literal far right neo-nazis, went to the Capitol building to protest. The huge amount of people overwhelmed the police and they stormed the building, vandalizing and threatening to harm the congresspeople inside. Meanwhile, President Trump did nothing for hours despite his cabinet urging him to say something. To this day he maintains that the election was fraudulent without any credible evidence. The rhetoric behind this has increased in intensity to where now he openly threatens to lock up his political rivals. If it wasn’t already clear enough, his Project 2025 agenda includes the language of ‘revolution’ of taking power back from his political opponents, saying it will be bloodless as long as they allow it to be. This plan will also aggressively centralize powers for Trump which has already began as the Supreme Court has ruled him immune from prosecution for ‘official’ acts as president.
As our country grapples with countless difficulties, the one thing that should be universally agreed on is that Trump is a fascist. There is no doubt that he will act as one if put into office.
Gaza Death Toll
An analysis by the Lancet medical journal estimated the death toll to be 186,000 from direct and indirect deaths as of June 19th, 2024. The 44,249 number reported by the Gaza Health Ministry only records people who are confirmed killed directly in military attacks and does not report missing people or those who have died of disease, starvation or lack of medical care. With conditions so horrific; no electricity, no running water, sparse food aid, and no way to uncover people buried under the rubble, it will be impossible to account for every person or even most civilians killed in this genocide. Using the same methodology, the Lancet’s number was updated by Professor Devi Sridhar of Edinburgh University in September, estimating an astonishing 335,500 total deaths.
Genocide in Gaza
When we discuss the issue of genocide, it is not merely a rallying cry for protest but a legitimate use of the word. By the legal definition of genocide, it must be proven that;
“Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such; killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group, forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”
The stage for this genocide was set over a century ago. The land of Palestine was occupied by the British army during World War I and the Balfour Declaration established the colonization of the land which was given to the Jewish population. The state of Israel was founded and legitimized by the violent forcible removal of the native Palestinian population in the 1948 event of the Nakba which resulted in the displacement of 750,000 refugees and killing 15,000 native Palestinians. This set forth there being two distinct states with a massive imbalance of power. Since then, many uprisings and protests occurred, each met with brutal repression, further emboldening Israel’s control over the Palestinian state. The most significant of these events were the First and Second intifada in 1987 and 2000. Under President Bill Clinton, Palestine and Israel came very close to brokering peace but after many delays and negotiations, talks ceased when Bush came into office. At the turn of the century, Israel had illegally occupied and settled much of the land in the West Bank, restricted travel for Palestinians, and controlled the electricity, water, food, and resources in Gaza. These conditions essentially kept the Palestinians impoverished while Israel enjoyed the enthusiastic economic support of the West. In 2004, the leader of the majority Fatah party in Palestine, Yasser Arafat, died and new elections were held. In 2006, the two major parties were the secular Fatah party and the authoritarian military party, Hamas. In a surprise victory Hamas, won Palestine’s legislative election by just 3% leading to a long period of fighting as the military accused the Fatah party of colluding with the US and Israel. Israel did meddle in these elections, the far right in Israel even propped up Hamas with money in an effort to weaken peace negotiations which involved concessions to Palestine and to politically weaken or divide the state. Ultimately, Hamas defeated the party, killing many opposition members in the process then immediately declared the end of elections. Now entirely under the rule of Hamas, the military ramped up terrorist attacks against Israel throughout the 2010s which led to today.
This 2019 documentary provides the visual element to truly convey just how inhumane these conditions are today.
To understand this with clarity, here is a clip of the late Michael Brooks in 2020 on the issue. He really cuts to the core point; there is no symmetry in this relationship.
It should be noted that the population of Gaza is very young, the median age is 18 years old and 44% are under 15 years old. Over 80% of the population was not old enough to vote in the 2006 election which put Hamas into power. The ongoing apartheid conditions and lack of international recognition as a sovereign state drove rebellion against Israel in the form of terrorist attacks. A snowball effect of rebellion and protest followed by harsher conditions on the Palestinian people fed more rebellion until the events of October 7th, 2023. This was a massive military assault and massacre carried out by Gaza’s radical authoritarian military, Hamas, which killed over 2,000 Israelis and led to the capture of 250 hostages. The IDF responded by declaring war, fully blockading Gaza, cutting power, ordering the immediate evacuation of 1.1 million people from Gaza City, and dropping over 6,000 bombs including white phosphorus the first six days. Israel invaded Gaza later that month while carrying out a relentless bombing campaign that had no targets, effectively flattening entire neighborhoods. These airstrikes hit medical vehicles, refugee camps, hospitals, schools, mosques, and countless civilian apartment buildings. Since the beginning of the war, over 41,000 civilians have been confirmed dead including more than 15,000 children and that amount doubles when accounting for the people missing and wounded. The ICC, which is in charge of prosecuting violations of international law, has issued arrest warrants for leaders of Israel because of their obvious war crimes. In late December, South Africa brought a lawsuit against Israel in the ICJ for the crime of genocide. In it, they cite the countless examples of various Israeli official’s dehumanizing rhetoric as genocidal intent. Then they cite deliberate starvation, civilian torture, domicide, indiscriminate bombing, the targeting of aid and medical facilities as genocidal actions. American leaders across the political spectrum have failed to condemn Israel’s war crimes and have been enthusiastic in their support of the regime. In March 2024, the United States government passed a bipartisan bill to send $12.5 billion in military aid to Israel with no conditions attached. The White House has failed to broker peace and is left with no bargaining chips to prevent future and current war crimes. In June 2024, Congress passed a bill to sanction the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant on the Israeli leadership. Peace talks have been difficult for both sides to agree to over the years coming close many times. During the current war, Hamas agreed to ceasefire terms and NATO nations agreed to in late May 2024 but Israel denied the terms which included releasing hostages. The Israeli military has repeatedly throughout this war, set evacuation zones for civilians then bombed the designated safe areas. It has the added effect of exhausting the civilians, to keep forcing mass migrations on such a dense population.
In short, there is a deep history to this conflict which must be accounted. The most grotesque argument is one that equates the oppressive Hamas military with Palestinian civilians. On the extreme (auth) left, some may accept this framing and justify any resistance, even coming from an authoritarian regime. On the right, aggressively pushing this framing is a way to ignore the context and label all protesters as ‘terrorist sympathizers’. To invoke the word ‘terrorist’ in the first place is an inherent contradiction as Israel has repeatedly committed violence against innocent people. The honest reality is that while the events of Oct 7th are outrageous and disgusting, the collective punishment of Palestinians, who are majority children, is simply inexcusable.
Leftism
In our society, the fundamental problem is that our society is structured into a class hierarchy. Leftists (socialists, communists, anarchists) suggest that all production should be public rather than privately owned by the capitalist class. In such a society, people would earn a living based on the amount they produce, not a wage determined by the owners. Along with this private property used for production is publically owned by the workers collectively and by society. Any excess value created by industry is distributed evenly into social programs that benefit all people equally because all people rely on their society. Left theory goes far deeper than this short outline, for a brief explanation of Marxism check out this video:
Leftism: Radical but Necessary
Leftists generally agree on the theory and principles but disagree on how to go about getting to and implementing such a society. Revolutionaries want to seize the power back from the ruling class through force. Reformists want to do so using the state’s existing structure and create change from within. Most modern leftist thinkers lie somewhere in the middle as there just isn’t a large enough movement to achieve either yet. Often it is a balance, as Revolution is really what is necessary to take control of the means of production long-term without risk of regression, but reform is necessary to build a movement of average people and help them recognize their class interest. In Marx’s age in Europe, the working class was in a much different place: they were far less educated, not connected through technology, and suffered economic misery. Today, the working class is more dignified economically and is educated but also indoctrinated by corporate media which upholds the capitalist status quo. These are new struggles that make leftism even harder to advocate for since recognizing class interest first takes a fundamental change in philosophy to one that doesn’t see a surival-of-the-fittest economy as a moral one. To build this movement, it helps to not have fascists in power who do not hold back in their dismantling of unions and the right to protest. It is also beneficial for all of society to secure the best possible conditions even if it is done through electoral politics. A few changes that can at least start occurring through the current system include:
Privatizing industries, most importantly; healthcare, universities, utilities, food suppliers, media, and energy production.
An end to imperialism and intervening in global politics
Reforming the electoral system to be democratic and better reflect the will of the people nationally and locally
A redistribution of the immense wealth held by the ruling class into public services
Guaranteed work and an end to job scarcity
An end to rent and privately owned housing (different from personal home ownership)
All human needs are guaranteed by the government- food, water, housing, health
A complete reversal of energy policy to one that takes into account the immense threat of global warming and the increase of severe weather events
If these can be worked toward through the existing system, it will save countless lives. Progressive politics will also lay the groundwork to allow more people to recognize their class interests. Being able to frame a future that isn’t fighting reactionary forces will build a larger movement. If a serious progressive or socialist party can grow to take power in the government, they will be pressured by a revolutionary force on the ground. The force on the ground is what will ultimately drive change or drive revolution. It has to start somewhere.
Queer
I use the word queer as a replacement for the term LGBTQAI+ because it flows better and is an all-encompassing word. It is not my job to decide what these words should mean to people, I’m using what sounds most correct to me. Technically, the acronym can never encompass every identity someone can have, whereas the meaning of the word queer is that gender and sexuality is a spectrum. This way I find using the term queer to be more accurate.