There seems to be a great deal of confusion about what authoritarianism and fascism does to a society. It doesn't enforce rigid already-accepted norms, it shatters them. It doesn't stop people from thinking outside the box of reality, it destroys the possibility of objective reality, of truth. And so reality as we once knew it is is replaced with a new reality not rooted in what we have experienced, but in what we are told.
Today in the first full day of Trump's Presidency Sean Spicer, in his official capacity as White House spokesperson, actually yelled at the media that in fact Trump's inauguration crowd was the largest ever and that's final. Reality had no say.
This is not extreme spin. This is not, "both sides do it." Trump is waging an all out assault on 'our' reality, the reality we all up to now assumed to be true. By creating his own 'truth' if we are to be governed by him we must begin to operate by his rules, his reality. And so the struggle isn't over truth, but of power. Trump must make us submit to his reality.
But if we refuse? Our refusal to cooperate with Trumpist reality explodes the fascist game of nihilism. When we say 'NO!' as we have today we assert our right to truth, to reality. We will not live in Trump's fevered dream of chaos in which "I alone can fix it!" in which everything is permissible to power. Today, by marching and resisting we looked Trumpism straight on and said, "No. Not now, not ever."
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