Pretty much the title. I certainly believe Trump, Maga, the Military, and the Police will, sooner or later, probably sooner, get around to at least attempting to deanonymize and round up online antifascists and leftists and imprison them. How organized and effective that attempt is I am less sure of.
To be very transparent, this is something I’m pretty sure I’d be on the hook for. I have a long log of anti trump, antifascist, left sentiments, and am 75% sure I’ll be disappeared at some point in the next 4 years as I have no plans of shutting up. The only reason I’m not 100% sure is because of how expensive it would be. But hey, maybe it’s less expensive than potentially losing power? So I don’t know.
Never? Not likely? Maybe? Very? Extremely? Definitely?
Thoughts?
Everyone’s like “it won’t happen” but I remember post-9/11 a specific Linux news site got hit with claims of radicalism and some folks who frequented the site got put on watch lists. For interest in Linux.
There was a reason folks like me were against all the surveillance from the PATRIOT Act back then, and this is why.
EDIT:
Similarly, the Bush admin had the FBI spying on Quakers, the only religious group that anti-violence is such a central tenet to their religion that they by default are considered conscientious objectors and cannot be drafted into the military without violating their beliefs.
Post-9/11 the government thought peaceful Quaker anti-war activists were dangerous.
That was post-9/11 in the War on Terror years… It can happen here.
Sources:
Linuxjournal gets “extra surveillance:”
Quakers being spied on by FBI:
Online? No. Online disorganized leftists aren’t actually leftists, they’re leftist sympathizers. You need to be in a leftist org to actually be a leftist.
You’re not a threat unless you’re actually doing stuff.
What would the charge be?
Suspicion of terrorism, or nothing at all. If the libs are right they wouldn’t care about charges anymore. But since libs are so rarely correct, the government can hold you for 72 hours without charge and the patriot act has a whole list of charges that require no evidence for an arrest. Also statistically you live within 100 miles of a US border if you’re in the US, meaning border patrol can arrest you for any reason or no reason indefinitely.
It’s a proud fascist country now. Be prepare for ANYTHING.
Likely. The federal government has SharePoint sites with information gathered about journalists and other activists who are pro immigration. To my knowledge, these individuals have not officially been disappeared.
If you just post stuff on the Internet, you don’t have to worry. At least this type of stuff.
Not likely. This is hyperbole.
What is most likely going to happen is that any right-wing, MAGA cultist and whatever. They won’t be penalized for any harassment or antagonizing behaviors committed by them to those they don’t like.
That’s the reality.
Unlikely.
Personally, I would be worried if I was you. The first Trump term can’t be compared as he had some guardrails with his recommended cabinet picks from the traditional GOP. Now that those GOP members have been expelled from the party, those guardrails are no longer there. His cabinet picks are loyalists and is a stress test to weed out any non-loyalists in Congress.
His cabinet picks will have free will to do what they want as long as they do two things: 1) praise Trump for the popular things they accomplish and 2) take the fall or blame other groups if it’s not popular.
And it’s not the government coming after these groups that is most worrying. We all see the lengths regular citizens would go to right a perceived wrong. January 6 case in point.
We’ve all seen this film before. It doesn’t have a good ending.
Unless you’re doing actual organizing, unlikely. The DNC isn’t friendly towards Leftist orgs either, though MAGA groups themselves may become more millitant.
I don’t think it’s very likely. Even if it was even remotely affordable or feasible he actually needs opposition to define himself and his base ‘ruggedly independent’ and as ‘freedom fighters’.
If he’s going to go after anyone at all I think it will be high profile people for maximum media impact.
