'Theater of cruelty' is 'central to Trump’s spectacle' and 'exercise of corrupt power': analysis

25 February

"War Room" host Steve Bannon famously described the MAGA movement's political strategy as "flood the zone with s---," meaning overwhelm political opponents with nonsense in order to distract them, overwhelm them and wear them out. Bannon's view is that an exhausted, overwhelmed adversary is rendered ineffective.

Salon's Chauncey DeVega describes two different MAGA strategies in an article published on February 25: the wear-them-out strategy, and a "theater of cruelty" strategy.

"The purpose of Trump and his allies' shock-and-awe campaign against American democracy, the rule of law, the Constitution, a humane society and reality itself is to wear down and distract the opposition," Vega explains. "Pro-democracy Americans and other people of conscience and honor who care about the present and future of the country must immediately reorient themselves and move from reaction and inaction to immediate action. The time for recalibration and rest is over."

According to DeVega, the "theater of cruelty" is "central to Trump's spectacle and exercise of corrupt power."

"To that point," DeVega observes, "Trump's White House social media account recently posted a video of 'illegal aliens' being put on an airplane and deported. The audio of the video was enhanced to highlight the sounds of their chains, as MSNBC reports…. Continuing his joyful cruelty, Donald Trump's Valentine's Day 'greeting' — which also featured 'border czar' Tom Homan — was a digital card posted on social media that included the following poem, 'Roses are red, violets are blue, come here illegally and we’ll deport you.'"

Such tactics, DeVega warns, are a prominent feature of "the Age of Trump" and "American fascism."

"If the leaders of the Democratic Party and other pro-democracy civil society organizations are not moving fast enough, in the correct direction — or at all — it is up to their members and the broader public to force them to," DeVega writes. "If the leaders will not lead, then it is up to the people to lead from the bottom up."

Chauncey DeVega's full article for Salon is available at this link.

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