Expert lays out scope of 'vast tragedy and destruction' as Trump ushers in 'American fascism'

06 November 2024

One expert is warning that the United States is about to enter a period of "American fascism," in which both Americans and American institutions will be under constant attack.

That's according to City University of New York journalism professor Jeff Jarvis, who recently authored a Medium essay entitled: "How F—ed Are We?" Jarvis wrote that Americans can expect "vast tragedy and destruction" over the next four years assuming President-elect Donald Trump intends to enact his campaign promises. He began his essay by emphasizing that blame for Trump's victory shouldn't lie at the feet of Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he argued "did everything she possibly could to win."

"The fault is in our nation. We must come to the realization that America is deeply racist and sexist, incapable of electing a Black, Asian woman to its highest office because of our culture’s innate, widespread, and unreconciled bias and hatred," Jarvis wrote. "That is the root of it. That is the weed that will now grow unkempt no matter how much media wish to groom the nation to make us look as if it were not so. Its aims of oppression will grow daily."

Jarvis laid out a comprehensive list of things that are likely to happen once Trump takes power on January 20. Chief among them were women losing "control of their bodies, their health [and] their lives." He wrote that Black Americans "know better than anyone, of course, how racist America is" and that now "there will be no limits to it" as the election result gives racists "permission." And he opined that LGBTQ+ people may be deprived every precious right they fought so bravely to attain as bigots try to "force them back into closets."

"Some portion of Latino voters may think — like Italians long before them, who once were considered people of color and then were not — that they might buy their way into favor with white America with their votes," he wrote. "[But] discrimination never ends. No matter their contribution to Trump’s victory, some citizens will again be called garbage by those in power."

Axios reported Wednesday that Karoline Leavitt, who is Trump's 2024 campaign spokesperson, promised that the president-elect would follow through on his promise to deport millions of immigrants upon taking office. And in Jarvis' essay, he explained that all immigrants will be at risk of the incoming Trump administration's wrath, whether they're documented or not.

"[Immigrants] will find their families and lives torn apart as Trump follows through on his promise of mass deportation, tearing husbands, wives, parents, and children from each other on the suspicion brought by an accent, a name, the color of skin," Jarvis wrote.

And as economists have already warned, Trump's promise of high tariffs on imported goods will have a direct impact on all Americans' finances. The president-elect has proposed tariffs as high as 20% on goods from China, which retailers typically pass on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Jarvis reminded readers: "Every consumer will suffer higher prices — no matter what their yard signs promised — as Trump undertakes his deportations and tariffs."

But Jarvis' essay didn't stop there: He wrote that in a second Trump term, it's a near-certainty that "institutions of voting rights, fair elections, and equal rights under the law will diminish further," that "RFK Jr. will drive Trump to outlaw vaccinations, essentially outlawing the institutions of medicine and science" and that "free speech will be very much at risk, even as Trump, [Elon] Musk and their supposedly contrarian lock-step thinkers argue they are its protectors."

"They will forbid and harass speech of which they do not approve," he wrote.

"This election was my hope that we could find a different way, to rebuild not from the ashes but from where we stood. Now I am not sure," he added. "What is ultimately broken is not the set of institutions the extremists are trying to destroy but instead our nation itself. Until we face its faults of racism, sexism, and inequity we will never be finished fighting our war, our endless Civil War."

Click here to read Jarvis' full essay on Medium.

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