In a recent newsletter, Paul Krugman compared the Trump administration’s anti-DEI (i.e., pro-racism & misogyny) efforts to China’s cultural revolution under Mao.
Once you’ve seen the parallel between what MAGA is trying to do and China’s Cultural Revolution, the similarities are everywhere. Maoists sent schoolteachers to do farm labor; Trumpists are talking about putting civil servants to work in factories.
The Cultural Revolution was, of course, a huge disaster for China. It inflicted vast suffering on its targets and also devastated the economy. But the Maoists didn’t care. Revenge was their priority, never mind the effects on GDP.
As we’ve seen, China’s efforts failed–albeit not without years of unnecessary suffering. As I’ve previously opined, changing a nation’s culture rarely if ever works. But our would-be king–unhampered by anything suggesting intellect or competent appointees within his “administration,” is certainly trying to fulfill the most ardent wish of his MAGA base–taking American society back to the 1950s (or perhaps before), when women were pushing out babies and doing the dishes in the kitchen, and Black Americans were subject to segregation and confined to subservient positions.
That effort requires eliminating evidence of the worth and competence of women and Blacks. Accordingly, I did a search for federal websites that have been scrubbed of references to the contributions of women and black people.
Here’s what I found.
The Department of Defense undertook a significant purge of DEI-related content, resulting in the removal of profiles and articles about Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers, a Black Medal of Honor recipient; the Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team; the Navajo Code Talkers (including profiles of Indigenous veterans; women veterans such as Lisa Jaster, the first female Army Reserve graduate of Ranger School); historical figures like Jackie Robinson, who served in the Army during World War II; the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Airforce Service Pilots; and notable gravesites of Hispanic and Black service members at Arlington National Cemetery.
Some content has been restored following public outcry, but many of those pages remain inaccessible .
NASA removed profiles of women and people of color from its website. The profile of Rose Ferreira, a Dominican-American intern, was taken down and later reinstated after public backlash. However, the restoration led to harassment directed at Ferreira, highlighting the challenges faced by individuals whose stories were previously celebrated .
The National Park Service revised its content to align with the administration’s directives. Those erasures included the removal of mentions of transgender individuals from articles about the suffragist movement; changing terminology from “LGBT” to “LGB” and omitting the word “queer;” altering language in articles about the Underground Railroad, including removing a quote and image of Harriet Tubman and the term “slavery.”
The Small Business Administration removed a photograph from its website depicting a diverse group of individuals, including women and people of color, in front of a whiteboard.
Other federal agencies that have complied include the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has removed content related to LGBTQ+ veterans; the Federal Trade Commission, which has deleted over 300 posts, including those reporting on antitrust actions against tech giants; and the State Department, which altered the language in international travel advisories, replacing “LGBTQ+” with “LGB” and omitting references to safety concerns for transgender Americans abroad.
I have no idea how many Americans visit these sites; certainly, the information that has been deleted is widely available elsewhere. (In the age of the Internet, erasure of information previously available is a pipe dream…) That said, these alterations provide additional evidence (as if we needed it) of the central preoccupation of the White Christian Nationalists and other assorted bigots who form the majority of MAGA adherents.
It remains to be seen whether those who supported Trump because he promised to reward their racism–to return them to social dominance– will be steadfast in that support despite the chaos and damage being done to the economy, public health, science, education and the rule of law, among other elements of accelerating collateral damage.
As Krugman admonished readers, looking for rational strategy in Trump’s hysterical assault on DEI and “woke-ism” (aka equality and humanity) is a fool’s errand. “Don’t try to sanewash what’s happening. It’s evil, but it isn’t calculated evil. That is, it’s not a considered political strategy, with a clear end goal. It’s a visceral response from people who, as Thomas Edsall puts it, are addicted to revenge.”
Mao couldn’t change his culture. I don’t think Trump will change America’s, either. But we’ll suffer while he tries.
I can understand why some Americans are disgusted by these erasures, but let’s be honest, the Democratic Party went overboard on “identity politics” because they couldn’t approach an economic alternative for the people. Why insist that transgender people be front and center when they are less than 1% of the adult population?
Did the Democrats honestly think that transgenders were equal or was it an appeal to liberal voters?
Personally, everything I’ve read criticizing the DNC says they have relied too much on pollsters and strategists instead of meeting with the people to understand their needs. Why not get out and talk to the people and ask them? Do the masses care that WW2 black airmen are listed on a government website?
Also, why do the Democrats prefer open borders? Do they care about immigrants, or are they appealing to the growing Latino population? Do they even care that an increasing number of Latinos voted for Trump because they aren’t happy with our porous borders, since they came across and did things the legal way?
With over 60% of Americans now wanting universal healthcare, why can’t Democrats or Republicans even utter those words in Washington?
Although it may seem I’m playing Devil’s Advocate, it has more to do with reality. If you watch Trump’s actions, he’s trying to duplicate what Putin has done in Russia and what Xi has done in China, but he doesn’t have the immigration issues that Europe currently has, which has caused the rise of the right-wingers.
Putin privatized the government to the oligarchy in exchange for being a forever leader in Moscow. Putin has reinforced the traditional Christian Orthodox values in his country. Isn’t that what Trump is trying to do?
As a side note, Whitney Webb, who authored the book I’m reading, One Nation Under Blackmail, is writing another book by releasing articles in parts (they are long articles). Her book was about the Epstein crowd and the mix of intelligence (CIA & Mossad), oligarchy, and their sexual depravity. It also touched on the entertainment industry with Lew Wasserman and Reagan.
Her articles concern the crowd surrounding Sean Combs, Puff Daddy, or P Diddy. Guess what? The crowds are connected, and Donald Trump’s name is in both the book and the article. Look closer at the Executive Producer of Melania’s coming documentary, underwritten by Jeff Bezos, who owns the WaPo. 😉
Musk and DOGE are stealing our data. Period.
After reading this post and Todd’s dystopian analysis of what is wrong with everything, it’s time, once again, to say I’m glad I’m old – too old to work in a factory again – and have hobbies.
Most of my novels feature strong female characters and even people of color doing amazing things. I wrote them in the spirit of utopian escapism. Enjoy. http://www.vernturner.com.
One of the diabolical strategies of those who delivered us the Ruling Triumvirate, in all its repression, was to define their enemy as ‘woke’ and the carriers of ‘woke’ as liberals. We have been labeled, like immigrants, as persona non grata in the formerly united States of Mid-North America.
We created upitty women and demonstrative people of color, all shades.
Making our culture go dark in how we treat each other was fundamental to the culture of repression that now has spread from shore to shore.
Those are just the facts, ma’am.
I don’t know how one counts revolutions here. I guess the Revolution and Civil Wars, at least, but I would add both World Wars in the same light because they also restored freedom to those outside our borders and installed liberal democracy as a global value by evicting two totalitarian ideas: fascism and Communism.
(Todd, I don’t know if you have a positive vision, but being against everything just doesn’t work for most people.)
In only three MONTHS Trump has pushed us back over a CENTURY in time; how can we fully recover from our current human condition today? There is no way to restore all of the deleted information in our history reporting progress for this nation brought about by Blacks and Women, let alone the cultures of the many Sheila listed as being gone from access to learn from or to teach in what Trump want left in our education system.
Todd; Trump and Musk are not stealing our data, they are destroying it. What is stolen is used by the thieves, what is destroyed is simply gone from the archives…like those boxes Trump had returned to his Mar-A-Lago home bathroom with gold toilet and fixtures. What has he done with that part of this nation’s history and why can’t this nation stop his petulant temper tantrum against his “enemies” day-after-day and some days, hour-after-hour?
His redefining our government goes further and deeper than a “Cultural Revolution”; his personal war against the United States in entirety requires a REVOLUTION BY THIS NATION’S PEOPLE EN MASSE.
The Mussolini solution comes to my mind on this day the world is focused on burying Pope Francis who worked outside the Catholic boxed in situation to help all people. Trump sits in the audience pretending to be there as America’s representative in his official capacity. Political Correctness requires he be there, the only Political Correctness we will witness from him and from his immigrant wife who is safe from ICE while others are in El Salvador’s prison being terrorized.
I do not see a resurrection of our American way of life, not in my lifetime, nor in the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren. Beyond them, the memories will be lost along with all of the history in our archives which have been removed and destroyed…all due to one evil Satanic man. Pope Francis would accept his appearance; he lived by his hope of salvation for all men and women and all cultures.
I am surely OK with lionizing the positive actions of people of color, of women, of any of the non-white, or non-Christian, or whatever those in power feel threatened by, even if it may be out of proportion to our overall history while being IN proportion to their minority status. Part of what I feel democracy does is to support all of those smaller groups of folks who struggle for their places in a white Christian society by acknowledging those accomplishments, especially as a beacon for their brethren, but also for all of us all to become more aware, accepting and tolerant. Do those in power fear the acknowledgement and accomplishments of those who don’t look like them, who may not think like them, but who nonetheless have made such important contributions to our nation’s history, so much that they think they can merely remove that history from government websites? How small they are, those in power. How bereft of a sense of decency, a sense of what democracy is all about.
A tobacco company seized on an opportunity they saw in the American market to reach back in time to create the Marlboro Man. Tobacco spent billions in advertising to create a “living myth” including an iconic brilliantly lit billboard on Sunset Blvd in central Hollywood. The iconic myth went global to associate oral fixation on thinly wrapped smoldering tobacco with the frontier independent American cowboy free of government intervention. The latter eventually won and the Marlboro Man disappeared. The original Marlboro Man, Bob Norris, died of lung cancer and became a spokesperson for anti-tobacco advocating smoking kills. Five other actors who personified the Marlboro Man also died of lung cancer.
So when I wonder what is the vision of MAGA returning America to a time of the past, I cannot help but think Trump fantasized a return of the Marlboro Man and the myth that never was. It seems to be a cultural vulnerability of our nation, Trump has seized, to take full advantage of with blundering recklessness to stir up a global stampede.
All hat no cattle?
The dems are being handed their best opportunity in decades to have a big win. My concern that they will limit their time and money to seven states. There are millions of Americans who feel forgotten by both parties. How about spending a little money in Iowa and Indiana and Oklahoma. Organize and fund grassroots movements in red states, not just in blue. It will take a lot of money and even more time, but it will be worth it.
I’m glad I’m old, too, Vern. I’m not particularly glad that so many of the people who have seats in the House and Senate are older than I am. I look around and I see many young people who are bright, energetic, and capable. Those are the people we should be encouraging to run for office.
I’m not saying we should have an age limit, I like Bernie and he’s older than God, but we do need a bit of cognitive testing over and above the standard “remember these words”. We don’t have to put all of the old folks out to pasture. The. DNC can establish a committee of Senior advisors who can engage with legislators, but please don’t tell me that Schumer is the best the Senate Democrats have to offer. There must be someone in the ranks with little bit of charisma, who is bright enough to do the job.
Watched ‘Conclave’ again last night. Yea! To beat Trump … we need a man with birthright ovaries! 😇
Read: Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams and How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa for inside dope on Zuckerberg’s Meta influence on politics. A democracy depends on an informed electorate
Peggy; then I see them talk about old age limits I immediately think of Ruth Bader Ginsberg; what if she had been forced out years before her death, our losses would have been greater and more numerous. Their abilities, their wins and how hard they fought but lost should be the defining factors. Louie Gohmert for example; till Soros, no sillier elected official sat in Congress and Republicans fought to keep Soros in office.
My favorite memory of a Louie quote was when he said “I will never again run for president. After watching the Kennedy/Nixon debates I knew America would never elect a bald man president again.”
Gil has presented the best argument above. It is inclusive to make exemplars of minority persons who have exhibited the best of the traits that our society supposedly venerates. They become beacons to guide all of us to emulate those same virtues.
Attempts to erase them and their accomplishments will ultimately prove futile, and only highlight the narrow mindedness of those promoting the attempt.
The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth and all that was therein. It also says that God observed his handiwork and that it was all good. Note the last four words…. “It was ALL good!” He did NOT omit the LGBTQIA+, those of color. Life is a continuum from bacteria to humans and ALL are both good and necessary!!
Do unto others as you would that they do unto you!
The MAGA’s are doing unto us as they would we do unto them, and they should start considering the lessons that they are teaching us. The fat orange one should read some history about what happened to a similarly fat one in Italy.
Gil, you’ve got that right. But, it may be misleading, no it IS misleading to think that they give a hoot about Democracy. Democracy usually does not deliver unending riches to these types, it requires them to share the bounty, not their thing!
The idea that “All flourishing is mutual,” as per Robin Wall Kimmerer, is anathema to them.
Sheila asks whether the racists will change their minds on Trump as they begin to suffer. Unfortunately, I think the answer is obvious. In the current culture (or at least until a few months ago), the racists felt like they were suffering whether they were or not, and they wanted Trump to alleviate that suffering. The same will be true for the future, but reversed. As long as their racism is being supported, they’ll be happy, even as their real difficulties may increase. It’s like a drug.
Hope you all saw Micah Beckwith discussing the 3/5 compromise in the constitution:
https://www.rawstory.com/indiana-lieutenant-governor-defends-the-compromise-making-people-of-color-3-5-a-person/
As a “lurker”, I appreciate all the comments as food for thought for the rest of my day. However, I believe JoAnn meant Santos and not Soros. I will continue to lurk.
Alas, I agree with John H, in that the MAGAts will choose racism over everything else. As things spiral down faster and faster, the creatures running the government (down) will concoct a way to blame everything on *pick a minority* and further feed and fuel the racism, just as the demented kumquat is now blaming all the current problems on his predecessor. Once upon a time, political success was about “the economy, stupid.” Now it’s about free licensing to be out loud racists.
I think the Cultural Revolution is a good comparison. One of the victims of that process, one of the first scientists allowed to return to science and travel, came to the lab I worked at in NIMH. She was years behind in her knowledge. It was sad how they set her career back.
Beyond that, letters are being sent to scientific journals demanding equal time for junk science in their pages and I read that NIH is being directed to find studies to fund on how people who have had sex reassignment surgery have felt remorse. Always start with the desired result in Trumpland science.
Then there is the scramble to save years of collected data that the government will no longer pay to store (much of it on climate).
To amplify what Peggy said, age is a red herring. Action matters. Bernie is helping; Old Chuck is not. A simple decision – just bring in better people where needed, and most of them are younger. A hint for the next round of judicial appointments. The Republicans understood the advantage of appointing YOUNG ideologues; the Democrats always went for “seasoned” moderates.
Final thought – Quit thinking MAGA is a political movement; IT’S A CULT!!!
Treat it as such.
John Read; no, I did mean Soros. He was just convicted and sentenced to more than 7 years in prison and heavily fined. Republicans helped his remain in his Representative position in the House till his illegal situation became even too much for their idiotic support of him.
John Read; MEA CULPA, I apologize, you are correct (notice I didn’t say you are “right”, I try not to use that term). There are just too many of these fools to keep straight in my mind.
Thank you to each of you for your comments – food for thought, fuel for action …
One of the realities many of us face is the tendency to second guess ourselves – keeps us humble with open minds – at least relatively, I guess … also keeps us somewhat unsteady on our feet and in my opinion entirely too exposed to gleeful and nasty corrections by fools (NOT looking at JoAnn and John Read!).
Leading me to a motto difficult to live by, but quite important:
“DON’T TAKE SHIT FROM YOURSELF!”