Trying To Fly In an Increasingly Fascist United States of America
THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali
Mar 23
I’m writing this essay while sitting in DCA, using the still functional WiFi, and waiting to board my flight to SFO, while armed, untrained ICE agents are being unleashed at numerous airports across America.
Before leaving for my flight, friends and family all messaged me to be extra careful, take my passport, and scrub any social media off my phone. Last time I checked, I hadn’t done anything radical or criminal, unless driving a Honda Odyssey minivan and shopping at Costco are now considered extremist acts.
Nope, this is just me, a middle-aged dad, trying to take a domestic flight to SFO for a speech this Tuesday for the Commonwealth Club in Lafayette. (Come by if you’re in the East Bay!)
Meanwhile, TSA agents are still not paid because Trump has decided to hold the nation hostage to bumrush his voter suppression bill (SAVE Act) and fund DHS without any guardrails or constraints. Trump rejected the plan even though Democrats and GOP Senate leader Thune are on board to fund a clean TSA bill.
He owns the chaos.
This is nothing new. Why is anyone surprised? Relationships for Trump are zero-sum games where he must emerge dominant or appear to be the winner.
It’s worked wonderfully for America.
It explains the disastrous trade war where Trump has alienated our allies, whom he believes are screwing us over due to his fundamental misunderstanding of trade deficits, tariffs, and basic economics. Now, we have higher grocery prices.
Awesome.
Trump also thought he could bully Iran into submission, giving it a 48-hour deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz. They didn’t flinch, and onward we stumble into an escalating quagmire that is spiking the price of oil and gas and threatening our future food supply.
All of this could’ve been avoided, but a plurality of Americans chose the “murder-suicide” option instead. They thought it wouldn’t affect them. They thought the fascists would stop at the undocumented immigrants, the pro-Palestinian activists, the “woke,” and the poor.
Nope.
Fascists come for everyone in the end.
Now, we are all waiting in line for hours at the airport, praying to God that we have enough air traffic controllers who can prevent avoidable catastrophes, as we witnessed at LaGuardia Airport. Now, all of us are paying more for oil, gas, and food. Now, all of us are being threatened by Trump’s Gestapo, who are on American streets, in schools, and at airports. Next, they will be unleashed at the voting booth, because Trump and Republicans aren’t leaving peacefully or legally.
It’s time to wake up, friends!
