Democracy On Trial: The American Crisis

On the show trial being conducted by a judge, jury and executioner who are also the plaintiffs in the case

I was supposed to go on trial today in Sarasota County, Florida for exercising my free speech rights. But Mike Flynn, the former National Security Advisor and retired three-star general persecuting me for my words, said he was too busy to show up. He has a keynote at Liberty University to attend to. Apparently my “defamation” wasn’t very effective.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me. The trial was delayed until March 2026, but we’re not going to wait for that to end this: DefendSpeechNow.org.

The central allegation remaining in the Flynn case—most of it was thrown out—is that I called him a “Nazi.” Nevertheless, this morning, instead of facing me in court, Flynn reposted a wildly racist conspiracy theory tweeted by South African propagandist Lara Logan that defends colonialism because it preserves “European influence.”

Logan: “Words matter.”

Flynn: “Yes they do!”

Since words matter: Mike Flynn is a hypocrite, a coward, a traitor, and a Nazi.

Flynn reposting Logan, detail, Bruce Gilley—one of the authors of the diagram

Simultaneously, the entire federal government is engaged in historical plagiarism of the Third Reich. Senator Roger Marshall threatened peaceful No Kings protesters on October 18th with deadly military force by invoking the antisemitic conspiracy theory that George Soros is paying for violence. And Speaker Mike Johnson claimed that the protesters will be “Antifa” and “pro-Hamas”—and that Democrats are profiting from it.

MARSHALL: “And then October 18th is when the protest gets here. This will be a Soros paid-for protest for his professionals. Protesters show up. The agitators show up. We’ll have to get the National Guard out. Hopefully it’ll be peaceful. I doubt it as well.”

JOHNSON: “And we’re so angry about it. I mean, I’m a very patient guy, but I have had it with these people. They’re playing games with real people’s lives. The theory we have right now, they have a hate America rally that’s scheduled for October 18th on the National Mall. It’s all the pro-Hamas wing and the, you know, the, the, uh, antifa people. They’re all coming out. Some of the House Democrats are selling t-shirts for the event.” [h/t Aaron Rupar]

The central conspiracy theory of the National Socialist movement in Weimar Germany was that a cabal of greedy international Jews, communists (some literally named “Antifa”), Social Democrats, and liberals were conspiring to cause chaos—so they could take over the country and oppress Europeans (“Aryans”).

There is no significant rhetorical difference between the alternate reality being promoted by the federal government and Republican Party, and the conspiracy theory deployed by the Nazis to create the Holocaust.

This historical parallelism is quite conscious, at least on the part of the people orchestrating it—people like Stephen Miller. Those who support Miller’s plan may or may not identify with National Socialism or fascism themselves, but that’s just a branding question. Their core ideology is all the same: power over law; white supremacy; xenophobia; and theocratic imperialism.

This is a trial of democracy; it is being conducted by a judge, jury, and executioner who are also the plaintiffs in the case. A fair hearing is impossible.

But it is also a trial of democracy in the sense meant by Thomas Paine in 1776:

These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. —The American Crisis

We are all on trial. Not just Americans, but the entire population of conscious human beings. Are we going to fail to learn from grade school history? A century ago we saw the same malignancy looming and failed to avert it. Now it has returned—and it is not hiding anymore.

The only ones hiding are most of us.

If you are hiding from this reality and in the sound of my voice, please gather your courage. Understand there is no hiding from this regime. There is only the order in which they will come for your neighbors, your friends, your family, and you.

This is a trial of democracy, and a trial of our souls.

If you possibly can, please make sure you get out to protest on October 18th. Tell everyone you know what is really going on, whether they want to hear it or not. It is time to rouse the sleeping giant of the majority—or allow it to be suffocated in its sleep.

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