October 17, 2024
State racism in the name of workers’ interests.”
That’s not the only response to the perennial question “What
is fascism?” — but it is a
compelling one. Now that mass deportation — starting with
the Haitian residents of Springfield, Ohio — has joined
sealed borders and “drill,
baby, drill” as keystones of the Republican Party
platform, it’s undeniable that the GOP’s
much-ballyhooed effort to rebrand as the “party of workers”
is inseparable from its assault on the rights and safety of immigrants. While
the Trump campaign has run on protective tariffs, and some MAGA Republicans
have praised the antitrust work of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan,
the GOP’s core pitch remains simpler and more powerful: assuaging the fears of
the “American
worker” by ramping up terror against their “non-
American” peers.
People hold signs that read "Mass Deportation Now!" on the third
day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July
17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.
