Theocrats, Tech Lords, and the Quest for Absolute Power

This week, Pete Hegseth announced and the Department of Defense confirmed that the U.S. will be executing Nidal Hassan by firing squad and that that brutal murder will be live streamed to the general public.

It will be the first US military execution since 1961, the first military firing squad execution since 1945, and the first legal livestream execution by a government.

Let's talk about the big picture.

What is the role of public execution in human societies? There is the element of punishment.

Hegseth made clear that people who commit crimes against the U.S. military will not go unpunished.

But in addition to punishment, it is also a form of human sacrifice.

This is the state and its leaders saying that they have the ultimate power to decide life or death, to follow through with that decision soberly, not in the heat of the moment, and to face no consequence.

they are saying that we will commit this heinous act of murder at a pre-announced time and place and no one has the power to stop us.

It is a way that rulers throughout history have demonstrated control over a society.

This is the control that these American fascists believe they need to remake America in their vision and double down on dominating the globe.

And let's be clear, it converts this state killing into a deliberately staged spectacle, public vengeance designed to excite bloodlust, terrorize those the regime perceives as enemies and train the population to identify this cruelty, this violence with strength.

They don't only want you watching.

They want a population that cheers for this and what it preludes.

It is, as historians of fascism like Ruth Ben-Ghiat have noted, an escalation of an attempt to normalize extreme violence, ritualize violence, militarize the country, and make violence entertaining so when they ask you to commit violence in their name, you will be ready.

That was a recent post by Ruth Ben-Ghiat.

This is not speculation.

This approach is central to the religious teachings that Pete Hegseth has espoused as his follower of Doug Wilson.

It is present when Hegseth invokes the US military's supposedly biblical mission, making the members of that military into a quote unquote warrior class, possessing virtues and insight unavailable to ordinary civilians and positioned in direct opposition to civilian society, civil law, democratic institutions, and the press.

He has covered his body in crusader imagery, and it is not a metaphor.

And the same goes for the Nazi symbolism in his adjusted seal of the so-called Department of War that served as a backdrop for his speech this past week, where he touted this loyal warrior caste, a group that is accountable only to the Fuhrer Trump.

And this fascist regime is staging this execution as a key part of forging a fascist America, training people to celebrate cruelty, submit to brute power, and accept ever greater atrocities against those branded enemies.

There can be no accommodation with this.

This is only the beginning, unless this regime is driven from power.

Meanwhile, plainclothes ICE agents ambushed and shot Oscar Belgal in his car with his five-year-old son.

This attempted murder took place this past Thursday afternoon in the South Bronx.

This week, Pete Hegseth announced and the Department of Defense confirmed that the U.S. will be executing Nidal Hassan by firing squad and that that brutal murder will be live streamed to the general public.

It will be the first US military execution since 1961, the first military firing squad execution since 1945, and the first legal livestream execution by a government.

Let's talk about the big picture.

What is the role of public execution in human societies? There is the element of punishment.

Hegseth made clear that people who commit crimes against the U.S. military will not go unpunished.

But in addition to punishment, it is also a form of human sacrifice.

This is the state and its leaders saying that they have the ultimate power to decide life or death, to follow through with that decision soberly, not in the heat of the moment, and to face no consequence.

they are saying that we will commit this heinous act of murder at a pre-announced time and place and no one has the power to stop us.

It is a way that rulers throughout history have demonstrated control over a society.

This is the control that these American fascists believe they need to remake America in their vision and double down on dominating the globe.

And let's be clear, it converts this state killing into a deliberately staged spectacle, public vengeance designed to excite bloodlust, terrorize those the regime perceives as enemies and train the population to identify this cruelty, this violence with strength.

They don't only want you watching.

They want a population that cheers for this and what it preludes.

It is, as historians of fascism like Ruth Ben-Ghiat have noted, an escalation of an attempt to normalize extreme violence, ritualize violence, militarize the country, and make violence entertaining so when they ask you to commit violence in their name, you will be ready.

That was a recent post by Ruth Ben-Ghiat.

This is not speculation.

This approach is central to the religious teachings that Pete Hegseth has espoused as his follower of Doug Wilson.

It is present when Hegseth invokes the US military's supposedly biblical mission, making the members of that military into a quote unquote warrior class, possessing virtues and insight unavailable to ordinary civilians and positioned in direct opposition to civilian society, civil law, democratic institutions, and the press.

He has covered his body in crusader imagery, and it is not a metaphor.

And the same goes for the Nazi symbolism in his adjusted seal of the so-called Department of War that served as a backdrop for his speech this past week, where he touted this loyal warrior caste, a group that is accountable only to the Fuhrer Trump.

And this fascist regime is staging this execution as a key part of forging a fascist America, training people to celebrate cruelty, submit to brute power, and accept ever greater atrocities against those branded enemies.

There can be no accommodation with this.

This is only the beginning, unless this regime is driven from power.

Meanwhile, plainclothes ICE agents ambushed and shot Oscar Belgal in his car with his five-year-old son.

This attempted murder took place this past Thursday afternoon in the South Bronx.