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Horrifying news. Prominent politician who opposes Poland’s ruling far-right, anti-immigrant party is murdered.
Over the past 2 years I've begun noticing the distinctly strong affinity that the more white nationalist elements in the @gop coalition have with Poland's ruling party.
The situation in Gdansk has its own context and complexities obviously, but this apparently political murder feels vaguely like a smaller-scale version of what Caesar Sayoc attempted just a few months ago, targeted killings of prominent progressives.
This is how right wing terror has worked in past political eras...vocal opponents are assassinated, thereby attempting to intimidate other opponents of the ruling party into silence.
In both the US and Poland (so far), the authorities have all said and done the right things...the norms and institutions have held. Sessions' DOJ and Trump's FBI tracked down Sayoc and Republican leaders decried the violence. In Poland, the murderer has been apprehended.
But who doubts that there was also more than a little gloating within the far right bases of both countries, perhaps even amongst far right politicians who, quietly and amongst themselves, drank a toast to the right wing vigilantes who bravely took on the "enemies of the people."
That is the key thing that connects Trumpism with the far-right ruling party of Poland. Both are hyper-nationalists who identify their *domestic* political opponents as "enemies of the people." Not "our opponents" or "rivals," but "enemies." That's the entering wedge of fascism.
