If You're Okay with Unmarked Van Arrests–Congratulations, You Support Fascism

For years, you've probably been reading headlines comparing Trump's rise and the spread of alt-right ideology in America to the rise of Adolph Hitler and Nazism in Germany.

You might have even rolled your eyes, thinking to yourself that terms like "Nazi" and "fascism" are so overused at this point that they've practically become meaningless. But there's an alternative reading to some of these headlines, and that reading is that leading Holocaust historians might actually know what they're talking about when they draw similarities between historical events.

The Nazi party came to power In Germany in 1933, eight years before the Holocaust—the mass genocide of roughly 6 million Jews, alongside hundreds of thousands of Romani, handicapped, and gay people.

Upon their rise to power, Nazi Party leader Hermann Goring filled police ranks with like-minded Nazis who acted under his personal command. These Nazi police forces under Goring's command were known as the Gestapo. The Gestapo oftentimes worked alongside the Kriminalpolizei ("Criminal Police") and other government intelligence units under the umbrella of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt ("Reich Security Central Office"), as many of their duties overlapped.

One of the Gestapo's primary duties was disappearing leftists who spoke out against the Nazi cause—intellectuals, politicians, and protesters alike. The Gestapo operated with impunity. They could "preventative[ly] arrest" anyone they liked for any reason, and if they claimed that whomever they arrested was a criminal, the non-persecuted German public was likely to believe them. Those arrested by the Gestapo tended to disappear, sent away to Nazi concentration camps.

Again, much of this took place before the Holocaust.

One of the most important concepts to understand about fascism is that, within the context of a fascist government, a "criminal" is anyone who opposes their ideology.

When Attorney General William Barr began sending unmarked federal police into Portland to kidnap protestors, he solidified the United States Republican Party's miserable company alongside the likes of the German Nazi Party and the Communist Party of China. Make no mistake, America's unmarked police disappearances are no more exceptional than those of any other evil regime whose defeat we've gloated about in history books.

Alongside his constant praise of dictators, time and time again, Trump has publicly expressed the sentiment that his leftist political detractors are enemies of the state. Ironically, he even drums up the spectre of Nazis to get his point across: "American heroes defeated the Nazis, dethroned the fascists, toppled the communists, saved American values, upheld American principles and chased down the terrorists to the very ends of the earth. We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing."

Barr's recent actions pertaining to Portland bring Trump's words into the real world. In what version of America were we taught to stand idly by while heavily armed, unidentified agents of the state drag citizens into unmarked vans for no discernible reason? Have we collectively decided to throw Miranda rights out the window? What separates this show of force from any other dictatorial regime?

How can we justify the police sending in an entire militarized squad to take down one nonviolent protester for drawing with chalk on the sidewalk—a practice which is almost certainly legal in Portland.

The answer is that there is no defense for this. This is what a police state looks like. If you watch these videos and choose to defend them, look in the mirror and recognize that this is the face of fascism.

Horrifyingly, the problem isn't isolated in Portland. The NYPD has begun kidnapping protestors in unmarked vans as well. Recent video footage captured a confrontation at a protest wherein multiple undercover police officers dragged a young woman into an unmarked van. The armed officers charged at surrounding protestors until uniformed officers rushed in on bicycles.

Shortly after the NYPD's terrifying assault on the lone woman went viral, the NYPD took a page from the ol' fascism playbook, declaring that they were entirely justified because, and I quote, "A woman taken into custody in an unmarked van was wanted for damaging police cameras during 5 separate criminal incidents in & around City Hall Park. The arresting officers were assaulted with rocks & bottles."

Now, there are two major issues with this statement. First, there is video footage of the event and not a single part shows the officers being assaulted with rocks or bottles.

Secondly, and this one is the most important: What part of this supposed scenario possibly justifies having four unmarked officers driving an unmarked van into a protest and violently kidnapping a woman without reading her rights? Even if we assume the NYPD's statement is true—which, considering their position as a fascist-leaning force targeting and interrogating people based on their political affiliations, we cannot do—any young woman would be smart to do whatever she can to defend herself when four men pull up in an unmarked van and grab her. Throw rocks. Throw bottles. Fight like hell. After all, these police tactics are the same exact ones employed by sex traffickers and rapists. Damaging a few cameras is in no way, shape, or form, justification for this kind of behavior.

The woman ultimately spent the night in jail and was released the following morning with a desk appearance ticket, typically reserved for misdemeanor offenses, as opposed to the exceedingly violent type of crimes that one would expect to warrant a confrontation by an unmarked van full of armed, undercover men.

Imagine trying to justify a police force using four armed, unmarked officers to take down one young, unarmed girl. If you have any inclination to defend this, please, use our Amazon affiliate link to buy yourself some professional clown makeup. Once you're done applying that makeup, feel free to turn in your application to the NYPD, too. Give it a few months, and they might even change the official NYPD uniform color to brown.