Commentary: A little fascist cosplay right here in Vermont

By John Walters
Vermont Political Observer

I’m so sorry Becca White was there, because she had to witness… I’d call it a farce, which it is, but it may well be a harbinger of the post-democratic America that Donald Trump wants to create. A post-democratic America which would be no respecter of state borders, red, purple or blue.

Vermont state Sen. Becca White explains what she saw and heard when her friend and constituent Mohsen Mahdawi was arrested by ICE during what was supposed to be a citizenship hearing.
Click the image to view the video.
Screenshot of White from video by Junction Arts & Media.

The state senator from Windsor County was on hand when her friend and Vermont resident Mohsen Mahdawi was kidnapped by cowardly stormtrooper wannabes hiding their faces and driving unmarked vehicles. In fact, they needed four unmarked vehicles and who knows how many agents to corral a legal U.S. resident and known pacifist.

Brave, brave men. With little tiny penises.

What would we know about Mahdawi if not for White being present to document his kidnapping? We’d probably know the fact of his detention (his lawyer was present), but we wouldn’t have video proof of this unlawful action by a bunch of unAmerican secret police cosplayers.

God, it’s contemptible. And deeply scary. How’s that thing go? “First they came for the Palestinians, and I did not speak out because I am not Palestinian.” Something like that.

Mahdawi’s seizure on a sunny spring day is a violation of our supposed ideals. It’s a violation of who we like to think we are as a nation — that shining city on a hill, as Ronald Reagan said, “God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace.”

Harmony and peace, my ass. I mean, people around the world who’ve had bitter experience with our authoritarian impulses know that Reagan’s words were nothing but self-saggrandizing horse hockey. But they did represent cherished American ideals that we were hopefully on a long journey toward fulfilling. And now here’s Donald Trump taking Reagan’s words and setting them on fire.

The Seven Days account quotes Democrat White and the three members of our Congressional delegation — Democrats Peter Welch and Becca Balint and progressive Independent Bernie Sanders. The VTDigger story quotes the same four. I’d like to hear from a Republican or two, you know? The people who venerate Regan’s legacy? The people who value freedom above everything else? Yeah, them.

What does Gov. Phil Scott have to say about this? What part did his administration play in this patently illegal act? Mahdawi was whisked away in a motorcade of unmarked vehicles with Vermont license plates; could the Department of Motor Vehicles shed any light on this despicable act? Did local or state police agencies provide any assistance to the anonymized federal goons? Did they know in advance? Mahdawi is now imprisoned for no goddamn reason at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans, paid for by your tax dollars and mine, now an outpost of Donald Trump’s Orwellian regime. (Might be an appropriate time for an investigatory hearing by the state House and Senate Judiciary Committees.)

And I do mean Orwellian. In another fascistic deportation case, Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited his authority to deport people based solely on their “past, current or expected beliefs.”

Detaining people based on their beliefs, in a society that allegedly upholds the First Amendment as part of its founding ideals, is bad enough. But “expected beliefs”? Does Little Marco have a crystal ball? Or has he assembled a secret force of precogs who can foresee the crimes of the future?

What say you, Republicans? Is this your party at work? If not, the time to speak is now. That includes our very comfortable governor who, when last heard from, was smugly insisting that “we must not allow ourselves to be distracted or live in a constant state of fear, anger or outrage.”

Hey, gov. Time for a little outrage? Not much, just a teeny tiny bit, in response to this jackbooted thuggery targeting a legal Vermont resident kidnapped on Vermont soil in vehicles licensed by the state of Vermont and taken to a Vermont state prison?

I mean, just ask Senator White if this action was, as the governor puts it, mere “rhetoric.” I’d suggest he ask Mr. Mahdawi himself, but I doubt that the feds would allow him access.

This has gone way beyond rhetoric. It’s gone way beyond funding cutbacks. This is real, tangible authoritarianism on our soil, targeting people with every right to live peaceably in a state whose motto is “Freedom and Unity.” I guess that comes with a disclaimer now. “Freedom not necessarily applicable to all residents. Subject to terms and conditions. Revocable without notice if Marco Rubio thinks you might harbor an inconvenient thought now or in the future.”

But maybe I’m overreacting. After all, neither Phil Scott nor I are Palestinians. Or Communists. Or trade unionists. Or Jews. We’ve got nothing to worry about. Right?