Maoism has been reincarnated in post-Trump America. The chief tenets of Mao Zedong’s communist philosophy – blacklists, cleansings, and purges – have arrived in the United States. The Red Guard cartel – the Democratic Party, the fake news industrial complex, and young Antifa/BLM activists – will employ these tactics as part of a full-frontal assault against MAGA Country. In the aftermath of the Capitol Hill riots, the spirit of Maoism has possessed the bodies of progressives across the country, feeling emboldened to exact revenge on President Donald Trump supporters and their Republican allies. The mini-Maos will be running wild for at least the next two years.
A Deep Cleansing
In a recent piece for The Note, ABC News political director Rick Klein demanded the “cleansing” of President Trump’s movement in the wake of his electoral defeat. He wrote and later tweeted:
“Even aside from impeachment and 25th Amendment talk, Trump will be an ex-president in 13 days. The fact is that getting rid of Trump is the easy part. Cleansing the movement he commands, or getting rid of what he represents to so many Americans, is going to be something else.”
After drawing criticism from conservatives, the news outlet ostensibly edited the content, modifying “cleansing” to “cleaning up.” But the echoes of Communist China were already showcased for all to see – since the internet never forgets.
Cleansing was a critical component of Mao’s reign. In the spring of 1968, the Chinese dictator initiated the Cleansing of the Class Ranks that persecuted more than 30 million people who were accused of being traitors and members of the Five Black Categories (landlords, rich farmers, counter-revolutionaries, bad influencers, and conservatives). The endeavor involved torture, forced confessions, show trials, public humiliation, and massacres. Keeping up with the Marxist doctrine, local officials had established a quota system for victims identified as targets for violence, which was associated with the broader Cultural Revolution. This deadly socialist stain on the 20th century lasted for at least a year.
In an era when supposedly objective journalists have been on a crusade of dismantling the Trump presidency and openly admonish anyone who dons a MAGA cap, the political right can undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows when there is talk of cleansings. This is especially true when added to the broader context of everything leftists have been saying and doing since the 2020 election.
The Blacklist
Only 48 hours after the November presidential election, the left proposed launching an initiative to blacklist “Trump sycophants” to “name and shame forever.” It gained steam when failed presidential candidate Evan McMullin, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich advocated the concept. Liberty Nation‘s Jeff Charles wrote at the time:
“It is not hard to imagine how this proposal could quickly morph into something much worse. Progressives will not be satisfied with just harassing members of Trump’s team. Indeed, this may only whet their appetite – they will hunger for more. The next logical step could be to go after the rank-and-file Trump voter.”
Again, the militant left is employing mechanisms that were widely used by authoritarian regimes. In the 1930s, the Soviet Union introduced Blackboards, a blacklist that named collective farms that disapproved of collectivization, resisted the Communist regime, or failed to meet grain quotas. The penalty for these farms, which had extended to Ukraine, was an artificial famine as they were prohibited from receiving supplies.
Nazi officials, particularly in Heinrich Himmler’s Gestapo, were famous for keeping blacklists, known as the Black Book. Since the end of the Second World War, these lists have been recovered, showing who would be automatically arrested. They ranged from Jewish refugees to Winston Churchill to members of various newspapers and organizations to artists.
The Great Purge
In the first week of 2021, Big Tech went on a rampage against President Trump and thousands of his supporters.
Facebook indefinitely prohibited Trump while Twitter banned the president’s account. Both companies cited the risk of violent incitement to justify their decisions. It was not only Trump who faced the wrath of the Ministry of Truth. Steve Bannon’s War Room, attorney Sidney Powell, and former General Michael Flynn have been kicked off the microblogging website. Conservative websites are also facing the heat. Google suspended social network Parler’s app from the Play Store, and Apple gave the company a 24-hour warning to submit a new plan of standards. Amazon has now denied web hosting service to the platform.
What has recently happened is eerily similar to when tech companies, from social media outlets to payment processing firms, ostensibly coordinated to unperson Alex Jones in September 2018.
When Mao Zedong rose to power, one of his first actions was the creation of the Cultural Revolution. This was a sociopolitical movement to purge conventional and capitalist remnants of Chinese society and install Maoism as the nation’s primary culture. Party purges, mandated reeducation imprisonment, and exile were the policies put forward by Mao once he seized power.
In neighboring Soviet Russia, dictator Joseph Stalin vowed to eradicate dissent by pulling the trigger on The Great Purge. Anyone who opposed him or was considered a threat to his reign was detained and sent to the gulags. Government officials, opposing members of the Communist Party, military officers, intellectuals, peasants, and many others were imprisoned or killed.
Unperson
In George Orwell’s seminal work, Nineteen Eighty-Four, if the state suspected you of committing a thought crime, you were erased from society, the present, the universe, and existence. Orwell’s terrifying concept was lifted from Stalin, who eliminated people from photographs after their death. The socialist left is using its incredible power to extinguish the MAGA movement and anyone who violates progressive orthodoxy. The campaign began with Alex Jones, advancing all the way to President Trump. Will you be unpersoned by the Ministry of Truth for daring to oppose the Swamp?
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Read more from Andrew Moran.
