The Daily Brief
Today
Good morning. On the first night of the Republicans' midterms convention, Donald Trump pledged $5,000 to every U.S. adult if his party keeps control of both chambers of Congress — the so-called "Trump dividends," a pledge that has raised questions over whether it could cross legal lines. It is vote-buying dressed as generosity. With "socialism" attacks ringing hollow, the GOP reached for something more sinister — Islamophobia, at what the World Socialist Web Site described as an overtly fascistic event centered on attacks on immigrants, Muslims, transgender persons and socialism. The same administration tried to force federal job applicants to profess loyalty to Trump, until a judge blocked it.
This is not confined to Washington. In Germany, the extreme far-right AfD is reshaping the country while echoing Trump's MAGA movement. Trump himself spent a two-day visit to Ireland jabbing at Europe over trade and immigration as Irish leaders scrambled to downplay the tensions.
The stakes are civilizational. Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor argue in a new book that a powerful coalition of "end times fascists" is just fine with the earth's demise. Journalist Amy Westervelt documents the tech bros' war on climate action, a moment when millions have been convinced that it is patriotic to be antidemocracy and that podcasters, not doctors, are to be trusted.
The people in the crosshairs are already organizing to outlast it. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, on his first visit to India, said he will not surrender to the U.S. and Israel. Palestinian writer Raja Shehadeh, who has documented Israel's occupation of the West Bank since day one, secretly moved his archive to Scotland, fearing the occupation might consume it. The pattern is plain: capital and its politicians will spend democracy and the planet both to keep power — and the migrants, workers and colonized they target intend to be there when they fall.
Zoom out: Across three continents the day reads as one story: a far right consolidating around Trump's model, at ease with the end of democracy and of the planet alike, while the people it targets organize to outlast it.