A t-shirt being sold online offering “free helicopter rides” to AntifaPhoto: Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children Store
“President Trump Gives Free Helicopter Rides to Communist Domestic Terrorists !” one Twitter account, called Stop Communism in America, tweeted out.
“Can’t wait till Kavanaugh makes it legal to take Libshits on free helicopter rides!” another Trump supporter tweeted recently.
“Free helicopter rides for globalists!
And their hired communist thugs.
#MAGA #Sacramento” another tweeted with a photoshopped image of an offensive Jewish caricature being thrown from a Trump-branded helicopter. Globalist, it should be noted, is often a code word for “Jewish” on right-wing social media.
There are also plenty of videos on places like YouTube with the meme, embracing the idea that all of President Trump’s “enemies” should be dealt with through extrajudicial killings.
The rise of fascism is a global problem right now, as places like Brazil, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, and Greece all see parties on the far right gain a foothold in mainstream politics. But we’re also seeing Americans become more globally aware of authoritarian leaders and their history. Yes, plenty of far right shitposters love Hitler. But there are other historical authoritarian figures that have become popular in the United States, including dictators like Chile’s Pinochet, Italy’s Benito Mussolini, and Spain’s Francisco Franco.
There’s been a lot of pearl-clutching recently by Trump supporters who worry about the “incivility” of the left. But as people on the right celebrate the death of Heather Heyer, killed by a neo-Nazi in Charlottesville last summer, as “payback time,” we should probably realize that humanity needs to start taking the fringes of the online world more seriously.
It’s all a “joke” until it’s not.
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