Correction, October 8, 2025 9:05 am: • In last week’s Rhetoric & Reason column, “I am antifa, but I love (gulp) fascists,” New Times inadvertently inserted a typo into John Ashbaugh’s column during the editing process. Ashbaugh wrote that he loves fascists “not because they are worthy of my love—they most assuredly are not—but because I strive to be worthy of my Christian faith. Jesus calls us to ‘love your enemy—(and) pray for those who persecute you.’” New Times regrets the error.
There—I’ve said it. The president can now add me to that list of “radical left group of lunatics.” Speaking from the grounds of the White House on Sept. 11, Trump called for his allies to “beat the hell out of those lunatics”—even before Utah police had arrested Tyler James Robinson for the murder of Charles Kirk.
We should note that even now, three weeks after the assassination, Robinson’s political ideology is still a matter of fierce political debate. I won’t venture an opinion on that volatile subject. I only want to denounce violence of all types, to point out how close we all are to falling within the crosshairs of political violence and to highlight the abusive rhetoric that puts us all at risk.
Trump officially named “antifa” as a “domestic terrorist organization.” That’s interesting, because antifa is not an organization, in spite of Trump’s executive order naming it so. Antifa is best described as a loose affiliation of individuals united only by opposition to an ideology: fascism.
Right now, every American should fight the ideology of fascism, the common enemy of all democratic nations. Yet signs of “homegrown” fascism are all around us: contempt for electoral rights; hostility to political and cultural pluralism; adherence to racial and religious hierarchy; corrupt rule favoring elite, wealthy oligarchs; and the demand that our proud military submit to a “warrior ethos.” Federal troops and masked ICE agents are now openly stalking people of color through the streets of American cities.
This is the textbook definition of fascism, the heinous ideology that we thought we had defeated in 1945. Our victory in that war halted the fearsome, jack-booted storm troopers in Berlin. We took the divine wind of fanatical kamikaze pilots, turned it around and vaporized Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Yet now, 80 years after it had consumed 60 million lives, the zombie ideology of fascism is alive, and it’s coming for us.
Next on Trump’s list of “domestic terrorist organizations” is billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundation—which is indeed an organization, but has nothing to do with terrorism. Its stated mission is “to build vibrant and inclusive democracies whose governments are accountable to their people.”
The White House is even targeting the Democratic Party as a “domestic extremist organization.” Of course, that party is only theoretically an “organization.” Remember Will Rogers’ famous quip: “I’m not a member of any organized political party—I’m a Democrat.”
So maybe Democrats are off the list? Don’t count on it. On Sept. 30, Trump told hundreds of America’s top generals in Virginia that now they are to target American cities as “training grounds” to combat a “war from within.”
“Of course, I still love you.”
I do (gulp) love fascists, including Donald Trump, and JD Vance, Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon … all those cruel and spiteful individuals who are leading us down the iron road to fascism.
I love them not because they are worthy of my love—they most assuredly are not—but because I strive to be worthy of my Christian faith. Jesus calls us to “love your enemy—(and) pray for those who persecute you.”
At the memorial service for Charlie Kirk on Sept. 21, his widow Erika Kirk offered these remarkable lines: “On the cross, our savior said: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ That man—that young man—I forgive him. I forgive him because it’s what Christ did. And it’s what Charlie would do.”
Tragically, Donald Trump then took to the lectern and trashed everything she had just said. Foolishly, he admitted that Charlie Kirk “did not hate his opponents. He wanted the best for them. That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them. I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika.”
But it was too late for an apology. The moment for a president to find the right words had passed, as they do every time this hate-filled man is placed before a microphone.
Must I love this misguided man? Yes, if only because he is a fellow human being. I would not wish him to lead my nation for a single instant, but I want the best for him. I want him to realize that his behavior is loathsome, that he’s leading us into an abyss of authoritarianism, that every day he makes a mockery of our Constitution. I want him to know that his pure, unadulterated hatred made a travesty of that solemn memorial service in Arizona. Charlie Kirk deserved better from a president whom he so worshipped.
So let my “beloved” president send down those compliant generals that he enlisted this week in combatting a “war from within.” Let him loose the dogs of the “Department of War” and the “Department formerly known as Justice.” Arrest me, prosecute and imprison me, I’ll show them nothing but love. Beat me; I’ll turn the other cheek, asking God to forgive them, just as Jesus did at Calvary, just as Erika Kirk did for her husband’s assassin.
Erika Kirk was channeling Martin Luther King Jr. with this simple observation: “The answer to hate is not hate. The answer—we know from the gospel—is love. Always love. Love for our enemies. Love for those who persecute us.”
As hard as it is to say, I love my enemies. I love those who persecute me, but I am antifa, and I abhor violence. I am as anti-fascist as they come. Isn’t everyone? ∆
John Ashbaugh is also a recovering politician who devotes his hours to writing nonsensical articles like this one. Send a response for publication to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 2 – 12, 2025.
John:
It’s easy to engage in exegesis to support one’s position, it’s been done by everyone on both sides of the aisle. One could take biblical passages and twist them up enough to justify anything, as you have. I’m not going to. I will however ask the question, “Why are economic and social conditions so bad and your liberal party so rotten to the core, that millions of its former members have left and either given up and sat out the last election or joined, as I have, the Republican party??” Answer: Greed. We watched watched Bill Clinton/Democrat give away our industrial base to China and Mexico by signing off on NAFTA. We’ve watched Big Government trample on city, county, and state’s rights. Any time one of these political units decides to act in the best interests of its constituents, each higher unit passes a law to make void each lower unit’s laws and ordinances. We don’t want that. Culturally, Dems want to erase national and cultural identity. They want to erase the English language and as they welcome waves of illegal immigrants to a country without jobs, ours, they deign to call any who dates suggest this madness stop, a “racist” or “intolerant.” John, your Democratic party hates traditional families, hates America, and if given the opportunity, will bankrupt you and your progeny if they haven’t done so already.
Your moralizing comes from a place of privilege. As a Boomer with what I’m guessing is enough material security to insulate you from what is ravaging the rest of us, namely poverty, not only do you insult those of us who left your infernal and cursed party, you drag the Bible into the mix. Not everyone who voted for the Republican party is some hillbilly or repressed fascist. Most of us never really left the Democratic party, it left us. It’s values are no longer simpatico. We want MORE Donald Trump. We want more disruption in your precious political norms. We want MORE of a warrior ethos in our military. We want MORE illegals removed from our country. We want MORE people like George Soros investigated. We want MORE traditional families supported and protected. What person does in the privacy of their own homes is their own business, but don’t force the rest of us to support institutional indoctrination. My relatives included at least 3 gay people in it, I’m a pretty laid back, burnt out, California surfer, I could care less what goes on in the privacy of one’s own bedroom, but please, don’t judge me if a raging trans queen makes me a little uncomfortable. According to you, that makes me a fascist. So be it. The Republican party is cleaning up the mess your entire generation created, why are you surprised? You ruined our economy and flooded our country with illegals. If the desire to save our country through the reasonable policies of the Republican party makes me a fascist for supporting it, so be it.
Luv you too, Shanti…
@fly and your various pseudonyms. You say the Democratic Party is “rotten to the core,” but your argument collapses under its own weight. Let’s take it point by point.
On NAFTA and the economy:
Blaming Democrats alone for outsourcing jobs is rewriting history. NAFTA was negotiated under George H.W. Bush, passed with major Republican support, and signed by Bill Clinton. Then Trump “fixed it” with USMCA, which kept most of the original framework intact. Meanwhile, corporate greed and automation — not immigrants, not Democrats — hollowed out the industrial base. If you’re angry about jobs leaving, you should be looking at Wall Street CEOs and multinationals, not the party that tried to pass stronger labor protections.
On government “trampling rights”:
You complain about federal authority overruling states. But tell me — should states have been allowed to keep Jim Crow segregation? Should they have been free to ban interracial or gay marriage? Federal power steps in when states strip people of basic rights. “States’ rights” has long been a dog whistle for keeping marginalized groups in second-class status.
On immigration and culture:
Let’s cut through the hysteria. Immigrants are not “erasing” our culture. English isn’t going anywhere — it’s the language of schools, government, law, and 99% of media. Immigrants assimilate, just like Germans, Italians, and Irish did. What is eroding America is scapegoating working families who mow our lawns, pick our crops, and serve in our military while billionaires laugh their way to the bank.
On “traditional families”:
Democrats don’t hate families — they fight for them. Child tax credits, affordable childcare, paid leave, healthcare expansions — all blocked by Republicans. What your party calls “pro-family” usually just means controlling who people can love, who can marry, and whose kids get to feel safe at school. That’s not family values. That’s government overreach dressed up as morality.
On Trump’s “disruption”:
You want more Trump? You want more chaos, debt, and international embarrassment? You call it disruption — the rest of us call it corruption. Four years of Trump gave us record deficits, botched pandemic response, and a president who tried to overturn an election he lost. That’s not patriotism. That’s authoritarianism with a spray tan.
On being called fascist:
You say, “So be it.” That’s the problem. Fascism isn’t about being uncomfortable with change. It’s about silencing the press, demonizing minorities, and undermining elections — all things Trump openly embraced. If you shrug and say “so be it,” then you’ve chosen to side with a movement that’s proud of trampling democracy. Own it.
On generational blame:
You’re right that Boomers hold responsibility. But don’t kid yourself, Reaganomics gutted unions, slashed taxes for the rich, and ballooned inequality. That was Republican gospel. If you want to talk about who “ruined” the economy, look at forty years of conservative trickle-down lies that never trickled down.
You rail about “indoctrination” and “privilege” while ignoring the billionaire donors and corporate lobbyists writing Republican policy. You rage about immigrants and trans kids while Wall Street rigs the system and climate change scorches our future. That’s not saving America. That’s being played.
The truth is simple: both parties have failures, but one is openly embracing authoritarianism, culture-war scapegoating, and corporate capture while calling it “patriotism.” If you want more Trump, fine. But don’t pretend it’s about saving America. It’s about tearing her down and handing the wreckage to the same billionaires who sold out your jobs in the first place.
Well said, Ms. Stegman!
Well, I am happy to see that Mr. Ashbaugh and I agree on something, the need to fight fascism. Let’s examine the “symptoms” of fascism he listed.
One, a “contempt for electoral rights”. Which party filed lawsuits to keep Trump, Robert Kennedy, Jill Stein and Cornell West off of the ballot? And, of course, which party installed their favorite candidate, instead of the one who won the primaries? Two, hostility to pluralism? Identify as a conservative on a college campus, and see how much “pluralism” is tolerated. I am sure that the ANTIFA kids are especially welcoming of opposing ideas. Three, a racial hierarchy? What else can you call DEI hiring preferences? Four, demand soldiers embody a “warrior ethos”? Ashbaugh must be more versed in history than I am, as I hadn’t realized that it must have been social workers and administrators who stormed ashore on Omaha Beach on D Day to offer the Germans programs. But some misguided people still believe that the purpose of a soldier is to kill the enemy. Silly them.
“…social workers and administrators ..” lol.
John Donegan, I rarely call you out for your comments on my article, but I will in this case: My own mother was a Military Social Worker in the American Red Cross. She joined up in 1943 and served our cause in England by supporting our soldiers and airmen during the build-up to D-Day. She didn’t storm the beaches, but by GOD she had a warrior ethos that she passed on to me: She saw action on the front lines – she retreated right along with the tanks during the Battle of the Bulge in December ‘44 – and she helped a lot of our wounded men to get back home in one piece, or return to the front with the best advice our nation could give any of our soldiers: Never give up; keep fighting all the way to Berlin.
When the war was won, my mother stayed in occupied Germany and served to help transport three shiploads of “war brides” back from Europe to meet their new husbands on the docks of New York. On her fourth tour of duty in September 1946, her 40,000-ton ship was blown six feet out of the water at precisely midnight by a concealed bomb probably planted by the “Werewolves” – a secret German resistance militia that our government didn’t want anyone to know existed. Our mother went to her grave convinced that her bride ship had hit a stray mine. My brother and I learned the truth about that explosion only after her funeral in 2011. After spending a cold night in the Atlantic in a lifeboat, she obviously survived long enough to give birth to me in 1952.
So – bottom line: “Social workers and administrators” were an essential part of our war effort in 1945 – just as they are now. We are in this together in our current war against fascism. The question is whether we’re up to that fight – or do we have to keep arguing about who gets the credit for our inevitable victory?
@John Ashbaugh: My intent was not to denigrate social workers (or administrators), but to demonstrate that encouraging a “warrior ethos” in soldiers is not only reasonable, but necessary, and your criticism of Hegsteth unfair. Fighting, killing and facing the chance of your own death or maiming, is an extreme activity in which a person is forced to transcend nearly every civilized instinct, and momentarily suppress fear, kindness and personal caution. To do this function requires training and conditioning, and a deep, visceral commitment to the role. It requires that you go to a place in your mind that most of us are fortunate to never have to access, so yes, a “warrior ethos” is necessary.
John D:
Why bother to explain yourself, John A is an idealogue with blinders on. You can see it in his writing. He is convinced that the only thing the US needs is a Democratic party to be in control. He is as naive as the people being rounded up, put on box cars, and sent to concentration tration camps. Even as they were being loaded into boxcars they refused to believe the rumors. They couldn’t believe what was really going, they still believed the officials wearing uniforms and party pins. They were simply being shoved into boxcars to go to work in “factories” in the countryside. This is the mindset of liberals and those with really any faith left in the two party system. They still believe that at some point, our self serving, corrupt politicians will finally make things right. I’m in my 50s, if it hasn’t happened by now, it will never happen. We should have had national healthcare by now. College should be as free now as it was for your generation. Instead the only thing we have are shiny new battle ships and war planes and massive debt.
It is so bad now, it makes one wonder if joining those getting on the boxcars might not be a bad idea.