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On September 17, the late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended after remarks he made about the death of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Days later, he was reinstated following liberal upheaval.
In his first appearance back on air, Kimmel read US President Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social: “I can’t believe ABC fake news gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back.”
Without missing a beat, Kimmel responded, “You can’t believe they gave me my job back. I can’t believe we gave you your job back!”
While the liberal crowd roared approvingly, I wanted to ask, “Why not, Jimmy?” I can believe it.
Liberal delusion
Kimmel is back on air, and the American liberal establishment has heaved a collective sigh of relief. Not because liberals and their Democratic Party have learned from the incident and used it as an opportunity to galvanise meaningful opposition to Trump’s authoritarian surge, but precisely the opposite – because it allows them to go back to their blissful slumber, ignore reality, cling to cognitive dissonance, denial, ahistorical wishful thinking, and the complicity that is integral to white privilege within a white supremacist order.
The reality is that liberals do not see Trump and his supporters as a substantial threat. They consider him a fleeting deviation, believing the pendulum will ultimately swing back to the reliable liberal system.
In fact, liberals do not even substantially disagree with the core of Trump’s policies. After all, both right-wing and liberal elites are loyal servants of empire, the latter just give it a veneer of humanitarianism.
Both support policies that sustain the oppression of poor and marginalised people: the corporatisation of healthcare and education, labour exploitation, mass incarceration, militarised policing, censorship, corruption through corporate donations, and extractivism and militarism abroad. The liberals have put their spin on all these with talk about human rights, rule of law, and diversity.
While dovetailing the right, the liberals have zeroed in on the left as the ultimate threat. They have not only attacked it within partisan ranks, but have also turned a blind eye to attempts by the right to suppress it. The aim is to marginalise the revolutionary left, which constitutes the only real threat to the current capitalist system of oppression.
That is why, liberals have frequently dismissed challenges to fundamental rights and freedoms, such as the right to protest and freedom of speech.
In doing so, the liberal establishment has helped usher the rise of fascism at home and abroad.
The Palestinian issue
The suppression of the struggle for freedom, equality and justice in Palestine is a particularly striking example of liberal corruption and duplicity, driving the US’s freefall into fascism.
Even before the acceleration of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, liberal leaders peddled delusions like “the two-state solution” and an interminable “peace process” that justified and sustained apartheid and disenfranchisement in Palestine. They kept the American weapons manufacturers happy by consistently increasing military aid to Israel and providing unconditional support for its ever more brutal and bloody onslaughts on the Palestinian population.
Liberal Democrats, along with their Republican colleagues, introduced and sponsored anti-boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) laws and resolutions across Congress and state legislatures, reflecting a political consensus in targeting resistance to US/Israeli criminality. They also supported the fallacious International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s definition of anti-Semitism, which has been used to target and scapegoat principled opposition.
After the start of the genocide, as Palestinian civilians faced carpet bombing, torture, kidnapping and starvation, liberals and the Biden administration continued to run interference for Israel, while further undermining international law. It backed harsh crackdowns on anti-genocide protesters, undermining core American freedoms, and silenced Palestinian voices at the Democratic National Convention; a move that may have cost Democrats the election.
This crackdown on dissent against the US-Israeli genocide helped lay the groundwork for Trump’s authoritarian measures.
Recognising the opportunity, and before Trump took office, the Republican-aligned Heritage Foundation unveiled “Project Esther,” in October 2024, a strategic blueprint aimed at extending the legacy left by Biden by crushing anti-colonial resistance by infringing on constitutional rights and attacking activism, scholarship and higher education as a whole.
These Orwellian measures are fully under way, with liberals still in denial, unwilling and able to hold themselves accountable for their role in the current predicament.
Historical echoes
Today’s liberal establishment is replaying a tragic farce – while opportunistically marginalising left-wing policies, it keeps rolling out the red carpet for the right, effectively greasing the wheels of the fascist rollercoaster.
In the 1920s and early 1930s, German liberals struck similar compromises with reactionary elites, casting socialism – the loss of some privileges – as a greater danger than fascism, and placing “order” and “peace” above justice. Their assistance with the targeting of communists and anarchists facilitated Adolf Hitler’s rise, culminating in World War II.
Today’s coy and careful US liberals are pleased with the status quo and shrink from confrontation, while Trump waltzes boldly as he trashes the US Constitution. Just like Weimar liberals tiptoed around fascism until it was too late, today’s liberals are joining in silencing and scapegoating the left, instead of challenging reactionaries.
They continue with this strategy even as Trump starts to break the longstanding unspoken rule of the US ruling class – steal from anyone, just don’t cannibalise your own.
Indeed, nothing has changed in the liberal mindset since Trump’s first term, perfectly captured in that timeless Saturday Night Live skit after his first election, where Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock watch the results roll in for Trump. A shocked white liberal gasps, “Oh my God, I think America is racist,” to which Chappelle deadpans, “Oh my God … you know, I remember my great-grandfather told me something like that. He was, like, a slave or something.”
Trump, despite his many shortcomings, accurately recognises the weakness, corruption and duplicity in liberal politics.
In his rant on Truth Social after Kimmel was reinstated, he continued: “Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE… I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me 16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative. A true bunch of losers!”
More laughter from the audience.
Once again, the liberals are catalysing catastrophe, applauding and laughing at the chaos they pretend to oppose, while placating the corporations that contribute to their campaign coffers.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
