VIDEO: Josh Kovensky and John Light Discuss Trump’s Crackdown on His Political Enemies

The Trump administration used the September assassination of Charlie Kirk to declare war on the left, pledging to use the full force of the law to go after its ideological opponents.

This is exactly what is happening now. As Josh Kovensky and John Light discussed Wednesday morning on Substack Live, Trump’s Justice Department is using “material support for terrorism” charges against Black Lives Matter and anti-ICE protesters in a novel way.

“It’s about putting the cart before the horse,” says Josh. “When you think about a criminal investigation, what you want is evidence of a crime, or evidence that a crime is being plotted, and for it to be stopped, or for someone to need evidence.[ing] be held responsible for this. The problem with NSPM-7, what is happening now – and also with COINTELPRO, what they have in common – is that it is going backwards. They draw up markers for what they think is a crime – in this case, its anti-Americanism, its anti-capitalism, its anti-Christianity; in the ’60s, it was about being a member of the Communist Party or the Black Panthers or some civil rights movement organization – and saying, Okay, now we’re going to try to disrupt them, try to go after them. »

“It’s not about following the evidence that leads you to a perpetrator. It’s about saying: We know who the perpetrators are likely to be based on these ideological markers, and then ordering law enforcement to pursue them as forcefully as possible.”

Josh and John also delve into Trump’s controversial NSPM-7 memo, what the term “antifa” really is, and the parallels between our current moment and “One Battle After Another.”