The right-wing hate machine is ramping up its campaign of political correctness to silence academia.

In part, this is because they hate liberals, of course; particularly in the age of little donnie, when most of the so-called “conservatives” have jettisoned principles, patriotism, and any semblance of a moral compass, their seething resentment toward liberals, and particularly educated liberals, is really the only thing they have left to unite around.

But let’s not lose sight of what’s happening on a deeper level: They’re attacking academia precisely because academics have authority and expertise, from their careers of study, which represents a threat to the bedrock of lies upon which the Trumpist hate movement is built.

Trumpist authoritarianism will not tolerate the existence of any expert whose knowledge or experience could possibly gainsay Trump or the other leader-figures. It is for that very reason that every authoritarian/totalitarian movement begins with an attack on academics.

If this were happening anywhere else, we’d have no problem calling it fascism. So why aren’t we doing it here?