All the events of the past month since the killing of Charlie Kirk—the transformation of a fascist provocateur into a martyr of the MAGA movement, the mobilization of the National Guard against the so-called “enemy within,” and the open preparations to invoke the Insurrection Act—have demonstrated beyond any doubt that what is underway is a systematic conspiracy by the Trump administration to establish a dictatorship. Blinders are falling from people’s eyes. More and more Americans are saying, “I don’t recognize this country anymore.” The Land of Lincoln is being transformed by Trump and his arrogant satraps into the land of a would-be Führer.

This conspiracy entered a new and chilling stage on Wednesday, when President Trump convened a meeting in the White House that was presented as a “roundtable on antifa.” It was, in fact, a gathering of extreme right-wing political maniacs: neo-Nazis, Christian nationalists, racists, and Hitler lovers. They were assembled by Trump in what was clearly intended as a signal for all-out war against political opposition. An atmosphere of menace and imminent violence prevailed throughout the entire “discussion.”

Nothing like this has ever occurred in the history of the United States. The White House has been transformed into the headquarters of a conspiracy to legitimize fascism, brand anti-fascism as “terrorism,” and mobilize the repressive machinery of the state against the population.