Despite calls to “lower the temperature” from both sides of the political aisle, Delaware Valley Democrats continue to label President Donald Trump and his supporters “fascists” who support “eliminating” racial and religious minorities.
Less than a week after a gunman shot up an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, the Chester County Democratic Party called ICE agents “the masked extension of the Proud Boys, Trump’s personal police force.”
In the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, prominent political voices have urged people to avoid the harsh, hate-inspired rhetoric that has been a feature of American politics for the past decade.
“For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. “Comparing ICE day in and day out to the Nazi Gestapo, the Secret Police, and slave patrols has consequences.”
Pennsylvania Democratic U.S. Sen. John Fetterman posted on social media, “Unchecked extreme rhetoric, like labels as Hitler or fascist, will foment more extreme outcomes. Political violence is always wrong — no exceptions. We must all turn the temperature down.”
The message has not reached Delaware Valley Democrats.
On Friday, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner shouted at a young Republican activist, “Trump is a fascist,” during an encounter in a city park. When the activist asked the progressive Democrat why, Krasner called him and other Trump supporters “un-American.”
“You support people who support hate. You don’t understand what it means to be a fascist, what people like Adolf Hitler did, how spreading hate — which is something that, frankly, the people you admire do — gets us closer to it.”
Similar language can be found on the Chester County Democratic Party’s Facebook page, where the party is running a 14-point series titled “How Fascist, or Any Dictatorial Regime, Can Manipulate a Nation Into Surrendering Its Freedom.”
One of those points, ChesCo Democrats claim, is “Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause.”
“The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists; terrorists; etc.,” the post reads.
“We don’t have to look far to see how Trump and Republicans are using this characteristic of fascism. For MAGA, all minorities, all non-Christians, all who disagree with their views — in other words, those who are ‘woke’ — pose a serious threat to the very existence of the country. The ‘others’ must be controlled, even eliminated.”
Another post warns Trump may be plotting a military takeover of the U.S.
“Trump is creating an image of military force, of power over all in the nation. If citizens do not stand up to this effort, there may well come a day when they cannot stand up.”
It’s a claim that echoes the rhetoric of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), who on the eve of the attack on the ICE facility in Dallas told CBS’s Stephen Colbert, “I fear that we will not have an election in 2028. I really mean that in the core of my soul.”
Several of the county party’s posts target ICE agents as a danger to democracy.
“While the Trump regime has not gone so far as to carry out summary executions and assassinations, the current ‘ICE’ activities being carried out against undocumented immigrants, including total ignoring of due process and the creation of detention camps, mean the stage is being set for more future and broader erosion of basic human rights,” they wrote.
“ICE has become (a) masked extension of the Proud Boys, Trump’s personal police force,” it added.
Chester County GOP Chair Raffi Terzian, M.D., told DVJournal there’s nothing new about his Democratic counterparts using extreme language to label their political opponents.
“We saw this on full display at a recent commissioners’ meeting, when a citizen who voiced opposition to creating a new Human Relations Commission was smeared as a ‘fascist’ by an audience member,” Terzian said.
“We saw it when the Biden Department of Justice suggested parents were ‘domestic terrorists,’ and when Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) described Republicans as ‘diseased’ and needing to be ‘cleansed.’ The same party that preaches ‘hate has no home here’ continues to reveal its own intolerance.”
Chester County Democratic Party Chair Charlotte Valyo did not respond to a request for comment.
In one of the most infamous moments of his presidency, Joe Biden came to Philadelphia to stand in front of an ominously lit Independence Hall and deliver a speech accusing Trump supporters of being a danger to democracy.
“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”
Terzian urged Democrats to tone down their rhetoric.
“This kind of rhetoric isn’t just hypocritical — it’s dangerous. It breeds resentment, silences debate, and risks inciting violence, and this is exactly what Democrat leadership has brought to Chester County,” Terzian said.
“Enough is enough. It’s time to restore civility, respect, and common sense to our public discourse.”