Are we any wiser than the Germans who put Hitler in power?

19 December 2023

Dec 19, 2023

I grew up in the 1960s and was taught extensively about the Holocaust. I promised myself that should a similar situation occur in the United States, I would do all I could to fight it, although, at the time, it seemed highly unlikely that this could happen.

I also wondered how the educated and sophisticated German people could put Hitler into power and keep him there since he was an obvious bigot promoting Aryan supremacy and he showed profound contempt for Germany’s democratic values.

Today, history is repeating itself in the form of Donald J. Trump, who has support from almost every Republican public official or candidate, despite his constant dictator-like statements and actions.

On 14 November 2023, I summarized Trump’s statements telling us how he talks like a dictator. On 13 December 2023, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin compiled this summary (typos corrected):

Listen to what he is telling us. The military will repress civil demonstrations. The Justice Department will indict and prosecute political enemies. He will attempt to shut down media outlets that are critical. The federal government will operate on cronyism — enforcing the law according to partisanship. Science in medicine and the environment will be ignored. Religious persecution against those who don't follow his followers' religious beliefs will be the order of the day. Muslim immigrants will be banned. The dividing line between church and state will be erased. Child separation will be back, coupled with the mass deportation of Dreamers. Republicans will pursue a national abortion ban. In targeting businesses and individuals on specious grounds, he will create chaos and economic uncertainty; if he interferes with the Federal Reserve's independence, inflation will follow. We'll have a judiciary stocked with incompetent flunkies. And it will go downhill from there.

This past weekend, Trump reiterated his hateful, Hitler-like comments on immigrants:

“They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done,” Trump said. “They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America … but all over the world. They’re coming into our country, from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.” CNN.

Lest there be any doubt, he has stated that he will be a dictator on day 1, although only for one day!

Trump’s speech was, according to historian Heather Cox Richardson, “an astonishing rejection of everything the United States has always stood for”,

The White House responded:

Echoing the grotesque rhetoric of fascists and violent white supremacists and threatening to oppress those who disagree with the government are dangerous attacks on the dignity and rights of all Americans, on our democracy, and on public safety…. It’s the opposite of everything we stand for as Americans.

Unfortunately, his supporters are confirming his dictatorship tendencies:

If Mr. Trump is returned to office, people close to him have vowed to “come after” the news media, open criminal investigations into onetime aides who broke with the former president and purge the government of civil servants deemed disloyal. When critics said Mr. Trump’s language about ridding Washington of “vermin” echoed that of Adolf Hitler, the former president’s spokesman said the critics’ “sad, miserable existence will be crushed” under a new Trump administration. New York Times.

We must not only vote in November but get more politically involved today. Your responsibility, for your future and that of your family, friends and the nation, is to figure out what you can do to prevent a Trump / GOP dictatorship. Find a candidate, organization or cause to support. Write a check. Your involvement could be small, but it will be enough if each one of us does more than we are doing now.

Trump will lose “if enough Americans understand that they aren’t voting for Biden over Trump so much as voting for the Constitution over a would-be authoritarian” and if they fear what that would mean for them personally. Lawrence Tribe, @tribelaw

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