Heil Trump
For the last few weeks, I’ve been listening to a fascinating audiobook. It’s really long. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich clocks in around 70 hours and I’m about 20 hours into it, give or take. The book was written by William Shirer, an American journalist who passed away in 1993. The book was published in 1960 so some of the language and attitudes expressed are a bit dated (especially when it came to Nazi homosexuality). One of the many aspects that makes it so interesting is that Shirer was actually IN Germany from 1934 - 1940. Shirer has firsthand knowledge of what happened.
Much of the book, however, is based upon Nazi documents that were captured after the fall of the Third Reich in 1945. For all their evil habits, one thing Nazis were really good at was journaling. Many of Hitler’s top people kept detailed journals. They also loved to keep records. I guess Germans just love order and preciseness. One of the things that really stands out to me while listening to the book is how much of what happened in Germany during the 1920s and 30s is relevant today.
When you think of Nazis you probably think of goosestepping Gestapo rounding up Jews to send to the ovens of Auschwitz. But they didn’t start out that way. It’s not like the mass genocide of people was their opening pitch to Germans. Far from it. They were ostensibly a party “of the people” who wanted to make life better for the common man. So, if you can, forget what the Nazis became (and really were always underneath) and try to imagine a less murderous version of them. Here’s a very brief history of them:
As you can see, America has very strong ties to Germany. It was American money that helped the country get back on its feet after WWI. Nazis, once in power, would also look to the United States for inspiration on how to subjugate their undesirable citizenry, like Jews. It was in the American South that Nazis found their solution by using laws to legally reduce non-Aryans to second-class citizen status.
Hitler was stopped in 1924 and even sent to jail for some time. I think if you asked most Germans in the 1920s what they thought of Nazism they would have rejected it and considered it fringe. But jail taught Hitler a very important lesson. Instead of overthrowing the government through violence and illegal means, he would spend the next decade attempting to do it as legally as possible. And for the most part, he succeeded. Of course, you know what happened after that.
This brings us to today and the parallels I see popping up all over the place. Trump appeared at a rally this weekend. Don’t worry if you missed it. There wasn’t anything to really report on it, outside of the usual hyper-nationalism and bizarre Christian crossovers. One moment, however, did manage to catch my eye. It happened during a moment when Trump was making allusions to QAnon conspiracies. Let me know if it reminds you of anything you’ve seen before.
OK. So. Yeah.
Now, obviously, you could take a photo from just about any mass event and make it look ominous. There are plenty of tired old memes from the Obama years that do just that. I’m not as hung up on the “salute” as I am on what it represents. I doubt very much that the majority of those people were intending on making a somewhat Nazi-adjacent gesture. They were holding up their finger, as in the number one, as in WWG1WGA. It’s a Q-Anon slogan.
To be VERY clear, I do not think most Trump supporters and Republicans want to restart the Holocaust or institute any kind of typical Nazi-ish things like rounding up Jews. But I do think we are getting dangerously close to reaching a point where those people won’t be able to tell the difference between conservative principles and fascism — if we aren’t already there now.
The second most popular Republican, Ron Desantis, thought it would be a good idea to illegally traffic asylum seekers FROM TEXAS to Martha’s Vineyard, all to make some kind of idiotic political point. Across the nation, the GOP is trying to restrict women’s healthcare and gain control over their bodies. Gay people and trans people are at risk of losing their rights and equal status. And because of the strategies employed by Republicans over the past two decades, they are able to do this all legally. The violence and illegality of January 6th failed, so now they are trying more peaceful and “legitimate” methods.
Much like Hitler did in the 1920s and 30s in Germany, Republicans have sought out pressure points within our system of democracy. Once discovered, they have attempted to break them. By appointing unqualified, partial judges to important positions they can ensure the legal system will sway in their favor. Just look at what is going on with Trump’s appointee Aileen Cannon. But judges are just one avenue.
It is no secret that the GOP has been trying to make it harder and harder for people to vote, especially folks of color. Between Jim Crow-esque laws like voter ID and reducing the number of polling places (also attacking mail-in and early voting), Republicans have realized that they need to do even more to control the outcomes of elections. In many races across the country right now, there are GOP nominees for Secretaries of State that have pledged to tip the scales in favor of their party. Maybe not in direct terminology but certainly through their actions and beliefs.
If millions of Americans lose the ability to vote (it has happened before in this country), have no judges with which to appeal the laws, and have law enforcement agents protecting that status quo, it is very easy to see how things can go from bad to worse. There have already been pushes around the country to re-establish the United States as a Christian theocracy, in spite of that being against the wishes of our Founders. If the wrong people are able to enact these changes, that becomes a very real possibility.
This November, I implore you to vote and to vote for Democrats. I’m not a big fan of them myself. They barely do anything when they have power. But considering the alternative… what choice is there?