Now that the 80th anniversary of D-Day is over, let’s remember the refrain that every country said at the end of the Second World War: “Never again.”
But with the far right rising all over the world, it looks like “never again” is in danger.
Antisemitism and the use of hate as an organizing tool is fast rising everywhere, including here in Canada. Where are the voices that warn the world of what happens when hatred is used as a primary organizing tool to gain power?
No dictators have ever come to power all by themselves. They always have a lot of help from true believers. So it is with Donald Trump. Republicans at every level are systematically dismantling democracy. They are making it much harder to vote, changing district boundaries and doing everything they can to change the rules to help Trump. Historically, dictators have employed the use of thugs and threats of violence to come to power. Clearly, Trump is too.
Why does half the U.S. believe so fervently in Trump? Americans have been conned by a master of mob psychology. Like 1930s Germany, the U.S. is largely a nation of working poor. Compounding this situation is that due to a very poor education system, Americans suffer from ignorance. They are also victims of one of human nature’s strongest drives, which is to belong. Human nature’s wish for a saviour when suffering is also overwhelming.
Taken all together, this has made the U.S. vulnerable to a demagogue like Trump who ticks all the boxes of a personality cult:
- The group is focused on a living leader, usually a self-proclaimed chosen one;
- Members display excessively zealous, unquestioning loyalty;
- The leader and group are preoccupied with bringing in new members;
- Questioning, doubt and dissent are discouraged and punished;
- The leader continuously fleeces his flock for money.
Trump is very obviously following Hitler’s playbook. Hitler repeatedly said “I will make Germany great again.” Trump has repeatedly said and continues to say “I will make America great again.”
Hitler called the media “der liegen press,” the lying press. Trump calls the media “fake news.”
Both pander to the Christian far-right. The evidence that Hitler was a staunch Christian is overwhelming. The Christian far right has demonstrated complete control of the Republican party. Christian nationalists are calling for no separation between church and state.
With their continuous attacks on women, gay and trans rights, an emblem of the far-right, you may as well call them “The American Taliban.”
The Nazi technique of repetition, of repeating big lies over and over again until they are deeply believed, is exactly what Trump and the Republicans are using very effectively. Repeated lying is a main feature of dictatorships.
Sociopaths cannot live without spinning a web of lies and are extremely convincing. Hitler, like Trump, had a messiah complex believing he was the chosen one and only he could save Germany. On Aug. 21, 2019, Trump went on the public record stating he was the “chosen one.” Previously on July 22, 2016, at the Republican National Convention he stated “I alone can fix America.”
Last August Trump called for the suspension of the Constitution and Republicans remained silent. On Remembrance Day last year, speaking to a packed crowd inside a school auditorium in New Hampshire, using Nazi language, Trump said: “We will put America first and today, especially in honour of our great veterans on Veterans Day, we pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”
When Trump is elected, like Hitler did, he will very likely declare an emergency, suspend the Constitution and with the help of loyal Republicans try to arrest his enemies, undesirables and protesters.
These are grave danger signs for “never again” and demands this quote.
“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew;
Then when they came for me — and there was no one left to speak out.” — Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892—1984).
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Hopefully, I'll have a more positive message tomorrow.
Stay well.
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. But I do like to golf at Thundering Waters - glad that she won that one. She also won a gift card to a selection of restaurants.
