The 1930s and 40s were recent history when I was a school-aged child, and taught in both history and civics classes for the valuable lesson of how a democratic republic (the Weimar Republic) descended into despotism and madness. There was a lot of revisionist stuff back then, too, about how the average German “didn’t know” about the holocaust (not true) and that the nuclear attacks on Japan were necessary to save American soldiers’ lives (still hotly debated). The inarguable fact is that the Nazi machine and its fascist leadership were evil, top to bottom, start to finish.
There are increasingly few of us who remember those lessons in our own time. Those of us who do point to events yesterday, and today, and almost certainly tomorrow, and say “this is how it happens.”
This is how it happens.
The GOP in Congress has given Trump free rein. They mistakenly believe that when push comes to shove, he is under their control. This was the same mistake made by Germany’s conservatives towards Hitler. Republicans have now missed their last best chance to be rid of this president, and he holds the whip hand. There are only two sorts of people in this Congress: Trump loyalists, who enjoy uncertain levels of job security, and the nay-sayers, who have no hope of any influential support.
Some people – notably Jim Wright, whom I much admire – feel that the onus is now on the public, and that elections still matter. He’s correct, the one thing likely to save democracy is a bloodbath at the polls. It has happened before, as when Lincoln was elected. Under this regime the Federal Elections Commission doesn’t even have a quorum, while the incumbent literally hands out cash to voters at his rallies. You should go ahead and vote while you still can, but be clear-eyed about it.
Fresh from his victory over the rule of law, Trump will act with even greater impunity. We’ve already seen a handful of deaths, primarily children, in his interment camps. As ICE and other enforcement services are further infiltrated by alt-Right fanatics and white supremacists, resistance will be increasingly punished. People taken from their homes at the point of a gun will begin to die, “resisting,” or starving, or under other unexplained circumstances. ICE will claim the right to destroy records of abuse and death. The roundup will eventually extend to American citizens who protest, or complain, or speak out.
Much of what went on in the 1930s in Germany has been happening here for a while. All the angry rhetoric, the violation or discounting of long-standing treaties, the us-vs-them approach to foreign relations with presumptive allies, currying favor with despots – that’s all straight out of Hitler’s playbook.
At home, look for continued support for the silencing of “fake news,” and the ascending popularity of “patriotic” media. The demeaning and deconstruction of public education will go on unchecked. The man in the White House has already put “entitlements” (that is, the benefits we paid for ourselves) in his crosshairs, and all manner of Federal support is being strangled to extinction.
Look for the ongoing criminalization of seemingly useful activities, particularly of the whistleblowing/investigating sort.
Political rallies. One day, you or your children will be required to attend a rally. That’s a sure way to know that fascism has arrived.
This administration recently lit a match on war with Iran, and the fuse got stomped out just in time. How often do you think we’ll get lucky like that? Trump is dying to play with his military toys, and military command is increasingly unable to contain him. The first round of “My Generals” are gone, many more are packing their bags.
It’s easy to predict a war. That’s been a go-to move in the GOP offense for almost 50 years. Trump needs a war the same way every Republican president since Nixon has needed a war, as an excuse to remain in power and to attack “unpatriotic” enemies at home.
The wild card in all this is global climate change. Trump is incapable of cathedral thinking, and long-term consequences are beyond his ken. He gives no consideration to the likelihood that his policies are accelerating climate shift. Perhaps we’ll swap one catastrophe for another; extreme weather events are likely to burden the military with a whole host of unanticipated exigencies.
