“History
does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.
It is rhyming now. Do not be complacent. It is dangerous to take a ride
on fascism.” Martin Wolf, Financial
Times, ‘Fascism has changed, but it is not dead’
Those of us who pay attention to and study history, especially from the World Wars and the leadup to them (pertinent to me as I've had family members who fought in each as well as the Revolutionary War) know that history can repeat - but with different inputs, emphases. And while the cast of characters may change, as well as the precise proximate political causes and economic forces leading up to major upheavals, there are certain currents or essences that remain the same.
None of this has evidently been processed by WSJ resident Troll Gerard Baker in his latest column ('America Isn't Nazi Germany, but It Looks A Little Like 1933', March 19, p. A17). While Baker claims in his piece to "be thinking a lot lately of the Third Reich" that doesn't come over very convincingly on reading. The one thing he did get right, before launching into a farrago of errors and false analogies was when he noted:
"The interwar Germans and their leaders weren't another species or laboratory created monsters sent to tyrannize humanity. They were ordinary men and women. It was their very ordinariness, the commonalities they shared with the rest of us - that should terrify us."
But what Baker leaves out is that it is the susceptibility of a particular population - whether German or American - to a particular mind virus that can hurl that population into a historical calamity. Such as the case of the 'good' Germans' choices leading them into the Third Reich and World War II, for which millions paid an exorbitant price. For this reason Baker mucks up the rest of his essay with irrelevancies and non-sequiturs as well as historical nonsense. For example, burping out:
"I don't think, as hyperventilating polemicists argue all the time, that America is walking into a replay of 1933 under You Know Who."
He then goes on to make the usual assertions, e.g.
"Weimar Germany was a fledgling democracy traumatized by catastrophic defeat in war, hyperinflation and depression and a electoral system almost designed to generate paralyzing political instability inviting both acts of political violence and executive authoritarianism."
Baker's worst comparisons are of Nazi ideology to the "left's obsession with race" and "what progressive ideologues are doing on campus when they tell us math is racist and seek to silence dissenting ideas." In fact, as the two Wehrmacht soldiers and Kurt Braun (a former Hitler Youth) informed me, it was Hitler who incessantly pounded the race card and used it to silence dissent. In addition, he used it to paint the Jews as Unter Menschen, or sub-human. Much of this was encapsulated in Hitler's vile excrement Mein Kampf. But it seems to me Baker wants to resurrect some of that garbage now and pin it on the "left".
Not surprising given so many of the WSJ's stable of op-ed hacks lean toward Donald Trump in the march to November's election. Also not surprising their hacks miss the glaring similarities to the run up to the 1932-33 German elections which brought Adolf Hitler to power. Here it pays to recall Robert Payne's words from his book, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler and how suddenly he grabbed total power:
"Although Hitler
lost the presidential election of 1932, he achieved his goals when he was appointed chancellor on 30
January 1933. On February 27, Hindenburg paved the way to dictatorship and war
by issuing the Reichstag Fire Decree which
nullified civil liberties."
Under normal, rational circumstances this could never happen but these are not normal or rational times. Gaza has erupted in demolition and depredation with the bloody Hamas "war" fueled by the autocrat Benjamin Netanyahu. And too many - especially young and progressive voters - hold Biden responsible to the point they've decided they will either not vote or vote third party. Say for RFK Jr. who some recent polls show could grab up to 15% of the vote in some battleground states. In which case Donald Trump will likely be the beneficiary.
The classic historical case of voter malaise, discontent leading to catastrophe was in the "good" Germans catapulting Hitler and his Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NAZI) party to power in 1932. Years preceding the calamity - as related by my late German friend Kurt (former Hitler Youth) - saw continual unrest in the streets, soaring inflation - with a loaf of bread in 1923 costing over a billion marks - and finally voters having had enough of the Weimar Republic by 1932-33. They voted their nascent democracy out of existence in two steps: 1) Electing Hitler and the Nazis to the point they could take over the government, and 2) Allowing the Nazis to push through the Enabling Act. e.g.
Enabling Act of 1933 - Wikipedia
The most depressing indicator that American minds have been warped to match the "good Germans" in 1932? A poll in 2023 disclosed that 42% indicated the Democratic Party to be more a "threat to democracy" than the GOP (41%). Even given the margin for error, this is bloody insane. Especially as just last month, Trump described immigrants as “animals”, threatened a “bloodbath” if he did not win next November and lauded the insurrectionists of January 6 2021 as “unbelievable patriots”. These are facts, look them up.
The poll results then scream a woeful inability of the voting public to do basic reasoning, far less deep critical thinking. I blame almost all of this on the incessant misinformation spewed on social media as well as the stream of lies emanating from FOX - many of which also find their way into the mainstream media. (Like exaggerations about Biden's mental competency when Dotard is 100 times worse.)
Martin Wolf in his recent (March 26) FT column ('Fascism has changed, but it is not dead’ ) digs deep on what is happening not just in the U.S. but other western nations seeing the rise of right wing populism. As he writes:
"If one looks at today’s rightwing populism, one notices precisely the cults of the past and of tradition, hostility to any form of criticism, fear of differences and racism, the origins in social frustration, nationalism and fervent belief in plots, the view that the “people” are an elite, the role of the leader in telling his followers what is true, the will to power and the machismo.'
Most notably was his observation that this populism - indeed, since the 1920s-30s - "boils up from the frustrations of middle class citizens who have grown weary of constant struggles and being told they are the victims of the "elites" whatever those are". Wolf, citing the works of Umberto Eco, refers to this as "Ur-fascism" and notes key hallmarks include: disdain for women, condemnation of non-standard sexual behavior, intolerance to analytical criticism, and a fervent belief in plots especially about the racial "other".
“Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak” — it lies systematically. As Hannah Arendt noted in an interview in the New York Review of Books in 1978, “If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.”
The
followers believe the leader, simply because he wears the sacred mantle of
leadership, and in Trump's psychotic case, now believes himself to be like Jesus Christ. (Or in Dotard's case, the Second Coming of Christ).
Americans here would do well to process the German historical example - of 'jumping from political frying pan into fire' - and getting themselves out of their negative stupor. Nothing good will come if they follow up their inexplicable funk by reactionary, lizard brain voting that catapults Trump into the White House again. Not by Russian help as in 2016, but with the assistance of too many of our confounded fellow citizens.
Indeed, it will usher in a world of hurt - not quite on a par to what Germans got after they hit the Nazi restart button. But maybe close!
Why? Because the GOP isn't a genuine political party! It's a Trump personality cult of dedicated liars, obstructionists, traitor insurrectionists who only know obstruction and division.
There isn't one damned positive outcome which will ensue by putting these deranged imps into power again - whether in the House or the Senate. Does anyone seriously believe the infrastructure bill would have been passed if Trump was still president, Kevin McCarthy the Speaker of the House and Mitch McConnell was Senate Majority leader? No way in hell! In fact, even as I write there is a movement among the bastards to punish the 13 Republicans who voted for the infrastructure bill to have their committee assignments stripped. They have also received death threats, after assorted Trump apes were incited by the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene. Think of such, sordid tactics multiplying a hundred fold if Trump and the Reepos get in again in 2024.
Trump's latest trope is to claim he wants to fight against "anti-White racism". (See Thom Hartmann's Permalink post at end.) Which totally makes a mockery of Gerard Baker's whackadoodle claim that "the left's obsession with race is reminiscent of darker times" such as in 1933. As Kurt pointed out to me in 1978, "Hitler pushed the anti-Aryan virus as much as he could in his 'Mein Kampf'."
Look, Trump's form of fascism may not be precisely the same as that advocated by Hitler, but it represents a first iteration toward that ultimate end. The job for American voters is not to allow it to iterate further by voting emotionally and irrationally. This means not allowing the many defects in our electoral system to open the door for him to ascend to power again. The palsied, too accommodating courts may not stop him but we the voters can- if our heads are "screwed on straight" in Janice' parlance!
DAMON LINKER
Why Is Biden Struggling? Because America Is Broken.
by Chuck Idelson | November 7, 2022 - 7:45am | permalink
Excerpt:
Warning signs are everywhere.
- An escalation of violent threats through mass media, social media, the dark web and internet message boards that culminated in the attempted kidnapping of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the attempted murder of her husband, Paul Pelosi. They’re also acting to “monitor” and intimidate voters at drop boxes and the polls on election day
- The most openly racist campaigns in years funded by corporate and super rich donors who profited from Trump’s policies. The blitzkrieg, aided by fear mongering, gerrymandering and voter suppression, and often feckless Democratic response, is poised to win control of the House and potentially the Senate, and expand Republican control in many states.
Authoritarian governments are drawn from and always represent, first and foremost, the interests of the majority group within their country. Christians in 1933 Germany. Orthodox Slavs in Russia. Hindus in India. Whites in America.
Authoritarian leaders bind themselves to these groups by defining members of minority groups as “the enemy” of the larger majority, demonizing them and subjecting them to economic and physical brutality under the nation’s laws.
This is exactly the dynamic playing out right now in the nearly-all-white GOP. They have an extensive plan to exploit charges of “racism against white people” to seize control of the American government.
According to Donald Trump and the MAGA GOP, racism has become a huge problem in America. Specifically, racism by minorities against white people. Seriously.
That sound you are hearing from the lavish Washington, D.C. headquarters of the Heritage Foundation, is that of staffers polishing their jackboots for a much-anticipated January 20, 2025 return to Donald Trump’s White House. The Heritage Foundation, the Darth Vader of modern-day right-wing think tanks, has been all about gutting government positions, policies and services since its founding in 1973. Not since the early days of the Reagan administration has it been closer to achieving its goal.
To accomplish the final takedown of the administrative state, the Heritage Foundation has brought together more than 100 conservative tax-exempt organizations with an estimated $2 billion dollars in support of the election of Donald Trump and the perpetuation of MAGA agenda.
As Thomas Edsall recently reported in The New York Times, “Most of the work performed by these nonprofit groups is conducted behind closed doors. Unlike traditional political organizations, these groups do not disclose their donors and must reveal only minimal information on expenditures. In many cases, even this minimal information will not be available until after the 2024 election.
The campaign tell: Trumpism wins only by warring against law and order to delegitimize courts
Grist for Trump’s bad faith mill. Giving the finger to judges and prosecutors, to justified convictions, and to "obstructive," suspect institutions, now defines the central Trumpist pitch. Everything is fodder for this hubris– what matters is manipulating his image flow to serve his perceived self-interest. For reasons certain to puzzle historians, the brashness of Trump’s vulgar, gross unfitness hardly impedes seeming forward motion (even if treading water).
Second only to the Big Lie contradiction, the gall of seeking the presidency, above all an executor of laws, statutes, court decisions and the Constitution, signals profound Trump unfitness. What sticks out, and what I consider to be his fatal campaign flaw, is a loudmouth mob boss running to control the rule of law, the only apparatus capable of stopping him cold if it ever adjudicates all his indictments.
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