THE NAZIFICATION OF AMERICA

 

THE NAZIFICATION OF AMERICA

 

Every now and then I will go out on a limb with some dire prognostications.  I don’t make a habit of it because I prefer to go through life with a sense of optimism and a generous dose of humor.  As a writer, a student of philosophy, history and the humanities I am well aware that overthinking humanity can lead to dire consequences.  I have no desire to turn myself into a flagellating monk to atone for the sins of my fellow human beings.  No, I’m just a humble scribe who draws his conclusions from observing mankind and when disturbing similarities emerge that tie previous disastrous encounters to the present I feel that I have to respond.  The rise in fascism around the world is nothing more than a reactionary movement to global problems and issues that defy easy solutions: inequality, poverty, overpopulation, debt and deficits; a lack of affordable housing and opportunities, of systemic starvation and political and religious tensions.  The world we inhabit is once more turning into a powder keg and our inability to shoulder the burden and effectively working together provides the groundwork for a rise in fascism, nations turning inwards and allowing anger and paranoia to dictate policies of exclusion and laying blame.  Fascism thrives on the misery inflicted on parties and groups that lack the ability to effectively fight back and it provides the preferred population with a sense of vindication, righteousness and purpose.  I am going to draw a parallel with what is happening in America at the present to the rise of Nazi Germany under Hitler.  There is only one caveat that could upset the similarities in scenarios.  Trump is old and in a hurry and as a result the mistakes are piling up.  There are also distinct economic and political differences, but Trump and company are basically following the dictator’s playbook.  The endgame is autocratic rule by whatever means and whatever costs.

When World War I ended Germany was in total disarray.  Kaiser Wilhelm had fled to the Netherlands and a multitude of political parties tried to govern Germany as well as they could.  The world around them was in chaos as empires and kingdoms crumbled and people experimented with new ways of governing themselves; democracy, socialism, communism, secular and sectarian, whatever seemed to work.  The German people chafed under steep reparation payments, a loss of face and an economy that struggled to get back on its feet.  Breadlines and soup kitchens, massive unemployment and the German people feeling humiliated and betrayed.  Hitler came to personify a new Germany and a promise of vindication and glory.  Make Germany great again.  Hitler represented the face of fascism, of Nazi Germany.  He was totally committed.  He was average in intelligence, neither a scholar nor an astute politician or business man.  What he lacked in real life skills he made up for with his fanaticism and dedication to the fascist cause.  Above all he was a master manipulator and he could read the mood of the nation like no other.  Why did they follow him?  It was what he personified that his followers and backers hid behind.  In his name policies and activities were actively pursued that were immoral and unjust.  Hitler was simply the fascist poster boy.

THE BIG MISTAKE THEY ALL MAKE! 

Did anyone control Hitler?  And the answer is no.  With his bluster and cajoling, rewarding and punishing, with threats alternated by praise, everybody around him was kept on their toes, fearing for their positions and willing to do anything to stay in his good graces.  Trump isn’t a genius either, but he is a master of the theatrical and he has been a master manipulator his entire life.  He is a delusional psychopath like Hitler was and both men lack a moral compass.  There is no wrong in the world of autocratic leaders and they are always right.  Even when they’re totally wrong!  All the wrong people seized power in Nazi Germany and for all the wrong reasons.  And America is following suit.  The times are different; different characters and circumstances, but the intent has not changed one bit.

Hitler’s Germany was ripe for change because the nation was in a crisis.  America is not in a crisis.  Trump and company are creating a crisis where there is none.  Distraction, diversion, threats, bullying, violence, lies and distortion of facts and all of it dished up with the speed of a bullet train.  Don’t give them time to breathe or think.

I am not a soothsayer nor do I own a fortune tellers’ crystal ball, but the one big curveball in America’s scenario is Trump’s age and mental acuity.  Hence the rush to establish in a few years what took Hitler several decades to accomplish.  There were many people in Nazi Germany who were opposed to Hitler’s regime, but most didn’t dare speaking out.  They were afraid for their jobs, reprisals and being ostracized.  Trump and Company are using the same bullying tactics.  The world’s reaction to Trump’s antics has been patience, a wait and see attitude and appeasement.  Appeasement didn’t stop Hitler, it only encouraged him and made him act bolder and more outrageous.  Once negativity and negative energy rise to the fore it only bundles in intensity and lethality.  Hitler silenced any opposition and Trump and Company are attempting to do the same.  Intimidation, deportation, firings and the only people hired are those who swear an oath of fealty to the leader.  The individuals preferred are those who ask no questions and who do as they are told.  Under ordinary circumstances none of them would ever have been hired or promoted.  None of them can imagine the worst and those responsible for letting the monster out of his cage are convinced that the monster can be managed, that the monster will behave.  All of the willing participants are well aware that any attempt at normalization, a semblance of law and order and due process, will result in their instant dismissal and potential incarceration.  When it comes to autocratic rule you are either all in or all out.

Trump and Company will continue their assault on America’s last vestiges of democracy by ramping up the levels of fear, paranoia and laying blame.  Trump has given a voice to all the people who feel threatened, undervalued and underappreciated.  He openly encourages them to vent their outrage.  Here is a leader who endorses their anger and who relishes their chants.  He has let the genie out of the bottle.  There is some dissent within the Republican Party, but most welcome a return to power and using that power to exert greater control.  They have never had a leader like him, one who will abuse his position and use tactics never employed before by any sitting president, to beat any opposition into submission, with bullying, threats and legal action.  Whatever works!   Whatever he can get away with.  His is the hallmark of any dictator.  Everybody around him is terrified of invoking his displeasure.

Power and the ability to seize absolute control is like an aphrodisiac, especially if it is dressed in a uniform and it comes with few restrictions, as in due process and following a rightful course of  justice.  When you suspend the rights of the people as guaranteed under a nation’s constitution you turn power into a shooting range where anything goes.  Simply pick a target and shoot.  How many people wouldn’t love to dispense justice without accountability, due process and repercussions?  When you handover power and control to psychopaths drunk on their newfound role, importance and impact, you do exactly that.  Nobody controlled an unhinged Hitler and nobody will control Trump as long as he stays in power.  He has blatantly shown that the office of the President of the United States can be perverted into an office of abusive, autocratic power.  Give the wrong person the keys to the White House and a nation can be destroyed from within in a matter of months.

The nation’s saving grace; Trump is old and in a hurry and the rush will be his undoing.  If the mid-term elections are not cancelled due to a trumped up “emergency” the nation may swing back politically onto a more moderate course and Trump may be impeached based on mental instability and incompetence.

Hitler managed his rise to power because Germany was down and out, humiliated and impoverished.  Unemployment was high.  Poverty rampant.  A simmering negative level of energy fueled a growing level of resentment and the nation followed Hitler’s siren song of a renewed promise of power and glory, of a Germany made great again.

Trump and Company are trying to insinuate that America is in similar dire straits, conveniently ignoring America’s wealth, industry and work ethic.  The dangers Americans face are from forces within, rightwing capitalism and extremists hell-bent on pursuing selfish, exclusive policies aimed at everything that in their opinion is wrong and “ruining” the nation.  Migrants and illegals for instance aren’t the real problem as they are employed by millions of greedy Americans who turn a blind eye to paying taxes, labor laws, paying for benefits and getting away with paying starvation wages.  America, as one of the wealthiest nations on earth, has utterly failed to provide its citizens with dignity and respect and a reasonable quality of life that includes adequate healthcare and education.  A nation that treats it citizens fairly and with respect will create a nation that will always stand proud and strong, no matter what adversity it may face.     

ALLUSIONS AND ILLUSIONS

Hitler, on his rise to power, hit some major bumps and some of the things he alluded to seemed so outrageous at the time that few people took him seriously initially.  His antisemitism (getting rid of the Jews), hatred of Slavs and communists and his intent to unite all German speaking people under one nation.  Guess what!  He meant what he said and he did what he said he was going to do.  Hitler wanted more territories, Lebensraum, as he called it, to expand opportunities for the Aryan people.  Germans were superior people destined for of greatness.  Everyone and every nation that had conspired against Germany in its humiliating defeat and punitive reparation payments would be punished.  Germany would rule the world.  Are you picking up on a familiar vibe by now?  Trump hinting that Canada and Greenland should willingly join the United States and jokingly adding that if not willingly, they might be invaded.  Using tariffs as punishment, as threats!  And the slogans!  America has been taken advantage of and this will stop!  Those not willing to comply and enter in a “deal” will suffer the consequences.  His rhetoric is increasingly more unhinged and over the top in the kind of things America will inflict on enemies if they don’t comply with his demands and wishes.  According to Trump and company America has been victimized financially and militarily by its partners, conveniently ignoring the fact that America’s foreign policies were pursued to extent its influence and power beyond its borders.  History provides conclusive proof, over and over again, that all imperial ambitions end up crashing on either foreign shores or through financial and political failure from within.  The cost of empire is simply not sustainable and the price paid for being a superpower or coveting the title, the world’s biggest superpower, inevitably contributes to failure and abject defeat.

Trump and company are openly playing with fire, emboldened by regional wars and conflicts that are distracting the global community, to shore up their inflammatory claims of impending threats and that any attempts to conspire against the government’s aims and plans will be put down with brute force and without delay.  Distraction, distortion, lies, threats and all over the nation security forces are out on full display and used to put down any sign of protest and unrest.  The language used by those in power would never have been tolerated before.  Negative energy is bundling in such intensity that it obliterates common sense, respect and the rule of law that has always guided nations in times of peace.

Trump’s erratic dealings with Russia, China, India and the oil rich nations in the Middle East are nothing more than the tentative explorations of superpowers looking for ways to carve up the world; for territory, resources, power and control.  Autocratic rule desperate to make a comeback.  A world comprised of those who rule and those who serve.  A coalition of unpredictable partners motivated by power and greed, turning a blind eye to justice, fairness and equality.  The suffering they will unleash will be on a scale the world has never witnessed before and the world as we know it will be unrecognizable and never recover.

“The original nature of man harbors an inclination to aggression that in most people is only barely constrained by the dictates of society.”  Sigmund Freud.

Once more our humanity is on the verge of being sacrificed on the altar of ineptitude.  We are faced with a multitude of problems and challenges and once more we are reaching for the solutions proposed by psychopaths masquerading as leaders with answers.  And in our midst are enough, dumb, ignorant morons willing to enforce the worst and to inflict the worst.  Sorry, I am not as optimistic as some of you are and that this too will blow over and sort itself out.  It was what a lot of Germans during Hitler’s reign of terror were hoping for and see how that turned out!