Much attention has been given to Donald Trump’s increasingly fascist-like rhetoric on the campaign trail, rhetoric chillingly similar to that heard in Germany in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. To be clear, I do not suggest Donald Trump is a closet Nazi but he is following the National Socialist Party playbook. First, identify a group or groups responsible for the troubles the country is experiencing. Second, instill fear and hatred of those groups and repeat it whenever possible. Third, suggest your political opponents are aiding and abetting those groups and fourth, proclaim that you and you alone can fix things. Trump has identified the culprits; immigrants, socialists and liberals and lumped them together as “vermin” who are “poisoning the blood of our country. He has tapped into the fear and anxiety of middle America, the anxiety that their way of life is in danger, that the America they once knew is disappearing. He has told them the immigrants are coming for their jobs or that the White America they once knew is in danger of being overrun by people of color. Above all, he has told them that he and he alone can save them.
Interestingly, while I find Trump’s rhetoric disgusting, I do not think his rhetoric is the problem. The United States has always had political figures who preached fear and hate and unfortunately, always will. The problem is the enablers, those who privately abhor the message but publicly support the messenger only for their own self-interest. The Republican party has had ample opportunity since 2016 to send Trump back to his reality TV career but lacked the courage to do so. Some feared opposing Trump would cost them their office. Others cringed but went along because they saw Trump as a means to an end. Others, finding some small amount of courage opposed him but retired to the background rather than carry on the fight in public.
In 1932, conservative elites in Germany feared and hated above all else, Communists, Bolsheviks, and liberals. These groups were regarded as an enemy which had to be defeated at any cost. If that cost was the destruction of Germany’s democratic government or forging alliances with people, they personally thought repugnant, so be it. Any means to defeat their perceived enemy was justified to make Germany great again.
It was to that end that in 1933, German president Paul von Hindenburg offered the leader of the Nazi party, Adolf Hitler, the Chancellorship of Germany. Hindenburg despised Hitler, often referring to him as “that Bohemian corporal” but thought bringing Hitler and the Nazis into the government was the best way to defeat the enemy. Hindenburg and the other conservatives thought they could control Hitler while using him to get rid of the Communists, trade unions and other liberal groups. They got their wish but at a terrible cost. Shortly after Hitler’s taking power, the German Reichstag went up in flames and along with it, German democracy. Germany along with the rest of Europe began its descent into the darkness that was the Third Reich.
In the United States, the culture wars which had been simmering for decades took a hard turn in the post 9/11 world. Conservative Republicans began to regard anyone who opposed their policies as un-American and even as enemies who had to be defeated at all costs. The face of the enemy became the Democrats and defeating them became the main goal of Republicans at the expense of all else. In 2016, many conservatives took a deep breath and voted for Donald Trump, not because of his impressive intellect or his character or his statesmanship but rather, he was a Republican. After eight years of a Democrat in the White House, conservatives saw Trump as a means to a more conservative Supreme Court and more conservative economic policies. They too got their wish, but it came at a cost; the beginnings of the erosion of democratic foundations culminating in the events of January 6, 2021.
At the first Republican debate in August, the candidates were asked to raise their hands if they would support Trump as the nominee if he were to be convicted of any of the numerous charges against him. All but two raised their hands, including Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. New Hampshire governor, Chris Sununu, recently asked the same question, acted almost surprised that the question was even asked. Of course, he said. He is a Republican. Challenged on CNN, Sununu in essence said voters had moved on from January 6 and defeating Joe Biden was the objective. It seems Haley, DeSantis and Sununu oppose Trump not because he is unfit for office but because the chaos and drama surrounding him may make Biden’s re-election more likely. In the end though, Trump is a Republican, and the enemy must be defeated at any cost.
The problem though is January 6 was not just chaos and drama. For the first time in our history, a defeated president attempted to interfere with the Constitutional transfer of power. Trump repeated a lie he knew full well was a lie, he attempted to bully state election officials to alter results, supported illegal schemes to subvert the electoral college and when all else failed, incited his supporters to storm the capitol to stop the lawful certification of the election results. Attempting to stay in power by illegal means is a great deal more than chaos and drama. The voters should know this, and Chris Sununu most certainly should.
It is an oft repeated maxim that those who ignore the lessons of history do so at their peril. Handing power to an individual known to be unfit for office simply to achieve a desired end did not end well in Germany. As William Shirer described it, the German people imposed the tyranny of the Nazis on themselves. He recalled that a steady diet of lies and distortions make an impression on the mind and often mislead it. Fed that diet, the German people handed Hitler the keys and ultimately bore the brunt of the consequences of their decision.
Are we going to try this again, this time in the United States? Especially when we have the benefit of prior experience? Trump’s first term did not end well for American democracy. What will another term look like? He continues to repeat the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. He dodges responsibility for his efforts to subvert the election and in the storming of the capitol by telling his supporters that the government is trying to silence him in order to come after them. More alarming, he is really telling us that a second Trump administration will be the Donald Trump revenge tour, the use of government to punish those who have opposed him.
In some future America, an America perhaps more autocratic and less democratic, our grandchildren may well ask why we voted for Donald Trump knowing the type of man he was. Merely replying because he was a Republican may not be a sufficient answer.