A number of years ago, I had a brief
dream in which a background voice said, “Conditions in the United Sates are now
like those in Germany prior to the rise of the Third Reich.” At that time, I
didn’t see the similarity and did not think it was possible, but things have
changed rapidly. Now we are beset by great political turmoil, and many of President
Trump’s words sound like the ones Hitler used in his promises to make Germany
great again. He is an opponent of the free press, and he has demonized certain
groups, just as Hitler opposed a free press and needed enemies such as the Jews
and communists to serve his purposes.
President Trump has focused on
journalists, liberals, immigrants, and any other person or group who he deems
unworthy to live in the United States. He says he has done much to help the
African Americans, but he doesn’t say or do anything to support their protests
against racist police, substandard living conditions, and lack of job
opportunity. He claims he is for law and order, and is a great supporter of the
police. But his version of law and order means suppressing any opposition to
him and his programs.
I have watched numerous educational programs
that traced the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich. (I wanted to understand how
a society could go down such a ruinous path.) Hitler manufactured crises, and
used them to scare people into turning more power over to him to deal with the
crises. He was a master at creating enemies, instilling fear in the broader
population, and then focusing people’s hate against those enemies.
President Trump seeks to unite his
base; he does not seek to unite the country. In fact, he has sought to
accomplish his goals and achieve reelection by dividing the country and
introducing chaos. Now he urges the country to elect him to fix the chaos he
has helped create.
If Trump is reelected, I suspect we
will see a brutal crackdown on any opposition and we will see overt attempts on
his part to seize greater power. Some may think that is great, but the resulting
America will not be recognizable anymore. And those who think he is taking
things in the right direction better hope they do not find themselves among
those he suddenly decides are expendable. He is not interested in meeting the
needs of the people; he is only interested in what he perceives is best for
him.
I think there is a natural tendency
for people to look outside of themselves when things go wrong. They want
someone or something to blame. Some never reach the point of understanding
their own involvement in creating the problems they face. People such as Hitler
and Trump understand that very well and provide a scapegoat. They then direct
people’s anger toward the scapegoat in a way that serves their purpose.
To get people to move in the
direction they want, the master seducers like Hitler and Trump must get people
to accept their vision. One very well known method for doing this is to imprint
a thought upon people’s subconscious using repetition. Advertisers use it all
the time. Trump used it very effectively during the last election with the
phrase “crooked Hilary.” He wanted people to immediately think crooked or
criminal whenever they heard her name. He wanted that thought firmly embedded
in their subconscious minds. The truth or falsehood of it didn’t matter.
Another way he used this technique
is his proclamation of fake news whenever he mentions the New York Times or
CNN. He wants it so firmly embedded in your subconscious that you immediately
dismiss anything those news sources have to say. And Trump, like Hitler, loves
rallies with huge crowds. They just help to bolster his ego and reinforce his
message to his base.
Trump’s use of well know techniques
for manipulation means that many people who have long been frustrated by their
circumstances become ready converts to his cause. He gives them enemies to
blame, and through exaggeration, and more repetition, he makes them believe he
is their salvation. He touts successes with such hyperbole that even modest
successes appear to be major victories.
People who watched his TV show The Apprentice
or Celebrity Apprentice often did not realize it was staged with the winner most
likely predetermined by the producers based on ratings. (According to at least
one contestant, Donald Trump did not pick the winners on Celebrity Apprentice
and barely knew what was happening. See https://entertainment.ie/tv/tv-news/donald-trump-didnt-actually-pick-the-winners-in-the-apprentice-according-to-a-former-contestant-205210/.)
Many people came to believe that Trump was a business genius. In fact, the
history of his business career tells a different story. Many of his business
ventures were monumental failures. Michael Bloomberg is a true business
goliath; Donald Trump is not a business genius any more than Hitler was a
military genius. His version of his greatness is just more of how he presents
the story of his life.
I have watched interviews with some
of the Trump supporters. One of the reasons often given for their continued
support is his follow through on campaign promises. I will acknowledge a degree
of consistency there. However, I do not share his vision. The tax cuts gave us
a trillion dollars a year budget deficit and most of the benefit went to the
wealthy. The 4% GDP growth promised never materialized, even before the
coronavirus. He has consistently tried to kill Obama Care, but I have yet to
see a coherent replacement plan from the Republicans. He has opposed immigration,
which built this country. He has promised us law and order, and has given us
division and chaos.
Now, Trump threatens the very
democratic voting process employing his usual technique. He claims mail-in
voting is rife with fraud, despite no evidence to support his claim. If he
loses the election, he now has a scapegoat for his loss. If he wins the
election, he will claim he won in spite of the fraud, which he will claim
benefited Joe Biden. He is creating more chaos and making the voting process
itself suspect to retain his power. His attacks on our very foundation of
democracy are outrageous, and he may very well be the most dangerous man to
ever serve as President.
I believe that historians will
someday judge one of his biggest failures his lack of recognition of the threat
of global warming. He has downplayed it and even called it a “hoax” on more than one occasion; he referred to the coronavirus as the Democrats “new hoax.” Some
have interpreted those comments as referring to the Democrats’ attacks on him,
not the virus itself. However, the damage was done and many of his base
considered and still consider the coronavirus as a hoax manufactured by the Democrats.
We can’t get his years of inactivity
in response to climate change back, and as a nation, we will pay a price, just
as we have paid a price for his delayed and inadequate response to the
coronavirus. For those who want four more years of him, I say wake up and
examine the facts. Study his business background and history on his TV shows,
and you will find the real Donald Trump. It is not a pretty picture. If you
think his character does not matter, look at the state of our nation today. I
have lived a long time and see many turbulent times from Richard Nixon to Bill
Clinton, but I have never seen this nation more divided than now.
Politically, I am an independent.
During the last election, I did not vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. I
exercised my right to write in a candidate of my choice because I could not
accept either of the two main candidates. In this next election, I will vote
for Joe Biden. I believe he will try to unite the country and address critical
issues ignored by Trump and the Republicans. He may raise taxes on the wealthy
and high-income earners. Taxes are necessary to pay for the many things our country needs from
health care and infrastructure repair to environmental protection and
opportunities for the disadvantaged. There is great wealth in this country and several well-known
billionaires have said they are willing to
pay more in taxes for the benefit of all. We just need the right leadership
to make it happen in a fair way.
In deciding how to vote in the next
presidential election, don’t just think about who will make you better off in
your personal life. Think also about who will make the country as a whole better
off. And no, the Democrats are not going to take all the guns away from gun owners any more
than they did under Clinton and Obama. But maybe we can prevent those mentally
ill and/or with a history of violence from purchasing guns. We need sensible
legislation for the protection of all.
The future of this country is
created by all of us. You have to decide if you want to live in a Third Reich,
or to live in a country of hope and freedom for all. The vision that Donald Trump
offers will not give you freedom, but it may give you concentration camps. Hitler’s
Third Reich was supposed to be the resurrection of Germany to a new, greater destiny,
but it was not for the nonwhite, disabled, Jews, or any members of a political
opposition party. Do you want this approach for America? Trump may consider different groups than Hitler’s selections as unacceptable, but his approach is
the same.
