Once Donald Trump was elected into the White House, there were numerous people who condemned him, almost immediately, for being a new kind of Hitler. If anything, those criticisms have mounted, and largely, he has brought many of these criticisms on himself with the things that he says, and the things that he does. After all, when you are hesitant to criticize Nazis, people are not going to slow those kinds of criticisms down.
While I can understand these criticisms and fears, I myself hesitate to place this man as a new kind of Hitler or Stalin. However, watching Michael Moore's newest movie kind of gave me pause for thought. After all, much of what he is doing is pumping up the fear and stoking divisions that have already existed, clearly exacerbating them. This has been going on for decades, to be sure, but Trump has manipulated them to the point where this nation feels more polarized than I have ever seen it before.
There is a historian from Yale, Professor Timothy Snyder, who made these same comparisons. I believe that I already wrote a post about that, too.
Comedian Bill Maher was hosting the show where Walker made these comparisons, and he himself rattled off a list of ways in which Trump was behaving in a manner reminiscent of dictators of the 1930's. Among these, according to Walker in the article (see link below), Maher suggested that Trump, like those tyrants many decades ago, "put his name on buildings, appointed family to positions of power, held “scary rallies” and hated the press."
If anything, those comparisons are even more relevant now. Those rallies are still going on, even though the 2016 election is long over, and the 2020 election is still far off. He still hates the press, for that matter. But he has also, again, seemingly sided with Nazis and violent white supremacists, referred to African and Central American nations, as well as Haiti, as "shithole nations," has established camps for children who have been illegally (not to mention immorally) been taken away from their parents, has toyed with the idea of America getting a "president for life," even though he always says that he is joking when he says things like that. Doesn't it seem like he "jokes" about these authoritarian tendencies a whole lot? Too much to feel comfortable with, frankly.
There are some similarities. But hey, Hitler killed millions of people! So did Stalin! We cannot simply believe, without any kind of more solid proof, that he is another tyrant on that level, can we?
No, maybe not. But then again, this is a different era, and a different country. Things are not the same, plus we have the past history to refer to, and which most people (presumably Trump, too) would like to avoid, right?
Yet, when I asked myself, how would another Hitler take power, especially in a modern democratic society (which we still more or less are, at least for the moment), it would actually look a bit like what Trump is doing. Constantly pushing the envelope, constantly pushing the limits. Constantly mocking political opponents, and suggesting that any and all negative stories about him are lies, which he clearly does with his labeling these criticisms as "fake news." And always, at every step, making sure that his audiences eat everything up, like the Trump supporters in good standing that they are. Already, they are talking about a new civil war, and some are joking about shooting some Democrats. I saw one guy post something about trying Democrats for treason on Facebook, and he was not joking even one bit.
Bradley Burston, writing an opinion piece for Haaretz, com that came out just yesterday, also has written an article warning that what Trump is doing is criminal, and that rounding people up and putting them in some remote desert camp is more than a little unsettling. He muses that Trump will not come for the Hews, but for the Democrats.
Yes, that is the political climate in this country, and it is no joke. In fact, it is getting downright scary, and I believe that, whether or not he actually can be seen as another Hitler or Stalin, we need to recognize that he has already gone too far - way too far - and that he needs to be stopped. Things can get worse, and so long as he is in power, things will continue to get worse.
We cannot say we were not warned. Professor Snyder is warning us. Michael Moore is warning us. Burston is warning us. In fact, many, many people keep warning us that this guy is dangerous. Perhaps the most important person warning us is Trump himself. He keeps pushing things farther and farther, keeps escalating situations around the world, making threats about wiping other countries off the map, tearing up treaties, and betraying his hatred of the "other."
No, Trump has not killed six million Jews, or invaded numerous nations, like Hitler did. But there are those hateful comments, and there is more irrational fear and anger than we have ever seen before. There are those political rallies, and they are scary. There is a huge, relentless buildup of the military, with unprecedented spending, and Trump made no secret about his desire for a military parade. There is his staggering narcissism, and let's face it: lies have become the norm from the White House. Even his political allies, even some commentators on FOX News, make no bones about Trump's tendency to lie quite regularly. And yes, now there are camps, and some are already referring to them, quite accurately, as the "Trump camps."
Oh, and Snyder reminds everyone that there were widespread expectations that there would be some horrific event like the Reichstag fire, that might allow Trump to grab more power. Indeed, many people - myself included - have been on guard for such an event, for "Trump's Reichstag fire," ever since. Trump himself has already mused that the only thing that could bring the country together again would be another even like 9/11, which is hardly reassuring. Does anyone even doubt that he would try and use such an event to grab more power, and limit our own freedoms?
None of this is normal.
This needs to be taken seriously.
Here are two articles, one recent, the other not so recent, that essentially both urge us to start really paying attention and noticing these troubling trends now, before it goes even farther:
Donald Trump is behaving like 1930s fascist dictator, explains Yale historian by Peter Walker, 27 March 2017:
Opinion Relax. Trump Won't Put All the Jews in Camps. Only the Democrats by Bradley Burston, Oct. 22, 2018:
Here is another article that delves into greater detail about the camp for migrant children that President Trump recently ordered built in Texas. It was created in June, and designed to be a “emergency influx shelter.” Already, it has been confirmed that this camp will remain open for at least the duration of this year, presumably because the "emergency" is ongoing. Indeed, if you watch FOX News, you will definitely get the impression that this is indeed an emergency that requires urgent and extreme action. Perhaps that is why they are defending their leader's actions to separate children from their parents, and to give those children away to American families who want children.
Have you noticed that somehow, with Trump, it seems that everything is an emergency, or quickly gets escalated to the status of an emergency, and that these emergencies always seem to warrant the most extreme solutions?
Oh, and Trump just joked last night, warning Democrats not to mess with Texas. Naturally, his audience ate it all up, with no sense of irony.
The Ongoing, Avoidable Horror of the Trump Administration’s Texas Tent Camp for Migrant Kids by Eric Lach October 2, 2018:
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