On the precipice

 

 

 

"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." - John Donne

In a recent essay by Bill Kristol, he shares his fears that many of us have as we watch the formation of a fascist autocracy in the nation’s capital.  He hopes that we’re not on the precipice of “going … the way of Germany in the last century.  The slope toward lawlessness is a slippery one, and we have an administration that is eagerly leading us down it.”

In just a matter of a few days, Trump has demonstrated that the rule of law will not apply to him or his coterie of devotees who have willingly acquiesced to the cult of one man.  An American citizen of Palestinian origins was arrested “[for helping} lead Columbia’s student protest movement demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.”  He was then cuffed and deported to a detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, without any sign of due process.

Last Friday, March 14th, Trump gathered a crowd of Justice Department staff who were favorable to him and let them know, in no uncertain terms, that he is “the chief law enforcement officer in our country” – a title traditionally used to refer to the attorney general.  In his ramblings he threatened retribution not only against his political enemies but all the networks that didn’t emulate FOX’s presentation of him.

These two instances reflect on how dictators begin their process that removes constitutional restraints and limitations and gives control of the narrative to deceive the voters, always portraying themselves as righteous and his political enemies as evil. He demeaned members of the Biden-era Justice Department as  “scum,” judges “corrupt” and the prosecutors who investigated him “deranged.”  His unfounded claims that the “radical liberal press” is corrupt and illegal sets the stage for suppression of our free press’s 1st amendment rights.

In 1926, Joseph Goebbels, after being elected to the Reichstag as one of the first 12 National Socialist delegates, said that “The big joke on democracy is that it gives its mortal enemies the means to its own destruction.”  Goebbels would go on to become Hitler’s Minister of propaganda.  

At his 1946 trial in Nuremberg, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring cynically observed that “The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy.  All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

These observations by two of Hitler’s top lieutenants are at play today with the Trump administration.  Those who still deny this are either beyond seeing Trump as anything other than second coming or those who lack the spine to denounce behavior that is leading us down that lawless slippery slope Bill Kristol alluded to.

Many are being transformed by what Anne Applebaym referred to in her book, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism:  “Authoritarianism appeals, simply, to people who cannot tolerate complexity.  There is nothing intrinsically ‘left wing’ or ‘right wing’ about this instinct at all.  It is allergic to fierce debates.  Whether those who have it ultimately derive their politics from Marxism or nationalism is irrelevant.  It is a frame of mind.”

We are indeed standing at the precipice of a significant cultural change where billionaires will have sway over government policies and citizens will no longer be able to choose who should lead us. Nor will we be able to be critical of those who align themselves with Trump, without fear of being swept by what will become Trump’s Schutzstaffel, better known  as Hitler’s SS