Historian here - I think your analysis is apt, and people should understand how democracies can be swiftly and unexpectedly co-opted. But one relevant point that should give us hope that we can ultimately mitigate some of the harm inflicted. In Germany, the Weimar Republic was imposed upon a country without a firm democratic inheritance and as part of the consequences of losing WWI. Even for those who opposed Hitler, the Weimar government did not seem like an inheritance to be protected. Similarly for Hungary, which had been part of the Soviet Union, and before that only a republic for a brief and very tumultuous period after WWI. They were governed by a monarchy for the most part between the wars. The point here is that the United States has a long, if imperfect, history of democratic governance. Our democracy is part of our inheritance, not something imposed after a military defeat. I think that structural/historical factor will substantially shape how people respond to continuing attempts by the Trump administration to strip us of our rights. Right now I think we're in shock and trying to figure out a way forward, but I believe our long history of rights and democratic governance will ultimately motivate us to reject an authoritarian regime
I certainly hope you're right. But we'll need Republicans to find their backbone, sacrifice their political fortunes, and push back against Trump (not holding my breath). We'll need military leaders who will refuse to carry out the unlawful orders of a convicted felon. And we will need outraged citizens to vote and return the House and Senate to the Democrats in the 2026 mid-terms. We shall see.
This was exactly the conversation in my house last night, and I hope that our long history with democracy will be our greatest strength in fighting back on Trump's wholesale assault on that democracy.
As the administration weakens the watchdogs who protect our elections....I actually think this new administration must be outrageous in the short term so we can defeat them in 2026. Those Americans who voted for trump even though they didn't like him personally need to be shown who he and they really are. And how it effects them and their families. Today, police groups who backed him are outraged publicly by the freeing of the Jan 6 criminals. trump said this week that he thinks it would be good for the Proud Boys to be political. Brown shirts, maybe? We need more groups and people like the police orgs to experience reality....but quickly, before institutional damage is done.
Well written!! We DO have the inheritance of democracy and we also have the inheritance of WWII history and the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany.... which should make us actively resist attempts to replicate it here!
Yes, we have a long history of democratic governance. But those democratic structures have been warped and neutered through party allegiance and alignment across branches that the founders intended to check each other. The two-party system of control of govt functions (not the original operation) has slowly progressed to more concentration of power into fewer and fewer hands. Leading up to a Trump. We can fix it — http://www.realindependent.com
I pray you are correct. I'm 78 years old, and I have never seen anything to compare with the danger we are facing. I am terrified that no one will stand up to trump. I cherish the memory of Walter Cronkite's brave on-air speech calling for an end to the Vietnam War and the profound impact it had. Where's our Walter Cronkite?
What you say does hold credence but the past few days of shock and awe have been ulcer inducing. I also hold hope that we have better methods of disseminating information. DJTs falling approval rating especially that of the poor viewership of his coronation sorry inauguration will eventually lead to consumer dependent commerce becoming disenfranchised. I'm waiting to see how SCOTUS handles some of the cases that are bound to come before them. Who will maintain their oath to the constitution especially as most of our legislative branch seem to lack spines and have sold their souls to the antichrist.
I would say that short term actions and responses aren't necessarily the stuff of history. What's giving me hope is the deep structures of our society which don't include deference to an authoritarian leader or the ceding of our rights to self governance. Will the next few years include lots of difficult and destructive actions? Will a good percentage of the population go along with it for various reasons? Yes and yes. But I believe that our history of democracy, embedded in law and constitution for nearly 225 years and in practice for longer, will prevent our transition from a democratic country to an authoritarian one.
Interested in your thoughts about our federated system, with powers delegated to the states in the Constitution. Does that put us in a stronger position for resistance than past authoritarian/fascist regimes?
I think so. Look at the states that instantly sued to stop the enforcement of several of Trump's executive orders. States that are stockpiling medication for their residents are seeking to shelter them from the impact of the Trump administration. That said, Germany did and does have a federal system of government and Hungary was part of a multi-ethnic empire before WWI. So federation isn't necessarily a guarantee of protection from a centralized government bent on radical change. But our federated system is premised on the idea that states have independence from the federal government in many matters, rights to independent governance enshrined in the Constitution and in much of right wing ideology. So I think states can serve as effective bulwarks against what the Washington government is doing. Our states have historically functioned as independent power centers in ways that they haven't in other countries that have lost their democratic systems, which is another place of hope and resistance.
Technically, Hitler only dared to become an authoritarian dictator after von Hindenburg died, he only became a totalitarian in 1938 when the Senate granted him emergency powers, and he only became a one-man dictator when he went to war with the U.K and France: he didn't dare do it all at once, and for all of these instances he needed an excuse. Trump cannot become a dictator because Clinton, George Bush Junior, and Obama, are still alive, and their families do not support Trump (unlike Hindenburg's son). Since he cannot become a dictator, Trump will not be able to have them murdered.
Also, technically Hitler blamed the sex industry - pornography and prostitution - and fornication for Germany's ills, not homosexuals (although he claimed Jews were responsible for the industry, fornication, and homosexuality, via "Sexual Bolshevism"), since homosexuality was against the law and was thus there was no thriving community.
Although against the law, there was quite a thriving homosexual community in Germany. It may not have been out in the open but it was well known. As far as Trump murdering anyone: He has minions who may try to kill for him just because he blinks twice and wears a different tie.
I meant the community was not as strong as it is now: German cinema was experimental and sexually liberal (as was theatre around the world as opposed to cinema, hence the plays "The Children's Hour" and "The Seven Year Itch").
Like today, the community was located in western Berlin, being created by non-heterormatives fleeing persecution in the rest of Germany.
Because of security concerns created by Trump, security officials will be prepared for any assassination, so Trump's critics - and Trump himself - are safe, possibly until the base becomes so radicalized that they turn on the Trump family for being alt-liters as opposed to white nationalists (since Ivanka and Jared made a deal to be two-term presidents, one after the other, the leader of the alt-right, Mike Cernovich, will not be able to run in the future due to the power of the Trump family, which will radicalize the base, which will be already radicalized due to the failures of both Trump and a future President Ivanka).
However, by the time we see a President Richard Spencer, I would think the U.S would be in a Third World War, so the heightened security would prevent assassinations: unfortunately, heightened security would make things worse for freedom, and Spencer won't be the worst part (since white nationalism won't solve the problems).
I can only hope that fighting back also means removing trump for good. He is a threat to the world not just the U.S. This destruction of democracy has been carefully crafted over the past 4 years. He will have competition from Putin for world dominance if they are not in this together.
A lot of people will need to disappear. We're dealing with evil here, even on the scale none of us have ever encountered. We are entirely justified in wanting such evil people to die.
Fight from cover and retreat? Like the bishop did? I think not, I do speak from experience. People and groups are not as scary as they would suggest they are. And sometimes the principle demands action. Been there and survived quite easily, with meaningful results.
Technically revolutionaries, since revolutionaries want to introduce new things rather than bringing back old ones: Trumpanzees differ from Aaron Burr and the slave-owning Jeffersonians by being ruder and by being cultural libertines (despite being sexually and socially conservative). If they were not this, they would be just like Burr and the rapist Jefferson and WOULD be reactionaries, like the Anti-Masonic Party, the Know-Nothings, and the bulk of the Redeemers.
The Trumpanzees are instead revolutionaries, akin to the Ku Klux Klan, the American Legion, and the Patriot movement.
This is also a parallel to the Hitlerites, as they called themselves "the National Revolution."
We need to fight back/resist in ways we've never done before. Lots of billboards and ads everywhere. Flood social media (like MAGA does). Bully the bullies. I imagine we act as "witnesses" rather than just angry demonstrators. I see us being there and witnessing silently and with dignity. How powerful would that be if we did this in every city, state and DC. Outside Congress, the White House, the VP residence, the Supreme Court, the Executive Building. Not 24/7, but when visibility is needed and the point needs to be made. Give them nothing to arrest us for. Give them no excuse to call us a mob...or Antifa. What do you think? Am I nuts???
They will only vandalize and deface again if Trump loses re-election, which he won't due to the suppression of voting rights by the Republicans and the fact he has been gradually gaining minority votes: we can assume he will be able to win over female minority youth and Southeast Asian male youth next election. Even if he loses, the Republicans will not certify the election, so there will be no reason for the Trumpanzees to whine. Since the Republicans will think they will win next time, the Republicans don't think they need to deny the 2028 election results, and thus they think they won't be condemned for denying the results.
Thus, the vandals and defacers will "only" engage in rallies and whining protests, and will simply be just more Trumpanzees: thus, they will not be a threat even if they run and win seats in Congress. I am concerned not about them, but about the fact that Trump will need a Second Constitution (and a Second Bill of Rights enshrining sovereign citizenship and the racist doctrine of states' rights), to avoid the inevitable failure of his anti-immigration policy, a la Operation Wetback.
He will impose martial law first in mid-2027, and then suspend the constitution at the start of 2028 when it becomes clear martial law will NOT kick out all immigrants: immigrants are NOT all located in one city, and many people are sympathetic.
My worry is the colossal yawn from my friends. I do not mean a yawn as in " oh thats so yesterday" I refer rather to " Its all so overwhelming. It's just another example of his corrupted ways. The senate and congress will flip in two years, and this will be over"
If I forward this Substack to them - they may or may not read it, feeling overwhelmed by what they call my 'pessimism'
They try to take solace in knowing the nation has often been divided and that the American people always rose to the top and came to together when needed.
But this time is different
The capitulation of men like Thune , Lankford and others shows how corrupting the quest for the power they crave is. I an certain they know trumps edicts are madness - but they lie to themselves that they will control it
All evidence shows how he discards anyone and everything that impedes is greed for power and wealth.
Even Musk I predict. Right now he needs Musk and X and his money, but if trump consolidates the power he as he appears to be doing, Mush may find that either he must avoid windows like in Putins Russia or shut up and hand over his company like Jack Ma ( alibaba ) for Xi
I completely agree. I am so discouraged by the acceptance since the election, both nationally and from people I know personally. I do not believe this will end well. I pray that the tide will turn but so far the destructive waves keep crashing ashore.
I refer you to the Ann Tenais cartoon, https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/trump-pardons-the-jan-6th-rioters I had to look up Sturmabteilung. It was the 'Storm Division' or 'Storm Troopers' and was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. They were colloquially called Brownshirts.
I suspect that few people realize that Star Wars (and sequels) are allegories of fascism. Vader (vater) means “father” in German. Dang, the troops of the empire were called stormtroopers, same as fascist term. A franchise that grosses $50B, and people are not aware of the stories themes.
Technically, he did only commute the sentences of the ones who assaulted police officers, and he has not interfered in ongoing cases, since the vandals and defacers can appeal. He knows he can't get away with either pardons of assaulters or in ongoing cases.
Not sure Trump *knows* he “can’t get away with …” He seems convinced that his word, like that of the Old Testament god, is all; and gods can get away with anything.
He hasn't done it, so he knows. Otherwise, he would have had pardoned them all. This allows him to look moderate, since he commuted the worst criminals and is letting ongoing cases play themselves out.
I think this is incorrect. He commuted the sentences for those convicted of sedition. He pardoned those who committed actual violence against police officers.
Not taking morality into account, Trump isn't making a cover for himself. I would think Trump views sedition as worse than assault, since the Federalists had the Alien and Sedition Acts (Trump wants to "open up the libel laws so we can sue people who spread bad lies against us, I want a system like they have in Britain), and assault was common in Congress and parliaments in the old days, along with duels.
His view on sedition is also influenced by the fact that in the old days a man could beat his wife and servants for criticizing him, and could lynch minorities for the same thing.
Nonetheless, Trump thinks the cases that are playing out could result in his supporters getting away like Trump's late friend O.J. Simpson did.
But I have to ask: did all the assaulters, vandals, defacers, and trespassers, who Trump pardoned, exhaust their appeals?
Uh, he is. Remember when he rhapsodized about Hitler's generals? But the dope didn't know that "the generals" were also behind plots to assassinate him.
2023–2024: Elon Musk and Trump are copying Hitler’s playbook—promoting hate, division, and nationalism. Musk’s Nazi-like salute and spreading Nazism on X (twitter) are not random; they mirror Hitler’s dangerous methods.
1930s–1945: Hitler copied eugenics and social Darwinism to build his ideology of racial superiority, using propaganda to control and destroy.
1883: Francis Galton created eugenics, copying and twisting Darwin’s ideas into a tool for oppression.
1864: Herbert Spencer copied Darwin’s theory of evolution, distorting it into “survival of the fittest” to justify inequality and imperialism.
380 BCE: Plato's Republic proposed elite rule and selective breeding, ideas that were copied by oppressive regimes for centuries.
☣️Warning: These figures copy and spread the same destructive ideologies, leaving a trail of suffering. Their ideas are a direct threat to humanity—history shows the danger of letting them grow unchecked.
Hitler, Mussolini, Orban—all built their power base on grievance. But what grievance for Trump? Perceived diminution of white supremacy? Face masks? Uppity Negroes? Life?
Excellent advice … last century. The 21st Century sees a terrible start of willful ignorance—if MAGA reads at all, it reads only within its own silo. If they listen, it’s only to Fox who, it may be recalled, paid 3/4 of a billion to avoid offending their most offensive client.
I believe the grievance Trump promotes is illegal immigration. It’s a story played over and over again in our history. My grandparents immigrated to the US from Ireland in 1918. Newspapers ran help wanted ads saying “Irish need not apply.” Immigrants are the scapegoat. We are told they are taking our jobs and committing crimes. The GOP doesn’t want to fix immigration because then they would have to find another scapegoat to create division amongst ourselves. Businesses want to exploit their labor. I listened to a Hartman podcast today. He said “if they really wanted to fix immigration they would put the business owners who hire them in jail.” Meanwhile no one is talking about the growing disparity between the rich and poor and it’s detrimental impact on society.
The weak, the cowardly, the bullies—they always need someone to unload on … and you’re right, immigrants make easy targets. Easy as in lazy; sad in a country where everyone but Native Americans are immigrants.
It literally sounds like they made a playbook and are doing the exact same thing... I hope our story has fewer deaths and a better outcome. Just maybe the string pullers will be exposed and diminished
Republicans in the USA and conservatives in Canada have been OPENLY DISPLAYING adherence to Hitler's Mein Kampf and Mussolini's M. I. G. A. since 9/11: 🇺🇸GWBush/🇨🇦HARPER/Trump 101.
As a child in 2007 (I was 11), I knew perfectly well rightist families saluted Hitler at the dinner table and discussed how minorities should be exterminated and women be denied the right to vote: I knew the right had opposed minority and women's rights.
Technically since the rightists are classical liberals and hate Germanophones, they do not salute Hitler, but they do praise Confederates, Indian reserves, residential schools, the slave trade, the Banana Wars, and the British Empire.
However, I also knew Fox News regularly ran ads praising Hitler and slavery, advocating genocide, denying the Holocaust, and had far-righters on as guests. I was right about all of this: David Duke and others were regular guests on Fox and they had ads, and the BNP run ads in the U.K.
Will Trump's DOJ prosecute crimes of political violence committed by his Brown Shirts? Or have we already reached that stage of fascism where the party's thugs beat up and kill members of the opposition without interference from LE?
Think about this: Trump's own VP said that Trump is "America's Hitler." Now he supports him, just as Germans fell in line with a rising Fuhrer.
Historian here - I think your analysis is apt, and people should understand how democracies can be swiftly and unexpectedly co-opted. But one relevant point that should give us hope that we can ultimately mitigate some of the harm inflicted. In Germany, the Weimar Republic was imposed upon a country without a firm democratic inheritance and as part of the consequences of losing WWI. Even for those who opposed Hitler, the Weimar government did not seem like an inheritance to be protected. Similarly for Hungary, which had been part of the Soviet Union, and before that only a republic for a brief and very tumultuous period after WWI. They were governed by a monarchy for the most part between the wars. The point here is that the United States has a long, if imperfect, history of democratic governance. Our democracy is part of our inheritance, not something imposed after a military defeat. I think that structural/historical factor will substantially shape how people respond to continuing attempts by the Trump administration to strip us of our rights. Right now I think we're in shock and trying to figure out a way forward, but I believe our long history of rights and democratic governance will ultimately motivate us to reject an authoritarian regime
I certainly hope you're right. But we'll need Republicans to find their backbone, sacrifice their political fortunes, and push back against Trump (not holding my breath). We'll need military leaders who will refuse to carry out the unlawful orders of a convicted felon. And we will need outraged citizens to vote and return the House and Senate to the Democrats in the 2026 mid-terms. We shall see.
This was exactly the conversation in my house last night, and I hope that our long history with democracy will be our greatest strength in fighting back on Trump's wholesale assault on that democracy.
As the administration weakens the watchdogs who protect our elections....I actually think this new administration must be outrageous in the short term so we can defeat them in 2026. Those Americans who voted for trump even though they didn't like him personally need to be shown who he and they really are. And how it effects them and their families. Today, police groups who backed him are outraged publicly by the freeing of the Jan 6 criminals. trump said this week that he thinks it would be good for the Proud Boys to be political. Brown shirts, maybe? We need more groups and people like the police orgs to experience reality....but quickly, before institutional damage is done.
Well written!! We DO have the inheritance of democracy and we also have the inheritance of WWII history and the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany.... which should make us actively resist attempts to replicate it here!
Yes, we have a long history of democratic governance. But those democratic structures have been warped and neutered through party allegiance and alignment across branches that the founders intended to check each other. The two-party system of control of govt functions (not the original operation) has slowly progressed to more concentration of power into fewer and fewer hands. Leading up to a Trump. We can fix it — http://www.realindependent.com
I pray you are correct. I'm 78 years old, and I have never seen anything to compare with the danger we are facing. I am terrified that no one will stand up to trump. I cherish the memory of Walter Cronkite's brave on-air speech calling for an end to the Vietnam War and the profound impact it had. Where's our Walter Cronkite?
What you say does hold credence but the past few days of shock and awe have been ulcer inducing. I also hold hope that we have better methods of disseminating information. DJTs falling approval rating especially that of the poor viewership of his coronation sorry inauguration will eventually lead to consumer dependent commerce becoming disenfranchised. I'm waiting to see how SCOTUS handles some of the cases that are bound to come before them. Who will maintain their oath to the constitution especially as most of our legislative branch seem to lack spines and have sold their souls to the antichrist.
I would say that short term actions and responses aren't necessarily the stuff of history. What's giving me hope is the deep structures of our society which don't include deference to an authoritarian leader or the ceding of our rights to self governance. Will the next few years include lots of difficult and destructive actions? Will a good percentage of the population go along with it for various reasons? Yes and yes. But I believe that our history of democracy, embedded in law and constitution for nearly 225 years and in practice for longer, will prevent our transition from a democratic country to an authoritarian one.
Interested in your thoughts about our federated system, with powers delegated to the states in the Constitution. Does that put us in a stronger position for resistance than past authoritarian/fascist regimes?
I think so. Look at the states that instantly sued to stop the enforcement of several of Trump's executive orders. States that are stockpiling medication for their residents are seeking to shelter them from the impact of the Trump administration. That said, Germany did and does have a federal system of government and Hungary was part of a multi-ethnic empire before WWI. So federation isn't necessarily a guarantee of protection from a centralized government bent on radical change. But our federated system is premised on the idea that states have independence from the federal government in many matters, rights to independent governance enshrined in the Constitution and in much of right wing ideology. So I think states can serve as effective bulwarks against what the Washington government is doing. Our states have historically functioned as independent power centers in ways that they haven't in other countries that have lost their democratic systems, which is another place of hope and resistance.
Excellent post…thank you for being among those who research and speak the truth.
Technically, Hitler only dared to become an authoritarian dictator after von Hindenburg died, he only became a totalitarian in 1938 when the Senate granted him emergency powers, and he only became a one-man dictator when he went to war with the U.K and France: he didn't dare do it all at once, and for all of these instances he needed an excuse. Trump cannot become a dictator because Clinton, George Bush Junior, and Obama, are still alive, and their families do not support Trump (unlike Hindenburg's son). Since he cannot become a dictator, Trump will not be able to have them murdered.
Also, technically Hitler blamed the sex industry - pornography and prostitution - and fornication for Germany's ills, not homosexuals (although he claimed Jews were responsible for the industry, fornication, and homosexuality, via "Sexual Bolshevism"), since homosexuality was against the law and was thus there was no thriving community.
Although against the law, there was quite a thriving homosexual community in Germany. It may not have been out in the open but it was well known. As far as Trump murdering anyone: He has minions who may try to kill for him just because he blinks twice and wears a different tie.
I meant the community was not as strong as it is now: German cinema was experimental and sexually liberal (as was theatre around the world as opposed to cinema, hence the plays "The Children's Hour" and "The Seven Year Itch").
Like today, the community was located in western Berlin, being created by non-heterormatives fleeing persecution in the rest of Germany.
Because of security concerns created by Trump, security officials will be prepared for any assassination, so Trump's critics - and Trump himself - are safe, possibly until the base becomes so radicalized that they turn on the Trump family for being alt-liters as opposed to white nationalists (since Ivanka and Jared made a deal to be two-term presidents, one after the other, the leader of the alt-right, Mike Cernovich, will not be able to run in the future due to the power of the Trump family, which will radicalize the base, which will be already radicalized due to the failures of both Trump and a future President Ivanka).
However, by the time we see a President Richard Spencer, I would think the U.S would be in a Third World War, so the heightened security would prevent assassinations: unfortunately, heightened security would make things worse for freedom, and Spencer won't be the worst part (since white nationalism won't solve the problems).
Hey, Thanks for a more in depth explanation and your thoughts for the future of the Republican presidency.
You're welcome.
Disturbing, troubling, abhorrent and disgusting, but here it is, America is fucked for at least the next four years.
Great history lesson for those who either didn't remember or didn't know how things were in Hitler's regime. Thank you
Now 47 has his own army of violent extremists the brown shirts reborn as red hats
So, do we cower in a corner and cry, or fight the f back?
Any “fight back” would have to include making some of the newly freed goons disappear for good, wouldn’t you say?
I can only hope that fighting back also means removing trump for good. He is a threat to the world not just the U.S. This destruction of democracy has been carefully crafted over the past 4 years. He will have competition from Putin for world dominance if they are not in this together.
Like those goons have zero problem with making us "disappear?"
A lot of people will need to disappear. We're dealing with evil here, even on the scale none of us have ever encountered. We are entirely justified in wanting such evil people to die.
NO, I wouldn't say or think that.
Keep a low profile these are vicious reactionaries. When in a power down position always fight from cover and retreat. Fade into the night
Fight from cover and retreat? Like the bishop did? I think not, I do speak from experience. People and groups are not as scary as they would suggest they are. And sometimes the principle demands action. Been there and survived quite easily, with meaningful results.
We need to be there as witnesses; silently and with dignity.
Well said!
Technically revolutionaries, since revolutionaries want to introduce new things rather than bringing back old ones: Trumpanzees differ from Aaron Burr and the slave-owning Jeffersonians by being ruder and by being cultural libertines (despite being sexually and socially conservative). If they were not this, they would be just like Burr and the rapist Jefferson and WOULD be reactionaries, like the Anti-Masonic Party, the Know-Nothings, and the bulk of the Redeemers.
The Trumpanzees are instead revolutionaries, akin to the Ku Klux Klan, the American Legion, and the Patriot movement.
This is also a parallel to the Hitlerites, as they called themselves "the National Revolution."
We need to fight back/resist in ways we've never done before. Lots of billboards and ads everywhere. Flood social media (like MAGA does). Bully the bullies. I imagine we act as "witnesses" rather than just angry demonstrators. I see us being there and witnessing silently and with dignity. How powerful would that be if we did this in every city, state and DC. Outside Congress, the White House, the VP residence, the Supreme Court, the Executive Building. Not 24/7, but when visibility is needed and the point needs to be made. Give them nothing to arrest us for. Give them no excuse to call us a mob...or Antifa. What do you think? Am I nuts???
Yes! We can't be passive.
They will only vandalize and deface again if Trump loses re-election, which he won't due to the suppression of voting rights by the Republicans and the fact he has been gradually gaining minority votes: we can assume he will be able to win over female minority youth and Southeast Asian male youth next election. Even if he loses, the Republicans will not certify the election, so there will be no reason for the Trumpanzees to whine. Since the Republicans will think they will win next time, the Republicans don't think they need to deny the 2028 election results, and thus they think they won't be condemned for denying the results.
Thus, the vandals and defacers will "only" engage in rallies and whining protests, and will simply be just more Trumpanzees: thus, they will not be a threat even if they run and win seats in Congress. I am concerned not about them, but about the fact that Trump will need a Second Constitution (and a Second Bill of Rights enshrining sovereign citizenship and the racist doctrine of states' rights), to avoid the inevitable failure of his anti-immigration policy, a la Operation Wetback.
He will impose martial law first in mid-2027, and then suspend the constitution at the start of 2028 when it becomes clear martial law will NOT kick out all immigrants: immigrants are NOT all located in one city, and many people are sympathetic.
My worry is the colossal yawn from my friends. I do not mean a yawn as in " oh thats so yesterday" I refer rather to " Its all so overwhelming. It's just another example of his corrupted ways. The senate and congress will flip in two years, and this will be over"
If I forward this Substack to them - they may or may not read it, feeling overwhelmed by what they call my 'pessimism'
They try to take solace in knowing the nation has often been divided and that the American people always rose to the top and came to together when needed.
But this time is different
The capitulation of men like Thune , Lankford and others shows how corrupting the quest for the power they crave is. I an certain they know trumps edicts are madness - but they lie to themselves that they will control it
All evidence shows how he discards anyone and everything that impedes is greed for power and wealth.
Even Musk I predict. Right now he needs Musk and X and his money, but if trump consolidates the power he as he appears to be doing, Mush may find that either he must avoid windows like in Putins Russia or shut up and hand over his company like Jack Ma ( alibaba ) for Xi
In trumps world there is only one winner - trump
I completely agree. I am so discouraged by the acceptance since the election, both nationally and from people I know personally. I do not believe this will end well. I pray that the tide will turn but so far the destructive waves keep crashing ashore.
The goon with the eye patch shot himself in the eye. So there is that.
I refer you to the Ann Tenais cartoon, https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/trump-pardons-the-jan-6th-rioters I had to look up Sturmabteilung. It was the 'Storm Division' or 'Storm Troopers' and was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. They were colloquially called Brownshirts.
I suspect that few people realize that Star Wars (and sequels) are allegories of fascism. Vader (vater) means “father” in German. Dang, the troops of the empire were called stormtroopers, same as fascist term. A franchise that grosses $50B, and people are not aware of the stories themes.
#Trump All Americans need to know the story of Hitler’s rise to power.
“F* it, release ‘em all.” He just couldn’t be bothered. And America hopes his inattention will save it.
Technically, he did only commute the sentences of the ones who assaulted police officers, and he has not interfered in ongoing cases, since the vandals and defacers can appeal. He knows he can't get away with either pardons of assaulters or in ongoing cases.
Not sure Trump *knows* he “can’t get away with …” He seems convinced that his word, like that of the Old Testament god, is all; and gods can get away with anything.
He hasn't done it, so he knows. Otherwise, he would have had pardoned them all. This allows him to look moderate, since he commuted the worst criminals and is letting ongoing cases play themselves out.
I think this is incorrect. He commuted the sentences for those convicted of sedition. He pardoned those who committed actual violence against police officers.
Not taking morality into account, Trump isn't making a cover for himself. I would think Trump views sedition as worse than assault, since the Federalists had the Alien and Sedition Acts (Trump wants to "open up the libel laws so we can sue people who spread bad lies against us, I want a system like they have in Britain), and assault was common in Congress and parliaments in the old days, along with duels.
His view on sedition is also influenced by the fact that in the old days a man could beat his wife and servants for criticizing him, and could lynch minorities for the same thing.
Nonetheless, Trump thinks the cases that are playing out could result in his supporters getting away like Trump's late friend O.J. Simpson did.
But I have to ask: did all the assaulters, vandals, defacers, and trespassers, who Trump pardoned, exhaust their appeals?
Adoration of Trump—the ultimate get-out-of-jail card.
Thanks Harry. Interesting piece. I did not know that about Hitler . It is as if Trump is one of his students.
Uh, he is. Remember when he rhapsodized about Hitler's generals? But the dope didn't know that "the generals" were also behind plots to assassinate him.
Wasn't it Mein Kampf at trump's bedside?
2023–2024: Elon Musk and Trump are copying Hitler’s playbook—promoting hate, division, and nationalism. Musk’s Nazi-like salute and spreading Nazism on X (twitter) are not random; they mirror Hitler’s dangerous methods.
1930s–1945: Hitler copied eugenics and social Darwinism to build his ideology of racial superiority, using propaganda to control and destroy.
1883: Francis Galton created eugenics, copying and twisting Darwin’s ideas into a tool for oppression.
1864: Herbert Spencer copied Darwin’s theory of evolution, distorting it into “survival of the fittest” to justify inequality and imperialism.
380 BCE: Plato's Republic proposed elite rule and selective breeding, ideas that were copied by oppressive regimes for centuries.
☣️Warning: These figures copy and spread the same destructive ideologies, leaving a trail of suffering. Their ideas are a direct threat to humanity—history shows the danger of letting them grow unchecked.
They bought the presidency and government 2025-2029 started already.
Hitler, Mussolini, Orban—all built their power base on grievance. But what grievance for Trump? Perceived diminution of white supremacy? Face masks? Uppity Negroes? Life?
https://bsky.app/profile/newrepublic.com/post/3lfzv662wkn2k
This strategy is promising. Blast on high all the promises made but not kept. Also, Ben Wikler has good ideas for DNC if selected.
Excellent advice … last century. The 21st Century sees a terrible start of willful ignorance—if MAGA reads at all, it reads only within its own silo. If they listen, it’s only to Fox who, it may be recalled, paid 3/4 of a billion to avoid offending their most offensive client.
I believe the grievance Trump promotes is illegal immigration. It’s a story played over and over again in our history. My grandparents immigrated to the US from Ireland in 1918. Newspapers ran help wanted ads saying “Irish need not apply.” Immigrants are the scapegoat. We are told they are taking our jobs and committing crimes. The GOP doesn’t want to fix immigration because then they would have to find another scapegoat to create division amongst ourselves. Businesses want to exploit their labor. I listened to a Hartman podcast today. He said “if they really wanted to fix immigration they would put the business owners who hire them in jail.” Meanwhile no one is talking about the growing disparity between the rich and poor and it’s detrimental impact on society.
The weak, the cowardly, the bullies—they always need someone to unload on … and you’re right, immigrants make easy targets. Easy as in lazy; sad in a country where everyone but Native Americans are immigrants.
He needs to be elected! We need new thinking.
It literally sounds like they made a playbook and are doing the exact same thing... I hope our story has fewer deaths and a better outcome. Just maybe the string pullers will be exposed and diminished
They did make a playbook. It's called Project 2025.
Republicans in the USA and conservatives in Canada have been OPENLY DISPLAYING adherence to Hitler's Mein Kampf and Mussolini's M. I. G. A. since 9/11: 🇺🇸GWBush/🇨🇦HARPER/Trump 101.
As a child in 2007 (I was 11), I knew perfectly well rightist families saluted Hitler at the dinner table and discussed how minorities should be exterminated and women be denied the right to vote: I knew the right had opposed minority and women's rights.
Technically since the rightists are classical liberals and hate Germanophones, they do not salute Hitler, but they do praise Confederates, Indian reserves, residential schools, the slave trade, the Banana Wars, and the British Empire.
However, I also knew Fox News regularly ran ads praising Hitler and slavery, advocating genocide, denying the Holocaust, and had far-righters on as guests. I was right about all of this: David Duke and others were regular guests on Fox and they had ads, and the BNP run ads in the U.K.
Will Trump's DOJ prosecute crimes of political violence committed by his Brown Shirts? Or have we already reached that stage of fascism where the party's thugs beat up and kill members of the opposition without interference from LE?
Think about this: Trump's own VP said that Trump is "America's Hitler." Now he supports him, just as Germans fell in line with a rising Fuhrer.