Today is V-E Day.
And the 75th V-E Day. Here's why that is important. It's important to remember history because, as George Santayana famously said, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. And not only does it seem that we're repeating history, we're coming full circle with a deadly pandemic and a president who has simply given up. We do not know when this is going to end or how many are going to die as a result of Trump's complete lack of empathy toward the victims.
Now here's the difference between the Nazi party and the current GOP party - the Nazis surrendered. The GOP? They will never surrender, and most of them don't even know the meaning of the word surrender. They will never be told that they are wrong, because no one will stand up to them and tell them that they are wrong.
If there are two things that the GOP is good at - it's propaganda and networking. They have mastered a propaganda network that even Josef Stalin would call genius. They have not one, but two 24/7 propaganda networks - Fox News and the even more unhinged version of Fox News, World Net Daily. And now they have a third that's giving us a sneak preview of what state run TV will be like should Trump win a second term - OANN. And they're even merging with the Trump family. They also have a network of some 400 radio stations all airing unchecked and unquestioned anti-democratic propaganda and nearly the entire American Christian clergy at their disposal.
The GOP doesn't like being told they are wrong. You can point facts at them. You can go to the video tape. They will immediately dismiss it as a deep state conspiracy, or it was the other guy who made them say those things. Or it was some other bullshit, lame, stupid excuse. And this kind of dangerous rhetoric is what helps them grow in numbers and gain new members in their never-ending army of useful idiots.
And that phrase useful idiots? That's exactly what they are. Their base is completely disposable to the elected leaders of the GOP and the billionaire class. They love that shit too. When they don't need them anymore, they cast them aside for a new generation of useful idiots. Just look at what is happening on college campuses with groups like TP USA and Identity Europa - groups of angry, hardcore extremists are creating an entire new generation of angry, hardcore extremists. And boy are they pissed off, but they don't know why they are angry, or even who they are angry at.
There's lots of parallels you can make between what happened 75 years ago and what happened now. Donald Trump is equal parts Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Benito Mussolini. But the big difference? No matter how big the Nazi party got, Hitler realized the error of his ways. When being confronted with the choice of surrendering or death, he chose death. Would Donald Trump make the same decision? Hell no. You could show up at Mar-A-Lago with Bradley tanks tomorrow and Trump would stand in front of them and say "wrong". Because the propaganda network wouldn't allow it. And if Trump would never surrender, then our forefathers who fought and died in WWII would have done so for nothing. History should not be repeating itself in this regard.
