General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We should reach out and understand Nazis and KKK members too. [View all]VOX
(22,976 posts)It took time, effort, propaganda, severe economic distress, and some behind-the-scenes lawlessness (including several murders) to move a majority of Germans to buy into Hitler's "vision." And while German Jews, Gypsies, communists and political prisoners were a small percentage of that country's total population, the Nazis nevertheless shipped such "undesirables" to death camps from the countries they occupied, from France all the way to the Russian Steppes. It's widely believed, based on available evidence, that the 6 million murdered may be a low-end estimate.
Yes, Trump's supporters are ignorant and misguided, but they also have alternative-viewpoint information outlets readily available to them if they were interested in hearing opposing ideas. But they're not. They stay locked into Fox, Breitbart, AM radio, etc., and never hear ANY opposing viewpoints during their average day. It's a steady diet of fear and anger, two addictive emotions -- be afraid of people of color, and be angry that they get shrift in this society. THAT is Fox Entertainment's meat-and-potatoes.
While only some of his supporters are out-and-out neo-nazis and white supremacists, a majority of them consider themselves superior to other ethnicities and cultures. It's unfolding right there in front of us: Trump rallies that whip up the idea of punishing political opponents (a very third-world practice), the demonizing of Latinos and African Americans, Confederate flag t-shirts, torchlight parades, support of Trump on American White Nationalist websites ("Heil Trump!" , etc. The Trump supporters who do not participate directly in these hate groups are very slow to denounce them, if at all-- including Trump himself.
I think the equivalence here, while there are some degrees of contrast, is anything but false -- Germany was entirely consumed by a toxic and fatal ideology; the U.S., at present, via Trump and his alt-right/white-power buddies (Stephen Miller, and the still-available-by-phone Steve Bannon, to name two), have made a dangerous flirtation with overtly fascist ideas: de facto deportation ("travel ban" , the threat of deportation ("They aren't sending their best...bringing drugs...crime. They're rapists..." , the laughable but corrosively racist attempt to disenfranchise minority voters ("voter fraud" , and lately, bald-faced authoritarianism-- snap decisions fraught with far-reaching implications-- that Trump makes without consulting any of his handlers. The fact that we have a president who NEEDS handlers should keep us awake at night.
This is our country's first fling with a far-right-wing president, administration and both houses of Congress. To date, the only office-holding Republicans to speak out against Trump have been Jeff Flake (retiring), John McCain (fighting aggressive cancer), and Lindsay Graham. Everyone else is either on board, or damnably silent, which is worse.
The American people are being forced to endure a battle for the "naming-rights" to reality itself. It remains to be seen whether the rule of law -- or far-right partisanship-- will prevail.