It IS happening here... [View all]

[ECL213]

When people look at Nazi Germany, the question is always, "How could they let this happen?" The scholars point out how Hitler's rise happened in stages, and how that eventually lead to the "Final Solution". They point out Hitler's cult of personality. How he made the trains run on time. How he used German nationality to boost their pride. How some people didn't understand what was happening behind the scenes.

I'm sure someone out there has probably written about this. I'm not a scholar on Nazi Germany, but I've never a heard a discussion of the millions and millions of Germans who were probably just fine with all of it from start to finish. Beer Hall Putsch...sweet! Burning of the Reichstag...about time! Killing rival politicians...gimme more! Rounding up undesirables...more room for me! Holocaust...I don't smell anything. When the war was over, these people, if they were still alive, just blended back into society. If someone brought up Hitler, they would say, "Oh, sure. He was bad. I agree. I wasn't a part of all of that. I'm just happy to have survived."

And that is what we have here. We like to call MAGA a cult, and there are a certain number of people (like my whackadoo in-laws) who are too old and too stupid and watch too much Fox News and Newsmax and believe everything they hear and think Trump is God's gift to mankind. There are also the wealthy and extremely wealthy who just know Trump is going to be good for their bottom line. But, the group I fear the most are the millions and millions of Americans who are just fine with all of this shit. They aren't going to be out there storming the Capitol, but they don't care either. They aren't the failed high school athletes joining ICE and killing people on the street, those people probably got what they deserved. They aren't in the military blowing fishing boats out of the water or invading Venezuela, but better there than here. They really couldn't give two fucks about Donald Trump, but he's a Republican and damnit they vote for Republicans.

Millions and millions of them, and if we manage to halt this rise of fascism, whether its with elections, or protests, or bloodshed, or civil war, when it's is all over, these people will just blend back into society, and when someone brings up Trump they will say, "Oh, sure. He was bad. I agree. I wasn't part of all of that. I'm just happy to have survived."