Can't Happen Here?

 

I used to get a lot of flack for comparing Trump and his cult to Nazis. “But they aren’t sending Jews, educators and communists to concentration camps”, I’m told.

Only by the grace of our democratic institutions of elections, checks and balances, I would respond.

Their hate and lies are every bit as toxic as Nazi hate and lies.

If you disagree, have a look at this Trump fascist:

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"Former Trump White House aide who met with January 6 panel attacks witnesses, lawmakers in profane and sexist rant"

(CNN)A former Trump White House aide who met with the January 6 committee earlier this week went on a profane and sexist rant on a livestream after his testimony, where he railed against the lawmakers and attacked other witnesses, according to audio posted to his Telegram.

The aide, Garrett Ziegler, met with the House panel on Tuesday. Lawmakers were likely interested in hearing from him because of his ties to one of the most shocking episodes of the 2020 election saga: A White House meeting where then-President Donald Trump's outside allies tried to convince him to declare martial law and use the military to seize voting machines.

In the 27-minute livestream, Ziegler used vulgar and misogynistic language to attack Cassidy Hutchinson and Alyssa Farah Griffin, two women who worked for the Trump White House but have since publicly broken from the former President and cooperated with the January 6 panel.

He also accused the January 6 House select committee of being "anti-White," without any evidence. (The nine-member panel is led by Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, who is Black.)

"They're Bolsheviks," Ziegler said in the stream, referring to the far-left communists who led the Soviet Union, "so, they probably do hate the American founders and most White people in general. This is a Bolshevistic anti-White campaign. If you can't see that, your eyes are freaking closed. And so, they see me as a young Christian who they can try to basically scare, right?"

At the White House, Ziegler was an aide to Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro, who was charged with contempt of Congress for defying the panel's subpoena. (He pleaded not guilty.)

 On his Telegram channel, Ziegler continues to promote debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. He falsely claimed in recent posts that "the election was stolen" and that the January 6 attack on the US Capitol "was one of the greatest orchestrated false flags in history."

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Is anyone else reminded of the line from Hamlet, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks"?

Herr Ziegler’s remarks sound exactly like those we’d hear at a Nazi rally.

It’s all there. Racism, red baiting, demonization, false victimhood, sexism, anger and hatred, and of course the “Big Lie”, all wrapped in his whiteness and religion.

He’s just another of the many Trumpists who’ve proven the axiom, “When fascism comes to America, it will be carrying a Bible wrapped in the flag”.

Andrew Torba, CEO and founder of the Trumpist neo-Nazi social media site Gab said, “We’re building a parallel Christian society because we are fed up and done with the Judeo-Bolshevik one.”

Gab is the site used by the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter to spew his racism and anti-Semitism.

The campaign to elect Republican candidate Doug Mastriano as Pennsylvania's governor paid Gab $5,000 on April 28 for “campaign consulting,” according to the latest campaign finance disclosures.

On a visit to Europe to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the first world war, Donald Trump insisted to his then chief of staff, John Kelly: “Well, Hitler did a lot of good things.”

Am I exaggerating their rhetoric?

Let’s compare their words to the words of Adolf Hitler.

"National Socialism neither opposes the church nor is it anti-religious, but on the contrary it stands on the ground of a real Christianity."
Hitler, 1934 speech

“The National Government...regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life." - Adolf Hitler "My New Order" - Proclamation to the German Nation, Berlin, February 1, 1933

"The Marxists will march with democracy until they succeed in indirectly obtaining for their criminal aims the support of even the national intellectual world, destined by them for extinction."

“The German state is gravely attacked by Marxism."

"When I recognized the Jew as the leader of the Social Democracy, the scales dropped from my eyes."

"God the Almighty has made our nation. By defending its existence we are defending His work. . . (Hitler radio address, 30 January 1945)

The American radical Right have the distinction of openly sharing other Nazi values.

Suppressing democracy is important to them. "The [Nazi party] should not become a constable of public opinion, but must dominate it. It must not become a servant of the masses, but their master!” 

The far Right’s primary Big Lie is “liberal media” in their war on journalism. Journalism has always been seen as a threat to totalitarians and authoritarians.

The German Nazis used the term “Lügenpresse”, or lying press, in their campaign to destroy journalism. Now American fascists cry “liberal media” and “fake news” when the truth threatens their agenda.

Trump echoes this in every way he can: “Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what's happening.”

On October 10, 1936 Heinrich Himmler created the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion, or Special Office (II S), a sub-department of Executive Department II of the Gestapo.

The question now is, when will, or can, decent Republicans like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who respect our Constitution regain influence in their party?

Former Republican strategist Stuart Stevens is among them.

Stevens described the GOP under Donald Trump as a party of cynics, stooges, racists, and obsequious enablers whose profiles in cowardice bear an uncomfortable resemblance to 1930s Germany. “When I talk to Republican politicians, I hear Franz von Papen,” he says, referencing the German chancellor who convinced Germans that so-called radical leftists were a far greater threat than Adolf Hitler. “They all know that Trump is an idiot. They all know that he’s uniquely unqualified to be president. But they convinced themselves that he was a necessity.”

Stevens calls Trump a “traitor” to his country. “I really think he is against America,” he says, blaming the Republican Party for “a complete collapse of responsibility that they had to defend democracy in America.” 

Essentially the fate of our republic lies in the hands of brave Republicans who renounce Trumpism.

God help us. 

Righteous Trumpists

 

You gotta love radical Right religious Trumpists. Salt of the Earth and light of the world.

Have you noticed how self-righteous Trumpists have no sense of humor? 

I'm kidding, of course. They love to laugh... at the misfortunes of people they hate.

But they are truly the enlightened ones...who know a zygote is a person.

What would Righteous Trumpists do if they went to a restaurant and ordered a chicken dinner... and were served a poached fertilized egg?

Enjoy a nice poached "chicken" dinner, or have egg on their face?

Nothing like a "chicken" dinner to fill you up when you're hungry.

I'm also hearing people say religious Righteous Trumpists appreciate good solid oak furniture... made from acorns.

But they know what's really happening. Just ask them who won the 2020 presidential election.

Thank you. I'll be here all week. 

Who's Next?

 

At the US Holocaust Memorial Museum:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

 - Pastor Martin Niemöller

This was 1930's Germany. 

This is the USA now:

Trump and his bigots continue to call Democrats socialists or communists.

The Party of Trump is as anti-union as they come.

Now women are losing their right to reproductive freedom, just as they did under Himmler's Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion in 1936.

Jewish women are also being denied the right to their religious faith. Jews believe life begins at first breath, but are now being forced to live under right-wing Christian rule.

What happens when Jews are no longer allowed equal rights and their freedom of religion?

Most Republicans, white supremacists, and Nazis don’t care...

An acorn is not an oak tree. A zygote is not a person. The great majority of Americans understand this.

But the radical Right theocrats will give a cell cluster more rights than they would for women and Jews.

We can be certain the radical theocrats will not be satisfied with overturning Roe v. Wade. They've admitted it.

Authoritarians will always continue their assault on democracy and equality. They've only just begun.

Who's next on their list of targets? LGBTQ rights will be attacked. Even inter-racial marriage and the right to contraception are in their sights.

For them the First Amendment matters only in allowing their lies and hate speech. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” not so much.

As if being massacred in Temples wasn’t enough...

The Anti-Defamation League has been documenting radical Right terrorism:

“A Dark and Constant Rage: 25 Years of Right-Wing Terrorism in the United States”

 To illustrate the threat of right-wing terrorism in the United States, the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism has compiled a list of 150 right-wing terrorist acts, attempted acts, plots and conspiracies from the past 25 years (1993-2017).  These include terrorist incidents from a wide variety of white supremacists, from neo-Nazis to Klansmen to racist skinheads, as well as incidents connected to anti-government extremists such as militia groups, sovereign citizens and tax protesters.  The list also includes incidents of anti-abortion terror as well as from other, smaller right-wing extremist movements.

Right-wing extremists annually murder a number of Americans, but only some of those murders occur in connection with terrorist acts.  There are, after all, hundreds of thousands of adherents of right-wing extremist movements in the United States and all such movements have some degree of association with criminal activity.  No one should think, therefore, that the incidents listed here represent the breadth of right-wing violence in the U.S.  But, as acts of terrorism, they do show right-wing movements at their most vicious and ambitious.

The reactionary response to the Obama presidency and rise of Trump reveal the vast breadth and depth of racist hate and extremism in our country.

This history of racist terrorism is ongoing.

“New ADL Data: Far-Right Extremists Responsible for Overwhelming Majority of Domestic Extremist-Related Murders In 2021”

 New York, NY, February 15, 2022 … Right-wing extremists were linked to at least 26 extremist-related murders in the United States in 2021 and have been responsible for 75 percent of such murders in the last ten years, according to new data from ADL (Anti-Defamation League).

According to an annual analysis of extremist fatalities by ADL Center on Extremism, domestic extremists were responsible for killing at least 29 people in the United States, in 19 separate incidents.

Murder and Extremism in 2021: Summary of Major Findings

Domestic extremists killed at least 29 people in the United States in 2021, up from the 23 murders documented in 2020, but far fewer than the killings in any of the years 2015-19 (which ranged from 45 to 78).

White supremacists killed more people in 2021 than any other type of extremist

Of the 443 people killed at the hands of extremists over the last 10 years, 333 (or 75%) were killed by right-wing extremists.

Of the 333 right-wing extremist-related killings over the last 10 years, at least 73 percent have been at the hands of white supremacists.

This is horrifying to decent Americans.

And it doesn’t even include Trump’s thousands of terrorists who tried to seize our Capitol to overturn our election.

As it is, Trump’s anti-democracy insurrectionists at the state level are rapidly seizing control of elections to deny the will of the voters.

They are fascists. Period. Or have I said that before?

Sarah Matthews

 We’ll be hearing more from this woman soon:

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Sarah A Matthews

Deputy Press Secretary, Trump 2020

Tweeted on 6-28-22:

Just want to say how much admiration I have for the tremendous bravery Cassidy Hutchinson is displaying. Even in the face of harassment and threats, she is choosing to put her country first and tell the truth. This is what real courage, integrity, and patriotism looks like.

Cassidy Hutchinson is showing remarkable courage for speaking up about the efforts to overturn a legitimate election & the peaceful transfer of power. What she’s been thru (and will continue to experience) no one should go thru. This is fortitude.

Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is.

For those complaining of “hearsay,” I imagine the Jan. 6 committee would welcome any of those involved to deny these allegations under oath.

Tweeted on 1-6-22:

One year ago, we as a country experienced one of the darkest days in American history. Today, may we honor the lives lost as a result of January 6th, and may we reflect on the heroic actions of those who bravely protected the U.S. Capitol from a violent mob with the intent of overturning the will of the American people & stopping Congress from doing its job. Make no mistake, the events on the 6th were a coup attempt, a term we'd use had they happened in any other country, and former President Trump failed to meet the moment.

While it might be easier to ignore or whitewash the events of that day for political expediency — if we’re going to be morally consistent — we need to acknowledge these hard truths.

One year ago, thanks to the courageous acts of many, democracy prevailed and Congress returned that night to ensure the peaceful transition of power. Let this day serve as a reminder of how fragile democracy truly is & the importance to protect, preserve, and cherish it.

Independence Day

Liz Cheney recently asked: “What kind of man knows that a mob is armed and sends the mob to attack the Capitol and further incites that mob when his own vice president is under threat? When the Congress is under threat?”

She framed an answer in a speech on June 29th 2022: “At this moment, we are confronting a domestic threat we have never faced before– a former President who is attempting to unravel the foundations of our Constitutional Republic.”

THAT kind of man.

But the logical follow-up question is just as important.

What kind of people support a man who sends an armed mob to the Capitol to overturn our election? Almost an entire political party and almost half the voters are enemies of democracy. This is how a republic ends.

This Fourth of July, let’s keep in mind what they have done, and what they are doing to our rights, what they are doing to our elections, and what they are doing to our country.

As the Founders roll in their graves this Independence Day, let’s take up our sacred cause of liberation and declare independence from authoritarian minority rule. Let’s dedicate our actions, energy and votes to a revolution of democracy against the seditionist liars and traitors of the radical Right.

It’s not 1776, people.

It’s 1861.