FOR POLITICS, HISTORY CONTINUES TO REPEAT ITSELF

…The WWII War Criminal, Hermann Göring

 

Applicable quotes that come from some strange places.

 

We have all heard the old saying the “History repeats itself”.  We also hear that famous quotes from the famous, may also apply to future events.

 

Unfortunately, both of those statements are true when it come to some famous quotes that today now apply to Mr. Donald J. Trump.

 

Some of you may recall the famous novel, Catch-22, that inspired the landmark and highly successful 1970 Mike Nichols movie of the same name.  That book has been called one of the most significant American novels of the 20th century. 

 

Well, we now need to offer cheers to the actress and performer Bett Midler for bringing to light the words of the Catch 22 author, Joseph Heller, for stating what’s wrong with the current Republican Party and their American politics today.  

 

Heller wrote: “It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.” — Catch-22

 

But, going back to an old novel and a Nichols movie isn’t where the appropriate historical quotes stop.  

 

Back in 1935, years before the United States entered WWII, Adolf Hitler appointed Hermann Göring as the commander-in-chief of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe), a position he held until the final days of World War II. By 1940, Göring was at the peak of his power and was responsible for much of the functioning of the German economy in the build-up to World War II. Hitler promoted Göring to the highest military rank of Reichsmarschall, and in 1941 Hitler designated him as his successor and deputy in all his offices.

 

When in 1943, the Luftwaffe failed to stop the Allied bombing of German cities, Hitler began to lose faith in Göring.  Especially when Göring’s planes were unable to resupply the German forces trapped in Russia’s Battle of Stalingrad.

 

At that time, Göring’s focus changed and he largely withdrew from the military and political scene.  He became a highly contemptable individual as he focused on the illegal acquisition of valuable property and artwork, most of which was taken illegally from Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

 

When Göring was Informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler was not going to be captured by the allies and was intending to commit suicide, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler requesting permission to assume control of the Third Reich. Considering it an act of treason, Hitler removed Göring from all his positions, expelled him from the party, and ordered his arrest.

 

After World War II, Göring was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials. He was sentenced to death by hanging, but Göring committed suicide by taking cyanide the night before the hanging sentence was to be carried out.

 

So, why do I bring up this long history of this despicable individual.

 

Well, even with an individual as loathsome as Göring, there is a Göring quote from his testimony at the Nuremberg Trials that can apply directly to the candidate, Donald Trump.  Here is that quote:  “Naturally, the common people don’t want war, neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany.  But the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.  That is easy.  All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for their lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.  It works the same way in every country.”

 

And for my last historical quote example, here was a quote from the 1950’s by H.L. Mencken, the famous journalist and satirist who made what could possibly be a perfect description of Donald J. Trump: “The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.”

 

And I rest my case.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016