TRUMP IS FRIGHTENINGLY SIMILAR TO PAST TYRANTS

…Trump the Tyrant

 

The phenomena of Donald Trump is not that rare....

 

Sometime after the end of World War II, the world’s psychologists started asking the average German citizen “How was it from your experience that Adolf Hitler was able to come to power?”  Over the years after WWII, similar questions were asked of those Italians and Russians as to how it was that Mussolini and Stalin came to power over such a large number of citizens.

 

What came of the answers to those questions is today quite frightening.  That is because it is not that far from how a narcissist such as Donald Trump was able to achieve and acquire his current supporters.

 

Using Hitler as a case in point, it was not the support of the German political party that brought the people to Hitler.  At that time in Germany, many of its citizens had the same feelings of resentment and disdain, along with their feelings of fear, hatred and anger that people in the US are feeling toward their government today. 

 

Today’s Trump supporters no longer care about the Republican party.  This is especially because the party did not immediately and fully embrace Trump.  And there are still a number of the Republican party’s political and intellectual leaders that are still resisting him.  As the ruling party was in Germany in the 1930’s, the Republican party is regarded with suspicion and even hostility by many of Trump’s followers. The allegiance to Hitler was to him and him alone, and that’s the same for many of Trump’s supporters.  The Republican party is not that important to Trump’s newest supporters.

 

So you ask, what is the source of all this allegiance?

 

First, it obviously has nothing to do with party policies or ideology. 

 

Trump’s so called policies, they change, sometimes on a daily basis.  Yes, some of his support comes because of the nation’s wage stagnation, the loss of jobs and the feeling that the average working American is losing their place of leadership in the country.

 

But just as Hitler was able to find the European Jews as the patsy for all of Germany’s problems, Trump has put “others” into that kind of blame game.  That other group includes all Muslims, Hispanics, women, Chinese, Mexicans, Europeans, Arabs, immigrants and refugees.  Trump depicts these as either threats or as objects of ridicule. His program, if you can call it that, consists chiefly of promises to get tough with foreigners and all non-white individuals.  Trump will deport them, bar them, get them to knuckle under, make them pay up or make them shut up.

 

In Hitler’s time, he decided to deal with the Jews through his “Final Solution”, which became his attempt to exterminate all the European Jews.

 

To explain what’s happening in the GOP more simply, Trump is a megalomaniac.  He has created and now leads something that has become larger than himself, and it is something far more dangerous.

 

Trump’s, get-mad-and-get-even attitude, has gained him a large and enthusiastic following that has surprised everyone, and initially that included Trump himself.

 

But this type of phenomenon has happened many times before in our world. 

 

It has been written that America’s Alexander Hamilton watched a similar happening when Napoleon appeared on the scene as the French Revolution unfolded in Europe.  Hamilton had written that he was concerned that the same scene could occur in America if the new concept of democracy did not take hold in the United States.  The idea of a tyrant running the country was a familiar approach from Europe’s past, so these types of concerns were very real at the time of this nation’s beginning.

 

When these types of issues arise today, that concept is called the beginning of “fascism”.

 

The unique situation of fascism is that as with what is going on with “Trumpism”, there are no clear sets or prescriptions for what the rules actually are…? 

 

The fascism that took over in Italy in WWII was anti-liberal, anti-democratic, anti-Marxist, anti-capitalist and anti-clerical.  Successful fascism was not about policies but about a strongman dictator, that included their leader: Il Duce (Mussolini), and Der Fuhrer: (Hitler), in whom would be entrusted the fate of the nations.  Of course, in Russia, it was their leader, Stalin.

 

Whatever the nation’s problem, the ruler would fix it. Whatever the threat, internal or external, they would vanquish it, and it was unnecessary for them to explain how they did it. Today, there is “Putinism”, which also has nothing to do with a belief or a policy, but it is about a tough man who singlehandedly defends his people against all threats, foreign and domestic.  If you listen to how Trump says he will fix everything, it’s pure fascism.

 

Today, in the Republican Party, with their new nominee, they have the following choice.  Either get on the Trump band wagon, or get run over.

 

A mass political movement such as has been occurring with Trump is a powerful event, and those who would oppose it had better be more powerful than the movement’s leader.  It is actually a very frightening weapon.

 

When controlled and directed by a single leader like Trump, it can be aimed at whomever the leader chooses. If someone criticizes or opposes the leader, it doesn’t matter how popular or admired that opposition person has been.  If the leader derides and ridicules him or her, the followers will laugh and jeer. They might be the highest-ranking elected guardian of the party’s most cherished principles, but if they hesitate to support the leader, they can face the equivalent of political death.

 

Back in Hitler’s day, a great number of Germans simply kidded themselves, refusing to admit that something very different from the usual politics was occurring.  Let the storm pass, they insisted, we can then pick up the pieces and rebuild and get back to normal later. Meanwhile, don’t alienate the leader’s mass following. After all, they are all voters and will need to be brought back into the fold. As for Trump himself, as the party, let’s try to shape him, and advise him, steer him in the right direction and, not incidentally, save our political skins.

 

The problem with this thinking is that in reality, Trump owes the party absolutely nothing.  He has come to power in spite of the GOP.

 

If he gets to the White House, his masses will be devoted only to him, not to the party.  We are already seeing this as to all those differences between the RNC and Trump’s election campaign.

 

So, will this be how some form of fascism comes to America?

 

No, it’s not with German Jack-Boots and using straight arm salutes.

 

But instead, it’s with a reality TV show host, and a phony egomaniac billionaire that has tapped into the insecurities of a changing and browning America?

 

Believe it or not, this is all a real possibility.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016