1/This is a must read article comparing the rise of Hitler in 1930s Weimar Germany to the take over of our Constitutional Republic by the Trump/GOP. Absolutely chilling. And much worse now because today’s fascists are armed with nuclear weapons. Here are some excerpts:👇👇👇👇
3/When an ever-shrinking base of support for traditional conservatism made it impossible to carry out the authoritarian revision of the constitution, Hindenburg and the old right ultimately pinned their hopes on Hitler and installed him as chancellor (sound familiar?!)
4/They used Hitler’s popular support to further their ‘conservative’ agenda: intensified rearmament, banning the Communist Party, suspending freedom of speech, press, assembly, and the parliamentary government itself, a purge of the civil service, and abolition of labor unions.
5/If the US has someone historians will look back on as the gravedigger of US democracy, it is Mitch McConnell. He stoked the hyperpolarization of US politics to make the Obama presidency as dysfunctional/paralyzed as possible, blocking all Dem legislation, and judicial nominees.
6/As in the Weimar parliament, congressional gridlock in Congress diminishes respect for democratic norms, allowing McConnell to trample them w/impunity. Nowhere is this vicious circle clearer than in the obliteration of traditional precedents concerning judicial appointments.
7/To counter McConnell systematic obstruction of Obama’s judicial appointments, the Dems scrapped the 60 vote rule for all but SCOTUS nominees.McConnell’s unprecedented blocking of Garland then led the Trump/GOP to scrap the rule for SCOTUS allowing them to complete their “steal”
8/Whatever reservations McConnell/GOP have about Trump’s character, governing style, and possible criminality, they openly rejoice in the payoff they have received from their alliance with him and his base:
9/Huge tax cuts for the wealthy, financial and environmental deregulation, the nominations of two conservative Supreme Court justices (so far) and a host of other conservative judicial appointments, and a significant reduction in government-sponsored health care.
10/But the Nazi dictatorship, war, and genocide following the collapse of Weimar Germany are not useful for understanding the direction in which we are moving today. Current trends reflect a significant divergence from the dictatorships of the 1930s.
11/The current wave of dictatorships aspiring to ‘totalitarianism’ have all discovered that opposition parties can be left in place and elections held in order to provide a fig leaf of democratic legitimacy, while in reality elections pose scant challenge to dictatorial power
12/Total control of the press and other media is unnecessary, since a flood of managed/fake news so pollutes the flow of information that facts/truth become irrelevant as shapers of public opinion. Independent judiciaries are dismantled through the appt of political loyalists.
13/Crony capitalism creates a symbiosis of corruption/self-enrichment btw govt and business. Xenophobic nationalism (aka anti-immigrant white nationalism) and the prioritization of “law and order”over individual rts is used to rally the base- “enemies” are created and stigmatized
14/The GOP has a systemic advantage in electing senators/representatives.50 senators from the 25 least populous states-29 of them Republican-represent just over 16% of the American population! And 34 GOP senators represent states that contain only 21% of the American population.
15/With gerrymandering and voter suppression enhancing this Republican advantage, it is estimated that the Dems will have to win by 7 to 11 points (a margin only obtainable in rare “wave” elections) to achieve even the narrowest of majorities in the House of Representatives.
16/The unprecedented flow of dark money into closely contested campaigns has distorted the electoral process fueled by the SCOTUS decision in Citizen’s United that declared corporations ‘people’ and ‘money’ free speech, giving the wealthy and corporations undue influence. . .
17/Dems might win state elections in major blue states but become increasingly irrelevant in elections for the presidency and Congress. Trump’s tactic of appealing to a narrow base, may energize Dems and ind. and lead to precisely that ‘rare wave’ election evidenced in 2018.
18/Unlike Hitler who had to abolish labor unions, Trump benefits from the steady decline of organized labor. Since the 1970s, the social contract btw labor/management has collapsed, union membership has declined, wages have stagnated, and wealth inequality has risen dramatically
19/Alongside the erosion of an independent judiciary as a check on executive power, other hallmarks of illiberal democracy are the neutralization of a free press thru propaganda (Fox News)and the steady erosion of basic human rights:immigrants are demonized; their children caged
20/No matter when the Trump presidency ends (if it ends!) the specter of illiberalism will haunt America. A highly politicized SCOTUS/judiciary; racial divisions, cultural conflicts;and political polarization all intensified by the Trump/GOP will be difficult to heal.
21/Gerrymandering, voter suppression, and uncontrolled campaign spending will continue to skew elections in an unrepresentative and undemocratic direction. Growing income inequality will continue to be used by ideologues to divide and conquer the electorate.
22/No wall will be high enough to shelter us from the growing effects of climate change and the on-going weaponization of our planet by American empire. Regardless of how the Trump presidency concludes, this is a story unlikely to have a happy ending. Pls read this article!
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