William Goldhagen’s 1996 book, “Hitler’s Willing Executioners,” asserted that the majority of the German people acquiesced to the mass murders of 6 million Jews. Some Holocaust scholars disagreed with the premise but I think Goldhagen made a compelling case, based on centuries of loathing, not just prejudice, against the Jews.
On the eve of America’s scariest election since 1860, it would behoove us to remember that history could easily repeat itself. Hitler was elected before he claimed his dictatorship over Germany and Donald Trump could do the same right here in the USA.
Trump’s meteoric capture of the Republican nomination in 2016 was all about racial fear-mongering. Let’s dispense with the idea that Trump’s voters are motivated by the economy. They’re not. The other Republican candidates all wanted trickle-down types of tax breaks for the rich and other conservative fantasies. But the thing that set Trump apart to win the nomination and presidency was his blatant racial hatred, which tens of millions of Americans identify with.
Yet as clear as Trump’s racism was in the last two presidential elections, he has ramped the rhetoric way up in 2024, promising detention and deportation of millions of immigrants, even tho many of them are American citizens.
This would be illegal, of course, but does a career criminal care about illegalities, especially since he’d have presidential immunity granted by the Supreme Court? That demented decision, the worst since the Court upheld the insanely cruel Fugitive Slave Act in 1859, assures that Trump could trash the Constitution with impunity.
How, one might reasonably ask, have we sunk this low? The answer is that despite telling ourselves a million times that we’re the greatest country in the world and the land of the free, we’ve always been a racist nation. We justified enslavement of Blacks and genocide of Native Americans with self-serving concepts like Manifest Destiny. But the concepts that have mattered most are: Might Makes Right, along with God, Guts and Guns.
Many White Americans aren’t willing to share their success. Even enjoying White privilege, they somehow think they must keep folks of color down or they’ll lose status, as if there’s a limit on peoples’ prospects of prosperity.
Trump was born in extreme privilege, yet he’s preposterously played the victim all his life, always aggrieved and never having enough. In this realm of royalty and racism, Trump created his cult. And however fantastical, his followers have found fulfillment. Their giddy gullibility made them members of a tribe that would return them to the top.
The formula for Trump’s Triumph of the Will is easy. Follow the Nazi model — blame other tribes for your troubles, and guarantee greatness. Then ensure their fealty by promising their fondest wishes will come true. This inspires deep devotion from the cult without capacity of criticism, or restraint of violence against the cult’s opponents.
The Evangelicals, a huge part of Trump’s base, are apparently alright with Trump’s treason and his copious crimes and cruelty, as long as they get to control women’s reproductive rights. The gun guys can keep their deadly phalluses, whose pleasures are to die for. The anti-scientific and anti-regulation types delight in canceling government oversight of medicine, environment, banks and business.
Do enough voters know what dangers await us in another Trump term? We’re about to find out. God, if you’re up there, please lend us a hand. If you do, I promise giddy devotion.
Frank Lingo, based in Lawrence, Kansas, is a former columnist for the Kansas City Star and author of the novel “Earth Vote.” Email: lingofrank@gmail.com. See his website: Greenbeat.world
From The Progressive Populist, November 15, 2024
Blog | Current Issue | Back Issues | Essays | Links
About the Progressive Populist | How to Subscribe | How to Contact Us