On January 14, 2021, I commented as follows at another website:
"I've seen a piece today claiming, 'Americans now face the same problem Germans faced after World War II: how to reject, punish and bring back into civil discussion those who supported the enemies of democracy.'
No. What Americans now face is more like what Germans faced in 1923 after the unsuccessful 'beer hall putsch'. The leader of the putsch, Adolf Hitler, was sentenced to five years in prison but released after nine months, in the name of 'healing' and 'unity'. To say the least, that didn't end well.
American fascism hasn't suffered anything remotely comparable to the rout of Nazism in World War II. It's barely even weakened. The notion of 'healing' the USA without thoroughly crushing American fascism is folly, a potentially very dangerous one. Regrettably, I fully expect many people, particularly 'centrist' Democrats like Joe Biden, will embrace this folly. If so, there may ultimately be hell to pay."
I'm very tired of being right about American society and politics. However, it's awfully easy to be right, given the well known historical precedents.
You've stated the most incisive indictment of our government(s): "You don’t rise to the heights of power by taking unnecessary responsibility."
And the reason you don't is because you were promoted by people who wanted someone with exactly that attitude. Someone who wouldn't rock the boat, who would go along with the crowd - or at least, the crowd of rich donors who funded you.
Shame is a powerful tool, sometimes. Unfortunately, the shameless are pretty much immune to shaming, especially when their actions are legitimized by the courts. The slippery slope was greased. "They" are even more immune when they get support from the Courts.
You write, "I still remember, in December 2023, speaking with a Republican operative who was so certain that the party was finished with Trump anyway. . . . It was Ron DeSantis’s party now, she assured me."
There are two ways to read that; first that it was always wishful thinking and an expression of hope rather than an accurate description. Second, that there was a real fight, sometimes in public, and sometimes behind the scenes, within the Republican party and Trump won.
I don't have any particular insight or information but I find myself leaning towards the second view. That what happened wasn't _purely_ a case of Republicans ignoring Trump and hoping that someone else would take care of the problem; I think there were Republicans thinking hard about how to push Trump away from power and that some of them even thought they had a workable plan, but it wasn't.
My basis for saying that is that it's really unusual for a politician to have as much opposition from within their own party as Trump and remain in power. Usually the combination of explicit opposition and death by a thousand cuts (when there are a lot of people happy to make someone look bad) DOES push a politician out.
I think there was plenty of cowardice as well, but I would just guess that there was a fight and Trump won.
Jack Smith tried. He didn’t dream we didn’t dream that the Supreme Court would deny the constitution not once with the immunity decision but twice with the shameful abandonment of the 14th amendment enabled by the three so-called liberal justices.
That’s just the problem: Nobody dreams the thing will really happen until it does. For decades now, we have been sleepwalking around in a state of denial thinking we, exceptional America, were exempt from history. But history happens. Shit happens. Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia were real places, where real people had to live their lives. We are not immune from history.
Already in this century we have seen deadly terror attacks, two wars, a pandemic, two economic crises, increasingly catastrophic natural disasters, and the shambolic madness of the Trump presidency, which we are about to repeat. By putting our trust in our institutions, by “never dreaming” things would come to this pass, we have all been guilty of the kind of “somebody else’s problem” shirking of responsibility that the article speaks of. We have gotten ourselves to where we are; we have no one else to blame.
Our best hope is that Trump pushes it with the military establishment too far, and they (the officer corps who run things, not the grunts) will get so upset and worried about Trump they crush him. If you want to run a coup you need the military on your side, and calling soldiers 'suckers' and threatening a purge of hundreds of officers from an enemies list doesn't seem like a good way to go on that front.
I'm sure they're none too thrilled with Trump threatening invasions of Canada and Mexico, and trying to force the military to assist with his mass deportation plans.
The US military is very pro small 'd' democracy, at least within the borders of the United States itself. They also try to remain out of politics and don't interfere, but one criminal order too many and one hopes top military brass will call their creatures in the house and say something along the lines of "Do you want that military contract that employs half the people in your district to continue? Yes? Then remove President Trump from office or we will make your life a living hell."
Military officers routinely ignored his orders during his last term, and they took steps to limit his access to nuclear weapons. The military will at first just ignore his orders in the hopes he gets distracted by something on Twitter and forgets he ordered them to bomb Toronto or whatever.
At MOST the scenario I outline above will happen. Officers are unlikely to resign, but will be incredibly inefficient and slow in following orders they think will get them in trouble.
I fully expect Trump's second term to be much the same as the first. An inept and blundering mess of corruption and incompetence. Trump is no Hitler. Hitler was a political activist and military man with a cadre of competent (if crazed) allies helping him.
This, I think, is why nobody in the Republican or Democratic party establishment is especially motivated to do anything about him. They don't think he can do more than he managed in his first term.
powerful piece, and very well written. The most disturbing part of what you outline is that the erosion of responsibility started with those who had the power to be most impactful. Your most chilling line - "You don’t rise to the heights of power by taking unnecessary responsibility" - seems sadly more of a political maxim thana moment of cynicism. Thank you for posting.
Trump** revved up people like Ashli Babbit to the extent where they stopped thinking about what they were doing. She crawled through a broken window even when her comrades were yelling there was a gun on the other side. It is sickening to hear Trump** call her a martyr. Her blood is on his hands. It is sickening that no one calls him out on his charade.
On January 14, 2021, I commented as follows at another website:
"I've seen a piece today claiming, 'Americans now face the same problem Germans faced after World War II: how to reject, punish and bring back into civil discussion those who supported the enemies of democracy.'
No. What Americans now face is more like what Germans faced in 1923 after the unsuccessful 'beer hall putsch'. The leader of the putsch, Adolf Hitler, was sentenced to five years in prison but released after nine months, in the name of 'healing' and 'unity'. To say the least, that didn't end well.
American fascism hasn't suffered anything remotely comparable to the rout of Nazism in World War II. It's barely even weakened. The notion of 'healing' the USA without thoroughly crushing American fascism is folly, a potentially very dangerous one. Regrettably, I fully expect many people, particularly 'centrist' Democrats like Joe Biden, will embrace this folly. If so, there may ultimately be hell to pay."
I'm very tired of being right about American society and politics. However, it's awfully easy to be right, given the well known historical precedents.
You've stated the most incisive indictment of our government(s): "You don’t rise to the heights of power by taking unnecessary responsibility."
And the reason you don't is because you were promoted by people who wanted someone with exactly that attitude. Someone who wouldn't rock the boat, who would go along with the crowd - or at least, the crowd of rich donors who funded you.
Cowards and quislings.
"They each decided that the legacy of January 6th should be someone else’s problem.
Now it is a problem for us all." Indeed,
Shame is a powerful tool, sometimes. Unfortunately, the shameless are pretty much immune to shaming, especially when their actions are legitimized by the courts. The slippery slope was greased. "They" are even more immune when they get support from the Courts.
Violence is on its way to main street USA
You write, "I still remember, in December 2023, speaking with a Republican operative who was so certain that the party was finished with Trump anyway. . . . It was Ron DeSantis’s party now, she assured me."
There are two ways to read that; first that it was always wishful thinking and an expression of hope rather than an accurate description. Second, that there was a real fight, sometimes in public, and sometimes behind the scenes, within the Republican party and Trump won.
I don't have any particular insight or information but I find myself leaning towards the second view. That what happened wasn't _purely_ a case of Republicans ignoring Trump and hoping that someone else would take care of the problem; I think there were Republicans thinking hard about how to push Trump away from power and that some of them even thought they had a workable plan, but it wasn't.
My basis for saying that is that it's really unusual for a politician to have as much opposition from within their own party as Trump and remain in power. Usually the combination of explicit opposition and death by a thousand cuts (when there are a lot of people happy to make someone look bad) DOES push a politician out.
I think there was plenty of cowardice as well, but I would just guess that there was a fight and Trump won.
“[I]t's really unusual for a politician to have as much opposition from within their own party as Trump and remain in power.”
Just ask Justin Trudeau.
Jack Smith tried. He didn’t dream we didn’t dream that the Supreme Court would deny the constitution not once with the immunity decision but twice with the shameful abandonment of the 14th amendment enabled by the three so-called liberal justices.
That’s just the problem: Nobody dreams the thing will really happen until it does. For decades now, we have been sleepwalking around in a state of denial thinking we, exceptional America, were exempt from history. But history happens. Shit happens. Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia were real places, where real people had to live their lives. We are not immune from history.
Already in this century we have seen deadly terror attacks, two wars, a pandemic, two economic crises, increasingly catastrophic natural disasters, and the shambolic madness of the Trump presidency, which we are about to repeat. By putting our trust in our institutions, by “never dreaming” things would come to this pass, we have all been guilty of the kind of “somebody else’s problem” shirking of responsibility that the article speaks of. We have gotten ourselves to where we are; we have no one else to blame.
Our best hope is that Trump pushes it with the military establishment too far, and they (the officer corps who run things, not the grunts) will get so upset and worried about Trump they crush him. If you want to run a coup you need the military on your side, and calling soldiers 'suckers' and threatening a purge of hundreds of officers from an enemies list doesn't seem like a good way to go on that front.
I'm sure they're none too thrilled with Trump threatening invasions of Canada and Mexico, and trying to force the military to assist with his mass deportation plans.
The US military is very pro small 'd' democracy, at least within the borders of the United States itself. They also try to remain out of politics and don't interfere, but one criminal order too many and one hopes top military brass will call their creatures in the house and say something along the lines of "Do you want that military contract that employs half the people in your district to continue? Yes? Then remove President Trump from office or we will make your life a living hell."
'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished - but it seems unlikely to me.
Military officers routinely ignored his orders during his last term, and they took steps to limit his access to nuclear weapons. The military will at first just ignore his orders in the hopes he gets distracted by something on Twitter and forgets he ordered them to bomb Toronto or whatever.
At MOST the scenario I outline above will happen. Officers are unlikely to resign, but will be incredibly inefficient and slow in following orders they think will get them in trouble.
I fully expect Trump's second term to be much the same as the first. An inept and blundering mess of corruption and incompetence. Trump is no Hitler. Hitler was a political activist and military man with a cadre of competent (if crazed) allies helping him.
This, I think, is why nobody in the Republican or Democratic party establishment is especially motivated to do anything about him. They don't think he can do more than he managed in his first term.
Ouch
The analogy to addiction is obvious to me. The failure to recognize a behavior that is ultimately harmful to oneself and those around you. Denial.
50/50 Trump is made dictator legally in 2025.
I’m just here to give my best, long winded, perspective of the article: Nailed it!
powerful piece, and very well written. The most disturbing part of what you outline is that the erosion of responsibility started with those who had the power to be most impactful. Your most chilling line - "You don’t rise to the heights of power by taking unnecessary responsibility" - seems sadly more of a political maxim thana moment of cynicism. Thank you for posting.
Trump** revved up people like Ashli Babbit to the extent where they stopped thinking about what they were doing. She crawled through a broken window even when her comrades were yelling there was a gun on the other side. It is sickening to hear Trump** call her a martyr. Her blood is on his hands. It is sickening that no one calls him out on his charade.
Not one republican in congress stayed to meet the invaders on Jan 6. Not one. Nary a one. Zero. Zilch. Nada.
How many will now going around mimicking Trump and say these were patriots?