Who is Trump?
Forget everything you know about him for a second, and imagine hearing him for the first time. Imagine hearing him speak this week in Washington, DC.
It is madness. All of it. The country is moving towards an inexorable confrontation between American democracy and the delusions, insanity, narcissism and ambitions of the Queens hustler Donald Trump. The mad king of MAGA is the grandson of a pimp, and the son of a slumlord Klansman. He is the twice-impeached, one-term loser who planned and incited an attack on America from the Oval Office.
The January 6 Select Committee has demonstrated the criminality and depth of the conspiracy. The failure to prosecute these criminal acts will be a political decision that will threaten American freedom like few decisions ever have. It would further obliterate trust between the American people and the most important institutions in the country. It would mark the moment where America abandoned a system that says “no person is above the law,” in favor of one where Donald Trump exists above and beyond the reach of law.
The Trump tirade in Washington wasn’t just an unhinged exposition of malice and demagoguery, it was a declaration of repudiation against the most important ideas of the American canon. It was a vituperative fulmination against democracy, reality and America. It was filled with hate and scapegoating, and it prefaces a political campaign from a twisted movement that will seek to take power by any means necessary.
The Trump speech was a foreshadowing of chaos, violence and insanity that will rip the country apart in the coming years. The singular test for prospective Democratic candidates will be merit-based. Who has the wherewithal to recognize what Trump is, explain it, obliterate it, and offer something better? The list of names is tragically short. The people on it are likely to produce a president among them. It starts with direct confrontation about the evil of the idea that Trump is preaching. Let’s start there.
Let’s start with a question. Who is Trump in 2022? Is he still evolving? Is he just now — at age 76 — blossoming into his true self?
Access journalism is not a new phenomenon. It has always been a shortcut to fame, riches and celebrity.
Karl Henry von Wiegand wrote for the Hearst Newspapers. The German American served as a useful idiot for the Germans during the First World War. He was the only citizen of an Allied power granted an interview with Kaiser Wilhelm and allowed to remain in Germany throughout the war.
He wrote about Hitler at the beginning of his career and interviewed him during his rise, his ascension as Chancellor, and for the last time in 1940, as he stood triumphant as one of the greatest conquerors in world history.
It seems strange to think that Hitler remained somewhat inscrutable in 1940. What did he want? More importantly, who was he? Was he more than what he said? Did he mean the things he said? Hitler didn’t run on committing the Holocaust or starting a war that killed 100 million people. He ran talking about freedom and prosperity. He ran talking clearly about all of the groups and enemies who were responsible for every problem. He ran committed to the obliteration of the truth. He ran and rose while inciting and condemning violence.
There are many stupid Hitler comparisons made in America on a daily basis. Mostly, they are made by politicians, and the common element is their shared marination in a sauce of astounding ignorance. There is a rule in politics that speaks to the wisdom of avoiding such Nazi comparisons, but it seems that it is too difficult to convince many politicians of its wisdom.
There is a related stupidity that is even worse. It is the idea that, since politicians make offensive, stupid and insensitive Nazi comments, that no politician should ever talk about Nazis. The problems with this approach are many, starting with the fact that Nazis still exist. More importantly, the Nazis were the greatest criminals, murderers and liars in human history. They have responsibility for the greatest war in history, which included genocide against the Jews and the killing of at least 100 million people.
There are many analogies that have been made between Trump, Hitler and Mussolini.
There are few comparisons that make fascists tremble with more rage.
Personally, I think the comparisons are inappropriate because we know how the Hitler story ended. There is nothing new to learn, and there never will be about that.
That is not the case with Trump. We have no idea what he will do. Only a fool would underestimate his bottomless capacity to create a global catastrophe.
Here is what von Wiegand wrote about Hitler in 1922:
Here is what he wrote about him in 1933:
Here is what he wrote about him in 1940:
The point is this: the mystery ends when the story ends. The Trump story is still becoming. It is still being written. There shouldn’t be a lack of imagination about his return to power and capacity to wreak havoc. A person as profoundly sick, demented, delusional and evil as Trump should not have access to launch nuclear weapons that could extinct humanity. He is unfit at every conceivable level.
His unfitness is not a prophylactic with regard to his taking power. He obtained it once. His only regret it appears is the incompetence that abounded around him. He wants a chance to be president and do whatever he wishes from day one.
Imagine hearing Trump for the first time in Washington, DC, this week. Now imagine hearing Adolph Hitler in 1922 or 1930 Munich.
The speeches are very similar. They scapegoat, dehumanize and stigmatize.
They bluster and threaten, while being completely detached from reality and the truth.
They are built around defining an enemy and calling for their destruction
They are built around racial animus, fear and imaginary threats.
Why do they sound so similar despite the language differences and nearly a 100-year gap? It is because they are both fascists.
So is the gas chamber-joking Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban. His speech about race mixing was Hitlerism 101. He will be introduced by one of the leaders of the 21st century American Bund, Matt Schlapp at the CPAC convention in Dallas, Texas, next week. One of Orban’s top advisors just resigned after Orban’s embrace of Hitlerism and foundational Nazi ideology.
What Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Pinochet, Trump, Orban and Putin all share in common is fascism.
Who is Donald Trump? He is an American fascist and political extremist who detests democracy and wants power to punish his enemies. He is a lot like his fellow fascist Hitler in that regard, with the exception of Hitler being from Austria, not Queens.
People laughed at Hitler. He was called a buffoon and frowned upon. He was written off by the elites – who then scrambled for his favor. He was put in power by a grotesque mix of cowardice, blindness and transactional opportunities. He was put in power to defend the family, fight inflation, stop the communists and restore law and order. The rest is history.
Who is Trump? He keeps trying to tell us, but many of us won’t listen and won’t hear.
Understanding what happened in Germany between 1918 and 1945 might be the singularly most important lesson for human beings who were born afterwards to understand. Americans would be well-served to know more as they look at Trump as he eyes 2024.
Who is Trump?
One of the most disturbing and demoralizing realizations I've experienced over the last several years is not only how many Americans hunger for a fascist autocrat, but how many of those folks exist in my own life. Folks who value the MAGAcult over their own family and friends. Folks who - and I'm only barely hyperbolic here - would readily inform on the terrified people hiding in the attic. How could Trump, of all people - reality-show lifelong conman grifter - flip that switch in people who seemed decent enough? Was it in them all along?
My grandparents fled Germany after WWI caused hyperinflation. Of Hitler, my grandmother said, “we thought he was a nut from the South.” She loved Germany and her beautiful hometown, Dresden which was decimated during WWII. Years later, she couldn’t bring herself to believe that the Holocaust actually happened & thought it anti-German propaganda. In the 1970’s, she visited Dachau & learned the truth. Now, I have some inkling of what she must have felt, to know a madman almost destroyed the country she loved & the world order with it. We cannot let a man with a host of pathologies & sociopathy drag America into ignominy.