Well, as I have mentioned here previously, my uncle was one of the Third Army soldiers who arrived at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945 and liberated it from the SS. He was awarded the Bronze Star and is buried thankfully in blue New Jersey.
I am glad Minnesota is fighting back against the American descendants of the SS, but if South Carolina brings back Lindsey Graham for another six years, or Alabama decides that Tommy Tuberville should be its next Governor, then I’m all for succession. Enough is enough.
"America will always be a work in progress." -- that's good, that's as it should be. We want trump's term to be the LAST time we FORGET what our Republic is, forget that citizens built this nation, that we govern ourselves.
Thank you Steve, for pointing out the obvious lessons from history. But there’s a catch. The Third Reich resulted in the dissolution of Germany, followed by a half century of fragmented power. Will the UNITED States of America survive Trumpism? I sure as hell don’t know. One thing is for sure. True American patriots cannot tolerate a descent into fascism. Keep the faith.
"Will the UNITED States of America survive Trumpism?"
Unfortunately, I fear the bigger question is, will the world survive Trumpism? Like Hitler, Trump would want revenge against the country that "let him down." In our times, that could mean purposely igniting a nuclear holocaust that would cause the extinction of homo sapiens. It is beyond imagining, but a megalomaniacal, narcisisstic, insecure, psychopathic grifter from Queens could wind up destroying life on Earth. Equally unimaginable is that there are not enough Republicans in Congress to impeach and remove from office Trump, Vance, and their entire regime.
If all successors to the presidency were removed from office (the constitutional order ends with the last Cabinet position, in this case, Kristi Noem), a constitutional crisis would ensue and it would be up to Congress to come up with a solution. IMO, that would be to call for a Constitutional Convention. No matter how you look at it, we are in for very difficult times but we must face them with the determination and resolve to create a system of governance where the rise of authoritarians and fascists to government offices would be impossible.
Anthony, we are already long past the beginning of the constitutional crises that we are currently in. I believe a lot of blood will be spilled before it ends. We will absolutely need a constitutional convention to right this ship and to lead us forward to the future. There are a lot of kinks to be worked out, starting with the abolishment of the electoral college.
Mike, I agree with you. I should have written that mass impeachment and conviction of those in the Trump regime would force all to recognize what has been an ongoing constitutional crisis.
There's another, even bigger catch: Nazi Germany was defeated, and dissolved, by a massive coalition of world powers, including the US and USSR. Absent the determined global resistance -- and, indeed, absent American commitment -- The Third Reich would have continued on its merry bloody way: *internal* resistance didn't stand a chance.
So the question is, who will now return the favor and save America from Trump's Fourth Reich? Or do we believe that internal resistance will suffice to stop him? And if so, how?
Jonathan, IMO we entered WWII to save ourselves. The Europeans fought against Hitler for over two years (yes, I know we helped with "lend-lease") and we declared war only after Germany's ally, Japan, attacked our military in Pearl Harbor. I am not diminishing our role in conquering Nazi Germany, but we did not enter to "save Europe." Trump is our problem and the Republicans in Congress must come to their senses, recognize the existential threat that Trump is, and get rid of his entire putrid regime.
Polling and the actions of protesters and dissidents continue to show that America is done with Trump. Now, we have to go about the hard work of getting rid of him along with his fascist cabal. The coming election must be protected like it is the Arc of the Covenant.
You write this as if the "dissolution" of Germany was a bad thing. On the contrary, had the Entente dismembered Germany in 1918 into its constituent states, the highest Hitler would have ever reached would have been Mayor of Munich or (possible, but unlikely) Prime Minister of Bavaria. A Bismarck Hitler most decidedly was not!
It has taken another 80 years to accomplish, but the once-clean waters of 'murka have been corrupted with toxic filth, literally and figuratively. And this contamination is what marks the Huge Difference between 1945 and 2026 -- we citizens will Not Escape the indifference we have shown toward ourselves, our ancestors and our own ilk, our children and grandchildren. Right now the neo-Nazis in charge of 'murka are in the choke-hold stage of denial, envisioning grand ballrooms and knuckleheaded Arches of independence and private rockets headed outward toward those two Premier-class Resorts for the neuvo-riche and glorious oligarchy - the Moon and Mars. Such is the buffoonery of the delirious mind-fuck of haughty arrogance. Our planet is crashing in from all sides, yet this reality is subsumed by the Three Monkeys of Denial and Delusion - Hear, Speak, See No Evil. Only fake gold gilding and attempted erasures of the gory history of 'murka that includes genocide, slavery, misogyny, homophobia, speciesism, and defilement of the life forces of this planet are allowed to pathetically mask the Truth. Truth is the first and largest casualty of any War, and in our streets and our once-pristine country sides we witness, if we Dare To Look, the Truth being defiled and gaslighted by Big Brother Newspeak. Everywhere the Warnings of Orwell are the frozen claxons from LA to Chicago to the Twin Cities to Memphis to NOLA, and now, GASP!!!!! the deep south is frozen. Nothing to See Here, no climate crises exist, just a tiny shadow of icy cold on the otherwise glorious Sunrise of Stupidity and Eternal Glory. While We Fiddle, our planet burns, one icy hiccup at a time. A massive gaggle of Fools we have become, and soon to be Undone, freezing and boiling in the same frog pot.
Excellent column but a minor historical annotation. Hitler was NOT "elected". He was appointed Chancellor by President HIndenburg at the urging of that weasel Von Papen who, like most traditional German conservatives, believed Hitler could be "controlled" (and co-opted) were he brought into power. The Nazi Party's share of the ballot actually declined by about 1% in the last elections to the Reichstag (the German legislature) preceding January 30, 1933.
I'm not pointing a finger at you Steve or your erstwhile conservative brothers and sisters, but I do wish to make clear that the German people NEVER elected Hitler in a free and fair election.
The answer to the question, “How did this happen in Germany in the last century?”, would be incomplete without pointing out that the industrial class, the wealthy oligarchs, supported Hitler. Some supported him because they were as hateful as he, but many because they profited greatly by ingratiating themselves to him. Money and profit was a huge motivating factor in their decisions to support him. Recognize any similarities to our current situation?
🇺🇸 The swelling of my patriotic heart only grows, against this evil, and my words cannot do justice to the loss suffered to keep liberty. My rage cannot be measured against this attempted evil destruction of freedom. They will fail the same way. The American heart will not tolerate them.
We will win this battle against fascism, repression and lawlessness. We are resolved, we are committed. Trump still has many moves in him but they are becoming more apparent and more predictable. This is good because it gives us the opportunity to counter them before he tries one more distraction, one more murder, one more outrage. Gives us dominance and control. We are developing muscle memory now. We all have the Minnesota playbook. There are more of us than there are of MAGA and he and the regime will be defeated. And then the trials, the tear downs, the liberations begin. I will be standing in the streets of D.C., waiving my American flag and crying for the love and restoration of our country.
Who is the "we" you're talking about? If it's people of courage who will stand up to Trump, then NO, there are not more of us than MAGA. The American people have shown themselves to be feckless, lazy, stupid and indifferent. The ONLY way this shitshow ends is for a HUGE blue tidal wave to crash over red districts during the midterm elections. I don't see that happening. I have lost faith in the American people.
I’m sorry you feel that way. In my neck of the woods, California, we are fired up, loaded for bear and definitely organized. Yes, there are many feckless people, but Minnesota is the playbook and we’re ready. We will be in the streets, phone banking for 2026 and walking precincts in other states. Don’t let the bastards get you down.
Powerful history lesson…wish I had learned all this when I was in school…the lack of proper education of history is part of the reason we are in this mess! Clearly part of our “reform” (assuming we make it) will be the reformation of our educational system.
I learn a bit more with each of your essays. I knew, of course, that the stones of Washington Monument bore a faint difference part way up, but was unaware that the No Nothing’s ignorance had interrupted the monument’s completion for decades. You turned that moment of foolishness into an apt metaphor for the building of a nation.
It occurred to me that Trump’s latest architectural abomination comes along as Episode 54, season 5 of the Trump “reality” show. It will never be built. The purpose of these announcements is to get attention, to continue the illusion of action, and of course, distraction from Epstein, cruelty, and killing.
How frustrating it must be for Trump. He can’t apply his singular aesthetic to the bold (plagiarized) version of Paris’s arch. There are already Golden Arches in cities across the globe.
The Know Nothings didn’t prevent the Washington Monument from being completed, the Civil War did. Don’t forget that Virginia, just across the river sided with the South, during the war the stump served as a lookout post for the Union Army. MAGA better known as maggots, today will be the Know Nothings of tomorrow. 🙏
Billie Eilish, accepting the Grammy for song of the year alongside her brother and collaborator, Finneas, said, “No one is illegal on stolen land.”
“We’re not savages; we’re not animals; we’re not aliens,” Bad Bunny said in his speech. “We are humans, and we are Americans.” Wearing a pin reading “ICE Out” — as was Finneas and the pop legend Carole King, who presented the award — Eilish added: “We need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting.”
Well, as I have mentioned here previously, my uncle was one of the Third Army soldiers who arrived at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945 and liberated it from the SS. He was awarded the Bronze Star and is buried thankfully in blue New Jersey.
I am glad Minnesota is fighting back against the American descendants of the SS, but if South Carolina brings back Lindsey Graham for another six years, or Alabama decides that Tommy Tuberville should be its next Governor, then I’m all for succession. Enough is enough.
Posthumous salute to your uncle. Grammar\Usage Nazi here: "secession." :)
Amen! Right there with you.
Dirro John D.
If anyone is in need of a good cry, I recommend listening to CSNY's "Find the Cost of Freedom". It is timeless.
In honor of Rene Good and Alex Pretti.
Thank you for the history of the Washington Monument. I wondered about the line on it; now I know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMfvYxK9Zoo&t=68s
"America will always be a work in progress." -- that's good, that's as it should be. We want trump's term to be the LAST time we FORGET what our Republic is, forget that citizens built this nation, that we govern ourselves.
And NEVER shall we build the trump arch.
Thank you Steve, for pointing out the obvious lessons from history. But there’s a catch. The Third Reich resulted in the dissolution of Germany, followed by a half century of fragmented power. Will the UNITED States of America survive Trumpism? I sure as hell don’t know. One thing is for sure. True American patriots cannot tolerate a descent into fascism. Keep the faith.
"Will the UNITED States of America survive Trumpism?"
Unfortunately, I fear the bigger question is, will the world survive Trumpism? Like Hitler, Trump would want revenge against the country that "let him down." In our times, that could mean purposely igniting a nuclear holocaust that would cause the extinction of homo sapiens. It is beyond imagining, but a megalomaniacal, narcisisstic, insecure, psychopathic grifter from Queens could wind up destroying life on Earth. Equally unimaginable is that there are not enough Republicans in Congress to impeach and remove from office Trump, Vance, and their entire regime.
If all successors to the presidency were removed from office (the constitutional order ends with the last Cabinet position, in this case, Kristi Noem), a constitutional crisis would ensue and it would be up to Congress to come up with a solution. IMO, that would be to call for a Constitutional Convention. No matter how you look at it, we are in for very difficult times but we must face them with the determination and resolve to create a system of governance where the rise of authoritarians and fascists to government offices would be impossible.
"a constitutional crisis would ensue"
Anthony, we are already long past the beginning of the constitutional crises that we are currently in. I believe a lot of blood will be spilled before it ends. We will absolutely need a constitutional convention to right this ship and to lead us forward to the future. There are a lot of kinks to be worked out, starting with the abolishment of the electoral college.
Mike, I agree with you. I should have written that mass impeachment and conviction of those in the Trump regime would force all to recognize what has been an ongoing constitutional crisis.
There's another, even bigger catch: Nazi Germany was defeated, and dissolved, by a massive coalition of world powers, including the US and USSR. Absent the determined global resistance -- and, indeed, absent American commitment -- The Third Reich would have continued on its merry bloody way: *internal* resistance didn't stand a chance.
So the question is, who will now return the favor and save America from Trump's Fourth Reich? Or do we believe that internal resistance will suffice to stop him? And if so, how?
Jonathan, IMO we entered WWII to save ourselves. The Europeans fought against Hitler for over two years (yes, I know we helped with "lend-lease") and we declared war only after Germany's ally, Japan, attacked our military in Pearl Harbor. I am not diminishing our role in conquering Nazi Germany, but we did not enter to "save Europe." Trump is our problem and the Republicans in Congress must come to their senses, recognize the existential threat that Trump is, and get rid of his entire putrid regime.
Canada, please liberate us! We apologize for all the moose jokes.
"So the question is, who will now return the favor and save America from Trump's Fourth Reich?"
Nobody. Maybe NATO might pitch in to help but I think we will have to work this out ourselves.
My question is does America have the will to save itself?
Polling and the actions of protesters and dissidents continue to show that America is done with Trump. Now, we have to go about the hard work of getting rid of him along with his fascist cabal. The coming election must be protected like it is the Arc of the Covenant.
You write this as if the "dissolution" of Germany was a bad thing. On the contrary, had the Entente dismembered Germany in 1918 into its constituent states, the highest Hitler would have ever reached would have been Mayor of Munich or (possible, but unlikely) Prime Minister of Bavaria. A Bismarck Hitler most decidedly was not!
It has taken another 80 years to accomplish, but the once-clean waters of 'murka have been corrupted with toxic filth, literally and figuratively. And this contamination is what marks the Huge Difference between 1945 and 2026 -- we citizens will Not Escape the indifference we have shown toward ourselves, our ancestors and our own ilk, our children and grandchildren. Right now the neo-Nazis in charge of 'murka are in the choke-hold stage of denial, envisioning grand ballrooms and knuckleheaded Arches of independence and private rockets headed outward toward those two Premier-class Resorts for the neuvo-riche and glorious oligarchy - the Moon and Mars. Such is the buffoonery of the delirious mind-fuck of haughty arrogance. Our planet is crashing in from all sides, yet this reality is subsumed by the Three Monkeys of Denial and Delusion - Hear, Speak, See No Evil. Only fake gold gilding and attempted erasures of the gory history of 'murka that includes genocide, slavery, misogyny, homophobia, speciesism, and defilement of the life forces of this planet are allowed to pathetically mask the Truth. Truth is the first and largest casualty of any War, and in our streets and our once-pristine country sides we witness, if we Dare To Look, the Truth being defiled and gaslighted by Big Brother Newspeak. Everywhere the Warnings of Orwell are the frozen claxons from LA to Chicago to the Twin Cities to Memphis to NOLA, and now, GASP!!!!! the deep south is frozen. Nothing to See Here, no climate crises exist, just a tiny shadow of icy cold on the otherwise glorious Sunrise of Stupidity and Eternal Glory. While We Fiddle, our planet burns, one icy hiccup at a time. A massive gaggle of Fools we have become, and soon to be Undone, freezing and boiling in the same frog pot.
WOW, thank you for that. I Hear, I Speak, I See!
Excellent column but a minor historical annotation. Hitler was NOT "elected". He was appointed Chancellor by President HIndenburg at the urging of that weasel Von Papen who, like most traditional German conservatives, believed Hitler could be "controlled" (and co-opted) were he brought into power. The Nazi Party's share of the ballot actually declined by about 1% in the last elections to the Reichstag (the German legislature) preceding January 30, 1933.
I'm not pointing a finger at you Steve or your erstwhile conservative brothers and sisters, but I do wish to make clear that the German people NEVER elected Hitler in a free and fair election.
The answer to the question, “How did this happen in Germany in the last century?”, would be incomplete without pointing out that the industrial class, the wealthy oligarchs, supported Hitler. Some supported him because they were as hateful as he, but many because they profited greatly by ingratiating themselves to him. Money and profit was a huge motivating factor in their decisions to support him. Recognize any similarities to our current situation?
Prefer no arch. How about healthcare, Social Security, Medicare for all, Medicaid, free education, infrastructure
And the ballroom. His Marie Antoinette move. Roll out the guillotines (speaking figuratively).
Why figuratively? We are in the “let them eat cake mode”.
🇺🇸 The swelling of my patriotic heart only grows, against this evil, and my words cannot do justice to the loss suffered to keep liberty. My rage cannot be measured against this attempted evil destruction of freedom. They will fail the same way. The American heart will not tolerate them.
"The American heart will not tolerate them." Love this, it's so powerful. We need to make t-shirts for the Resistance! Do you mind if I copy this?
We will win this battle against fascism, repression and lawlessness. We are resolved, we are committed. Trump still has many moves in him but they are becoming more apparent and more predictable. This is good because it gives us the opportunity to counter them before he tries one more distraction, one more murder, one more outrage. Gives us dominance and control. We are developing muscle memory now. We all have the Minnesota playbook. There are more of us than there are of MAGA and he and the regime will be defeated. And then the trials, the tear downs, the liberations begin. I will be standing in the streets of D.C., waiving my American flag and crying for the love and restoration of our country.
Who is the "we" you're talking about? If it's people of courage who will stand up to Trump, then NO, there are not more of us than MAGA. The American people have shown themselves to be feckless, lazy, stupid and indifferent. The ONLY way this shitshow ends is for a HUGE blue tidal wave to crash over red districts during the midterm elections. I don't see that happening. I have lost faith in the American people.
I’m sorry you feel that way. In my neck of the woods, California, we are fired up, loaded for bear and definitely organized. Yes, there are many feckless people, but Minnesota is the playbook and we’re ready. We will be in the streets, phone banking for 2026 and walking precincts in other states. Don’t let the bastards get you down.
I'm from San Francisco, and now split my time between SF and New York. Not enough people are willing to sacrifice anything.
Who's willing to give up their Amazon Prime?
Agree with Rosie. We are enslaved by our addiction to “stuff.” And our attention spans are fragmented.
I gave up buying anything from Prime when I saw Bezos and Sanchez at the Inauguration.
Such a good historical lesson ....more in-depth than what I learned in school and shockingly relevant.
We can only hope Trump goes the same way, a meme set in a bunker
He's building a massive bunker under the Ball Room, that's were you'll find him. And the taxpayer pays again. Ugh!!!
Can we the people demolish his atrocities that the Great Builder is planning?
First we need to get him out of there.
Powerful history lesson…wish I had learned all this when I was in school…the lack of proper education of history is part of the reason we are in this mess! Clearly part of our “reform” (assuming we make it) will be the reformation of our educational system.
I learn a bit more with each of your essays. I knew, of course, that the stones of Washington Monument bore a faint difference part way up, but was unaware that the No Nothing’s ignorance had interrupted the monument’s completion for decades. You turned that moment of foolishness into an apt metaphor for the building of a nation.
It occurred to me that Trump’s latest architectural abomination comes along as Episode 54, season 5 of the Trump “reality” show. It will never be built. The purpose of these announcements is to get attention, to continue the illusion of action, and of course, distraction from Epstein, cruelty, and killing.
How frustrating it must be for Trump. He can’t apply his singular aesthetic to the bold (plagiarized) version of Paris’s arch. There are already Golden Arches in cities across the globe.
The Know Nothings didn’t prevent the Washington Monument from being completed, the Civil War did. Don’t forget that Virginia, just across the river sided with the South, during the war the stump served as a lookout post for the Union Army. MAGA better known as maggots, today will be the Know Nothings of tomorrow. 🙏
One of your best Steve. Keep up the good fight sir. Thank You !
One word despicable!
Trump Has Overwhelmed Himself
Trump can be bad all on his own
Billie Eilish, accepting the Grammy for song of the year alongside her brother and collaborator, Finneas, said, “No one is illegal on stolen land.”
“We’re not savages; we’re not animals; we’re not aliens,” Bad Bunny said in his speech. “We are humans, and we are Americans.” Wearing a pin reading “ICE Out” — as was Finneas and the pop legend Carole King, who presented the award — Eilish added: “We need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting.”