One of the best playbook to destroy a democracy was written in a new biography of Adolf Hitler by Richard J. Evans. This is the playbook that is close to what our new president is using. With only some name recognition and no political experience, Donald Trump, like Hitler, found the underbelly of disenfranchised people and the electoral college and got himself elected to office with speeches full of allegations and vile stereotypes; and they were precisely designed to gain maximum attention from the media and the reaction from the crowds who gathered to hear his rhetoric.
Also, in Trump’s speeches, he flaunted vulgarities and exploited tribal hatreds, and he lied and lied his way to success. But his similarities with Hitler does not end there. Just like Hitler ensured he stayed in power, Trump ensured the Armed Forces were on his side by giving them massive increases in funding, he’s reduced the checks and balances, and provided a huge armaments program, which is supposed to make America great again with an aggressive attitude toward international affairs.
It is fortunate that Hitler never got his hands on nuclear weapons, though he was close. Our new president has nuclear weapons and he needs babysitting what with his temperament, immaturity, and impulsivity he is capable of anything. At this time, our only hope is he just implodes or the our elected officials remove him from office before it’s too late.
It is time for us to turn off our televisions and start reading and fighting back.
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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