Award-winning historian of fascism at Yale, says "we have at most a year to defend the Republic."

[kpete]

Link to tweet

http://international.sueddeutsche.de/post/157058066625/we-have-at-most-a-year-to-defend-american

[CousinIT]

1. VERY FRIGHTENING passages from the linked article...

Last week Trump called those who take part in demonstrations “thugs” and “paid protestors”. This doesn’t show respect for First Amendment right, it sounds more like Putin.

That is exactly what the Russian leadership does. The idea is to marginalize the people who actually represent the core values of the Republic. The point is to bring down the Republic. You can disagree with them. but once you say they have no right to protest or start lying about them, you are in effect saying: „We want a regime where this is not possible anymore.“ When the president says that it means that the executive branch is engaged in regime change towards an authoritarian regime without the rule of law. You are getting people used to this transition, you are inviting them into the process by asking them to have contempt for their fellow citizens who are defending the Republic. You are also seducing people into a world of permanent internet lying and way from their own experiences with other people. Getting out to protest, this is something real and I would say something patriotic. Part of the new authoritarianism is to get people to prefer fiction and inaction to reality and action. People sit in their chairs, read the tweet and repeat the clichés: “yes, they are thugs” instead of “it is normal to get out in the streets for what you believe.” He is trying to teach people a new behavior: You just sit right where you are, read what I say and nod your head. That is the psychology of regime change.

. . .

„Do not obey in advance“ is the first recommendation in this Facebook post. You also reference the „Reichstagsbrand“ as a warning sign. How should the American public react?

Americans love to use the word “playbook” which is a metaphor from sports. There is a playbook from the 1930s that some people in the presidential administration are following. This includes picking a minority in your country, associate it with a global threat and use the notion of a global struggle as a way to create national solidarity while neglecting the nation’s actual problems. The Reichstag Fire is the crucial moment when Hitler’s government becomes a Nazi regime. An event of that type, whether unexpected, provoked, or planned by the government, can be a turning point in the United States today. This goes back to the beginning of our conversation: if we think about the 1930s, then we can be aware of events, and of certain forks in the road. If a terror attack happens in the United States, that is simply the Trump administration failing to keep its most basic promise. It is not a reason to suspend the rights of Americans or declare have a state of emergency. History teaches us the tricks of authoritarians. We can’t allow ourselves to fall for them.

[struggle4progress]

2. Too Close for Comfort

2-10-17

... When you look at President Trump’s statements, I’m afraid you do see echoes, and they are very alarming. For example, the stigmatization of minorities. First of all, the Trump White House failed to mention the Jews in its statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day. And that is very worrying because the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews was not just a genocide; it had a special quality, because Hitler and the Nazis regarded the Jews as an existential threat to Germany. They used hyperbolic and exaggerated language about Jews. If the Jews were not killed, the Nazis said, they would destroy Germany completely, whereas other groups that the Nazis stigmatized, discriminated against, and indeed murdered, like the handicapped, were only to be gotten out of the way. If you look at the language the Trump team has been using about Islamic extremist jihadis, it is exactly the same: They are an existential threat to America. They will defeat, dominate, and destroy America. That is a very extreme kind of language and a very disturbing echo ...

I think if you look at Hitler’s seizure of power, which happened between his appointment in January 1933 and the summer of 1933, it was achieved by two means. One is by legal, or pseudolegal, means, and there he had to rush legislation past the national parliament in order to give him supreme power to make laws. These laws included, in the end, setting up a one-party state, and also closing down oppositional newspapers, and so on. And of course Hitler’s propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels, was an inveterate and incorrigible liar. He was an inventor of news. And he also was very strongly attacked in the liberal and left-wing press and threatened to shut it down, and in the end he actually did. Or he took it over ...

Again, if you look at the courts, that’s one of the most interesting aspects of what Trump has been doing. He clearly has a contempt for the courts and the law, which echoes that of the Nazis very, very clearly. The courts and the law enforcement agencies did stand up to Hitler. A very famous example is, later in 1933, the trial of the people who Hitler had alleged had burned down the Reichstag earlier in the year. The courts acquitted all but one of them, thus completely undermining Hitler’s claim that the communists started the fire. Hitler then bypassed the courts. He set up a parallel system of justice, the so-called special courts and the people’s courts. In the end, the courts knuckled under, but it was quite a fight ...

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2017/02/historian_richard_evans_says_trump_s_america_isn_t_exactly_like_the_third.html

[marylandblue]

3. He does give good advice on what to do

There were a lot of demonstrations in hundreds of cities, but the opinion of Trump supporters haven’t changed. They are not moved by the huge crowds. Would this be too early to expect?

These are two different things. With something like the Muslim ban, it is important a lot of people react very quickly because if the government can slice off one group, it can do the same to others. This is a political logic that requires quick action rather than waiting for public opinion polls. Americans were actually better than Germans, they got out right away. Some Americans do seem understand the logic, they move quickly. So the airport protests are not in the first instance about communicating with the Trump supporters; they about making clear to the administration that we recognize what you are doing and that we oppose this logic. Indirectly, the protests communicate to the majority that there are two sides t the issue, and that they should think for themselves. Communicating with Trump supporters is different. You have to have people out, waving flags and describing themselves as patriots, even as they decry and resist particular policies. It is important for people to consider that authoritarianism, though it claims all the national symbols, is not patriotism. Over time, protests that are for a better America are important to change minds and swing over Republicans – and I should say that I have already seen a number of Republicans whom I know personally in the protests. It needs time, this is more about six months or one year. They just elected him three months ago, for now there is still the frame in place that that he will change everything and improve their lives, other things can seem like details so long as this basic hope remains. It might take a while for people to realize that making America into a Trump family welfare state is not in the interest of Americans whose name is not Trump.

[bdamomma]

4. we need to fight for us

and our country. We can see the writing on the wall we must stop this.

[bdamomma]

5. K&R

[GliderGuider]

6. Godwin's Law has been repealed. It's time to act, before the darkness closes in. nt

[Greywing]

7. It is time to bring this administration to its knees, knock them

flat on their asses and impeach them all ... I am so unbelievably angry

[yuiyoshida]

8. I WONDER if George Lucas was actually predicting a possible future United States

When he created Star Wars. The idea of the free Republic falling to an Evil Emperor and all of those who were squeezed out of their god given rights....


How easy it would be, for people to give into the Dark Side. We are looking at the Rise of that dark side now... and of course people think its cool.. they can live with others having pain and suffering.

Republicans removing Health Care to replace it with what? Nothing.. they WANT to control people and Even Trump thinks of himself as a Dictator. America is falling... and we will need more than JEDI to save it...

[saidsimplesimon]

10. My thought as well.

[GeoWilliam750]

9. Excellent read

Thank you very much for posting

[saidsimplesimon]

11. Thank you kpete

I am meeting with a group under the Indivisible umbrella next week.

Resist

[triron]

13. I mmet with a group Sunday

They did not seem the least bit interested in this threat. They only want to
work toward 2018 elections!

[Botany]

12. Hitler had the Jews

Trump has the Muslims/Terrorists

I might be wrong but what I have seen from Trump and company is classic
"shock doctrine." Their moves to take over eveything as Trump keeps us
busy w/his twitter puke looks like it is done by design.

BTW having Tweety use somebody from NewsMax as a guest tonight was
chilling, Bannon and Miller's links to white power neo nazi are no secret too.

How long before we have a war as cover for the "take over?"

[triron]

14. kick for visibility

[bigmonkey]

15. What happens after the year is up?

What does the world look like if we defend the Republic effectively? How do we recover if the defense isn't effective? The general emotional tone is "we only have at most a year left before all is lost", but that just isn't true. All will not be lost, even in the worst case. We'll still be in the world.

[Buckeyeblue]

16. The razing of a structure is quick

I think the bigger point is how quickly things, structures, policies, can be taken apart. These people came in on day one not just wanting to change direction slightly, they wanted to rip down everything that is in place and rebuild it or leave the ruins scattered as a message, a warning.

The speed at which they are moving is unprecedented for government. But anyone who has worked in corporate America knows that large organizations can change directions, completely restructure, very quickly.

If we don't continue to act quickly, we will find ourselves way behind, unable to catch up.

In our case, Resistance is not futile. It is a very workable solution.