We Were Warned

By Tony Forder

I was in England when President Trump was re-elected. Family and friends kept asking me how it could have happened. I was at a loss to explain it. Best I could do was put it down to anti-incumbent frustration exacerbated by inflation and high prices, and the fact that Americans are not ready to vote for a woman for President.

I was also away from home when the President was inaugurated...it felt weird, and it feels weirder by the day. Perhaps I just can't get used to the fact that I am in the minority, although a fat one, by which I mean the majority who voted for Donald Trump is a very thin one, far from the landslide that has been mentioned.

As the new Presidency dramatically asserts itself, I'm glad I'm in this (fat) minority, because I just simply can't go along with some of the things that are happening. The hardest thing for me to come to grips with is for everyone who voted for Trump – is this what you wanted?

We were warned about dictatorships. I'm not suggesting that Trump has Hitleresque ambitions but comparisons to Hitler's playbook for usurping power are remarkably similar to the current Trump power grab attempts – even some of the language is the same. Hitler talked of draining den parlamentarischen Sumpf (the parliamentarian swamp) and pledging to increase military spending, withdraw from international treaty obligations, purge the country of foreigners he claimed were “poisoning” the blood of the nation, and exact revenge on political opponents.

May be downsizing government is a good idea. I would agree that Washington's political quagmire definitely needs something to break its deadlock. But attempts to concentrate power in the Executive branch seem to me extremely dangerous, foundationally un-American, may I say. When Hitler took control of Germany in the 1930s the New York Times expressed its “dismay at the apparent willingness of Germans to submit to authoritarian rule when they had the opportunity for a democratic alternative." Apparently, Americans are willing too.

The current administration seems to thrive on division, us against them. Many people are angry – on both sides. I recently heard the new admins activities described as a "firehose of atrocity". I could get angry too or depressed, but I refuse to be the victim of such negative energy. I will try my best to spread positive light in the darkness. There are plenty of things to be happy about. Do what you have always done to enjoy life, spread a smile.

"The big joke on democracy is that it gives its mortal enemies the means to its own destruction.” – Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels