Donald Trump: The Paranoid Style In American Politics And The Ongoing Festival Of Hatred
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"Are Republicans Insane?" Best Pax Posts
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John Kasich has released a devastating new ad that links Donald Trump with a version of the famous quote from German Pastor Martin Niemoller about the Nazis.
My own (hopefully correct) transcription. On screen text identifies speaker as Col. Tom Moe, US Air Force, Vietnam POW.
(dramatic music)I would like anyone who is listening to consider some thoughts that I've paraphrased from the words of German Pastor Martin Niemoller.You might not care if Donald Trump says Muslims must register with the government because you're not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump says he's going to round up all the Hispanic immigrants because you're not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump says it's OK to rough up black protesters because you're not one. And you might not care that Donald Trump wants to suppress journalist because you're not one. But think about this, if he keeps going and he actually becomes President, he might just get around to you and you better hope that's there someone left to help you.
There are different version of the original but according to the wiki page for Martin Niemoller this is the version he preferred.
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a communist.When they locked up the social democrats,
I did not speak out;
I was not a social democrat.When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a trade unionist.When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
As I was not a Jew.When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Make no mistake about it but Kasich is linking Donald Trump directly to the Nazis. I see this as a sea change as far as inter-party Republican attacks against Trump . None have come anywhere near close to this. It couldn’t be more direct unless it had superimposed a swastika on Trump’s arm.
I’m surely not the only one here who hasn’t already thought the exact same things about Trump as was expressed in this ad but to hear another Republican say it out loud just astounds me. They aren’t renowned for their introspection.
No way of knowing if this will have a negative effect on Trump’s campaign. Nothing else has. Kasich is so far back in the pack I wonder if Trump will even acknowledge it. But it would make a good visual with Trump standing behind a podium ranting and raving loudly about how he isn’t a Nazi and he’s nothing like Hitler all the while gesticulating madly with his arms and blaming various minority groups.
Wonder how many in the Republican base won’t even know the original context. A more depressing thought is how many of Donald’s fervent supports will see the ad and think that the Col. Moe is right. It doesn’t apply to them. They aren’t Hispanic, or Black or Muslim but are the real Americans and have nothing to worry about. Trump will look after them.
I didn’t believe it was possible that in my lifetime I’d see what it must have been like when Hitler came to power. I was wrong. I bet it looked just. like. this.
UPDATE: Brietbart has an article defending Trump against the Nazi “smear” that was headed with the following picture.
Seriously? This is the best “Trump’s not really a Nazi picture” you could find?
UPDATE: I had forgotten about this. Back in July Trump tweeted a photo of the American flag with guys wearing Nazi uniforms layered in.
I’m sensing an overriding theme here.
UPDATE: Video is now on the front page of Huffington Post: John Kasich Video Links Donald Trump To Nazi Germany
UPDATE: There is an article posted to National Review defending Trump from charges of being a Nazi because:
1.) He didn’t directly say he would register Muslims. To the tape please.
MSNBC Reporter: Should there be a database or system that tracks Muslims in this country?Donald Trump: There should be a lot of systems. Beyond databases. I mean, we should have a lot of systems. And today you can do it. But right now we have to have a border, we have to have strength, we have to have a wall, and we cannot let what’s happening in this country happen any longer.MSNBC Reporter: But that’s something your White House would want to implement?Trump: Oh, I would certainly implement that. Absolutely.
2.) “We can argue about whether Trump and his style is good for American politics” .
No we won’t argue about it. It’s horrible. Just because you might like it doesn’t make it less horrible.
3.) “the crowd reacted thuggishly to the protester, piling on and throwing punches.” “But does anyone think the crowd would have listened politely to a white heckler or protester?”
So that makes it OK then. Glad that’s clear.
4.) “If you really fear the leader of an angry mob roughing up reporters, suppressing all dissent, and making far-reaching, unrealistic demands that their ideology rule everywhere… don’t look to a Trump rally. Look to a college campus.”
So Trump isn’t a Nazi. It’s really all those notorious right-wing hotbeds of terror and barely contained oppression, college campuses, that we should live in fear of. The only fear I have of college students is having and old couch burned after a football game. (It’s a thing around these parts.) From Trump and his ilk I would worry about having all my books burned. And that would just be the start.
UPDATE: OK this one just counts as pure serendipity. Have you seen today’s story about how Trump put up a bogus historic marker on his golf course? Just another example of Trump’s endless ability to engage in bold faced lies. The serendipity part is that recently I was directly across the Potomac River, or as Trump calls it “The River Of Blood!!!!”, from the golf course and took this picture.
Didn’t know what it was at the time but thanks to the article, now I do. It’s the Trump National Golf Club. The bogus historic marker is at the bottom of the flagpole you can see to the left of the clubhouse. I’m taking the picture from near the Seneca Creek Aqueduct while biking the C&O Canal.
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