The Reascension of the Third Reich
Will a perjurer keep a seat in our Supreme Court? Brett Kavanaugh’s illegitimate seating poses the most serious threat to American democracy to date.
The nation has lost its last piece of democratic armor: The Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the world watches the unabating collapse of the U.S. political system. Kavanaugh’s new position as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court — which came to fruition despite sexual assault accusations and hard evidence of the candidate’s lying under oath — is the latest blow to the few remaining pillars on which our democracy once stood.
Ethics in politics have been thrown out the window in blatant and shameless fashion, to advance a small global population’s agenda, and have been replaced with a harrowing harbinger of the annihilation of democratic American values and just how bad things are about to get.
As the world learned from Nazi Germany — to which historians have compared and contrasted the U.S. since Donald Trump’s presidential campaign , often finding disquieting parallels — the increasingly totalitarian nature of the current regime is liable to generate inconceivably dark events.
The hyperpolarization of American politics makes it increasingly challenging for the left to unite as it protects the country from fascism — a phenomenon that includes Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton’s inability, after their political party was pitted against Trump, to perceive anyone but each other as opponents — and facilitates the American people’s subservience to “an authoritarian abroad.”
Horrifying similarities between present-day U.S.A. and Germany in the 1930s prompt the trepidation that Americans are experiencing the equivalent of a reascension of the Third Reich. The alarming impact of education on voter preferences in both regimes depicts a pattern of current and long-term consequences that we can expect.
Experts reported after Trump’s election that low levels of education were correlated to the population that had voted for him. What’s even more concerning, with our next presidential election around the corner, is that he’s been heavily attacking the education system since taking office, with proposals to dismantle the DoE (US Department of Education) via huge budget cuts and a merger with the Labor Department. His goal? To produce good and mechanically law-abiding workers. Hitler achieved a similar target by permeating German education with Nazi ideologies. Teachers resistant to indoctrination were removed from schools, and students were expected to perform the salute “Heil Hitler!” up to eight times per day.
Both tyrants have also persecuted anyone with disabilities. Hitler eventually went as far as to enforce a euthanasia program with the ultimate goal of “cleansing” the “Aryan” race. Trump, only two years into his tenure, is fighting to withdraw $12 million in funding from the Special Olympics. This would consequently leave the nonprofit organization with zero federal dollars in contributions.
So, how is The White House dealing with this complete disjointment of the new administration with American values? Extremely poorly. One of its most depressing developments thus far is the New York Times Op-ed submitted anonymously by a Trump administration senior official.
This political player is the epitome of our current epidemic of fascism. A declaration made to the public solely with the goal of aligning oneself with the ethical side of history is counterproductive to its narrative of opposition. Without the shred of a doubt, this piece was written with the intention of saying in the post-Trump era, “hey, that was me.” Let’s not forget, in our chase for a sign that this nightmare is coming to an end, that the very nature of the op-ed threatens any movements of resistance currently taking place.
The anonymity of the statement alone is a contradiction. It alarms the enemies of democracy that they are being undermined from within. On the other hand, it pretends that democratic interests are being pursued by those in the White House — decreasing the likelihood of widespread political action against Trump’s policies.
In comparison, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, the German officer who plotted Hitler’s assassination, put himself on the line for his people. He was ultimately executed after the bomb that was intended for Hitler failed to detonate. The resistance, in this case, was done quietly and sincerely, with real consequences. Our White House op-ed writer offers a stark contrast to the bravery of the German heroes of WWII — acting in the purported interest of the nation while merely advancing a selfish agenda.
The illusion of progress is a dangerous and powerful tactic of hegemonic manipulation. We are now faced with yet another criminal infiltrating our justice system and evading legal consequences. Trump fired Jeff Sessions after he refused to interfere with Robert Mueller’s investigation and appointed a right-wing hack, Matthew Whitaker, as Acting Attorney General. Your voice is needed now more than ever. You can revolt quietly, individually, or through collective action, so long as you remain active and selfless in your fight against the dictatorship taking place on American soil.
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