My Comment: The post below entitled, "Dark Venting," by Leanne Coffman which speaks of the similarity between Trump and the Holocaust. I think it correct. I would, though, point to our huge organization and resistance all over the nation and the world against this Trumpian madness that has infected our country. All that Ms. Coffman says may be true. We MUST, nonetheless, not give up and try to oppose Trump. Many more are on our side and we should not lose sight of that fact.
I am a Jew and the storm cloud of the Holocaust hovers over me BUT Jews of the Holocaust went to their deaths, for the most part, like lambs to the slaughter. Except for the Warsaw Ghetto there were few who resisted. I ask always why? If one is surely going to one's death what is lost by fighting and trying to defend ourselves? Answer: Nothing and so we must do so in our time and RESIST by any legal means necessary!
This essay was shared by, Tom Degan, a Facebook friend. His political ally, Leanne Coffman, A Jewish woman, wrote it and sent it to him. It is called "Dark Venting." I urge you to take the time to read it and think on my Comment above.
Dark Venting by Leanne Coffman
A Jewish friend wisely pointed out to me that I/we should not be too cavalier in making comparisons with the Hitler era to that of Trump now. This week, another friend, who is a German citizen, and I had a conversation about the type of government and societal conditions that existed during the 1920-1940s. Both were correct in that we are not seeing a mass extermination of a race and/or religion of people so we should not equate anything of the Holocaust to present events because that would be quite insensitive.
However, I still find the dictators of that era and the white nationalists who follow Trump similar. I am concerned and for these reasons:
1) Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler, were keen on blaming liberals, immigrants and minorities for societal ills.
2) They despised any in the press that were honest or against them and prevented them from freely speaking.
3) The charismatic, narcissistic leader, Trump, whose speech is populist bombastic adds to that image. Mussolini said, “Italy wants peace and quiet, work and calm. I will give these things with love if possible and with force if necessary.” Trump essentially paraphrases that. A dictator wants to rule and does so if need be by force. I place Trump in the role of dictator-wanna-be, not because he seems to actually be smart enough to figure out its complexities but because his narcissism seeks to be fed and he has surrounded himself with people from a right wing extremist group, who are about white nationalism that rules by force and lies, but not through diplomatic compromise.
4) The callousness of a significant percent of our electorate is hideous. I see a lot here in the rust belt where care for society is met with hatred, disgust and sometimes threats by Trumpian followers.
5) Additionally -- knowing that a person such as Bannon is at the right hand of Trump, along with others who share similar ugly views, is not comforting to me. Bannon has been quoted as saying that he comes to "destroy" aspects of our government and I truly believe he means it. His brand of racism and hatred have no business shaping our policies or whispering in the US President's ear.
This cannot end well. I honestly do believe that martial law is not far behind. In fact, I could imagine that martial law and/or extreme civil unrest is only months away.
I can also imagine people being destroyed for speaking the truth, either professionally or personally, through threats or real actions by this government and/or the groups who align with Trump.
Fear of reprisal will most certainly be a tool used by this administration if this continues.
There will never be a period in time that compares to the horrors of the Holocaust but I do believe millions will be harmed here and around the world by this presidency, from loss of healthcare (which will impact the poor and fragile the most) to environmental harm that will impact the planet. Our people will lose their rights and their freedoms. Potential wars and civil unrest will become the norm.
We will never recover from this in our lifetimes because, I believe, it takes longer to rebuild than to destroy.
Our global reputation has been damaged. Even if we elect someone else in four years that is markedly different, the world knows there is a significant percentage of Americans who align with at least some of Trump's policies. Racism in our country will not diminish in four years and we have shown its ugliness to the world.
The environmental losses from climate change and the healthcare onslaught will cost at least some Americans the quality of their lives and could result in their untimely deaths. The refugees we could be saving will perish due to our callousness and immigrants' lives will be destroyed by the Trumpian roundup crackpot insanity. Those things are realities from which we may not recover. No new election will bring back those lives.
The America I loved is not dead, but her pulse is weak. I will fight for her life as I have means to do so but I'm well aware that neither I nor anyone reading this may see a full recovery in our time.
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