The Age of Trump

 

My Comment: The age of right wing extremism is not just a phenomenon in America.  It is happening all over Europe in Hungary, in France, in Britain and, yes, even in a Germany that once brought you the extermination of 6 million Jews and the murdering of 50,000,000 others in the theater of WWII.  It is happening around the globe I maintain inspired in large part by Trump's capturing the Republican party as a gateway to an authoritarian politic. 

Perhaps this Frontline special will ask the ever present question why.  Why is this happening?  Why in our democracy loving nation, a nation that won WWII against the Nazi menace does this nation find as evidenced by the January 6 insurrection of the Capitol right wing seditionists whose T-shirts read "6MWE" (Six Million Wasn't Enough) worn by the right wing extremist Proud Boys and another shirt which read "Camp Auschwitz."  This was the flavor of the Donald Trump inspired overthrow of our nation complete with Confederate flags and present day American Nazi symbols. 

Have we had enough of the Trump and his Republican choir boys subverting our true culture?   I'd like to think so.  Send this email to all you choose encouraging them to work against any possibility of a Trump victory or for that matter Republican anti-democracy victories in Congress as well as in state legislatures as they try to subvert elections through a second Jim Crow era targeting the voter elimination of Blacks and other persons of color who vote Democratic.  If Trump fails here perhaps Fascism will not gain a foothold anywhere else -- even in Germany.

FRONTLINE:

An attempted massacre of worshipers at a synagogue on Yom Kippur. The assassination of a pro-refugee politician. A mass shooting targeting Muslims. Extremists, many of them ex-military, planning for civil war, creating death lists and stockpiling weapons and body bags.

What has fueled the wave of violence and hate against against Jews, Muslims, immigrants and left-wing politicians in Germany over the past five years?

Decades after the Holocaust, tonight's new FRONTLINE documentary investigates the rise of neo-Nazi ideology and far-right extremism in modern-day Germany — including within the country’s military and police — and why authorities are struggling to confront the growing problem.

From reporter, producer and director Evan Williams, Germany's Neo-Nazis & the Far Right premieres tonight on PBS and online. The documentary is supported by Exploring Hate, a multiplatform public media initiative from The WNET Group in New York aimed at offering an in-depth understanding of the rising tide of hatred, hate crimes, antisemitism and racism.

Gripping and alarming, Germany’s Neo-Nazis & the Far Right is a powerful look at Germany’s efforts to come to terms with its past — and its present.

“Right-wing extremism is the most vital threat that we face at the moment in the Federal Republic of Germany,” Stephan Kramer, the intelligence chief in Germany's Thuringia state, says in the film. “We have 'round about 35,000 considered right-wing extremists across Germany; 13 to 14,000, roughly spoken, considered to be aggressive and violent. But the problem is, it’s like with an iceberg: You see just a small tip on the surface, and the rest is beneath.”

Don't miss the documentary The Wall Street Journal calls “riveting and richly complex" and “a compelling investigation into the rise of extremism in a country that has known its terrors.”

Germany's Neo-Nazis & the Far Right premieres tonight at 10/9c on PBS stations (check local listings) and on YouTube, and will be available to stream starting at 7/6c in the PBS Video App and in FRONTLINE’s online collection of documentaries.

Thank you for watching.

PATRICE TADDONIO

Digital Writer & Audience Development Strategist, FRONTLINE