While “The Donald” cannot exactly be equated with Hitler, to make an impact in his campaign for president among citizens who distrust government officials and politicians, he is using many of the techniques that the Fuhrer employed to gain the support of the German people. In Trump’s attempt to attract Americans to his banner, he is demonizing a minority and emphasizing nationalist and populist slogans along with his ability to improve the economy. The angry rants of this demagogue do not contain policy prescriptions that can be analyzed, just his claims that he knows how to get things done.
Instead of blaming the Jews as Hitler did for all of Germany’s problems, Trump is indicting Mexicans and Hispanics for many of America’s problems. He has called them rapists and criminals, though in actuality the crime rates among undocumented immigrants appears to be lower than the American population at large. Crimes by immigrants that have garnered publicity have been used by Trump as proof of his thesis, though individual cases mean nothing. (Trump has also claimed that the Mexican government is responsible for sending their criminals across the border.)
In spite of Trump asserting that Hispanics are taking good jobs away from Americans while hurting the Social Security system, the opposite is really true. Most of the jobs employing Hispanics are low-paying and back-breaking, and not the type of work Americans relish. And many hard-working Hispanics pay into the Social Security system and never receive its benefits, bolstering its finances. (Recent studies have actually shown more Mexicans voluntarily leaving the U.S. than entering.)
Trump has not suggested killing Hispanics or sending them to concentration camps, but wants to deport eleven million of these undocumented immigrants to their countries of origin. Economically, this would be disastrous for America. In addition to spending billions of dollars to round up all of these immigrants, imprison them temporarily and send them home, the agricultural sector, hospitality and fast food industries would be devastated. Construction and landscaping would also be badly hurt. And Trump’s notion of repealing the XIV Amendment to the Constitution, to allow the deportation of “anchor babies” and people born in the United States who are automatically considered citizens, is pure garbage. He knows that an amendment to that effect could never pass.
Building a wall on the border with Mexico to keep out new immigrants and making Mexico pay for it is also a pipedream. The whole concept is ludicrous, trying to force one of our major trading partners to pay billions for a wall that does not benefit them and that they despise. (Besides, a border wall of sorts is already in place.) Mesmerized by his rhetoric, Trump’s adherents may love his ideas, but he’s living in another world.
His slogan of “Make America Great Again” is an emotional appeal to nationalist sentiment, just as Hitler propagated in his talk of the “thousand year Reich” and the way Germany would dominate Europe and the world. Trump claims that only he can stand up to other world leaders, like Xe of China, Putin of Russia, and Khomeini of Iran, who perceive America as weak and are taking advantage of that weakness. To defeat ISIS he wants to go into Iraq again and grab their oil to destroy ISIS’s finances. That means another war in the Middle East, and where it will stop, nobody knows. Does he take on Putin in the Ukraine?
Trump sees himself as the proverbial strongman who will save the United States from its enemies as Hitler did for Germany. To show his strength, the demagogue draws large crowds and entrances them with his fiery speeches, with tales of his own greatness and his vision for America. He regales them with his wonderful achievements in the construction business that has prepared him to transform the nation. The economy is in trouble and he will fix it, putting China in its place along with Mexico.
At Trump’s rallies in the South, shouts of “white power” can be heard and Trump has been endorsed by the racist, former Grand Dragon of the KKK, David Duke. He has also received backing from the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi, white nationalist rag. And in Boston recently, two white men badly beat a homeless Hispanic man, excusing their actions to the police because all illegals should be deported as Donald Trump has said he would do.
Unfortunately, along with his 25 percent or so support of Republicans, Trump has received reinforcement for his egocentric pursuit of the presidency by the large turnouts at his rallies. His supporters see him as the anti-politician, willing to say anything that comes into his mind instead of depending on polls for advice. And with his own money supply, he doesn’t need Super PACs and doesn’t have to listen to lobbyists. In fact, he doesn’t have to listen to anyone, or take advice from anyone, because he knows it all. America may not want a politician for president, but do they want an inexperienced demagogue?
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020