A good read from a friend in Germany.
I'll never quite understand how the right can be so ignorant to ignore history and how it can repeat itself, but this message from a good friend's friend nails it:
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This is from a lifelong friend. Heed the warnings:
I am currently in Germany, in Nürnberg. People here have been talking about the similarity even before this week’s horrific onslaught of bombings and this shooting. There are right wing groups here and elsewhere in Europe too. But in Germany it is not being openly led with glee and orchestrated by its leader as is ours. In fact, quite the opposite. As many of you know, my mother was born near here and her family lived in the area for several hundred years - until they were forced to flee in 1938. Only by the generosity of distant and wealthy New York relatives did they get to America. Other family members got to England - or perished. Because contrary to the myth of American greatness, the USA did not want nor take in refugees from Europe who fled Hitler. Most of those lost because they couldn’t escape did not have the luck and connections that my grandparents did. But I digress...I am set to return to the US tomorrow. And I face that with trepidation and fear.
My privacy settings don’t allow non friends to read my posts. That and I don’t want to invite comments from people I don’t know or from trump bots so that’s why there isn’t a share button. However please feel free to copy and paste...
This is a post my friend Nadiya Littlewarrior forwarded with permission from the author:
Do people really believe that fascism and the holocaust happened on day one of Hitler's tenure? In 1933 when he first came into power, the Nazis were in control of 3 per cent of the press. The press was very critical, very watchful. Their constant presence prevented the Nazis from operating openly as a fascist regime. Goebbels and Hitler set upon a plan to brainwash and turn the people against the press. The specifically called them, the enemy of the people. They did this, so that when they seized control of the press , the German people would see it as a patriotic duty of their leaders. It worked like a charm. By 1935 Hitler's base , who hated who he hated and others who would accept any conduct for a decent economy, were on board with the gradual takeover of the press. By 1939, those not sold on Hitler, turned their heads, looked away and were, what my father called, the good little, obedient Germans.
According to Republican author and columnist Jeff Nesbit.
"To put it very simply, there were five basic, highly effective moves that allowed Hitler's rise:
First, the Nazi party allowed a coarse, uneducated leader to rise to prominence on a white privilege, nationalist wave. Second, the conservative establishment party foolishly thought it could appease him by sharing power. Third, that same Nazi party destroyed media credibility to silence critics. Fourth, the Nazis literally burned the establishment congress to the ground. Fifth, it seized authoritarian power by using unchallenged propaganda to precipitate an existential threat allegedly emanating from those outside the white Aryan race and outside the nation's borders."
In three different studies of Trump supporters , love for authoritarian behaviors, is the top trait of his base. In order to win and advance their agenda, they have come to disavow Democracy.
Do people get that if the media is controlled by the state and people are loyal to one man and his regime, it's easier to take other freedoms? If the government violates religious freedom, freedom of speech, takes away voting rights for many or were to begin to subvert due process, who alerts the public to this ? The free and independent press. If we lose that freedom, it will merely be the first to go.
Don't think this can happen here ? In a recent poll, 43 per cent of Republicans believe a President should be able to shut down any press outlet he wants. A higher number of Republicans, about 48 per cent, no longer believe protest should be legal.
What can we do ? Get out and vote blue. Republican Congress will not stand up to him. If he increasingly fills these judgeships with people personally loyal or beholden to him, which Hitler did as well ,this may be a road that we go down, that we can not turn back from . He is already mulling over tighter control of the Internet and suggesting we limit search engines like Google. And don't let people tell you that it's uncivil to speak up or not go along with this . In many fascist nations, too many went along to get along. It is not your duty, as an American, to support a President who does not reflect American values .
Colin Powell put it best, this is increasingly morphing from 'We the People, to Me the President .' We can't stop our fellow citizens from behaving like good little, obedient Germans of the 1930's, but we can elect a Congress and Senate, that will do their Constitutional duty and check this President .
The Republican Party and his supporters are only loyal to their leader. It's incumbent on us to be loyal to the country, to the principles of our founders and to not let our freedoms slip into fascism, because of racial animus, greed, or apathy.
Don't be complicit. History shows us how fascism begins. It's up to citizens to stand up, fight back and make your voices heard on November 6 . And it's up to us to end it , here and now. #VOTEBLUE
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Welcome to DU! 
your last sentence is so correct, but things are getting bad, We can see it here. Voting is our BEST option now.
We cannot normalize this, and we are up against some ignorant emboldened hateful people.
However I do see a few differences between the Nazi regime in Germany and here in the US.
Hitler was appointed to his position as premier by Hindenburg, and he had free reign to do a lot of stuff without having to answer to anyone. Hindenburg died a year later and that's when Hitler seized power for good. Hitler never actually won an election, however he did try to run for a lower office in the 1920's, and he lost. Difference is that Trump did actually run for office and supposedly he "won."
There was maybe a closet anti-Semitism percolating in Germany but it was not articulated before Hitler came to power. Most of the Germans found his pronouncements of hatred for Jews to be really far-fetched and crazy. However Germans of the 1930s were extremely afraid of Communists and it was a definite, specific threat to German sovereignty. Germany was perhaps one election away from being taken over by the Communist Party, and Hitler was seen as the answer to that threat. For that reason they forgave a lot of Hitler's other sins. For Cheeto on the other hand, the only perceived "threat" was the strawmen that he saw at the Mexican border.
I believe that a lot of members of the Republican Party actually hate his guts. I believe when the chips are down, not many will stick up for him, and he's losing more every day with every evil thing he does and says. Hitler had 13 years to destroy his country, but I don't believe the US will even give Cheeto one full term.
I really appreciate hearing your perspectives.....
