Donald Trumpilini has come closer than any other American in history to realizing "Der Tag", or the day of fascist insurrection in America. This misguided dream was propagated by the German-American Bund, the anti-semitic pro-Nazi organization active in the 1930s. The Bund was lead by Fritz Khun*, a nationalized German immigrant after the Nazi abandoned their propaganda organ, Friends of New Germany. The American version of nazism spread across the country and came to a head at the
1939 rally held at Madison Square Garden in New York. So yes, in a perverted sense Trumpilini's primary victories in Iowa and New Hampshire are historic. He could not have come to a position of national political influence without resonating with a long-standing strain of American politics: white supremacy. Ever since the institution of slavery, this virulence has subsided and reappeared in domestic politics. Trumpilini, like autocrats before him, has tapped into the evil residing below the surface of American life.
This fact of American politics is why successful prosecution of Trump for his crimes in office is so vital to the future of US democracy. The current electoral process--which is biased in favor of rural states filled with disaffected white voters--allows him to manipulate a large minority of the public who see him as the answer to their problems and even prayers. They are sadly deluded, just as were the Germans of the Weimar Republic in the early 30's. History may not repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. As Ukraine fights for its existence as an independent, democratic country the country once named the "arsenal of democracy' is at a fundamental crossroads, immobilized by a chauvinist bully. This
is America.
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credit: S. Stantis, Chicago Tribune
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