It can’t happen here…can it?
Could the U.S. really lose its democracy?
As Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party henchmen rose to power in 1930s Germany, they leaned heavily into anti-Semitic rhetoric, which quickly turned into anti-Semitic actions. Before their forced removal to concentration camps, Jews were the victims of a systematic terror campaign. Brown shirts, the Nazi Party’s paramilitary thugs, defaced and destroyed Jewish businesses. Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David whenever out in public and were randomly assaulted.
Despite the over 2,000 anti-Jewish decrees that effectively removed Jews from German education, work, and citizenship, many Jews told themselves, it can’t happen here. They told themselves, this will pass and life will eventually return to normal. We know how that went.
The Nazis oppressed Romani (gypsies), homosexuals, and intellectuals as well as Jews. Hitler created scapegoats, groups of people to vilify in order to rally the German populace behind his efforts to create the Third Reich.
Scapegoating as a political strategy is not new. In fact, it is a tried and true technique tyrants have used throughout the course of human history. Find a minority, an already despised out-group if possible, and ratchet up the denigration and hatred.
The United States has never been immune from the use of scapegoating. While the country was founded on principles of freedom and opportunity, its history is replete with ethnic oppression. The victimized groups are well-known: enslaved Africans, Indigenous Americans (Indians), and every new wave of immigrants. Irish, Italians, Catholics, Jews, of course, and many other groups faced discrimination. Jim Crow laws and the Chinese Exclusion Act were among the many institutionalized discriminatory practices that enabled and reinforced persistent racism.
As the civil rights movement gained steam in the mid-twentieth century, however, it seemed like society was reaching a tipping point, moving past the old prejudices. Voting, desegregated education, and other rights were codified providing for some people the illusion of society moving towards egalitarianism.
Such foolish idealism! It just drove the hate (somewhat) underground. Practices like redlining and private schools to protect segregation became workarounds to maintain the status quo.
Over the past 20 years the number of anti-government and hate groups in the U.S. has ranged from about 800 to 1,400 according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. All this is to say that the opportunity to leverage peoples’ innate fear of the “other” remains just as strong as ever. Is the same thing happening here in the United States that happened in 1930s Nazi Germany?
Enter Donald Trump. Since his entry into presidential politics nine years ago, he has wielded his brand of populism to demonize the public enemies du jour. The primary prey are Muslims and Hispanic immigrants, but immigrants of color are generally targeted. You know — people from shithole countries, while nary a peep is heard regarding Caucasian immigrants. You know — White people. Trump zeroes in on this strategy of vilification more than any other position he promulgates. Fear and distrust of non-white, non-male, non-Christian people are his modus operandi.
As Trump perceives his election chances diminishing, he and his campaign have ratcheted up the hatred and divisiveness. Trump’s campaign has all but abandoned any pretense of policy offerings, which were flimsy nonsense in any case, in favor of screaming lies about increasing immigrant crime and Haitians (i.e. Blacks) eating pets.
The NY Times reported Trump, referring to Democrats’ immigration policies, saying, “We’re just destroying the fabric of life in our country, and we’re not going to take it any longer. And you got to get rid of these people.”
The mainstream news media not in MAGA thrall report in disbelief at the increasingly extreme, hateful rhetoric emanating from Trump’s GOP. To watch the talking heads on the news channels, one would think that all the racist, anti-immigrant talking points are the result of the Trumpian campaign playbook, but none of that vile spew would land any blows or have any relevance if it weren’t for the enthusiastic reception of a willing audience. Millions completely buy his sales pitch, but news organizations can’t or won’t say this. They can’t risk alienating viewers and advertisers.
Of course, Trump isn’t shy about attacking other groups besides immigrants. At a “Fighting Antisemitism” event on September 19 for the Israeli American Council, Trump claimed he would be the “defender” of American Jews and of Israel. “You have a big protector in me,” he said, “I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.”
Then in his inimitable way, Trump turned on his audience, saying, “The Jewish people would have a lot to do with the loss if I’m at 40%. Think of it, that means 60% [of Jews] are voting for Kamala.”
This was not lost on the Jewish community. Jewish leaders responded by saying that blaming Jews puts a target on their backs. Doing this at an anti-semitism event is pure Trump, just like his epic fail when he made racist tropes at the National Association of Black Journalists, or when he declares that he’s a “protector” of women. The irony is beyond astronomical. And yet millions of women, people of color, Jews, and other at-risk minorities support him.
In 2020 74 million people voted for Trump out of a total of about 155 million votes cast, about 48% of the total. Extrapolate that to the overall U.S. population, and you have about 162 million people who support Trump and his racist policies. Certainly some Trump voters did so holding their noses, but that is akin to the millions of Germans who may not have liked Hitler and the Nazis, but supported the dictator anyway.
Trump is only the problem insofar as so many people are looking for a tyrant to tell them what they already want to hear. Trump does it better than most. He continues a long tradition of politicians taking advantage of people’s propensity for racial and ethnic bigotry, but he combines it with expressed disdain for our Constitutional democracy. He wants to be a dictator on “day 1” and every other day.
Do these Trump supporters know they are succumbing to this predictable scapegoating scheme? Assuredly, most do not, especially as it fits neatly into their preconceived beliefs, their confirmation biases. They are unconscious of their “fearless leader’s” manipulation of their inherent prejudices. Trump’s war on the “other” is invisible to his followers like the air they breathe.
In any case, if the MAGAts were made aware of Trump’s bigoted strategy, they would rationalize it away. They would deny his techniques are heinous because immigrants ARE criminals and eating pets; because Trump loves America and wants to make it great again. If they violently have to take the law into their own hands, it’s because they are virtuous and pious. Whatever it takes to convince themselves of their righteousness.
Between Trumps words, Project 2025, and the overt anti-democratic activity of MAGAts, the goal to achieve an autocracy is out in the open. It’s not even subtle or surreptitious. They’re not the least bit ashamed to say the quiet part out loud.
So could it happen again here in America? Could American racist thugs, the equivalent of the Nazi brown shirts, rain terror against immigrants, people of color, and other targeted groups? Could regional governments enact discriminatory laws? Of course, just as they have throughout world and U.S. history. Trump has explicitly called on them to step up. They swarmed the Capitol on January 6th as well as at many other rallies such as Charlottesville.
In the event Kamala Harris manages to turn back the Trump trainwreck, he will shrink from the political limelight, albeit with many asterisks attached to his name. He may even be held accountable for his crimes, but the people who would fervently abandon our democracy and the Constitution, that frail piece of paper, will not diminish. They will latch on to the next bombastic bigwig who feeds their hunger for scapegoats. They will grasp onto promises for easy answers to solve complex issues, instead of confronting the real problems facing us all.
Should Trump win another term, all bets are off. He is determined to replace as much of the government apparatus as he can with his lapdogs who will be loyal to him rather than the Constitution. Whether our democracy can withstand such an assault is an open question. Even if our democracy survives, there will be many casualties along the way such as women who die from pregnancy complications because Roe was overturned. Disheartening doesn’t begin to describe the mess he will foment.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller
