In his brilliant account of World War 11, we come to understand the horror of the Holocaust. It becomes evident how easy it was for the Holocaust to occur, since anti-semitism was deeply embedded in society. There was, as Hannah Arendt says, "a banality of evil", but there was also widespread belief that death and destruction were acceptable, since those people and norms being killed were worthy of being destroyed. Jews were, after all, so demonized, and so their destruction was necessary. Ordinary citizens came to this vision of reality, so it was easy for them to participate--or else look the other way.
The new adminstration under the tutelage of a crazy man is not engaged in a horror of this magnitude, but as I wake up after the day of the inaguration, I have come to see how easy it is to get people to bend to the will of a dictator. Tim Snyder, a noted historian and political writer, has compared Trump to Hitler, in a comparison that truly resonates the day after, though I would take a leap and say not Hitler, but a dictator, hell-bent on eradication of a certain population of humanity, and also all our norms of decency and a legitimate government.
Let's just start with day one. He has pardoned at least a thousand insurrectionists, who came to a sacred U.S. institution with guns and bats, broke into the White House by shattering its glass windows, defecated on the floors, killed police officers, harmed people along the way, destroyed offices (Nancy Pelosi's, among them) and shouted "Kill Mike Pence," the vice president, who surely would have been dead if not for going into hiding. Yet, Pence came to the Inaguration and shook his hand. Why? Trump wanted Pence dead, because he was willing to follow the Constitution, a historical document which will surely be defunct by the end of 2029. Additionally, Trump has called the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, domestic terrorist organizations, a group of good people, Patriots, in fact, I suppose in the league of the S.S.
Day one has also included pulling us out of the Paris Climate Accords, an anchor to Climate Change, the natural diaster that has already wreaked havoc in states across the country, as well as WHO, the World Health Organization. Today, day two, he is poised to deport thousands of immigrants, which means not just the criminals and drug dealers, but decent people trying to seek legal asylum for their families beset by the poverty and terror in their own countries. Trump and his minions have already deomized them, even as so many are decent, hard-working, even tax-paying citizens, just waiting for the long process of seeking legal asylum in this country, as many of your families once did.
Yet, he has a party that accepts all of this, his eradication, his vitriol, his isolationism and incorrigible acts, his inhumanity to the poor, the suffering, humanity in general. They are the "Willing Executioners," a party that not only does nothing but justifies (some of whom call themselves "Good Christians") everything he does, no matter the level of insanity. They do not question the dictator, nor does his base, who cheer every despicable word that comes out of his mouth, every act. Yes, I blame some of the voters who heard what he said, and yet, everything was acceptable. Dictators can only be dictators because no one stops them, and so many have not or will not, ever.
Shame on this world that looks the other way--or better yet, participates. Hitler, too, was once a hero, and look what happened to a precious population, the world. I don't just blame the leader, I blame the multitude of sheep that follow him.
"This is the way the world ends/not with a bang but a whimper." T.S. Eliot
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