I’ve spent a good bit of the last few days discussing, and sometimes outright arguing, whether or not the recent crisis at our southern border—the forcible separation of children from their parents—as well as other actions of this administration, deserve comparisons with Nazi Germany. Ultimately, which specific country, government, or historical period is being emulated is irrelevant—an academic exercise that does not really matter. Instead, the focus should be on the steps that lead to dictatorships, authoritarianism, fascism, or whatever label you prefer. We need to be paying attention to everything this administration says and does, and how it is following the playbook of prior authoritarian and dictatorial regimes.
First, a review some of the highlights, or rather lowlights, of this administration:
●Muslim travel ban
●Charlottesville
●Puerto Rico
●Football players
●Shit hole countries
●Stripping TPS status from Central Americans and Haitians
●Ending DACA for Dreamers
●Pulling funding from the one program at Justice combating white supremacy hate groups
●Migrant children at the border
●Zero tolerance policy
●Voter suppression/attacking legitimacy of voters
●Creation of a new commission to investigate fraud in already established cases of naturalized citizens
Are we seeing a pattern yet?
I’ll wait.
If you don’t see a pattern, you’re color color blind, because there is a very distinct brown-skinned line that runs through these issues. Combined with the racially charged rhetoric, policies, and promises of the current administration, these events paint a frightening picture of the America that Trump and his supporters envision.
I’ll leave out the N word (no, not that one), since so many people seem to get their panties in a bunch about it, and just discuss the process of achieving totalitarian, dictatorial, authoritarian leaderships, which historically have resulted in some of the most corrupt, murderous, or genocidal regimes. In some cases, the regimes rose to power in a violent paroxysm of war, while in others it was through a democratic process. Whether it’s the fascistic dictatorships of WWII, or the cults of personality in Africa and the Middle East, this is not about direct parallels, or perfect equivalences, but about accumulated similarities. We have to look for common themes, such as how those dictators consolidated power, established cults of personality, and moved the dial on their nations’ moral compasses.
When you pay attention to those details, the reality of what we are experiencing today, and what it might presage, is frightening. This is what engenders the comparisons that people are freaking out about, and why when looked at in this context, certain images on the news dredge up horrific comparisons, both for survivors of those regimes and, even casual students of history.
The pushback to these fears, as I’ve seen it, is either casual dismissal of the comparisons, discomfort in agreeing with either side of the issue, or even worse, the outright denial that something like this is even possible. The first two seem to stem from a perspective of degree—that because what is happening isn’t as bad as the worst thing that happened before, the comparison fails. The third seems to stem from an optimistic belief in the infallibility of our democratic processes.
It must be noted, however, that these dictatorial regimes did not begin their atrocities on day one. Hitler took power in 1932, the first ghetto wasn’t established until 1940, and the Final Solution was not fully conceived and articulated until January, 1942. Mussolini became Prime Minister in 1922, but did not declare himself Il Duce until 1925, and the use of chemical weapons and concentration camps in the “pacification” of Libya did not occur until 1931. Recep Erdoğan came to power as Turkey’s Prime Minister in 2003, with a wave of democratic reforms, only to unravel it all in the last few years, culminating in the abolishment of a prime minister, and an opportunity for him to remain in office until 2029.
In each case the transition from some form of democratic or constitutional process, to dictatorship, did not happen overnight, but through years long processes of socio-political erosion, sometimes precipitated by economic or religious unrest.
How? How does this happen, especially in democratic countries?
It begins with racist language, and scapegoating. It begins with attacking and undermining the free press, using lies and propaganda, controlling all the messaging, and forming a cult of personality. It begins with denouncing and dismantling the judiciary system, and becoming the sole arbiter of justice, and of right and wrong. It begins with state sanctioned racism, the dehumanizing of outsiders, and with blaming others for the country’s problems. It begins with promises of a return to glory, and promises of power.
Once that is normalized, it extends the dehumanization to migrants, minorities, or other religions inside the country’s borders. It presses on by manipulating and dismantling existing norms of government to seize more and more power. Then, it continues by revoking legal residency for flimsy causes, denaturalizing naturalized citizens, and stripping natural born citizens of their citizenship.
Each step is normalized, justified even, and eventually accepted. Each time that happens, the line moves again. And each time the line moves, it becomes easier and easier to accept, to justify, and to move it again, until, eventually, it achieves critical mass.
It ends badly, every time.
And every time people wonder, how did we let that happen?
And every time people say, we can’t let it happen again.
And after time, people say, it could never happen here.
And then it does.
Musings of a Restless Mind 
Nailed it.
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