The Dictator’s Playbook
In 1933, Germany was reeling from the Depression and hyperinflation, which made money worthless. Parties on the left and right were fighting in the streets. They wanted a ‘strong man’ to rule the country and tame inflation. Within a month of gaining power, Germany’s parliament building was ‘mysteriously’ destroyed. Hitler moved fast. The next day, he started suspending civil liberties to “protect” the population. The Communists were blamed, and using the fire as an excuse, Hitler seized absolute power in Germany, paving the way for the rise of his Nazi regime.
Hitler then got dictatorial powers that allow him to make laws for all of Germany’s territorial states. Soon, the right of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and other constitutional protections within Germany were gone.
Fast forward to 2025 and we have a president blaming immigrants, legal or not, for all our problems. Hundreds of thousands who came into the U.S. legally are being told to leave. By executive order, Trump wants to dump the 14th Amendment, which addresses citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law.
According to Hitler, Germany needed to be cleansed of those not of the Aryan race. Jews, called outsiders, degenerates, an alien race, and dehumanized, leave Germany by the thousands. Much later, millions die and are murdered in concentration camps similar to Trump’s Alligator Alcatraz.
Trump cites the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to arrest and deport thousands of immigrants, claiming that most are gang members and violent. Except most detained by ICE have no criminal record at all, but all are denied due process, a right for anyone, citizen or not, in this country. Hundreds are illegally shipped out of the country to El Salvador and placed in a brutal mega-prison that we pay to keep them there.
Hitler talked of “living space” and wanted the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. To England, appeasement seemed more practical than war. They let him have it. But soon, Hitler wanted more.
Trump claims he wants Greenland, Panama, and Canada as the 51rst state. He’s sure they can reach some agreement, but he doesn’t rule out using force. He also states that Ukrainian President Zelensky needs to trade land for peace.
In Nazi Germany, large businesses and corporations decided to take the knee and donate to the Nazi party. It was just better for business to cooperate.
Trump’s use of executive orders against specific law firms is widely seen as an effort to intimidate and punish them for representing people or causes at odds with his administration. Many firms bend the knee, offering $600 million in pro bono legal services for things Trump wants. Columbia University is cowed by threats from Trump to withhold funding and overhauls its rules for protests and student discipline. Corporations and billionaires donated millions to Trump’s inauguration and then went looking for sweet deals from the government.
The complicit Republican Congress refuses to do its fiscal responsibility and lets Trump go crazy with executive orders, many of them unconstitutional and illegal. EO’s like shutting down agencies that the Congress has funded, taking funds that Congress has appropriated and using it for other things, and refusing to spend the money Congress has appropriated for world aid for food and vaccines for malaria and AIDS.
Trump complains that CBS should lose its broadcast license after “60 Minutes” aired segments on Ukraine and Greenland that the president said cast him in a negative light. He sues CBS for editing an interview with Kamala Harris when every interview is edited.
Recently, Trump declared an emergency in Washington, D.C. because of violent crime, sending in the National Guard and federalizing the police. Even the FBI is recruited to patrol the streets. Except violent crime in the District of Columbia is down 26%.
Create a crisis. Mix with a little hate and anger. Stir vigorously.
Guest Commentary by Don Urbanus, West County Corner