When I was in Stanford-in-Germany about 15 years after the end of World War II, I was appalled by a fellow student berating the German head of the campus about Hitler. She claimed something like that could never happen in the U.S., presumably because the Germans were authoritarian and Americans valued human rights and freedom. I was not only appalled by her rudeness, but I wasn’t convinced she was right that something like that couldn’t happen here.
Things have changed a lot since then, and this 2016 video explains a lot. Trump is just a symptom.
May 11, 2018
you know they always talk about Hitler in history books as being such a great orator. for years i was turned off from even liking the German language because i had only heard it in newsreels and such at school … and his screaming and carrying on. only later did i realize how beautiful it can be. yet the populace must have been primed for acceptance of him.
it will be curious to see how Trump is perceived by history.
he comes off like such a buffoon really. almost a comic book character.
and an orator he isn’t. and yet this clip is chilling in its explanation and predictions. heaven help us.
Not to panic. Trump would probably have lost if Joe Biden had been the Democratic candidate instead of Hillary Clinton. Biden had blue-collar roots and had a lot of support in the states that cost Clinton the election. We’ll have to see what happens in the mid-term elections and beyond. It ain’t over yet.
yeah…much thought if you are within the USA – and I think such public figures certainly get a lot of investigative research thrown at them…particularly on their stance – be it anything.
Thank goodness for investigative reporting. History in the making.
I am not an American and therefore I refrain from commenting. There is however one point to be noted. Globally, nationalism and jingoism is taking centre stage in many countries, including mine. The have nots are trying to find scapegoats and the liberals are readily available.
Here in the U.S. the problem is some people reaped the benefits of globalization and some people were really hurt by it. Some of them are die-hard Trump supporters, some just gambled on him because they didn’t see an alternate. They could very well respond to someone different.
Something like that could very easily happen in the States – or in the UK for that matter. It only takes a majority of people to be brainwashed into hating a particular group of people, and the hatred can escalate easily into a ferocious pogrom. It takes constant vigilance from those who respect freedom and democracy and the rights of minority groups to prevent such hatred taking root.