The Hitler Phenomenon by Jacob G. Hornberger!
(2019-09-06 at 14:14:44 )

The Hitler Phenomenon by Jacob G. Hornberger

At the very beginning of this article, let me first state that I am not saying that Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler.

Then why am I bringing it up?

Because everyone agrees that when it comes to the subject of dictatorship, Mr. Hitler provides the gold standard.

He is the model dictator in everyones books.

Therefore, we can safely use him as a measuring rod for danger signs with respect to dictatorship here in the United States, not only with respect to the Donald Trump presidency but also to other presidencies, both Democratic and Republican.

All of our lives, we have been taught to view Mr. Hitler primarily in terms of the Holocaust, the horrific event in which the Hitler regime killed some 6 million people.

President Trump and his predecessors, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush certainly did not do that, although in fairness, it should be pointed out that the total number of people these United States presidents have killed certainly numbers in the millions, including the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children that were killed because of United States sanctions, the two United States wars on Iraq, the war on Syria, the war on Yemen, and the war on Afghanistan.

The United States death toll does not add up to 6 million but it is still nothing to scoff at.

It is also worth noting that at least some of what Mr. Hitler did likely served as an inspiration here in the United States.

For example, consider the United States Interstate Highway System. This massive public-works project was established by President Dwight Eisenhower, who, as commander of Allied forces in World War II, was inspired by Mr. Hitlers Autobahn system in Germany.

Mr. Hitler was also an ardent supporter of Social Security, which should not really surprise anyone, given that the idea of Social Security arose within German socialists and given that Hitler headed the National Socialist Party in Germany.

Social Security, of course, would be enacted here in the United States during the 1930s by the presidential regime of Democrat Franklin Roosevelt.

In fact, the similarities between Mr. Hitlers economic policies and those of Mr. Roosevelt are striking.

Examples include massive military spending, Mr. Roosevelts infamous National Industrial Recovery Act and Blue Eagle propaganda campaign, and his big public-works projects.

For an excellent comparison of Mr. Roosevelts and Mr. Hitlers economic policies, along with those of fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, see the book "Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelts America, Mussolinis Italy, and Hitlers Germany", 1933-1939 by Wolfgang Schivelbusch or just read "this review" of the book or "this one" or "this one".

Moreover, the Pentagons tribunal system at Guantanamo Bay for trying accused terrorists might well have been inspired by Mr. Hitlers Peoples Court, a tribunal system that Mr. Hitler established to try terrorism cases that ran alongside the regular Germany judicial system, just as the Pentagons tribunal system at Gitmo does.

Mr. Hitlers extermination program and death camps did not get established until the midst of World War II, which began in 1939. Mr. Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933. That means that there were six years of Hitler rule before the outbreak of the war. There were numerous anti-Semitic laws that were being enacted and enforced, including through concentration camps, but let us face it: there was anti-Semitism all over the world, including here in the United States.

It is worth noting, for example, that when Mr. Hitler offered to let German Jews leave Germany in the 1930s,

President Franklin Roosevelt refused to permit them to come to the United States. He cited the United States of Americas immigration quotas as the excuse, but the fact is that the Roosevelt administration was riddled with people with anti-Semitic views.

The era I wish to explore is 1933-1939, the period before the war.

Specifically, how did Mr. Hitler become a dictator?

After all, we should not forget that when Mr. Hitler became chancellor, Germany was a democracy, something that has been a longtime goal of United States foreign policy.

In my article yesterday, entitled "The Trumpster Phenomenon," I pointed out that there is a large segment of conservatives who unconditionally support whatever President Trump does.

Their reason?

They see him as a Great Leader, one who is just trying to make the United States of America great again.

Therefore, the Trumpsters say, he should be given the widest authority to do what he thinks is best for America and for "National Security."

Nothing, and certainly not the United States Congress or the courts, should be permitted to stand in his way.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention that conservatives are not the only ones who suffer from the Great Leader concept.

So do liberals-progressives, specifically when their Great Leader is president.

Consider Barack Obama, for example.

Today, liberals are shedding lots of crocodile tears over the harsh immigration enforcement measures that President Trump is inflicting on illegal immigrants.

Yet, when it was Barack Obama who was deporting so many illegal immigrants that he earned the moniker "Deporter in Chief," there was a dearth of crocodile tears and not even the hint of criticism from the left.

That is because they viewed President Obama as their Great Leader, one who should be given wide authority to do what he felt was best for the United States of America.

That is precisely why Mr. Hitler became so popular in Germany.

For a large number of Germans, Mr. Hitler was viewed as a Great Leader, one who was leading Germany out of the Depression and on to greatness.

Their feeling was the same as it is here among conservative and liberal supporters of Trump and Obama - that Hitler should be given the widest powers to do what he believed was right for Germany.

Moreover, Germans were not the only ones who admired Mr. Hitler for being a Great Leader.

So did Winston Churchill.

He declared that if England were ever to find herself in the same desperate plight as Germany, he hoped that England would be able to find her own Adolf Hitler to lead the nation. Of course, Churchill issued his statement long before the outbreak of World War II.

An interesting aspect of the Great Leader phenomenon in Germany took place early in the Hitler regime.

On February 27, 1933, there was a major terrorist attack on the Reichstag, which was the German Parliament building. There was evidence that the terrorists were also communists. Ironically, communism and terrorism would later become the United States of Americas official enemies during and after the Cold War.

Deeply concerned about the terrorist and communist threat to Germany, Mr. Hitler asked the Reichstag to grant him temporary dictatorial powers.

When the Reichstag balked, Mr. Hitler and his supporters went into a rage, accusing opponents of jeopardizing national security.

Through his angry tirades and bully-like pressure on the members of the Reichstag, Mr. Hitler got what he wanted - the grant of dictatorial powers to deal with terrorism and communism, but only for one year. Thus, each year Hitler dutifully returned to the Reichstag and got an extension of his dictatorial powers.

Interestingly, much the same thing happened here in the United States after the 9-11-01 attacks.

President George W. Bush announced that since the United States was now at war against the terrorists, he now wielded dictatorial powers as the nations "commander in chief."

In other words, he did not go to the United States Congress and ask to be given such powers.

He just assumed them.

That is how we have ended up, for example, living under a system where the president and his military-intelligence forces possess the dictatorial power to assassinate United States of Americans and others who they label "terrorists."

Now, it is true that the Central Intelligence Agency has been assassinating people practically since its inception as part of its Cold War against communism.

But those assassinations were always maintained as a semi-secret power of the federal government.

With the 9-11-01 attacks, the power to assassinate United States of Americans and others became a formal, acknowledged power of the president and his military-intelligence forces, fully confirmed by the federal judiciary.

Meanwhile, woe to anyone who criticized Mr. Hitler or disagreed with his policies. He and his supporters would go ballistic, just as ballistic as the Trumpsters and Obama supporters do when hearing any hint of criticism of their Great Leader.

For example, watch a particular segment of the movie "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days".

The movie is the story of the White Rose, a group of German students of diverse religious beliefs at the University of Munich who were secretly distributing pamphlets containing essays critical of the Hitler regime.

They were caught and put on trial before the Peoples Court, the special tribunal system that Mr. Hitler put into place because he did not trust the German court system to deliver the "right" verdict in terrorism and treason cases.

If you have not seen the entire movie, I recommend it highly. But in the meantime, begin at 1:31:07.

It is about 3 minutes long.

It is the courtroom scene in which the presiding judge, Roland Freisler, questions Sophie Scholl.

Notice the extreme rage displayed by Mr. Freisler over Ms Scholls "treasonous" behavior. (Notice also how her scared attorney does nothing to defend her.) Mr. Freisler provides a perfect example of the Great Leader mindset.

United States of Americans should reflect on all this when they see President Donald Trump arbitrarily raising taxes on the American people or building walls or other public-works projects without congressional enactment.

The end of that road is the destruction of liberty.

Reprinted here with permission from Mr. Jacob G. Hornberger of The Future of Freedom Foundation!! Their Great Website!!