Just to clarify what I meant here, a day later: I don’t think Trump is on the level of genocidal maniac that Hitler was. Nonetheless, my point is that while last time was survivable, I fear the instability and suffering that he will be able to cause as a result of his increased unaccountability, in the US and across the world, will be palpable.
—07/11
About six years ago in History class, I studied the fall of a thriving and progressive democracy. One that faced troubles with economic management (which, to be fair, were far worse) which, alongside conservative pushback, led to the rise of a charismatic right-wing populist. A man who staged abortive coups, who baselessly used vulnerable and minority groups as scapegoats for the world’s ills, who promised simple, violent solutions (including economic autarky) to complex problems. A man who infiltrated a right-wing establishment which, after initial rebuke, spinelessly embraced and uplifted him as their leader, fearing for the sake of their political livelihoods that they had no choice but to do so.
Now, comparisons between Trump and Hitler are at least eight years out of date at this point (ask JD Vance). But waking up after five hours of sleep this morning, I wonder if the same mood of listless, confused fear that spirals around my head now was the same that my ancestors felt in 1933. I wonder if my undocumented, queer, and trans friends in the US feel the same disbelief young Jewish Germans felt at their own generation’s brazen sacrifice of their wellbeing in the polls, the same unabashed dread they once felt when they were told they would be disenfranchised, deported, decimated. I wonder if the children of Ukraine and Gaza resonate with the children of Austria, Ethiopia, Manchuria, Poland, when they were told their homes would be conquered, carved up, cleansed.
America today is not Germany in 1933. The latter was a country that was economically destitute and multilaterally sanctioned; the former is the most powerful economy and military in the world. Comparisons, nonetheless, abound. Both have their supporting casts: von Schleicher and Vance the hypocritical lackeys, Hindenburg and McConnell (or even Biden) the cowardly kingmakers. In each case, the stage is now set: far more so than in 2016, any remnants of checks and balances are now eroded. And in the case of Germany, which was fundamentally a far less significant power, it took twelve years to slaughter millions and fundamentally reshape the structure of the world. I’m not saying that we’re necessarily headed in the same direction, but I can’t now say with any certainty that we’re not.
I don’t know where we go from here; I could study two more Politics degrees and still be unable to tell you. But I don’t know how anyone deals with the problem of an unchecked fascist at the head of the most powerful country in the world. We learned from the futility of appeasing Hitler with Putin in Ukraine; with our chief ally, though, my government has already had no choice but to bend the knee. Now, there’s a strong chance here that I’m in a severe spiral and that everything will have the chance to flip back to normal in four years’ time; there’s also a chance that the “normal” I’ve lived my life in will never return again. I can no longer rely on the former. Regardless, History will judge us for our actions and inaction today the same way it has judged our 1930s contemporaries.
All in all, this is either just a bad day or the beginning of the end. Nonetheless, Australia is about the only Western country without a significant fascist movement right now; I remember Sydney as being beautiful around this time of year…
In the meantime, look after each other. We all we got.
—A x
06/11/24
AB 