On Lying
Yesterday, Michael Gerson published a good piece in the Washington Post about how Republicans lying about the 2020 election are doing so with open eyes, and why that is corrosive to a free society. He’s right in that Trump is a congenital liar, and everyone knows it. The ones committing the most egregious lies are those enabling Trump’s lies, those party leaders and politicians who are passing the litmus test by knowingly telling the Big Lie to avoid the wrath and primary threats.
This lying, though, is not new. Since Reagan, Repubs have made lying the foundation of the party. Examples: cutting taxes increases revenue; cutting taxes for the rich trickles down prosperity to everyone; “welfare queens” are lazy and always non-white; companies don’t need regulations since
the “free market” will drive them to do the right thing; Iraq was involved in 9/11; Saddam has weapons of mass destruction; if you’re opposed to war you “hate the troops”; Barack Obama was not born in the US; a gigantic conspiracy of thousands of poll workers, voting machine companies, elected officials from both parties, state legislatures, the US Congress, and even VP Pence caused the 2020 election to be stolen from Trump. This last lie is now required to be told, and repeated, by all Republicans, no matter where they come from or role they play. Those who refuse to tell the lie are censured or run out of the party.
When a party’s foundation is all based on a dictated lie as a litmus test, that party is dead. The GOP has come a long way to this point, but I personally believe it has morphed from political organization to religious cult. A lot of people reject drawing comparisons between the rise of Hitler to the rise of Trump. I think they do that our of fear that it may be true. I believe it’s absolutely the perfect analogy. It’s well known that Hitler was a psychopath. He tried to overthrow the Bavarian government in 1923 in the Beer Hall Putsch, which he planned to use as a springboard to take over the German government. He was convicted of high treason, but during the trial became a national figure, and much of the public adored him. Upon his conviction he swore to ignore the verdict saying he would be acquitted by the “Eternal Court of History”; indeed, Hitler served less than a year before he was released. Eight years later he accomplished his goal in taking over the government, leading to World War II. Hitler’s main weapon? Lying. Gargantuan lying, which he required repetition by his followers. His lying lead to millions of deaths around the world and the collapse of Europe which took a generation to recover.
Trump is more like Hitler than anyone wants to admit. He has the same personality traits including toxic narcissism and total disregard for human life. Like Hitler, he freely used the levers of government to enrich himself, protect his co-conspirators, and punish his enemies. He politicized everything from science to law enforcement. If allowed back in, he will follow the same path as Hitler, and if we ignore it, the chance of history repeating itself is highly likely.
All the lights about Trump are flashing red, and his enablers are speeding along the road that will most certainly lead to disaster for all of us.
I definitely see the corollaries.
They both also could see disgruntlement and leverage it.
I thought this back when in the Clinton-Trump campaign time that we learned Mein Kampf was Trump’s “nightstand book” for years. What one chooses to keep close and read frequently is very telling on a person.
Trump, along with Bannon and Miller, set out with many similar goals to Hitler–to take over the government and destroy many elements in the established government.
1* Liz Cheney tweeted on May 3: “The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”
It was reported today that Kevin McCarthy said the GQP members want to replace Liz Cheney. Why? She is not “carrying out the message.” The message is repeating The Big Lie.
So she must be exorcized from the party for not lying.
Bottom line: the US now has a two-party system where one of the two parties is anti-democratic.
2Watch this PBS/BBC series, it removes any doubt that the Rethugs are a criminal, fascist, 100% authoritarian, coup d’etat-seeking cabal:
The Rise of the Nazis:
https://www.pbs.org/show/rise-nazis/
The number of parallels, tactics and strategies, the techniques perfected, even the slogans and buzzwords, are chillingly nearly identical between the Nazis and present-day GQP.
The Rufous Ratbastard cannot be allowed to return to power, nor any like him; -whatever- it takes to prevent that eventuality…
3If you’re not a PBS member, I think you can watch this 3-part series on some of the other streaming services, like Amazon prime.
Dang, forgot this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_Nazis
“The Rise of the Nazis is a BBC documentary series. First shown in September 2019, it focuses on how Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power and dismantled democracy in early 1930s Germany….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party
4the nazis would not have gotten so far, so fast, without Joseph Goebbels, very bright, very effective but very evil propaganda minister.
5Parallel today is rupert murdoch who laid the predicate for the coalescing of the trumpsters which, imo, is the key ingredient out of many that lets the trumpsters into power.
But can not let those who weren’t trumpsters who went along without objection in the same manner that the important people in Germany thought they could control hitler not understanding that they did not understand hitler’s language. Arrogance.
Any difference today in principle?
Star @1 — I’m nit-picking, but Trump’s volume wasn’t Mein Kampf, but a collection of Hitler’s speeches. [Mein Kampf might well be too complex and extensive for him.]
In part, I buy the notion that lying is central to Trump’s “success.” But two nuances remind me there is something more foundational:
* many people use lies, but a key factor in evaluating the person is what they use the lies for. Trump invariably lies to make himself seem better and others seem worse. An excessively nice person of my acquaintance dismisses her own accomplishments (maybe not entirely “lying, “but not telling the truth, either) and lies outrageously to compliment other people. How do I know she is lying? All the compliments she throws my way are, if not wholly false, massive exaggerations.
* and there is a key difference between Hitler and Trump — Hitler was ruthless, willing to direct or order the elimination of opponents and the disruption of any competitive group who appeared weak. The hatred was so deep, Hitler used essential resources to “cleanse” the nation and the people, even with those resources were needed for other conflicts. While Trump was willing to banish people and figuratively throw people under the bus, I’ve yet to read even confirmed foes claiming he as campaigner or President actually fomented violence. None of those who were insufficiently loyal were killed. None who were competitive had Trump Brown Shirts (or polo shirts, or Hawaiian shirts) riot and intimidate them or their supporters.
6“Trump is more like Hitler than anyone wants to admit.”
El Jefe –
7Preaching that nugget to the choir here at JJ’s, you may underestimate some of your readers. Speaking for myself anyway.
@denver – I’m slack jawed at your comment. Did you have access to radio, television or internet from November 3rd to January 6? Fomenting violence is PRECISELY what Trump did, and he most certainly would have stayed in the White House had his rioters been successful. There is ZERO doubt that Trump would have imposed a coup had his effort to stop the certification of the election been successful.
8” key difference between Hitler and Trump — ”
Hitler came to power in 1933.
He bombed woman & children in Guernica, Spain in 1937.
In 1939 he really got rolling.
john in denver, your Hitler-Trump comparison notes the actions of a 1940’s Hitler. The Mid-1930’s Hitler was not yet the violent mass murderer he later became.
In fact someone in 1935 Europe might even have said Hitler “was willing to banish people and figuratively throw people under the bus, I’ve yet to read even confirmed foes claiming he as campaigner… actually fomented violence. None of those who were insufficiently loyal were killed.”
9Hitler was an intelligent psychopath and the Big Lie worked for him because the German people were humiliated and angry following WWI and the Treaty of Versailles. Trump is a stupid narcissist and the Big Lie works for him because a sizeable number of Americans are stupid, selfish and suffer from a victim mentality.
I used to enjoy reading Michael Gerson in my local paper (owned by USA Today) until they replaced him with Victor Davis Hanson and Cal Thomas. Both are stupid, selfish, suffer from a victim mentality and are unreadable.
10trump is way more like Mussolini than he is Hitler. Dennis Mack Smith’s “Mussolini’s Roman Empire” is a good introduction to the man who taught Europe how to be fascist. (The very first fascists were French but they failed politically.)
Until 1939, many if not most observers bought into Mussolini’s bluster about “10 million bayonets.” He was far more admired as a politician than Hitler was.
Hitler’scrimes hve obscured Mussolini’scontributions.Mussolini’s radio speeches to a country where a large frqction of the population could not read newspapers tutored Roosevelt, Hitler, Churchill and many a lesser politivian.
His ornate and ridiculous claims about his own strength (he used to review the elite Arditi at a dead run) were accepted my the ignorant masses but also many sophisticates. His cruisers were the fastest but only because they were timed before there heavy guns were mounted.
It has been 50 years since I read Mack Smith but when Trump came along all those stories came rushing back. If you really want to understand trump, you should study Mussolini.
11Lots and lots of good reading here. I can’t compete with y’alls knowledge of hitler or Mussolini, etc. What comes to my mind is how repugnantican politicians are doing the 2021 version of goose stepping for their leader. And probably 80+% of all repugnantican voters are under the orange one’s spell/cult.
12Can anyone remind me again of what exactly the r party stands for?
Like Steve @ 12, Im probably not the one to speak directly to whether Hitler or Mussolini was a closer comparison to f**king trump. But if memory serves, one thing lots of authoritarian regimes have done to gain political power is the de-humanizing of one or more groups of people to have as targets of the hate they incite, and then direct. Most countries, including ours, have done it in times of war, to get the “right” ideas in people’s heads of those that our soldiers have to kill.
13Fascists create the enemies out of their own citizens that might threaten their righteous authority, in addition to foreigners.
Luckily we haven’t seen that yet with repugnantcans.
But then there’s QAnon.
Luckily they’re just isolated nutjobs with no political power, shunned by establishment repugnantcans.
Wait….
Not forgetting that the GOP is being taken over by the GQP .
14Jim @14:
15The sarcasm in my head didn’t translate to the keyboard quite like I intended.