(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



The 'Second Coming' of Trump [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-05-03

Hannah Arendt, a German Jewish philosopher forced out of Germany in 1933, said that during the fall of the Weimar Republic, the authoritarian dictatorship that took its place hit the citizens so fast and was so disorienting that they could not see it for what it was let alone figure out how to confront it before it overwhelmed them.

Nihilism is the cultivation of a belief that the conditions in a society and politics are so bad that their destruction is desirable for its own sake. Would be dictators find nihilism useful when they want to destroy democracy.

Even to the point of using terror, violence, and death in the service of violent reform.

It was used by a 19th century Russian party advocating terror, violence, and death in the service of violent reform. It was used in 20th century Germany. It has now washed up on our shores with the rise of Trump One and has now returned with Trump Two. It is being led by special interests who want to destroy our democracy. Their holy grail is a magical kingdom of no taxes, no regulations, no rules. And if you believe most of them — no government at all.

This time around, it’s better organized. Better prepared. They are not as invisible as last time around with Trump One. Last time they stood in Lafayette Square holding a Bible upside down, pretending to believe in God. Now they stand proudly to announce that their will be done and they just might be God themselves. And so completely open to enforcing that will with fear, intimidation, lies, distortions, and negation of our constitution and rule of law.

If you don’t agree with them, you will be identified. You will be threatened. You could be jailed. You may even pulled from your home in dead of night and disappeared. These are wicked people and this time they are moving fast, their smirks of cruelty dripping with chaos and greed and the joy of retribution..

If they can find a way to come after you, they will. You may be an immigrant, a business owner, a single parent with two jobs. Even a child. My god, a child. A member of congress. A judge. Anyone at all.

If they are told they must stop. They say, yeah, make me. Well, I am here today to remind us that we no longer have that 19th century Russian party advocating destruction and terrorism. Or Germany. Or Trump One. In its place we now have 2025 and Trump Two.

It's so easy to describe the problem. One can go on and on about the problem. So hard to find answers. We had family friends who’ve always lived in Hamburg. The stories from grandparent to parent came down to “when we realized what we had become under the Nazis, what could we do. If we ran into the street and screamed stop, they would have immediately gunned us down.”

Well, I don’t know. So far, we can still scream. I am screamng. We can still run into the streets with our signs. For now.

But really who is listening. Our leaders for the most part have lost not only all sense of decency and shame but the last drop of courage they might have had. They are worried about their careers. Really? Have the lies leeched into their bones and blood? Have they all gone mad?

Or is it that there is an arc of history that we continually live through. What if we ALL go out into the streets and scream? Will we all be shot?

Some leaders say we are over reacting. That democracy will self correct. While the poet Yeats speaks of anarchy being loosed upon the world and of the beast whose hour has come round at last. (“The Second Coming” 1920).

The NY Times once reported members of the early Nazi party, including Hitler, were released on parole for the crime of trying to overthrow the Bavarian government. I quote: “It is believed he will retire to private life and return to Austria.” The date was Dec 21, 1924. Yeats wrote his poem five years earlier.

I’d pick Yeats over the NYTimes any day. Hitler didn’t go home.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/3/2320337/-The-Second-Coming-of-Trump?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/