Article: Expert on Nazi Germany Explains How 'Average' Citizens Enabled Hitler Just Like Trump:

[bdamomma]

I found this article chilling and we need to heed the ongoing warning signs.

We are dealing with some dark forces right now.

https://www.alternet.org/expert-nazi-germany-explains-how-average-citizens-enabled-hitler-just-trump-ordinary-people-will-do

snip of article:

President Donald Trump is a symptom of a much larger problem. New research suggests that Trump's supporters are so motivated by racism and bigotry that they may willing to overturn American democracy so that white Christians like themselves can maintain continued power over our society.

[CrispyQ]

1. You can almost tell what kind of Christian someone is by the political party they identify with. -nt

[Wounded Bear]

3. You could delete the "almost" and still be fairly accurate...

[sandensea]

6. That's the truth.

[bdamomma]

10. smart man

President Carter.

[Saviolo]

2. Amazingly informative podcast on the same topic:

I highly recommend you check this out:

https://www.behindthebastards.com/podcasts/the-non-nazi-bastards-who-helped-hitler-rise-to-power.htm

This week we did something a little bit different. In Episode 13, Robert is joined by Naomi Ekperigin (Couples Therapy Podcast) and we will be getting ‘behind’ Hitler again, but our focus is not going to be the Fuhrer himself or any Nazis, for that matter. Instead we’re talking about the men and women who helped Hitler rise to power.

The Nazi fascist movement in Germany was a reaction to left-wing politics and the popular impression that left wingers and socialists were going to ruin the country. Before the Nazis rose to power, Berlin was a bastion of progressivism. There was a thriving LGBTQ+ scene, and a lot of research published about trans people (that was then burned by Nazis in book burnings).

We have so many examples of how it can happen, we have no excuse for not noticing the patterns.

Cody Johnston also looking deep into the topic. This video has two follow-on videos that I highly recommend:

[honest.abe]

4. There are many parallels and similarities.

It makes me nauseous just considering the possibility it could happen here.

I do have hope that when we get near that point there will be enough sensible Republicans to join with Democrats to stop this lunatic.

[Johnny2X2X]

5. The racism is staggering

Here's what drives this, they believe, "Their way is the right and best way." It's as simple as that. White Christian Republicans believe they should control everything because they'll do things and run things in the best possible way. There's not a job out there held by some minority, non Christian or woman that a white christian male couldn't do better, that's exactly what they think. That thought process was what drove Germany under Hitler, that only they did things the way they should be done and the whole world would just be better off if they got to run things the right way. As someone who's done business in Germany, worked for German owned companies, and has several close German friends, you can still see this thought process ingrained. Germans industry believes they are the only ones who do things the right way, there's the right way, the wrong way, and the German way, which is the actual right way. Now I know I'm speaking in generalities, and as an engineer, German engineering and ways of conducting manufacturing are excellent, but you can see how this thought process can be harmful taken to its extreme. And I don't see the racism in the German pride in my personal experiences.

This is more than racism among Trump voters, it's plain old White Supremacy.

[CrispyQ]

8. The irony is

that rich, (mostly) white men have been running the world for thousands of years, yet here we are on an ecological brink where our planet may no longer sustain us. But hey, they know how to do things.

Your last sentence is spot on: This is more than racism among Trump voters, it's plain old White Supremacy.

I wish their stupid fucking rapture would happen & take them all away.

[Kablooie]

7. Hitler became popular because he succeeded in doing things that people wanted

Hitler became more popular as time went on, because he succeeded in doing things that people wanted. The economy improved -- not necessarily because of his policies, but it did improve. The more success he had, the more Hitler was able to win people over. This included people who hadn't voted for him before.

Eventually, during the war, when Hitler's successes became enormous, even people who had opposed him at one point or another started to back him. So Hitler was popular, really, throughout the regime. It's quite remarkable. So it's hard to say, in terms of "good Germans," who they were, because of course it was very difficult to express oneself. You don't know if your neighbor is flying a Nazi flag because they have to or because they really believe it.

I do believe, generally speaking, that most Germans were supportive of Hitler. And like what is happening in the U.S. with Trump and immigrants and Muslims and other groups, Hitler was tremendously successful at marginalizing the Jews.

Republicans that are disturbed by Trump still support him because he's succeeding in doing things they want.
They are ignoring the things they dislike about him, just like many did with Hitler.

Yep, the parallels are disturbing.

[erronis]

9. I think it would be instructional to look at racism/tribalism over history to understand the factors

The premises of the article seem correct to me - a history buff but not a 'spurt.

Limiting this to comparing Hitler and Trump and their own brands of racism, alienation, hostility, etc. is too limiting in scope. Genocide has probably been going on since primates first started hefting stones - probably before.

I would think we'd want to find the overarching independent factors that have led to these monsters, whether within the last 100 years or 10,000 years. I believe we'll find some critical items such as influxes of "not us" immigrants, social classes, wealth disparity, religious fervor, and perhaps things like epidemics.