Progressives Resemble the Nazis of Fascist Germany
For the past four years, progressive Democrats have been accusing President Trump and the Republicans of being fascists and racists. Yet, both by their behavior and in how they want to change U.S. institutions, they resemble the Nazis of fascist Germany far more than Trump and the Republicans ever have. I include in this accusation the media who have become the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.
Progressive Bad Behavior
The reaction of both progressive media and Democratic politicians to the violent, idiotic, and inexcusable behavior of Trump supporters seizing the Capitol has accelerated the transformation of progressives into Nazis. They have seized onto the Capitol occupation as an excuse to attempt the destruction of anyone who ever supported Trump. In addition, the media that are the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party are trying to destroy free speech for anyone on the political right. Just as the seizure of the Capitol by misguided and criminal Trump supporters was un-American, so is the continuing war by progressives on the individual rights of the American Right.
It is an often noted truism that hatred by one group of people for another will eventually engender an answering hatred. For month after month last year, leftist rioters expressed their hatred for this nation by burning businesses, tearing down monuments, looting, attacking and sometimes wounding or killing police, and beating people who refused to agree with them. Yet, the progressive media have alternated between ignoring or excusing all this violence and destruction. Their view was that since these destructive riots advanced the view the U.S. was systemically racist, they were justifiable. If President Trump could be tarred as inciting the riots through his reactions to them, so much the better.
So after many months of this violent spewing of leftist hatred toward the U.S., the predictable happened. A portion of the Trump supporters at the “Save America” rally on January 6 attacked and occupied the Capitol building. Five people, one Capitol Hill police officer and four Trump supporters, were killed. Hate engenders hate.
In the weeks that have followed, Democrats and their allied media have seized on this uprising to accuse Donald Trump, and many others possessing “conservative” (really neoliberal) opinions, of treason. Many progressives have suggested all those on the political Right should have their free speech rights “canceled.” Before we consider the Nazi-like behavior of progressives further, we should carefully think about their charge that Trump incited this insurrection.
Did Trump Incite an Insurrection at the Capitol?
Most of the fuel for Democratic accusations that Trump incited an insurrection came from Trump’s speech to his followers just before the Capitol occupation. A somewhat rambling, discursive address, it nevertheless never asked the crowd to violently occupy the Capitol. The complete text of his speech can be found here. At 18 minutes and 16 seconds into the speech, Trump told his followers,
I attempted to embed a YouTube video of the speech so that you could judge for yourself what Trump actually said. However, when I did that and hit play, I got the following window.
Apparently, the video’s provider wanted to limit its dissemination to the general public. If pundits such as myself gave their own interpretation of Trump’s words, backed up by the actual video itself in their posts, the result might be destructive to the progressive narrative. You can see the YouTube video here. Be quick about it before it gets pulled from the internet!
How can Democrats construe Trump’s words that the demonstrators should march to the Capitol to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard” as an incitement to insurrection? Some have pointed to his many exhortations to “fight” their ideological opponents as proof of Trump’s violent intentions. At one point in his long and repetitive speech, Trump states,
Later on he asserts,
But when have you not heard any politician constantly urge his followers to “fight like Hell” against the misbegotten policies of his opponents? I challenge any reader to go through Trump’s speech and find where he urged anyone to insurrection. If you find it, point it out as a comment to this post, and I will be sure to answer.
In this, as in so many things, the progressives have lied to us.
The Progressive War on Personal Freedoms and on Free Institutions
For a very, very long time, progressives have been at war with the separation of powers among the government branches, as codified in the U.S. Constitution. This has been true at least since the administration of Woodrow Wilson, a little more than a century ago.
Wilson believed the average American citizen lacked the knowledge and temperament to govern himself, much less to influence the governing of the country. Instead, he was convinced the country should be governed by knowledgeable technocrats. Indeed, not even elected officials could be entirely trusted. They themselves were infected by electoral influences from the common people. In addition, politicians were also not knowledgable in everything needed for governing. The independent government agencies that were to do most of the governing needed to be insulated not only from the people but from the political branches of government as well. Over a century’s time, the desire to isolate growing government power from those who were elected increasingly caused progressives to resemble fascists.
This battle between the American Left and Right over how much freedom should be granted to individuals and non-government institutions (such as companies) has now blossomed into progressives’ attempts to completely “cancel” anyone who does not agree with them. Among the goals of cancel culture is to redefine the Overton Window, the filter determining socially acceptable political conversation, to eliminate ideas of the American Right. Other recent progressive suggestions to suppress neoliberals (aka “conservatives”) are the following:
- Deny future jobs to Trump administration officials and other Republicans: The anti-Trump Lincon Project has created a blacklist of Republicans who worked for or supported the Trump administration. The purpose of the blacklist is to deny future employment for anyone on it. Other progressives supporting this effort are Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, and former staffers for Barack Obama and Pete Buttigieg.
- Expel Republican Congressmen from Congress who supported Trump: A House of Representatives resolution has been drafted by newly elected Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo) to expel a large number of Republicans from Congress. If the resolution is enacted, any Republican legislator who questioned Biden’s electoral college election could be expelled. That would mean up to 139 Republican Congressmen could be ejected from Congress. That would effectively destroy democracy in America.
- Deny social media access to anyone who supports the Right: By now, the denial of free speech by social media to Americans on the Right is well known. Conservative viewpoints are unwelcome on Facebook and Twitter. Being public corporations, social media companies have the right to deny access to anyone they want. However, the prejudice against “conservative” views does convert those companies into a part of the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. It is also a disservice to the free exchange of ideas. I myself administer a public Facebook group called A Divided World Readers. It will be interesting to see how long it will take before Facebook pulls this group from the internet. The example of the uncensored social media company Parler is not exactly encouraging.
- “Deprogram” Trump Supporters: One growing and particularly disheartening progressive proposition is that the 74 million voters who voted for Trump need to be “deprogrammed.” This appears to be a proposal that is mostly found in the public news and opinion media allied with the Democratic Party. In this view, “conservative” Republicans are not just wrong or misguided. Instead, they are considered to be brainwashed, infected by the Trump virus. For example, CNN’s Don Lemon asserts Trump supporters need to be deprogrammed before they can be allowed to vote again.
The New York Magazine’s Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the 1619 Project, says deprogramming can only be accomplished through punishment. She argued that history teaches us that people need to face consequences for their allegiance to a false reality. She asserted, “There has to be consequences. And then once you get those consequences … people have to take a second look at their actions.” What should those consequences be? On that, she was not specific. Perhaps she is thinking of reeducation camps. - Universities asked to revoke degrees granted to Trump supporters: One way to enforce conformity of political opinion is to destroy your ideological opponents’ ability to get jobs compatible with their levels of education. That would be a mighty weapon to wield against the opposition. A potent way for progressives to achieve this would be to get colleges and universities to revoke degrees granted to Trump supporters.
Currently, this idea’s viability is being tested at Harvard University. Harvard faculty and students are seeking the withdrawal of degrees from such Republicans as White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX). Besides punishing Trump associates, such actions could also be used as an object lesson to further suppress free speech on campus.
These measures are designed not just to silence Republicans but to totally destroy their lives. Not all of these progressive ideas for enforcing ideological conformity to progressive beliefs seem likely — at least not yet. Some of them, particularly the deprogramming of Trump supporters, are outright outlandish. However, the fact they are even being considered shows how far the United States has progressed along Friedrich Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom.” This is the highway Germany’s Weimar Republic followed to arrive at Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. And it is the Democratic Party that is taking us there.
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