Mirror, Mirror

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/10/jojo-rabbit-mocks-maga-extremism

Worth reading, and don’t miss the embedded “public service announcement”. > “Trumpism has broken taboos of civility, of respect, and of decency, and therefore bigots feel they are empowered, legitimized,” he said. “The 200 neo-Nazis in Charlottesville were not created by Trump. They were there before. All he did was make it possible for them to have the arrogance or the chutzpah to surface. They feel this is a time when it’s okay...” <

During the days of the Bush administration (Junior, that is) we legitimized torture and other crimes against humanity. We made them quasi legal official actions taken by our government. No one seems to remember this these days, but at the time this was an extremely controversial issue. I was making the same point as this movie back then.
I referred to those Bush supporters as the good Germans of the US. Those decent ordinary folks who nevertheless supported Hitler and his atrocities. This despicable action by otherwise moral people has always been regarded as a great mysterious puzzle, but it really isn’t and never has been. It’s just people accepting that their government is their country and they must be loyal to it. Accepting that their society is their home and they must go along with its norms.

The question really isn’t why so many Germans passively went along, the question is why so many were able to resist the urge is to conform, to fit in, to meet the expectations of daily life.

Back in the Bush days I was saying if you ever ask yourself how good good Germans went along with Nazi horrors, then first ask yourself if you supported torture when Bush was legitimizing it. If the answer is yes then the answer to your question about how did good Germans go along with these monstrosities is: Look in the mirror. The face you see is the face of a good German.

This is so true today as well. The crimes and the betrayals of Trump and his administration have been open and clear. He really has made no attempt to hide them. All he does is say well yeah but what about those other guys? Yeah I am a crook but so are other people like (fill in the blank with whatever political personality you don’t like).

Do you believe Q anon? Do you think everyone’s picking on poor, pitiful, glorious, holy Trump? Do you justify his crimes and his betrayals? Do you think he’s the victim of a great conspiracy? Then look in the mirror. The face staring back at you is that of a good German.

I want to end by emphasizing once again that Trump is no Hitler. He’s not even a Mussolini. Instead, he is the bad apple in the barrel who is spreading his rot throughout our entire governmental and social system. He’s no Hitler, but he’s laying the groundwork for one.