An analysis of U.S. Nationalism, Donald Trump, Nazism and the Media
Food for thought
Fear leads to hatred and hatred inspires dangerously irrational behavior.
If you ever find yourself feeling exceptionally bored at a social gathering that’s full of sober or maybe not-so-sober people who happen to be vociferously discussing politics and the future of world governments, just mention the name “Donald J. Trump”, ...and while cautiously taking a step or two back listen closely to their conversation.
A dose of reality
Within the crowded gathering you clearly hear passionate conversations that addresses U.S. nationalism, job insecurities and internal threats.
It appears that over half of the crowd earnestly believes that the far majority of America’s problems are caused by (1) Muslims, (2) Mexicans (meaning any brown-skinned person of Mestizo heritage) (3) The Black Lives Matter Movement and of course (4) “Liberal America”.
Although we’re living in the year 2016,...in an Alternate-Universe-Twilight Zone kind of way, what’s being discussed at this semi-fictional social gathering is similar in historical context to conversations that were being discussed in social gatherings in 1933 Germany.
In 1931, Aryan-superiority-propaganda that was cleverly disguised and gift wrapped as German patriotism catches fire, and suddenly there’s a strong desire among the struggling middle and lower-middle class proletariat for “the good old days when “pure-blooded” Germans were admired, respected and even feared.
In the shadows of Germany’s nationalistic fever, a charismatic and hateful Austrian named Adolf Hitler quickly rises to power on the promises to scourge the Rhineland of inferior races, put a chicken in every German’s cooking pot, create well-paying jobs for GERMANS ONLY, and ultimately via ethnic cleansing, restore a unique German pride that will (undoubtedly) “make Germany great again.”
Now fast forward the clock from 1932 to 2016, knowing what you already know...picture yourself at a political rally being held for the current Republican presumptive U.S. presidential nominee. As you close your eyes and visualize yourself at the rally, it becomes abundantly clear to you that it doesn’t take much imagination to connect the promises made to Germans in 1932 to the promises made to Americans in 2016.
Note: The strange thing about history is that somehow without much human effort...History always finds a way of repeating itself.
And now the rest of the story
It’s amazing, but from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan to “not so jolly” London, England, discussing the possibility of Donald Trump succeeding Barack Obama as President of the United States among family, friends, and strangers guarantees a spontaneous volley of opinions and attitudes that are as assorted and colorful as a box of Russell Stover holiday chocolates.
Let’s be honest...love him or not, the man is a godsend to media executives who view Trump as being an instant panacea for anemic television ratings and for declining newspaper subscriptions.
Without question we are living in a world that’s dominated by an insatiable 24/7 News cycle and “trash TV”. Studies that are dedicated to analyzing and improving media ratings indicate that the average News and entertainment programming director has less than 15 seconds to capture an individual’s attention before they “switch focus”.
So in private offices where Madison Avenue media executives often suffer from anxiety attacks due to internal scandals and diminishing television ratings, Donald Trump instantly becomes their comfort food and their Vicodin... mixed of course with a little Red Bull to give them that morning pep.
Trump is their quick but temporary “fix” in an industry that’s full of “ratings-driven-junkies”. He is their personal “goose that lays the golden eggs” ...and for a 10-minute interview with “The Don”, program directors throughout the United States are willing to sell their journalistic integrity, pawn their soul and euthanize their favorite pet.
With the cameras rolling and journalists feverishly taking notes, Trump’s political rallies become the kind of News spectacle and trash TV that keeps the average viewer gawking endlessly at their big screen televisions.
Televised in high-definition and acoustically projected by surround sound, viewers are treated to the sight of Trump supporters who unabashedly cast an intimidating, “We’re in your face” attitude / shadow towards and over ALL suspected “outsiders” as Trump, their beloved leader, bellows out sexist, racist, bigoted, and xenophobic rhetoric.
In a sea of angry faces where every spectator is wearing a “Make America Great Again” golfing cap, a man stands up shouting “Donald Trump is a “xenophobic racist and sexist”. Trump sees the man and shouts angrily to his security team in his signature Queens, New York accent, “Get him out of here”. As the Trump protestor is led out of the arena, he’s punched, kicked and his life is threatened. And as if the optics couldn’t get any worse, a woman who minutes earlier took a solemn pledge to vote for Donald Trump stands up and gives a Trump a “Hitler-like” salute.
At a table where “Donald Trump for President” memorabilia are being sold, supporters speculate that a diabolical plan that includes turning Austin, Texas and Yazoo City, Mississippi into safe havens for Jihadists, Sharia Law and “Obama-Hillary agitators” is in the works and “By God” ...they’re not going to allow this to happen!
Seasoned with just the right amount of narcissism, Trump, the master salesman and circus barker, bewitches his believers into wanting to be more like him. They can’t get enough of the brash, manure-talking, billionaire who appears to be living a life full of sparkling “bling”, beautiful women, mansions, expensive cars and jet airplanes.
A complicated and perplexing man, what gives Donald Trump so much media appeal is that on one side of the political spectrum a large and growing percentage of his political supporters view him as being the hybrid reincarnation of both “Daddy Warbucks” and George Wallace.
Through their rose-tinted bifocals, they see him as a wheeling and dealing self-made billionaire who has heard their cries and has come to their rescue.
Trump supporters envision a knight with golden-orange hair who will fight tirelessly to save the U.S. working-class from “lying politicians”, “insidious job stealing Mexicans” and “evil Muslims”; and all across America Donald J. Trump has become the White-working-class’ knight in shining armor simply because he projects their core values and he shares their future vision for America. These people are not particularly enthusiastic about preventing renegade police from shooing unarmed Black teens or particularly concerned by the plight of Central American and Syrian war refugees...their concerns are more tribal and they reject sharing governmental and economic power that lowers their status on the “ethnic totem pole”. It’s that simple.
When White Nationalist William Johnson was asked in an interview why he supported Donald Trump for the U.S. presidency he responded, “Because Donald Trump is the real deal”.
However, on the flip side of the same “political coin”, those who oppose his U.S. Presidential bid are more inclined to believe that Trump’s hybrid personality more closely resembles that of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the infamous founder of the Ku Klux Klan, and... in a Looney Tunes kind of way, he is also viewed as being a perverted replica of the beloved American cartoon “Richie Rich”.
In the end, the sum total of who Donald Trump is and what he really represents isn’t even considered by media executives, what’s important to them is that he is a ratings machine.
If more people who support Trump’s racist, bigoted, sexist and xenophobic vision for the U.S. and the world come out to vote than those who oppose his vision, Donald Trump will win the 2016 U.S Presidential elections. There are tens of millions of Americans who need scapegoats to blame for their insecurities and Donald Trump speaks their language.
It’s weird but throughout the history of the U.S. there has always been a Native American, an African-American, a Jew, a Chinese-American, a Japanese-American an Irishman, an Italian and a Mexican to blame for our country’s social-economic problems.
The question we should be asking ourselves is “who’s next on the hit-parade”? Who next do we blame for ineffective, self-serving politicians who generationally stir the “pot of hatred” as a tactic to keep us pitted against each other?
Upon closer scrutiny we are nothing more than economic slaves to the banks, from the cradle to the grave. We are puppets whose strings are constantly being pulled by an elite class of puppet-masters who laugh from their ivory towers at our ignorance.
So the looming question is... “Are there political-social similarities between 1933 Nazi Germany and 2016 U.S.A.”? You already know that there are. The question is what are you going to do about it come November?
Oh....and in case you’ve already forgotten...“Fear leads to hatred and hatred inspires dangerously irrational behavior”.
December 29, 1890, Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, 150 Lakota men, women and children are massacred by the soldiers in the U.S. 7th Calvary.
June 1, 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma...The Greenwood District, the wealthiest African-American community in the United States, is burned to the ground.
June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Florida, a gunman kills 49 people and injures 53 others inside Pulse, a LGBT nightclub.
There are countless other stories in America involving hate crimes; it’s time to stop the hating.
Final Food for thought:
True leaders never build walls...true leaders build bridges that create commerce and respectful dialogue.
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