Deeper dive into Trump needed

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Gleaner columnist Michael Abrahams, on September 17, launched yet another denunciation of former US President Donald Trump. It would be hard to deny that many of the terms he used to describe Trump are accurate. So what Abrahams says is not news.

He has also attempted to do an analysis of Trump’s MAGA supporters and why they continue to support him. This is where Abrahams appears to be less than persuasive.

Years after Trump descended that escalator in New York, I have yet to read or hear a single credible explanation from any of the TV talking heads or columnists of some of the most famous and prestigious media houses as to this political phenomenon: how a man with zero political experience – not even a municipal councillor or school trustee – with an unsavoury past could become president of the USA, defeating a member of one of the dynasties of US politics, Hillary Clinton. That was his first coming.

Then after his turbulent four years in office and his attempt to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021, he has had a second coming. This time he is arguably more popular than ever.

Certainly, the judicial overkill (92 charges!) executed by the Democrats and many of their less-than-competent lawyers, who initiated two ridiculous impeachment proceedings, undoubtedly turned Trump into a persecuted figure. But that alone does not explain the phenomenon.

CHILLING SIMILARITIES

Twentieth-century history tells us there were four infamous fascists: Spain’s Francisco Franco, Germany’s Adolph Hitler, Italy’s Benito Mussolini, and Argentina’s Juan Perón.

I can find no evidence that Trump has copied any of Franco’s traits.

There is ample evidence that he has copied, and very well too, the technique of ‘The Big Lie’ as perfected by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief. The January 6 storming of the Capitol can be seen as a reprise of the 1933 burning of the German Reichstag, which Hitler used to enhance his powers.

Do a split-screen close-up of Mussolini’s nods, winks and other facial expressions on the stump with Trump’s. You will see the chilling similarities.

Check Trump’s 2016 acceptance speech at the Republican Convention and you will hear words, or a version thereof, such as “I alone know your problems, I alone can solve them and no one else can” – straight out of Perón’s mouth. Draw your own conclusions.

SERIOUS ANALYSIS

But fascists do not appear from nowhere, and for no reason. The West, not content to defeat Germany in the First World War, had to rub Germany’s face in the dirt with destructive reparations, all leading to the lawful and democratic rise of an undistinguished corporal named Hitler to become chancellor.

The current political divide in the USA, leading to extreme bitterness, is a clash between the MAGA folks who perceive the USA as a nation in decline, perhaps terminal decline – militarily, economically, socially and culturally – and the other side, made up of Democrats and Republicans who still perceive the USA as “exceptional”, the dollar almighty, a nation of destiny, saving and policing the world to save democracy, freedom and human rights.

The MAGA folks see a messiah and a strongman in Trump and resent wokeism.

Simply dismissing MAGA – and Trump – as a bunch of weirdos, cultists, idiots and conspiracy theorists does not cut it as a serious analysis. Is the USA in decline ? That’s the real issue.

ERROL W.A. TOWNSHEND

Canada

ewat@rogers.com