Another mass shooting, this time in a church in Michigan. A little over two years ago (after the Texas mall shooting by a White Nationalist) I posted an essay, “Mass Shootings: Sick Individuals or Sick Society. The point I was trying to make, and still maintain, was that to the extent these shootings become a regular aspect of our nation’s pervasive violence, we need at some point to start looking at society itself for answers, instead of pinning the blame on mental health issues. In 2023, I quoted two politicians who represented the mainstream of the blame mental health/ “thoughts and prayers” (Republican) wing of government at that time.
“Ultimately I think what this does is highlight some of the mental health issues, the mental health crisis we have in this country that needs to be the real conversation we’re having right now.” Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles
“Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental-health challenge, period.” Texas Governor Gregg Abbott
It seems my criticism has been heeded, but in a way I never could have imagined. For Stephen Miller, the problem boils down to left wing terrorism by individuals and groups, including not-for-profits, who are openly critical of the Trump administration.
We are going to channel all of the anger that we have over the organized campaign that led to this assassination to uproot and dismantle these terrorist networks…With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people. It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s (Kirk) name.
The words are different, but the sentiment and divine appeal resonate. There is a method behind this madness.
From Mein Kampf:
Eternal nature inexorably avenges the infringement of her commands. Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.
From the Goebbels Diary:
There must be no squeamish sentimentalism about it. The Jews…destruction will now go hand in hand with the destruction of our enemies. We must hasten this process with cold ruthlessness.
In order to come to power, Hitler needed an enemy and he needed to eliminate competing political parties, particularly the Social Democrats and the Communists. In Mein Kampf and stump speeches he blamed the Jews for all of Germany’s troubles, and claimed that Jews were in control of the Socialist and Communist parties, which sought to internationalize Germany and pollute the pure Aryan blood of true Germans.
Trump has a similar approach. Just as Hitler claimed the Jews were polluting German society, Trump claims that migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Just as Hitler claimed that “With satanic joy in his face, the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood,” Trump claims that transgender people are everywhere just waiting to change your sons into daughters and daughters into sons. “Think of it. Your kid goes to school and comes home a few days later with an operation.” Marjorie Taylor Green refers to transsexuals (comprising less than 1% of the population) as a “cult” intent on “corrupting our children.”
Hitler had a rather large enemies list, Trump has a smaller list but one that is likely growing by the day.
Hitler realized early on how difficult it would be to bring the urban working class into the Nazi Party, as Communists had a fairly strong hold over their loyalty. Hitler decided to focus his racist political campaign first on the disaffected and struggling rural citizens of Germany. In our country, Republicans have seemingly given up on urban areas so as to focus on suburban and rural (White) areas within the United States. Aided by an undemocratic electoral college, gerrymandering, growing diversification and working class marginalization, conservative forces have taken over many states that once were solidly Democratic. In the pivotal 2000 and 2016 presidential elections, Democrats won the popular vote but lost the presidential election. Of course, this development over the past five decades was not a MAGA invention, but a concerted effort from the business and finance sectors to destroy the middle class and take back control of the country’s wealth and the lion’s share of national income. That is the same sector that is now mostly caving in to Trump’s extortion demands and refusing to use their wealth and standing to counter his autocratic decisions. Apparently they see Trump as a continuation of the work started by Lewis Powell and nurtured through the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and Trilateral Commission. The MAGA movement took advantage of what had been in the works since the early seventies. Rich institutions and corporations looking to benefit now either make deals or simply stay out of Trump’s way, much the same as German business interests did in the 1930s. Hitler promised to destroy socialist and communist groups, which represented a real threat to German capitalism. He represented that his form of socialism was only socialism in name, as long as the business sector supported him. Trump abuses regulatory and investigative authority, along with buying off potential rich challengers, to effectuate the same result.
When the time was right, Hitler used his SA militia groups to violently take control of the cities. Trump is desperately seeking ways to use our military and National Guard to potentially accomplish the same thing, recently declaring his intention to send troops into Memphis, Portland and Chicago.
Just as it was claimed that Social Democratic and Communist parties of 1930s Germany were controlled by Jews, control of Democrats has been linked to numerous purported “enemies” of the people, starting with migrants, but extending to transsexuals, academics, the media, educators, democrats, “bi-coastal elites,” government and elected officials who in any way either did not support Trump or carried out or supported his numerous prosecutions and civil actions.
In February 1933 the Reichstag burned. It is speculated but never proven that Hitler was behind it. Nonetheless, he blamed the Communists, specifically targeting the Dutch communist, Van der Lubbe, as being behind the arson. This helped him turn public opinion against his political enemies. Framing them as traitors who defied the will of the people, their leaders were arrested and followers violently repressed. It is apparent that Trump and his administration is trying to do the same with 22-year old Tyler Robinson, who assassinated Charlie Kirk. Anyone who refuses to honor or speaks ill of Kirk is harshly criticized. Many have been fired from their jobs. Even before this, Trump pushed his DOJ to pursue dissenters and those who worked against him.
Hitler was made Chancellor after his party gained the second most votes in 1932. He used the Reichstag fire to convince the President to give him emergency powers. The Reichstag passed the “Enabling Law,” allowing Hitler to rule by decree. The only check on his power was the President. Once the President, Hindenburg, died in 1934 Hitler combined the offices of President and Chancellor, the culmination of which was the destruction of the Weimer Republic and creation of Nazi Germany.
Trump uses “emergency powers” as well. He has been ruling, even legislating, by decree. For any of his more controversial orders, he uses the pretext of a non-existent emergency to justify his actions, whether regarding the imposition of tariffs or the mobilization of troops on the streets of American cities. Instead of pushing for legislation giving him these powers, he is simply issuing Executive Orders and using Republican majorities in the House and Senate to thwart opposition. The Supreme Court has also assisted by giving him immunity for any and all actions the court deems part of the President’s official responsibilities, while lifting injunctions from lower courts until cases are fully litigated, effectively granting the President unchecked power through delays that make a mockery of any ultimate judicial outcome.
And this sounds almost too absurd to be true. The Nazi’s turned all public events into political shows, including sporting events. They accomplished this by putting Nazi’s into positions of power within German institutions. The same is happening here, except that Trump may not need to infiltrate private institutions if they do his bidding for him . The NFL has apparently endorsed moments of silence before games for Charlie Kirk. Some have sponsored tributes to him as part of pregame ceremonies. There are plans for the Super Bowl halftime show to become a tribute to the slain, conservative reactionary. Trump started with the Smithsonian Institute, moved on to the Kennedy Center, and now fearing a takeover are private institutions fulfilling his agenda for him?
We are full blown into an autocratic regime. Some commentators on the so-called left are disputing comparisons to Nazi Germany due to the lack of violence in the streets. But who will dispute that the potential is there, between the revamped military, Trump’s urban mobilization and threats, the federalization of the National Guard and the continued existence of the “stand down, but stand by” White militias.
The pressing concern of the moment is the overt and systematic dissembling of our republic. However, I would still maintain that the epidemic of mass shootings in this country is because we as a society are sick, an issue that is related to, perhaps even caused by, the polarization of our nation and our current drive towards autocracy. The answer to addressing the ills faced by our society is at least partially found in the loss of community. We are social animals. When productive social interaction is thwarted, social interaction become perverted and extreme. That, I believe, is what we are currently experiencing, with mass shootings representing the most violent side of that perversion. Charles Sorel believed in the entropic nature of people to revert to barbarism if not provided with the environment for productive interactions. He had two prescriptions for the management of this tendency. The first involves our relation to work. “Man lives fully only in and by his works, not by passive enjoyment or the peace and security that he might find by surrender to external pressures, or habit, or convention, by failure to use for his own freely conceived goals the mechanism of the laws of nature to which he is inevitably subject.” The second requirement is that we have opportunities for social interactions. “It is not the possession of common ideas, convictions bred by reasoning, that creates true human bonds, but common life and common effort.” (Source: Isaiah Berlin, The Crooked Timber of Humanity). The way to address the root of our problems is by promoting human bonds. More on this another day. In the meantime, as a country we need to wake up and acknowledge that we are in a crisis.