Being born just after the end of World War II made me acutely aware of the evils of Adolf Hitler and his associates. I heard stories from my mother and father. Later I would read about the horrors that the Nazi Party inflicted on the world. I suppose that reading The Diary of a Young Girl which was based on the musings of Anne Frank helped me to realize the utter depravity of the Third Reich.
Later I would also read Elie Wiesel’s vivid description of the Holocaust in Night. Reading about the utter depravity of the Hitler regime was gut wrenching. It was difficult to understand how so many people could be so evil. I soon enough realized that the spread of fear and propaganda along with promises of a better life for a certain group of German people had led to one of the darkest chapters in history.
I found myself searching for more and more information in my efforts to understand how any of this could have happened. I heard about descriptions of the perfect humans along with cataloging of those who were unfit. My visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. was gut wrenching, especially when the grandchildren who had accompanied me innocently asked me if they would have been in trouble if they had been born in Germany during that horrific time.
I remember explaining that I really did not know how any of us might have fared. I understood that the mental illness of my mother would have made our family suspect. I knew that my DNA suggested that I had descended from Eastern European Jews. I was not so sure that we would have passed or if the Nazis would have traced our backgrounds and sent us all to the concentration camps.
My grandchildren were particularly concerned about how Hitler and his associates had manipulated the German people into being fearful of certain groups of people with a particular emphasis on Jews. I knew that people who were thought to be defective in any way were also targeted. Even gypsies better known as Roma we often sent to the camps. Hitler controlled his nation with an iron fist and justified his actions with a constant barrage of fear.
I have been watching Donald Trump very closely from the time he first ran for president. It bothered me that he so often used similar tactics to rally his supporters. He made people afraid of immigrants by calling them criminals, drug dealers and rapists. Such generalizations really got me thinking and I saw through his propaganda. He also smeared all Muslims as though every single one of them was a terrorist. He repeated his diatribes so often that many Americans began to repeat his estimation of whole swaths of people.
During Trump’s return to the Oval office he has ratcheted up his campaign of fear to include transgender individuals. He uses this very small and mostly peaceful group to enrage his MAGA followers. He makes transgender women appear to be monsters intent on hurting young women. He uses the same kind of fear tactics that Hitler used to divide a nation. In the process life for those who are transgender has turned into a nightmare that need not exist. They are no more a dangerous threat to our nation than the immigrants who labor in low end jobs are. He uses human beings to boost his popularity with a cruelty that they applaud.
It sickens me when I see our president constantly calling Democrats communists. He is blithely inciting brutality and smiling when he sees it happening. His minions cheer when a protester at one of his rallies is attacked. He constantly portrays himself as a savior while smearing anyone who disagrees with them. He calls women pigs and pardons right wing groups who illegally stormed Congress in an attempt to undo the results of an election. He accomplishes his goals by constantly reminding Americans that horrible people exist in our midst. The problem is that his hyperbole seems to include anyone who does not think and vote the way he wants them to do. He sues independent influencers for bringing his faults to light. He spreads fear in terrifying ways that look way too much like the methods of fanatical despots. He keeps his following with lies and fear.
