So, it's all on us really, this fragile crisis of our election. In this land of extreme individualism, sowing division is a mere cottage industry now. So many differences no longer do a united republic make. Such is the evolving fate of a shining idealism. Our system, our culture and our glacially paced legal process is what has spawned such malignancy as the Felon. In many other countries such a clear threat to governmental stability would have been eradicated at root and branch years ago. DJT would be a forgotten footnote in history, but no, not here. Now history is turning the page for us, not by us. And we deserve it. By winning in 2016 DJT finally found the supremely intoxicating level of adoration that his hollow being always craved. That is what filled the void, not concepts of what authoritarian demagoguery might be. It has since morphed into criminal intent where the simple goal is to avoid prison. The Great and The Good? They were never great or good. They long ago grabbed their brass ring and now smug aloofness is the order of the day.
I think your reference to Nate Silver’s very questionable methods is weak and you’re spreading unnecessary fear and anxiety.
Simon Rosenberg and Tom Bonner, you the people who predicted No Red Wave in 2022, are tracking the early voting, fundraising, activity and amazing enthusiasm and optimism among the Democratic electorate; we are winning and will win as long as we run through the finish line.
Echoing the corporate media play for a tight race doesn’t help most Dems, it elicits the fears of 2016, which are amplified in social circles and social media - none of which spreads the optimism and reality that we ARE winning, and the Convicted Felon is scared and desperate.
I “enjoyed” living in the Fifties (during the first 15 years of my life, segregation was law of the land). In the early Sixties I remember photo essays in Look and Life chronicling the civil rights movement—all those white faces contorted in hate. Is this the “vision” of MAGA?
"One could tell oneself in 2016 that Trump won despite the lies and hatred. Now if he wins, it would seem to be because of the lies and hatred."
This is indeed the most depressing part. Even if the vice president wins (and she should), she won't win going away (and she should). The fact this election is close at all tells us there's something very, very wrong with us.
Indeed there is. I needn't say why because I've been saying it for over six years and I'm sure the readers here are tired of my kvetching about a single topic. In that time, nothing has been suggested or acted upon to decrease the threat caused by the weaponization of our First Amendment. Our democratic republic is being poisoned by unregulated lies, hate speech, character assassination, conspiracy theories, truthiness or outright bile. Like Germany, after WW II, we may address this problem only after something very horrific happens and if Trump is re-elected, you can bank on that prediction.
FEMA is playing right into MAGA’s hands by pulling its workers out of these counties like this. Trump has already been sweeping North Carolina and Georgia saying “the Biden administration is punishing you”; FEMA need not make his words self-fulfilling.
Which is what they’re doing. I understand that the agency is using an “abundance of caution” in the face of these militia threats and that “safety of our employees is the highest priority”—but with due respect, no it isn’t.
The well being of the people in those disaster-stricken counties is. Until militias actually make a lawless move here, FEMA needs to call their bluff, tell MAGA to go fuck itself, and do their job.
This is of a piece with that time when MAGA militia trucks surrounded a Democrat campaign bus in Texas, local police did nothing to stop them, and Dems responded by cancelling the voter event they had planned. Out of “an abundance of caution”, and the “safety of our staff” and all.
If all Trump has to do is threaten violence to win, against FEMA or campaigns or voters, he’s going to win. It costs him nothing to make these threats, and the rewards are potentially endless.
Dems and federal employees alike need to call his bluff and stand up to this crap.
P.S.: Easy for me to say, I know. If anyone in indignant reply would like to send me to North Carolina and see how I like a little militia threat, feel free to offer.
Actually taking your employees out of harms way is the right thing to do. Good luck in finding people who will actually help people the next time. We know MAGA isn't going to assist those in need, it's not in their DNA.
Re Kristol: Perhaps considering the “content” of Trump’s “speeches” is the wrong measure. Perhaps judging its effects is a better one. This torrent of lies—do people really, truly believe it … or are they just there to watch the show?
'Johnson, for his part, uttered soothing words on the same program. “Everybody can sigh and take a deep breath,” he said. “Our system is going to work.” Congressional Republicans would doubtless certify any election, he assured his listeners—just as long as that election “is fair and free and legal.”'
And Mike Johnson wants that determination to be based on what, exactly? Feelings?
On Meet the Press this Saturday Mike (My Face Was Made for Punching) Johnson smugly corrected Kristin Welker who pointed out the program that used 'a different pot of money' from FEMA to relocate 'illegal aliens' was started and used by Trump with "No, Kristin, facts matter. The program was created under Biden. It was created in 2020." Yes, facts do matter, Mr. Speaker. Biden was sworn in January 2021. Trump was president in 2020. I know that because I was alive and awake, unlike Twit Johnson. Jesus Mary and Joseph. Is there no reality anywhere anymore?
A LANDSLIDE HARRIS VICTORY MAY NOT MATTER! State legislators ultimately determine the Electoral College votes, and if enough of them are Red, according to the Constitution, declare 270 electorates for tRump, and if the Supreme Court upholds it, we lose. Biden needs to use the power the Supreme Court gave the Presidency, and impeach all 6 for treason. SEND THE WHITE HOUSE THE MESSAGE to help Joe get the courage to do this!
I've been hoping Bill Kristol would quote Eric Hoffer's The True Believer, Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements published in the 50's to explain what is going on. It made a huge impression on me in a poly sci class 45 years ago. I find myself recalling it frequently during the last 8 years. Mass movement leaders define an enemy for potential followers to blame for all the wrongs they perceive. The enemy is pure evil, no redeeming characteristics. It keeps followers loyal and allows the leader to do whatever the leader wants in order to defeat the enemy. I never thought I'd see it in action in my lifetime.
Hoffer was once very popular among conservatives, who saw it as a guide to understanding their political opponents. I wonder how of those same conservatives are now among the True Believers and don't realize what they've become.
True believers are true believers. It doesn't matter what the ideology is or who is the leader as long as an all encompassing movement tells them who the enemy is and how good the believers are.
I went to see the movie Lee, with Kate Winslet, about Lee Miller, the war photographer whose photos of concentration camps were among the first released. It wasn’t a great movie, but it did make me reconsider how the Holocaust happened. I think I understand it better as I watch our slide toward fascism under an autocratic leader. Maybe we can stop it in time. I hope we can. Then this morning I was walking the dog on a route we sometimes take but haven’t in a while.
At one house there were signs for Trump, Ted Cruz, Vote Red, and Pray for America. I wanted to go to the door and say oh ma’am I pray for America every day, and I’m one of those radical left Democrats you think are trying to destroy the country.
My friend that I went to the movie with told me that she and her husband had gone to see the new Dinesh d’Souza movie a few weeks back. She is an intelligent professional white woman retired from teaching. If she is getting her “facts” from the 2000 Mules guy, what hope can I have?
“Vance no longer bothers to defend this Big Lie as plausibly true. Instead, Vance now says that he wouldn’t have certified the 2020 election results because he didn’t approve of the way the Hunter Biden story was covered in the media.”
Ironic isn’t it? Vance and Trump don’t like the way the media covers a story and suddenly they call foul. Can democrats call foul because Musk is using his platform X to suppress democratic voices, like the media site that wanted to publish some of the stolen documents from the Trump campaign, and was blocked?
It didn’t seem to be an issue for Trump when Wikileaks released Hillary’s emails, or when Cambridge Analytics used Facebook for its campaign advertising dollars to be used towards targeted audiences for Trump’s campaign.
And yes, evil is working. Anxiety and fear tends to move people to act; not necessarily in their interests, but they “act, nonetheless.
Trump’s negative campaigning could booster him in other ways because the MSM doesn’t understand (or doesn’t care), that when he creates spectacle’s, like the one he plans to hold at Madison Square Garden (MSG), he deliberately makes sure to have the Nazi references, so the MSM throws a tantrum, and mission accomplished: he own the libs!
My instincts tell me this will be the outcome when Trump takes the stage at Madison Square Garden in a few weeks, and the MSM compares it to the 1939 Nazi rally. Let’s hope cooler heads prevail, and the MSM doesn’t overdo it with hyperbolic nonsensical comparisons. In fact, ignore the comparison’s altogether, and try to ignore the event completely. Otherwise, we are playing right into the MAGA conundrum! IMHO!….:)
Another irony is that Trump personally helped orchestrate a scheme to make it illegal for damaging stories about himself to be published anywhere. That goes far beyond what any particular platform or outlet did regarding the laptop, and the effect on the 2016 election may have been determinative.
Agreed. He’s also tried to overthrow the government, have his VP hung, drawn and quartered. Extorted foreign leaders to start investigations into political adversaries. Tried to send fake electors to Congress. He tried the bribe and extort Secretaries of State, to find nonexistent votes. And he is a convicted felon, and possible rapist. And these are his best attributes!
Did I miss anything? Because this would be enough to bury anyone else under two miles below ground; for good!…:)
MSNBC had a Major General as a guest this morning. He started out by reading the definition of fascism, then he said it wasn't a political issue, Trump fits all the descriptions. It was a strong interview. The tricky part is getting people to care.
He tried at the end. One thing I've realized about the Republican party is that they were okay with our form of government as long as they were getting what they wanted from it, but if that ever ceased to be the case, they wouldn't hesitate to dump it. Trump's first choice in the election was to beat Biden fairly, but when that didn't happen he went with Plan B. Similarly, I'm sure the Scotus didn't want to give Trump presidential immunity, but letting him go to prison wasn't tolerable, so they went ahead and took that awful step.
They are like Igor in Young Frankenstein. When Frankenstein informed Igor that he (Frankenstein) was "quite a talented surgeon" and could easily get rid of Igor's shoulder hump, Igor replied, "What hump?" I was an ER nurse for two decades in a smallish north Texas city. A late middle-age man with an enormous inguinal hernia, whom I had seen around town many times, came to the ER one day. In the process of checking him in, taking his vital signs and asking him what was his reason for today's visit, I asked him how long he had had this hernia. His response was almost identical to Igor's.
As with Igor and this man, Trump's followers become deaf and blind to Trump's lies. I don't think his words have any more meaning to them than my scolding, praise or "conversations" mean to my dog. The way my dog is addressed --the tone of my voice and perhaps my expression-- are what he actually responds to. Trump hates dogs, yet he speaks to his cult as if that is what they are. And they, in turn, lap it up. Good boy!!
If it’s truly Trump’s Midnight in America, the Never Trumpers & Dems better start saturating the field. There are countless hours of crazy on video. Splice it together to make an endless reminder of just how unfit & unhinged Trump truly is. Stephanie Rule had a great segment on her show a few weeks back. It was of 4 Mondays on Oct 2 of each year during Trump’s presidency. It was brilliant! You can show them better than tell them…and it was a doozy. If that’s not enough to get people straight in the head, consider this, Musk & Trump will probably make it mandatory for everyone in US to own a Tesla, now that is really scary!
Pay for the advertising to put on Fox and other similar places in the swing states. There's NOTHING TO BE GAINED by putting anything at all on - PBS, NPR, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, etc. - at this point.
Social media is where it's at. A lot of people get their "information" from that. Probably Bulwark readers don't follow those particular formats. I suspect a lot of the huge amount of money we see in campaigns is developing and running video in those social media platforms. Facebook is not where it's happening anymore.
When I was younger - more naive and ignorant - I used to wonder where they found the people to staff the camps, to work for the Stasi, KGB, etc., to shoot fellow citizens for merely trying to cross the border to a non-communist country. I'm no longer young, naive or ignorant, and I no longer wonder.
I wondered this 10 years ago and I was 40. It’s not naïveté or ignorance. I think we just don’t want to believe that so many people can have a dormant darkness that, once triggered, overwhelms them.
When I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, I felt a certain moral superiority. Americans would never have gone along with those atrocities, I told myself. Ha! How naive was I?
in 1939 a Nazi rally to celebrate the rise of Hitler in Germany was held at Madison Square Garden attended by 20,000 people. Charles Lindbergh was a noted Nazi supporter and so were plenty of other Americans, including Henry Ford. Many people expressed the view that the US should become a state modeled on Nazi Germany. I think it's highly probable that Donald Trump's father Fred - whose father immigrated from Germany (and was a pimp/brothel owner) - was a Nazi sympathizer and that The Donald was inculcated with extremist far-right and racist views throughout his childhood.
I wonder, what old Henry's opinions were at the end of the war, what with all the billions and billions (in today's dollars) he made building everything from jeeps to tanks and planes for America's arsenal?
There were people who thought that at the time, and later. And even after the war there were some who thought we should have fought Stalin instead. There is a scene about it in "The Best Years of Our Lives".
Trump is said to have kept - maybe still does - a compendium of Hitler's speeches on his bedside table. Just the sort of bedtime reading one would want.
So, it's all on us really, this fragile crisis of our election. In this land of extreme individualism, sowing division is a mere cottage industry now. So many differences no longer do a united republic make. Such is the evolving fate of a shining idealism. Our system, our culture and our glacially paced legal process is what has spawned such malignancy as the Felon. In many other countries such a clear threat to governmental stability would have been eradicated at root and branch years ago. DJT would be a forgotten footnote in history, but no, not here. Now history is turning the page for us, not by us. And we deserve it. By winning in 2016 DJT finally found the supremely intoxicating level of adoration that his hollow being always craved. That is what filled the void, not concepts of what authoritarian demagoguery might be. It has since morphed into criminal intent where the simple goal is to avoid prison. The Great and The Good? They were never great or good. They long ago grabbed their brass ring and now smug aloofness is the order of the day.
I think your reference to Nate Silver’s very questionable methods is weak and you’re spreading unnecessary fear and anxiety.
Simon Rosenberg and Tom Bonner, you the people who predicted No Red Wave in 2022, are tracking the early voting, fundraising, activity and amazing enthusiasm and optimism among the Democratic electorate; we are winning and will win as long as we run through the finish line.
Echoing the corporate media play for a tight race doesn’t help most Dems, it elicits the fears of 2016, which are amplified in social circles and social media - none of which spreads the optimism and reality that we ARE winning, and the Convicted Felon is scared and desperate.
I “enjoyed” living in the Fifties (during the first 15 years of my life, segregation was law of the land). In the early Sixties I remember photo essays in Look and Life chronicling the civil rights movement—all those white faces contorted in hate. Is this the “vision” of MAGA?
"One could tell oneself in 2016 that Trump won despite the lies and hatred. Now if he wins, it would seem to be because of the lies and hatred."
This is indeed the most depressing part. Even if the vice president wins (and she should), she won't win going away (and she should). The fact this election is close at all tells us there's something very, very wrong with us.
Indeed there is. I needn't say why because I've been saying it for over six years and I'm sure the readers here are tired of my kvetching about a single topic. In that time, nothing has been suggested or acted upon to decrease the threat caused by the weaponization of our First Amendment. Our democratic republic is being poisoned by unregulated lies, hate speech, character assassination, conspiracy theories, truthiness or outright bile. Like Germany, after WW II, we may address this problem only after something very horrific happens and if Trump is re-elected, you can bank on that prediction.
I should say one thing, perhaps unpopular:
FEMA is playing right into MAGA’s hands by pulling its workers out of these counties like this. Trump has already been sweeping North Carolina and Georgia saying “the Biden administration is punishing you”; FEMA need not make his words self-fulfilling.
Which is what they’re doing. I understand that the agency is using an “abundance of caution” in the face of these militia threats and that “safety of our employees is the highest priority”—but with due respect, no it isn’t.
The well being of the people in those disaster-stricken counties is. Until militias actually make a lawless move here, FEMA needs to call their bluff, tell MAGA to go fuck itself, and do their job.
This is of a piece with that time when MAGA militia trucks surrounded a Democrat campaign bus in Texas, local police did nothing to stop them, and Dems responded by cancelling the voter event they had planned. Out of “an abundance of caution”, and the “safety of our staff” and all.
If all Trump has to do is threaten violence to win, against FEMA or campaigns or voters, he’s going to win. It costs him nothing to make these threats, and the rewards are potentially endless.
Dems and federal employees alike need to call his bluff and stand up to this crap.
P.S.: Easy for me to say, I know. If anyone in indignant reply would like to send me to North Carolina and see how I like a little militia threat, feel free to offer.
Actually taking your employees out of harms way is the right thing to do. Good luck in finding people who will actually help people the next time. We know MAGA isn't going to assist those in need, it's not in their DNA.
Re Kristol: Perhaps considering the “content” of Trump’s “speeches” is the wrong measure. Perhaps judging its effects is a better one. This torrent of lies—do people really, truly believe it … or are they just there to watch the show?
Frighteningly dark. Oh for a ray of sunshine.
'Johnson, for his part, uttered soothing words on the same program. “Everybody can sigh and take a deep breath,” he said. “Our system is going to work.” Congressional Republicans would doubtless certify any election, he assured his listeners—just as long as that election “is fair and free and legal.”'
And Mike Johnson wants that determination to be based on what, exactly? Feelings?
On Meet the Press this Saturday Mike (My Face Was Made for Punching) Johnson smugly corrected Kristin Welker who pointed out the program that used 'a different pot of money' from FEMA to relocate 'illegal aliens' was started and used by Trump with "No, Kristin, facts matter. The program was created under Biden. It was created in 2020." Yes, facts do matter, Mr. Speaker. Biden was sworn in January 2021. Trump was president in 2020. I know that because I was alive and awake, unlike Twit Johnson. Jesus Mary and Joseph. Is there no reality anywhere anymore?
If NBC had any balls they would have put Liz Cheney side by side with Johnson to counter all his lies. But NBC won't do that -- b/c it makes sense.
A LANDSLIDE HARRIS VICTORY MAY NOT MATTER! State legislators ultimately determine the Electoral College votes, and if enough of them are Red, according to the Constitution, declare 270 electorates for tRump, and if the Supreme Court upholds it, we lose. Biden needs to use the power the Supreme Court gave the Presidency, and impeach all 6 for treason. SEND THE WHITE HOUSE THE MESSAGE to help Joe get the courage to do this!
It is unthinkable that a large proportion of Americans want to remake America into a right-wing authoritarian state. But here we are.
I've been hoping Bill Kristol would quote Eric Hoffer's The True Believer, Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements published in the 50's to explain what is going on. It made a huge impression on me in a poly sci class 45 years ago. I find myself recalling it frequently during the last 8 years. Mass movement leaders define an enemy for potential followers to blame for all the wrongs they perceive. The enemy is pure evil, no redeeming characteristics. It keeps followers loyal and allows the leader to do whatever the leader wants in order to defeat the enemy. I never thought I'd see it in action in my lifetime.
Hoffer was once very popular among conservatives, who saw it as a guide to understanding their political opponents. I wonder how of those same conservatives are now among the True Believers and don't realize what they've become.
True believers are true believers. It doesn't matter what the ideology is or who is the leader as long as an all encompassing movement tells them who the enemy is and how good the believers are.
I went to see the movie Lee, with Kate Winslet, about Lee Miller, the war photographer whose photos of concentration camps were among the first released. It wasn’t a great movie, but it did make me reconsider how the Holocaust happened. I think I understand it better as I watch our slide toward fascism under an autocratic leader. Maybe we can stop it in time. I hope we can. Then this morning I was walking the dog on a route we sometimes take but haven’t in a while.
At one house there were signs for Trump, Ted Cruz, Vote Red, and Pray for America. I wanted to go to the door and say oh ma’am I pray for America every day, and I’m one of those radical left Democrats you think are trying to destroy the country.
My friend that I went to the movie with told me that she and her husband had gone to see the new Dinesh d’Souza movie a few weeks back. She is an intelligent professional white woman retired from teaching. If she is getting her “facts” from the 2000 Mules guy, what hope can I have?
“Vance no longer bothers to defend this Big Lie as plausibly true. Instead, Vance now says that he wouldn’t have certified the 2020 election results because he didn’t approve of the way the Hunter Biden story was covered in the media.”
Ironic isn’t it? Vance and Trump don’t like the way the media covers a story and suddenly they call foul. Can democrats call foul because Musk is using his platform X to suppress democratic voices, like the media site that wanted to publish some of the stolen documents from the Trump campaign, and was blocked?
It didn’t seem to be an issue for Trump when Wikileaks released Hillary’s emails, or when Cambridge Analytics used Facebook for its campaign advertising dollars to be used towards targeted audiences for Trump’s campaign.
And yes, evil is working. Anxiety and fear tends to move people to act; not necessarily in their interests, but they “act, nonetheless.
Trump’s negative campaigning could booster him in other ways because the MSM doesn’t understand (or doesn’t care), that when he creates spectacle’s, like the one he plans to hold at Madison Square Garden (MSG), he deliberately makes sure to have the Nazi references, so the MSM throws a tantrum, and mission accomplished: he own the libs!
My instincts tell me this will be the outcome when Trump takes the stage at Madison Square Garden in a few weeks, and the MSM compares it to the 1939 Nazi rally. Let’s hope cooler heads prevail, and the MSM doesn’t overdo it with hyperbolic nonsensical comparisons. In fact, ignore the comparison’s altogether, and try to ignore the event completely. Otherwise, we are playing right into the MAGA conundrum! IMHO!….:)
Another irony is that Trump personally helped orchestrate a scheme to make it illegal for damaging stories about himself to be published anywhere. That goes far beyond what any particular platform or outlet did regarding the laptop, and the effect on the 2016 election may have been determinative.
Agreed. He’s also tried to overthrow the government, have his VP hung, drawn and quartered. Extorted foreign leaders to start investigations into political adversaries. Tried to send fake electors to Congress. He tried the bribe and extort Secretaries of State, to find nonexistent votes. And he is a convicted felon, and possible rapist. And these are his best attributes!
Did I miss anything? Because this would be enough to bury anyone else under two miles below ground; for good!…:)
MSNBC had a Major General as a guest this morning. He started out by reading the definition of fascism, then he said it wasn't a political issue, Trump fits all the descriptions. It was a strong interview. The tricky part is getting people to care.
A typical MAGA response would be: "If Trump were a fascist, we would have gotten fascism the first time."
He tried at the end. One thing I've realized about the Republican party is that they were okay with our form of government as long as they were getting what they wanted from it, but if that ever ceased to be the case, they wouldn't hesitate to dump it. Trump's first choice in the election was to beat Biden fairly, but when that didn't happen he went with Plan B. Similarly, I'm sure the Scotus didn't want to give Trump presidential immunity, but letting him go to prison wasn't tolerable, so they went ahead and took that awful step.
And getting the people who need to see it to actually see it.
They are like Igor in Young Frankenstein. When Frankenstein informed Igor that he (Frankenstein) was "quite a talented surgeon" and could easily get rid of Igor's shoulder hump, Igor replied, "What hump?" I was an ER nurse for two decades in a smallish north Texas city. A late middle-age man with an enormous inguinal hernia, whom I had seen around town many times, came to the ER one day. In the process of checking him in, taking his vital signs and asking him what was his reason for today's visit, I asked him how long he had had this hernia. His response was almost identical to Igor's.
As with Igor and this man, Trump's followers become deaf and blind to Trump's lies. I don't think his words have any more meaning to them than my scolding, praise or "conversations" mean to my dog. The way my dog is addressed --the tone of my voice and perhaps my expression-- are what he actually responds to. Trump hates dogs, yet he speaks to his cult as if that is what they are. And they, in turn, lap it up. Good boy!!
The Major General needs to do the same thing on Fox.
If it’s truly Trump’s Midnight in America, the Never Trumpers & Dems better start saturating the field. There are countless hours of crazy on video. Splice it together to make an endless reminder of just how unfit & unhinged Trump truly is. Stephanie Rule had a great segment on her show a few weeks back. It was of 4 Mondays on Oct 2 of each year during Trump’s presidency. It was brilliant! You can show them better than tell them…and it was a doozy. If that’s not enough to get people straight in the head, consider this, Musk & Trump will probably make it mandatory for everyone in US to own a Tesla, now that is really scary!
Pay for the advertising to put on Fox and other similar places in the swing states. There's NOTHING TO BE GAINED by putting anything at all on - PBS, NPR, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, etc. - at this point.
Social media is where it's at. A lot of people get their "information" from that. Probably Bulwark readers don't follow those particular formats. I suspect a lot of the huge amount of money we see in campaigns is developing and running video in those social media platforms. Facebook is not where it's happening anymore.
When I was younger - more naive and ignorant - I used to wonder where they found the people to staff the camps, to work for the Stasi, KGB, etc., to shoot fellow citizens for merely trying to cross the border to a non-communist country. I'm no longer young, naive or ignorant, and I no longer wonder.
I wondered this 10 years ago and I was 40. It’s not naïveté or ignorance. I think we just don’t want to believe that so many people can have a dormant darkness that, once triggered, overwhelms them.
So true.
When I read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, I felt a certain moral superiority. Americans would never have gone along with those atrocities, I told myself. Ha! How naive was I?
in 1939 a Nazi rally to celebrate the rise of Hitler in Germany was held at Madison Square Garden attended by 20,000 people. Charles Lindbergh was a noted Nazi supporter and so were plenty of other Americans, including Henry Ford. Many people expressed the view that the US should become a state modeled on Nazi Germany. I think it's highly probable that Donald Trump's father Fred - whose father immigrated from Germany (and was a pimp/brothel owner) - was a Nazi sympathizer and that The Donald was inculcated with extremist far-right and racist views throughout his childhood.
That's a Bingo!! right there.
I wonder, what old Henry's opinions were at the end of the war, what with all the billions and billions (in today's dollars) he made building everything from jeeps to tanks and planes for America's arsenal?
Yep, the attack on Pearl Harbor after which Germany preemptively declared war on the US, really wrecked things for the Nazi sympathizers in the US.
Also, Trump openly admires Putin, Orban, Kim. Why wouldn't he admire Hitler?
In today's world, Pearl Harbor would have been caused by Democrats, or more specifically, Jews.
There were people who thought that at the time, and later. And even after the war there were some who thought we should have fought Stalin instead. There is a scene about it in "The Best Years of Our Lives".
Trump is said to have kept - maybe still does - a compendium of Hitler's speeches on his bedside table. Just the sort of bedtime reading one would want.