Nazi Germany is largely regarded as humanity at its worst. It was a movement built on hate and lies of epic proportions.
Lately, it feels like I am witnessing a new rise of Nazi Germany, except this time it’s not Adolf Hitler clawing his way to power, it’s Donald Trump.
When allied troops discovered the Nazi death camps, the world was horrified by the images of starving prisoners, mass graves, gas chambers, and ovens for burning bodies. People wondered, how could anyone have stood by and let this happen?
Hitler first attempted to take power in Germany in November 1923. Despite trying to overthrow the government, Hitler was only given a slap on the wrist. This enabled him to regroup with his followers and take power in 1933 and proceed with his genocide and attempt at world domination.
Following the November 2020 election that saw Joe Biden lawfully elected president of the United States, Trump desperately tried to hold on to power. Trump and his enablers like Rudy Giuliani, Sean Hannity, Jeffrey Clark, Rick Perry, John Eastman, and MyPillow nutjob Mike Lindell, concocted crazy schemes to illegally overturn the 2020 election.
These plans directly resulted in the January 6, 2021, insurrection in which Trump encouraged his followers to use violence to take control of the Capitol and stop the transfer of power to president-elect Joe Biden. Reports are that Trump watched the violence unfold on television with glee. Text messages from members of Congress, his friends in the media, and even his family could not convince Trump to take action to stop the violence.
The question on every patriot’s mind is: Why is Donald Trump not in jail yet?
It isn’t like Donald Trump ran a red light. He orchestrated an attempted coup. He tried to overthrow the government. Just because he failed, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be punished. I can think of no greater crime against our country.
That’s where Republicans and Democrats differ as organizations. We all know the belief system of Republicans and Democrats as being different. Democrats advocate things like human rights, equality, unions, social services, and investing in our country. Republicans believe in big business, tax breaks for the rich, taking away women’s reproductive rights, and throwing out the constitution in favor of the bible.
But, there is another difference between the two parties. That difference is a sense of party unity above all else. When the leader of the Republican party said, “everyone refuse to support President Obama” they did it. They refused to pass any of his bills, no matter how much good they could do for the country. That doesn’t happen in the Democratic party.
In the Democratic party you have people who won’t toe the company line. I am a big fan of both Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez but both have had their moments of not standing in party unity when necessary. Sen. Joe Manchin is worthless and should be forced out of the Democratic party altogether. He is not a Democrat and proves it by being the lone dissenter to passing Democratic reforms.
We, as Democrats, need to focus on party unity. We need to abolish the filibuster and pass voter rights legislation. If Mitch McConnell had told his Republicans that they needed to do those two things, the Republicans would have done them by now. Sadly, of course, McConnell hardly ever does things for the good of the country. Republicans want to take away voting rights because tricks like gerrymandering are their only hope to stay in office.
The Republican’s talent for binding themselves together to further the agenda of party leadership is dangerous. Unfortunately, it seems very few Republicans in Congress have the moral compass necessary for a soldier to know when blindly following orders is the wrong thing to do.
At least when Hitler attempted to overthrow the government in Germany, he was sentenced to some prison time. Trump is still out peddling his Big Lie about not losing the election by 7 million votes. He is still stirring up hate in the public and demanding Republicans in office either publicly support his Big Lie or be ostracized from the party.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger is one of the few Republicans willing to be truthful that “election fraud” is just a Big Lie Trump made up to try to stay in power, and that the January 6 attack on the Capitol needs to be investigated and the instigators punished. Rep. Liz Cheney is the other Republican in the House willing to stand up to Trump.
Kinzinger has stated that the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection will indeed subpoena members of Congress and Donald Trump if necessary. He also shared that the evidence they have shows members of Congress may have been an active part of the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
Think about that for a moment. Not only did we have a president who colluded with Russia to gain office in 2016, not only did that president try to overthrow the government when his re-election bid failed, but members of Congress may have been involved in the attempted coup.
The party unity among the Republicans is so strong, they break laws together without flinching. I am not saying that the Democrats should stoop to the level of breaking laws like Republicans, but they should put aside their differences when it counts.
Eliminate the filibuster. Pass voter protection legislation. It’s that simple.
If we don’t take these steps now, Republicans will gerrymander their way to a majority in Congress in 2022 and history will repeat itself. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party rose again. Trump Republicans are threatening to do the same thing. Is that a world we can live in?
Peace. Love. Trust.
If you appreciate the nature of my words here, I ask that you take just a moment to share this article with your social media of choice. Follow me on Facebook (/rikki.travolta) and Twitter (@RikkiLeeTV)