To the editor:
Recently, retired Four-Star Gen. Barry McCaffrey shared a worrisome warning about what could happen if Trump is re-elected. McCaffrey looked back at history, paying particularly close attention to nations that fell into autocracy. He said there’s always an assumption – that couldn’t happen here. He added, the 1930s Germany was a civilized nation that descended into autocracy, so we better worry about it.
As a person of German heritage, I have read a lot of the German history starting from the late 1920’s up to Hitler’s putsch. Intimidation, fear, xenophobia/antisemitism, brute force, and death were the hallmarks of this time. The Brownshirts were the start of implementing all of the foregoing. Then came the SS and the Gestapo.
And now I am witnessing some of this in our country. Trump and his minions are just too anxious to cower us. Trump denigrating and harassing our judicial officers and offices. If you come after me, I am going after you. Ignoring gag orders. Thumbing his nose at established laws. His minions sending threatening emails to officials and congressmen. Our country is on the verge of something, possibly a repeat of Germany as described above. Just view the scope of antisemitism in the USA today.
And ten of millions of our citizens pledge allegiance to Trump, not to our democracy and our Constitution. The German soldier did not pledge allegiance to Germany. Their pledge was to the Führer, Hitler. The Republican Party has become a version of the 1930s German National Socialist Party. The storming of our Capitol on Jan. 6 was but a foretaste if Trump and his deranged minions gain power in 2024. Did you ever hear of the burning of the Reichstag in Berlin in 1933? This was when Hitler decreed martial law and all personal freedoms were eliminated. We cannot reason with Trump supporters. We must outvote them. 2024 demands the participation and the vote of all who do not want our country to devolve into chaos and anarchy.
Sincerely,
Walter Haug
Marblehead