SHADES OF THE 1933 REICHSTAG FIRE
Donald Trump, J.D. Vance and various of their acolytes have threatened massive retribution and attacks designed, among other things, to ”destroy” so-called “radical left” groups on account of their supposed responsibility for the assassination of Charlie Kirk and for allegedly fomenting other political violence. These trumped-up claims are obviously a pretext to go after Trump’s critics and opponents.
Although history does not repeat itself exactly, the Trump administration’s latest efforts to crush dissent certainly bring to mind the 1933 burning of the German parliament building (the Reichstag) in Berlin. The Nazis used the fire to contend that Communists were planning a violent uprising and they used that claim as a pretext to suspend many civil liberties and constitutional protections — freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the rights of assembly and association, among many others. The Nazi regime declared an “emergency” (sound familiar?) and the resulting decree “for the Protection of the People and the State” permitted the regime to arrest political opponents at will, to dissolve political parties and to confiscate private property. And we all know what happened next.
Not that I’m necessarily saying any of these things would happen here….?