This curse might have a hidden blessing
In his monumental two-volume biography of Adolf Hitler, author Ian Kershaw advances an explanatory theory he calls “Working towards the Führer.” Kershaw argues that the radicalisation and atrocities committed by the Nazis were often driven by subordinates competing for advancement. To that end they followed and even “improved upon” what they perceived to be Hitler’s broadly outlined wishes. They were also driven by a kind of infantile need to impress Hitler. The idea was, the more extreme they became in their policies, the likelier it was that “Der Führer” would notice and smile down upon them. What further fueled this madness was that it occasionally worked.
For people who are allergic to the idea of comparing Trump to Hitler I only have this to say. The sooner we get started on doing just that, the better we can anticipate the dangers ahead and prepare for them. If we can learn anything from history then for heaven’s sake let’s start doing so now.
One thing Trump has in common with Hitler is, like Hitler, Trump is lazy. He doesn’t like to get bogged down in details. Hitler preferred to lounge about and pontificate to small groups of people, often over dinner and sometimes into the wee hours of the morning. Hitler also liked to watch movies. Trump likes to play golf and brag about himself. He hates reading and hates attending briefings.
Like Hitler, Trump will have vast bureaucracies at his command composed of people who are fanatically devoted to him and, idiotically, filled with misguided love for him. Most of those people could live or die as far as Trump is concerned. But that is a fact that will never penetrate their visions of sugar-Trumps dancing in their tiny little heads. Make no mistake, such people are inherently deadly dangerous.
They will “work towards Trump,” and, in so doing, try to outdo each other. This could lead to escalations of outrages committed by them. If some bureaucrat rounds up a hundred immigrants in a week, some other bureaucrat will want to round up a thousand. If one member of Congress spreads an insidious lie, another will try to outdo them by spreading a lie even more insidious, and so on. Freely use your imagination.
Hitler had been in power only 28 days when the Reichstag was destroyed by fire. I happen to agree with the vast majority of historians who say that Hitler’s regime had nothing to do with it. But whatever you believe, Hitler took full advantage of the incident and used the occasion to vastly increase his power into what the rehomed Reichstag christened “The Enabling Act.” Expect a MAGA Congress to do something equally draconian if not precisely alike to increase Trump’s power, all in the name of “Working towards Trump.”
In Trump’s first term we enjoyed the fact that there existed moderating influences inside his administration. Recall that in September, 2018, an anonymous Op-Ed was published in the New York Times called, “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” The piece detailed the existence of a coalition of people prepared to restrain some of Trump’s more outrageous and dangerous impulses. I’m afraid there will be no such moderating influence to protect us this time.
The lacerating acuity of 20/20 hindsight makes it tempting to speculate on what might have been. I can’t help but yield to this unavailing form of self-indulgence by wondering what would have happened had Joe Biden lost the election in 2020. We would now be approaching the end of the Trump madness. He would now be ineligible to run again, and prison for Trump would also be a very real prospect at the hand of what would almost certainly be a Democratic administration.
Sometimes blessings have a hidden curse. Let us hope that the coming curse has a hidden blessing. We will have to wait to find out. Whatever the case, brothers and sisters, take care of yourselves, and if you can, take care of someone else too.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.