David Gergen has been a White House adviser to four presidents—Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a professor of public service at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. 

On August 18, he co-authored an Op-Ed with Caroline Cohen on the CNN website. Its subject: The efforts of President Donald J. Trump to disable or even destroy the United States Postal Service.

From that commentary:

“By opposing funding and stalling delivery, Trump — and his new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — are interfering with an election in which some 180 million Americans are eligible to vote by mail.”

Democrats know that the Postal Service employs about 500,000 people, making it the second largest employer in the country, just behind Walmart. 

Donald Trump

“The political surprise is why and how Republicans have allowed President Trump to once again trap them into such a boneheaded position. Their base constituencies, which tend to skew older and rural, disproportionately rely on USPS.

“Some 34% of seniors do not use the internet, meaning they must pay their bills by mail and often rely on the Postal Service for correspondence with loved ones. More than half of Americans over the age of 65 receive their medications by mail. In 2019, no less than 1.2 billion total prescriptions were delivered through the Postal Service.

“For rural Americans….the Postal Service provides access to medical, banking, and retail services that are quickly diminishing in their communities. Some 630 rural communities have lost its sole pharmacy since 2003, causing rural Americans to turn to mail to deliver medication….

“Companies like Amazon rely on the USPS to deliver to customers in rural areas. And just as is the case with seniors, the 14.5 million rural Americans without broadband service still need the Postal Service to bank, pay bills and much more.” 

Why are Republicans allowing this?

Republicans don’t fear that Trump will destroy the institutions that Americans have long cherished—such as:

• An independent judiciary;
• A free press;
• An incorruptible Justice Department;
• Intelligence agencies (such as the FBI and CIA) charged with protecting the country against subversion.

Trump has furiously attacked all of these—and Republicans have either said nothing or rushed to his defense.

An August 30, 2017 article in Salon reveals why: “Most Americans Strongly Dislike Trump, But the Angry Minority That Adores Him Controls Our Politics.”

These voters represent about one-third of the Republican party.

“These are older and more conservative white people, for the most part, who believe he should not listen to other Republicans and should follow his own instincts….

“They like Trump’s coarse personality, and approve of the fact that he treats women like his personal playthings. They enjoy it when he expresses sympathy for neo-Nazis and neo-Confederate white supremacists.

Supporters giving the Nazi “Sieg Heil” salute to Trump

“They cheer when he declares his love for torture, tells the police to rough up suspects and vows to mandate the death penalty for certain crimes. (Which of course the president cannot do.)

“…This cohort of the Republican party didn’t vote for Trump because of his supposed policies on trade or his threat to withdraw from NATO. They voted for him because he said out loud what they were thinking. A petty, sophomoric, crude bully is apparently what they want as a leader.”

It’s precisely these hard-core Fascists who come out in mid-term elections—and they’re scaring the remaining 65% who make up the GOP establishment. 

The vast majority of Republicans fear that he will turn his hate-filled base on them.

Republicans also remember that while the Nazi Party ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945, its influence over all aspects of Germans’ lives was suffocating.

“Censorship prevailed, education was undermined, family life was idealized, but children were encouraged to turn in disloyal parents,” reads the back cover of Richard Grunberger’s classic 1971 book, The 12-Year Reich. 

But after the Third Reich surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on May 8, 1945, virtually no German admitted to having been a Nazi—or having even known one.

In short: Adolf Hitler had lost the war he started—making him a loser nobody wanted to be identified with.

In the decades since, the “loser” tag has stuck with those who once served the Third Reich. Mel Brooks has repeatedly turned German soldiers—once the pride of the battlefield—into idiotic comic foils.

Even the fearsome Gestapo was spoofed for laughs on the long-running TV comedy, “Hogan’s Heroes.”

“Hogan’s Heroes”

Republicans vividly remember what happened after Richard Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace on August 9, 1974: Democrats, riding a wave of reform fever, swept Republicans out of the House and Senate—and Jimmy Carter into the White House.

Republicans fear that if Trump is defeated, he will similarly become a non-person no one any longer fears. He will be a figure held up to ridicule and condemnation. 

Like Adolf Hitler.  Like Richard M. Nixon. 

And his Congressional supporters will be branded as losers along with him.

If Republicans are conflicted about supporting Trump, their dilemma boils down to this:

1. Can I hold onto my power—and all the privileges that go with it—by supporting Trump?  Or: 
2. Can I hold onto my power—and privileges—by deserting him?

This is how Republicans define morality today.