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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on January 7, 2025 at 12:10 am
Once again, Republicans are ruthlessly playing “chicken” with the nation’s financial and military security.
Even before taking the oath of office as President on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump has rushed to make an enemy of America’s longtime ally—Canada.
At a November 30 dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, he told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the dinner, insisted that Trump was joking.
But on December 2, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico unless they stopped the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.
Donald Trump
And on December 3, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag beside him. Its caption: “Oh Canada!”
Trudeau had requested the Mar-a-Lago meeting to convince Trump that the northern border is completely different from the southern one with Mexico.
“Less than one percent of migrants coming into the United States irregularly come from Canada and 0.2 percent of the fentanyl coming into the United States comes from Canada,” Trudeau said in Parliament.
During the last fiscal year, American customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Most of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.
Utterly unmentioned in Trump’s demand: It’s America’s insatiable demand for illicit drugs that is the root cause of the drug trade.
Justin Trudeau
CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million encounters with would-be illegal aliens at the Mexican border between October 2023 and September 2024. At the Canadian border, there were 23,721 such encounters.
Also unmentioned—if not deliberately ignored by Trump: Canada plays a substantial role as a U.S. trading partner. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon eagerly desires. About 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S.
Trudeau pleaded with Trump not to impose the tariff because because it would “kill” Canada’s economy.
Trump responded: “So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion?”
His comments referred to the US trade deficit with Canada.
The U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year but a third of what Canada sells into the U.S. is energy exports and prices have been high.
Trudeau left the meeting without reassurance that Trump would not impose a 25% tariff on products from Canada.
Republicans, in short, are one again utilizing the same “negotiating” strategy as Nazi Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.
And Democrats—out of cowardice or an ignorance of history—are once again refusing to publicly make this comparison.
By studying Adolf Hitler’s mindset and “negotiating” methods, we can learn much about the mindset and “negotiating” style of today’s Republican party.
Robert Payne, author of the bestselling biography, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler (1973), described Hitler’s “negotiating” style thus:
“Although Hitler prized his own talents as a negotiator, a man always capable of striking a good bargain, he was totally lacking in finesse.
“He was incapable of bargaining. He was like a man who goes up to a fruit peddler and threatens to blow his brains out if he does not sell his applies at the lowest possible price.”
A classic example of Hitler’s “bargaining style” came in 1938, when he invited Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to his mountaintop retreat in Obersalzberg, Germany.
Hitler, an Austrian by birth, intended to annex his native land to Germany. Schuschnigg was aware of Hitler’s desire, but nevertheless felt secure in accepting the invitation. He had been assured that the question of Austrian sovereignty would not arise.
Kurt von Schuschnigg
The meeting occurred on February 12, 1938.
Shuschnigg opened the discussion with a friendly compliment. Walking over to a large window, he admired the breathtaking view of the mountains.
HITLER: We haven’t come here to talk about the lovely view or the weather!
Austria has anyway never done anything which was of help to the German Reich….I am resolutely determined to make an end to all this business. The German Reich is a great power. Nobody can and nobody will interfere if it restores order on its frontiers.
SCHUSCHNIGG: I am aware of your attitude toward the Austrian question and toward Austrian history….As we Austrians see it, the whole of our history is a very essential and valuable part of German history….And Austria’s contribution is a considerable one.
HITLER: It is absolutely zero—that I can assure you! Every national impulse has been trampled underfoot by Austria….
I could call myself an Austrian with just the same right—indeed with even more right—than you, Herr Schuschnigg. Why don’t you once try a plebiscite in Austria in which you and I run against each other? Then you would see!
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In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on December 27, 2024 at 12:33 am
On October 12, 2016, The Palm Beach Post, The New York Times and People all published stories of women claiming they had been sexually assaulted by Donald Trump.
Trump’s reaction: “Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign. Total fabrication. The events never happened. Never.”
For “proof,” he attacked their physical appearance.
Of one accuser, Natasha Stoynoff, he said: “Take a look. You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don’t think so. I don’t think so.”
Of another accuser, Jessica Leeds, Trump said: “Believe me, she would not be my first choice, that I can tell you. Whoever she is, wherever she comes from, the stories are total fiction. They’re 100% made up. They never happened.”
In short: They were too ugly for Trump to consider them worth sexually harassing.
And he threatened: “All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”
To date, Trump has not filed a single lawsuit for defamation. No doubt he realizes:
- He would have to take the witness stand and testify under oath; and
- There is simply too much evidence stacked against him.
By October 14, 2016, at least 12 women had publicly accused Trump of sexually inappropriate behavior.
Donald Trump
Many Right-wingers defended Trump’s misogynist comments as mere “frat boy” talk. Said Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager and now CNN commentator: “We are electing a leader to the free world. We’re not electing a Sunday school teacher.”
And Fox News host Sean Hannity went Biblical to excuse Trump: “King David had 500 concubines for crying out loud!”
But Washington Post Columnist Micheal Gerson took a darker—and more accurate—view of Trump’s comments.
Appearing on the PBS Newshour on October 7, Gerson said: “Well, I think the problem here is not just bad language, but predatory language, abusive language, demeaning language. That indicates something about someone’s character that is disturbing, frankly, disturbing in a case like this.”
By April, 2019, the total number of women accusing Trump of making improper advances had risen to 23.
And, in June, yet another woman came forward to accuse Trump of sexual assault: E. Jean Carroll, an advice columnist for Elle magazine.
E. Jean Carroll
Carroll alleges that Trump attacked her in the fall of 1995 or the spring of 1996 at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York.
She claims claims that, while gift shopping, Trump pressured her to try on lingerie and grabbed her arm to pull her toward the dressing room.
“The moment the dressing-room door is closed, he lunges at me, pushes me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and puts his mouth against my lips.
“I am so shocked I shove him back and start laughing again. He seizes both my arms and pushes me up against the wall a second time, and, as I become aware of how large he is, he holds me against the wall with his shoulder and jams his hand under my coat dress and pulls down my tights.
“The next moment, still wearing correct business attire, shirt, tie, suit jacket, overcoat, he opens the overcoat, unzips his pants, and, forcing his fingers around my private area, thrusts his penis halfway —or completely, I’m not certain—inside me.”
True to form, Trump responded by exonerating himself on the basis of the woman’s appearance: “I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type.”
Then he accused the accuser: “Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda….
“It’s just as bad for people to believe it, particularly when there is zero evidence. Worse still for a dying publication to try to prop itself up by peddling fake news—it’s an epidemic.”
Also, predictably, he portrayed himself as the innocent victim of yet another vast conspiracy: “If anyone has information that the Democratic Party is working with Ms. Carroll or New York Magazine, please notify us as soon as possible.”
On May 9, 2023, a New York jury jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Jean Carroll in 1996, awarding her $5 million in a judgment.
Jurors also found Trump liable for defaming Carroll over her allegations. Trump did not attend the civil trial and was absent when the verdict was read.
And, just as predictably, Republicans rallied around Trump.
“Quite honestly, as somebody who had a front-row seat to the Kavanaugh hearings, we’ve seen allegations that were false,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). “We’ll let the facts go where they are, but I take [Trump’s] statement at face value.”
“Yes, I believe the president.” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy when pressed on whether he believed Trump.
There’s an old saying: “If one person tells you you’re drunk, and you feel fine, ignore him. If ten people tell you you’re drunk, you need to lie down.”
More than a score of women have come forward to say that Donald Trump—the former and future President of the United States—is a sexual predator.
Yet no one in the Republican party is willing to acknowledge it.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on December 26, 2024 at 12:05 am
Donald Trump—the soon-to-be President of the United States—has a woman problem.
Or, to be more accurate, a series of women problems.
First, he’s been married three times—and divorced twice:
- In 1977, Trump married Czech model Ivana Winklmayr. The couple divorced in 1992, following Trump’s notorious affair with actress Marla Maples.
- Maples and Trump were married in December 1993—and divorced in 1999.
- In 1998, Trump met Slovenian model Melania Knauss. They married in 2005.
Ivana Trump and Donald Trump
Donald and Melania Trump
And Trump has never been known for marital fidelity:
- He was still married to Ivana when he carried on a highly publicized extramarital affair with Marla Maples.
- Trump was still married to Maples when he entered into an affair with Melania Knauss.
- And only four months after Melania gave birth to their son, Barron, Trump had his now-infamous tryst with porn “actress” Stormy Daniels.
He has often boasted about his sexual prowess:
- When his 2016 Republican rival, Marco Rubio, joked that Trump’s hands were small, Trump said: “Look at those hands, are they small hands? And, [Rubio] referred to my hands—‘if they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.”
- Trump equated avoiding STDs during the late 1990s with serving in Vietnam: “I’ve been so lucky in terms of that whole world, it is a dangerous world out there. It’s like Vietnam, sort of. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave solider.”
John F. Kennedy—another notorious womanizer—never felt the need to boast of his prowess.
Trump’s most infamous “take” on women appeared during the 2016 Presidential race. The remarks happened during a 2005 exchange with Billy Bush, then the host of Access Hollywood.
The two were traveling in an Access Hollywood bus to the set of the soap opera Days of Our Lives, where Trump was to make a cameo appearance. A “hot” microphone caught Trump’s boast of trying to pick up a married woman:
“You know and I moved on her actually. You know she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and fuck her. She was married.
“No, no, Nancy. No this was—and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.
“I took her out furniture [shopping]. I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn’t get there, and she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look….
“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful—I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
When the Washington Post broke the story on October 7, 2016, the reaction was immediate—and explosive.
Trump quickly released a statement: “This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course—not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”
During the second Presidential debate on October 9, moderator Anderson Cooper asked Trump: “Have you ever done those things?”
Trump: “And I will tell you—no I have not.”
On October 12, 2016, The Palm Beach Post, The New York Times and People all published stories of women claiming to have been sexually assaulted by Trump.
Among his victims:
- MINDY MCGILLLIVRAY: Told the Post that Trump groped her buttocks when she, then 34, visited Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2013.
Within a week of accusing Trump, she told the Palm Beach Post that she and her family were leaving the United States. The reason: She feared for her family’s safety.
“We feel the backlash of the Trump supporters. It scares us. It intimidates us. We are in fear of our lives.’’
- NATASHA STOYNOFF: A People magazine writer, in December, 2005, she went to Mar-a-Lago to interview Donald and Melania Trump for a first-wedding-anniversary feature story.
During a break in the interview, Trump said he wanted to show Stoynoff a “tremendous” room in the mansion.
Recalled Stoynoff: “We walked into that room alone, and Trump shut the door behind us. I turned around, and within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat.”
Natasha Stoynoff
Fortunately, Trump’s butler soon entered the room, and Trump acted as though nothing had happened. But as soon as he and Stoynoff were alone again, Trump said: “You know we’re going to have an affair, don’t you?”
Stoynoff asked her editors—and received permission—to be removed from writing any further Trump features.
- JESSICA LEEDS: More than 30 years earlier, Trump had made equally unwelcome advances toward businesswoman Leeds, then 38.
Jessica Leeds
She said she was sitting next to Trump in the first-class cabin of a New York-bound flight when Trump lifted the armrest, grabbed her breasts and tried to put his hand up her skirt. She fled to the back of the plane.
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on December 20, 2024 at 12:19 am
Robert Benmosche, the CEO of American International Group (AIG) had some blunt advice to college graduates searching for work.
“You have to accept the hand that’s been dealt you in life,” Benmosche said in a 2013 interview on Bloomberg Television. “Don’t cry about it. Deal with it.”
As is typical of one-percenters, Benmosche blamed willing-to-work college graduates for the refusal of rich employers to offer jobs instead of excuses.
AIG’s way of “accepting the hand that’s been dealt you in life” was to go crying to the Federal Government for a bailout loan—which eventually ballooned to $182 billion.
If college graduates should “deal with” the hardships of finding a responsible, hiring-inclined employer with a stiff upper lip, as Benmosche advised, the same advice should work wonders on greed-fueled CEOs.
Greed-test CEOs for future government loans.
After all, drug-testing welfare recipients has become the new mantra for Republicans.
Some bills have even targeted people who seek unemployment insurance and food stamps, despite scanty evidence that the poor and jobless are disproportionately on drugs.
The concept of background screening is actually sound. But Republicans are aiming it at the wrong end of the economic spectrum.
Since 2008, the government has handed out billions of dollars in bailouts to CEOs of the wealthiest corporations in the country.
The reason: To rescue the economy from the calamity produced by the criminal greed and recklessness of those same corporations.
In 2008, Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, testified before Congress about the origins of the Wall Street “meltdown.”
He admitted that he was “shocked” at the breakdown in U.S. credit markets and said he was “partially” wrong to resist regulation of some securities.
“Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder’s equity—myself especially—are in a state of shocked disbelief,” said Greenspan, who had ruled the Fed from 1987 to 2006.
Alan Greenspan
As a disciple of the right-wing philosopher, Ayan Rand, Greenspan had fiercely held to her belief that “The Market” was a divine institution. As such, “it” alone knew what was best for the nation’s economic prosperity.
“Enlightened self-interest,” he believed, would guarantee that those who dedicated their lives to making money would not allow mere greed to steer them—and the country—into disaster.
As he saw it, any attempt to regulate greed-based appetites could only harm that divine institution.
This had been the prevailing attitude among businessmen prior to the 1929 Wall Street crash that brought on the Great Depression. It proved wrong then.
And it proved wrong for Greenspan—and the country—in 2008. And the nation will be literally paying for such misguided confidence in profit-addicted men for decades to come.
So if Republicans want to protect the “poor, oppressed taxpayer,” they should demand background investigations for those whose addiction truly threatens the economic future of this country.
That is: The men (and occasionally women) who run the nation’s most important financial institutions, such as banks, insurance and mortgage companies.
Thus, in the future, all CEOs—and their families and topmost executives—of financial institutions seeking Federal bailouts should be required to:
- Undergo “full field investigations” by the FBI and IRS.
- Submit full financial disclosure forms concerning not only themselves but all members of their immediate families.
- Be subject to Federal prosecution for perjury if they provide false information or conceal evidence of criminal violations.
- Periodically submit themselves for additional background investigation.
- Be subject to arrest, indictment and prosecution if the background investigation turns up evidence of criminal activity.
In addition:
- If a bailout-seeking financial institution refuses to comply with these criteria, it should be refused the loan.
- If a CEO and/or other top officials are judged ineligible for a loan, the company should be asked to replace those executives with others who might qualify.
- Those alternative executives should be subject to the same background investigation requirements as just outlined.
- If the institution refuses to replace those executives found ineligible, the Government should refuse the loan.
- If the Government is forced to take over a troubled financial institution, its CEO and top executives should be replaced with applicants who have passed the required security screening.
The United States has a long and embarrassing history in worshiping wealth for its own sake. Part of this can be traced to the old Calvinistic doctrine that wealth is a proof of salvation, since it shows evidence of God’s favor.
“The man who builds a factory,” eulogized President Calvin Coolidge, “builds a temple. And the man who works there, worships there.”
Another reason for this worship of mammon is the belief that someone who is wealthy is automatically endowed with wisdom and integrity. If that were true, Mafia bosses would be the moral equivalent of Saint Augustine.
Following these beliefs to their ultimate conclusion will transform the United States into a plutocracy—a government of the wealthy, by the wealthy, for the wealthy.
Every day—from President Donald Trump on down—we see fresh evidence of the destruction wrought by the unchecked greed of wealthy, powerful men.
When they—and their paid shills in Congress—demand, “De-regulate business,” it’s essential to remember what this really means.
It means: “Let criminals be criminals.”
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Politics, Social commentary on December 19, 2024 at 12:11 am
The late Robert Benmosche, then CEO of American International Group (AIG), had some blunt advice to college graduates searching for work in a tight job market.
Robert Benmosche
“You have to accept the hand that’s been dealt you in life,” Benmosche said in a 2013 interview on Bloomberg Television. “Don’t cry about it. Deal with it.”
Typical advice from a one-percenter whose company, AIG, suffered a liquidity crisis when its credit ratings were downgraded below “AA” levels in September, 2008.
So how did AIG “deal with” its own crisis? It went crying to its Uncle Sugar, the United States Government, for a bailout.
Which it promptly got.
The United States Federal Reserve Bank, on September 16, 2008, made an $85 billion loan to AIG to meet increased collateral obligations resulting from its credit rating downgrade—and thus saving it from certain bankruptcy.
In return, the Government took an 80% stake in the firm.
(The bailout eventually ballooned to $182 billion in exchange for a 92% stake.)
College graduates, said Benmosche, needed to seize the opportunities that become available to them, even if their options are limited.
“They want me to talk to the students and give them a sense of encouragement, especially with the high unemployment,” said Benmosche.
“My advice will be, ‘Whatever opportunity comes your way, take it. Take it and treat it as if it’s the only one that’s coming your way, because that actually may be the truth.’”
Yes, if you have the opportunity to cry yourself into a multi-billion dollar loan from the Federal Government, by all means, do so.
Of course, willing-to-work college graduates who can’t find willing-to-hire employers won’t be able to count on a generous bailout from the Federal Government.
To which most of them will owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans.
It’s long past time to apply to “untouchable” CEOs like Robert Benmosche the same criteria that Right-wing Republicans demand be applied to welfare recipients.
Republican lawmakers have vigorously pursued welfare drug-testing in Congress and more than 30 states.
Some bills have even targeted people who claim unemployment insurance and food stamps, despite scanty evidence the poor and jobless are disproportionately on drugs.
The concept of background screening is actually sound. But Republicans are aiming it at the wrong end of the economic spectrum.
Since 2008, the government has handed out billions of dollars in bailouts to the wealthiest corporations in the country.
The reason: To rescue the economy from the calamity produced by the criminal greed and recklessness of those same corporations.
For example:
According to the Special Inspector General for the TARP bailout, the total commitment of government is $16.8 trillion dollars with the $4.6 trillion already paid out.
And it’s equally important to remember that welfare recipients did not:
- Hold CEO positions at any of the banks so far bailed out;
- Run such insurance companies as American International Group (AIG);
- Administer the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Freddie Mac;
- Command the Federal National Mortgage Association, known as Fannie Mae.
The 2010 documentary Inside Job chronicles the events leading to the 2008 global financial crisis. One of its most insightful moments occurs at a party held by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
“We can’t control our greed,” the CEO of a large bank admits to his fellow guests. “You should regulate us more.”
Greed is defined as an excessive desire for wealth or goods. At its worst, greed trumps rationality, judgment and concern about the damage it may cause.
Greed begins in the neurochemistry of the brain. A neurotransmitter called dopamine fuels our greed. The higher the dopamine levels in the brain, the greater the pleasure we experience.
Cocaine, for example, directly increases dopamine levels. So does money.
Harvard researcher Hans Breiter has found, via magnetic resonance imaging studies, that the craving for money activates the same regions of the brain as the lust for sex, cocaine or any other pleasure-inducer.
Dopamine is most reliably activated by an experience we haven’t had before. We crave recreating that experience.
But snorting the same amount of cocaine, or earning the same sum of money, does not cause dopamine levels to increase. So the pleasure-seeker must increase the amount of stimuli to keep enjoying the euphoria.
In time, this incessant craving for pleasure becomes an addiction. And feeding that addiction–-with ever more money–becomes the overriding goal.
Thus, the infamous line—”Greed is good”—in the 1987 film, Wall Street, turns out to be both false and deadly for all concerned.
But the situation need not remain this way.
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In Bureaucracy, History, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on December 13, 2024 at 12:13 am
As anti-vaccine zealot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. prepares to take over the Department of Health and Human Services, a cautionary historical reminder is in order.
During 2020, Donald Trump’s last year as President, many Republicans—who refused to acknowledge the dangers of Coronavirus—found themselves fighting for their lives.
Among these:
- Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
- Senator Mitt Romney
- Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)
- Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ)
- Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
- Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)
- Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO)
- Representative Ann Wagner (R-MO)
- Senator Rick Scott (R-FL)
- Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
- Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA)
- Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
- Representative Tom Cole (R-OK)
- Representative Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL)
- Representative Doug Collins (R-GA)
- Representative Drew Ferguson (R-GA)
Of course, Republicans were not the only members of Congress who got Coronavirus.
Democrats did, too:
- Representative Julia Brownley (CA)
- Representative Don Beyer (VA)
- Representative John Yarmuth (KY)
- Representative Ben Ray Luján (NM)
- Representative Gwen Moore (WI)
- Representative Jason Crow (CO)
- Representative Matt Cartwright (PA)
- Representative Stephanie Murphy (FL)
- Representative Kathleen Rice (NY)
- Representative Anthony Brindisi (NY)
- Representative Joe Cunningham (SC)
- Representative David Price (NC)
- Representative Sharice Davids (KS)
- Representative Andy Kim (NJ)
- Representative Vicente Gonzalez (TX)
The difference between the two political parties: While Democrats overwhelmingly accepted Coronavirus as a deadly reality, a far smaller portion of Republicans did.
A Pew Research Center study released on March 18, 2020 found that 59% of Democrats called the virus a major threat to Americans’ health.
But only 33% of Republicans agreed.
This despite the fact that medical experts and epidemiologists warned that there was then no vaccination against the virus.
Twelve percent of Democrats believed President Donald Trump was doing a good job handling the crisis and 23% believed Vice President Mike Pence was doing a somewhat or very good job.
But 82% of Republicans said Trump was doing a somewhat or very good job, and 78% said the same for Pence.
Donald Trump
Much of this divide stemmed from Trump’s initial refusal to take the disease seriously. On February 28, 2020, at a campaign rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, Trump claimed: “Now the Democrats are politicizing the Coronavirus….This is their new hoax.”
Throughout his Presidency, Trump used “hoax” to attack his opponents—such as Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Trump’s collaboration with Russian Intelligence agents during the 2016 Presidential campaign.
And Republicans had utterly tied themselves to him since the 2018 mid-term elections, where many moderate Republicans lost their seats.
According to Toluse Olorunnipa, White House reporter for The Washington Post:
“They have realized that if they’re going to keep their seats, if they’re going to be able to have any future in the party, they have to be completely tied to President Trump and really wait for his call in terms of what exactly they’re going to do.”
Another reason why Republicans—voters and politicians—refused to take the Coronavirus outbreak seriously lay in their hostile attitude toward higher education.
An August 2019 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 59% of Republicans said higher education had a negative effect on the country.
Only 18% of Democrats agreed with that.
Three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, attitudes changed little among Democrats and Republicans.
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, released on September 6, 2022:
Democrats often expressed gratitude for the appearance of vaccines and the speed at which they were developed. They also showed respect for science generally.
For Republicans, skepticism toward vaccines was their top response. They also expressed strong distrust toward the pharmaceutical industry and government officials.
Democrats emphasized the need for better preparation to deal with future outbreaks of infectious disease. They also spoke of the need for greater trust of public health guidance and faster responses.
Republicans agreed that better preparation was necessary—but cited low trust in government officials and a need to avoid shutdowns and prevent limits on individual freedom.
These differences were not without consequences. And they proved especially lethal for Republicans and their Right-wing allies.
An October 6, 2022 report on NBC News stated:
“COVID deaths are unevenly distributed among Republicans and Democrats…
“A study in June, 2022 published in Health Affairs…found that counties with a Republican majority had a greater share of COVID-19 deaths through October 2021, relative to majority-Democratic counties.”
The researchers believed that the refusal of millions of Republicans to get vaccinated might be the biggest reason for the disparity in casualties.
“In counties where a large share of the population is getting vaccinated, we see a much smaller gap between Republicans and Democrats,” said Jacob Wallace, an author of that study and an assistant professor of health policy at the Yale School of Public Health.
But the researchers suggested that the refusal of millions of Right-wingers to get vaccinated explained just 10% of the partisan gap in the deaths. Added to this must be their refusal to comply with such public health measures as wearing masks and social distancing.
Thus, Republicans’ contempt for government (unless headed by a Right-winger) and science left huge numbers of them dead—and likely played a major role in electing Joseph R. Biden President in 2020.
Altogether, 400,000 Americans died of COVID-19 by the time Trump left office.
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In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on December 4, 2024 at 12:11 am
During the 2024 Presidential election, the two most important issues—for voters—were immigration and inflation.
In short: “Get rid of the spics!” and “Give us cheaper eggs!”
Repeatedly, Vice President Kamala Harris warned that Donald Trump’s return to the Presidency would result in a Fascistic dictatorship:
“Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable, and in a second term, people like John Kelly [Trump’s former chief of staff] would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions….
“He wants a military who will be loyal to him, personally, one that will obey his orders, even when he tells them to break the law or abandon their oath to the Constitution of the United States.”
Reputable media warned that he intended to turn the FBI into his private Gestapo and use the Justice Department to attack his political rivals.
Kamala Harris
But Americans didn’t care.
Instead, 76.9 million voters chose to overturn the democratic traditions that had guided American life since 1788, when the United States Constitution was ratified.
Appeals to their hatred, racism and greed proved far more seductive.
Throughout Trump’s Presidency—2017 to 2021—those who opposed his agenda took solace in a series of expected saviors.
- On May 9, 2017, Trump fired FBI Director James Comey for daring to investigate his proven ties to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein then appointed Robert Meuller as special counsel to investigate that firing—and Trump’s ties to Russia.
Mueller had a sterling reputation for integrity as a former prosecutor and FBI director. But he allowed himself to be intimidated by the Presidential aura—and refused to directly interview Trump.
His subsequent official report contained no impeachment-worthy evidence.
- On July 25, 2019, Trump threatened to withhold almost $400 million in promised military aid for Ukraine—which faced increasing aggression from Russia—unless its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, did him “a favor”: Investigate 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who had had business dealings in Ukraine.
The reason for such an investigation: To find embarrassing “dirt” on Biden. Unless Zelensky found this, the promised aid would be withheld.
The House of Representatives tried Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The evidence against him was overwhelming—including a transcript of the extortionate phone call.
Donald Trump
But the Republican Senate refused to convict.
Had this happened, Trump would have been legally barred from running again for President.
- On January 6, 2021, Trump incited a violent attack on the United States Capitol to stop the counting of Electoral College votes—which would prove that he had lost the 2020 Presidential election to former Vice President Joseph Biden.
As a result, five people died and 174 police officers were injured. The Capitol Building—the symbol of American democracy—suffered about $2.7 billion in damages.
Evidence of Trump’s guilt was overwhelming—including video of his incitement.
But, once again, the Republican-dominated Senate refused to convict.
Stormtrumpers attacking the Capitol Building
Tyler Merbler from USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Trump’s opponents had placed their hopes in Special Counsel Robert Mueller and (twice) the United States Congress to address the brazen criminality of Donald Trump.
The results: Anger and disappointment.
Yet one last hope remained:
That the 2024 Presidential election would send Joseph Biden, and then, after he dropped out of the race, Vice President Kamala Harris—to the White House.
Harris waged what was widely descripted as “a campaign of joy,” promising to be “the President of all Americans,” including those who voted against her. Repeatedly, she warned that, if re-elected, Trump would pursue a vengeance-fueled agenda against anyone who had dared cross him.
Trump ran a campaign based on hatred—of Hispanics, of liberals, of those who had served in his administration and now disowned him. During his single debate with Harris, he falsely claimed that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were “eating the dogs….they’re eating the cats” of local citizens.
On one occasion, he appeared to emulate performing a ‘sex act’ on a microphone stand during a rally after experiencing technical difficulties.
Most ominously, credible news reports circulated that, if Trump were re-elected, he would implement a radical, Right-wing plan—Project 2025—to completely reshape the federal government.
At its heart: The mass firings of politically neutral civil service officials and their replacement with thousands of political hacks.
This would arm Republicans with the power to establish an absolute dictatorship under the next Republican president.
Yet, in the end, none of this mattered.
His supporters included:
- Hispanics: 54%—despite being repeatedly vilified by Trump and slated for mass deportation;
- White women: 52%—despite his destroying abortion rights and being convicted for raping columnist E. Jean Carroll;
- Blacks: 21%—giving Harris fewer votes than they gave Biden in 2020.
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to dictatorial power through backroom intrigues and appointment as Chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg.
On November 5, 2024, Trump rose to dictatorial power when Americans voted to ignore his past crimes and the ones he boasted he intended to commit.
John Adams predicted this long ago: “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
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In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on December 3, 2024 at 12:13 am
On April 27, 2020, Joe Scarborough offered an important insight about why most Americans ignored President Donald Trump’s crimes and outrages for so long:
“Back in January Joe Biden wrote an Op-Ed that the President was not prepared for this coming pandemic, and things were going to get worse. And he said ‘Let your doctors talk. Let your scientists talk. Follow their lead.’
“…And it’s been one scam idea after another, that people then promoted on other networks, scam doctors promoting these scam solutions, claiming that everybody who had taken this malaria drug had been cured in certain hospitals. This is just the sort of thing that catches up to Donald Trump.
“I’ve said from the very beginning: You can lie about independent counsels, people won’t listen. You can lie about former FBI directors—“
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: “It doesn’t impact their lives.”
JOE SCARBOROUGH: “They’re still going to work, the kids are doing fine, they’ve got enough money to pay their rent, to pay their mortgage, You can even lie about the Ukraine call—they don’t really care.
“But all of these lies, all of these [COVID-19] scams that he’s been pushing…have been revealed as lies—not by the people on cable news, but by their doctors. By nurses they know. If you’ve got a doctor who’s been treating your family for 20-25 years, you’re going to believe that person more than a scam artist that’s pushing propaganda for Donald Trump on talk radio.“
On August 23, 2018, Trump, appearing on “Fox and Friends,” said: “I tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash, I think everybody would be very poor.”
Donald Trump
Thus, he appealed to the greed and fear of his voting base—and no doubt hoped to reach beyond it: “Keep me in power or you’ll all suffer for it.”
Then-White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders bragged, on June 4, 2018:
“Since taking office, the President has strengthened American leadership, security, prosperity, and accountability. And as we saw from Friday’s jobs report, our economy is stronger, Americans are optimistic, and business is booming.”
Many Congressional Republicans echoed this: The American people care only about the economy—and how well-off they are.
For eight years, Nazi Germany underwent such an epoch. Germans called it “The Happy Time.”
It began on January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor—and lasted until June 22, 1941, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union.
Germans knew about the Nazis’ cruelty to the Jews, the conquests of Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, the mass arrests and concentration camps.
They didn’t care.
Frenzied Germans greet Adolf Hitler
The Gestapo didn’t have to watch everyone: German “patriots” gladly reported their fellow citizens—especially Jews—to the secret police.
As far as everyday Germans were concerned:
- The streets were clean and peaceful.
- Employment was high.
- The trouble-making unions were gone.
- Germany was once again “taking its rightful place” among ruling nations, after its catastrophic defeat in World War 1.
The height of “The Happy Time” came in June, 1940. In just six weeks, the Wehrmacht accomplished what the German army hadn’t in four years during World War 1: The total defeat of its longtime enemy, France.
Suddenly, French clothes, perfumes, delicacies, paintings and other “fortunes of war” came pouring into the Fatherland.
Most Germans believed der Krieg—“the war”—was over, and only good times lay ahead.
Then, on June 22, 1941, three million Wehrmacht soldiers slashed their way into the Soviet Union. The Third Reich was now locked in a death-struggle with a nation even more powerful than itself.
German soldiers in the Soviet Union
And then, on December 11, 1941—four days after Germany’s ally, Japan, attacked Pearl Harbor—Hitler declared war on the United States.
“The Happy Time” for Germans was over. Only prolonged disaster lay ahead.
Donald Trump has spent his life appealing to the greed or fear of those around him. For example:
- Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi personally solicited a political contribution from Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates.
- After Bondi dropped the Trump University case against Trump, he wrote her a $25,000 check for her re-election campaign.
- According to an April 14, 2019 story by ABC News, a nationwide review uncovered at least 36 criminal cases where Trump was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault.
- In nine cases, attackers hailed Trump in the midst or immediate aftermath of physically assaulting victims.
- In 10 more cases, perpetrators cheered or defended Trump while taunting or threatening others.
- And in another 10 cases, Trump and his rhetoric were cited in court to explain a defendant’s violent or threatening behavior.
But starting in January, 2020, Trump faced an enemy—to his re-election—that he couldn’t bribe or intimidate.
The deadly COVID-19 virus didn’t accept bribe-monies or grovel before a raging tyrant. As a result, 400,000 Americans died by the time Trump left office.
The Germans made a devil’s-bargain with Adolf Hitler—and paid dearly for it.
Millions of greedy Americans made a similar bargain with Donald Trump—and paid almost as dearly.
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In Bureaucracy, Entertainment, History, Humor, Military, Politics, Social commentary on December 2, 2024 at 12:19 am
Many Republican strategists feared that, with the defeat of Donald Trump by Joe Biden in 2020, Democrats would have a lock on the White House in 2024.
And the base of the Republican Party continued to demand candidates who are increasingly Fascistic.
The top officials of the Republican Party decided that science held the answer: They would use cloning to create the perfect, unbeatable Presidential candidate.
They directed scientists from the National Institute of Health to resurrect—via DNA samples—several past, hugely popular Republican leaders.
The first of these was Abraham Lincoln: Destroyer of slavery and defender of the Union.
The scientists then introduced him to a sample of Republican voters to gauge his current popularity.
Abraham Lincoln
The test audience erupted—but not in the way party officials expected.
“Race-mixer!”
“He’s the reason we have all these damn civil rights laws.”
“He invaded the South—and destroyed states’ rights!”
To head off a riot, the scientists rushed the startled Lincoln-clone off the stage.
Then they introduced their next resurrected candidate: Theodore Roosevelt, the trust-busting conservationist.
Theodore Roosevelt
Again, the test-audience erupted:
“Tree-hugger! Tree-hugger!”
“He’s the guy who broke up the big corporations—lousy Socialist!”
Startled Republican officials hustled the Roosevelt-clone out of the building.
Finally, they brought out their third choice for victory: A cloned Ronald Reagan.
Ronald Reagan
For the test audience, this was simply too much:
“Not him! He legalized abortion in California when he was Governor!”
“He let all those damn Mexicans come into California! We need someone who kicks them out!”
Desperate, Republican leaders went into a huddle.
“What are we going to do?” asked one. “Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan were our most popular Presidents.”
“Yeah, but that was in the past, before Donald Trump showed us the way,” said another. “We need a candidate who speaks to our base today.”
“Hey, I’ve got an idea. But there’s just one catch. The guy I have in mind wasn’t actually born in the United States.”
“So what?”
“That would violate the Constitution.”
“Screw the Constitution. You know what Donald Trump always said: Why spoil the beauty of the thing with legality?”
So the Republicans again ordered the scientists to return to work one last time.
When the last resurrected candidate was presented to the test-audience, the crowd rose as one, shouting: “That’s him! That’s him!”
“The one we’ve been waiting for!”
“The one who really speaks for us!”
“He’s totally anti-abortion—and he hates uppity women!”
“He makes even Trump look like a pussy!”
“Yeah—he hates Socialists, gays and nonwhites, and he really believes in a strong military!”
Then the audience suddenly hushed as their cloned savior raised his hand for silence.
“All right, all right, I vill do it,” said the clone-candidate. “But the last time I led people to greatness, they proved unworthy of me.
“So I vill do it again—but only on von condition!”
“Yes, yes!” screamed the test-audience. “Anything you want! What is it?”
“Ziss time….”
Adolf Trump
….no more Mister Nice Guy!”
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In Bureaucracy, History, Politics, Social commentary on November 29, 2024 at 12:57 am
In his bestselling 1973 biography, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler, British historian Robert Payne harshly condemned the German people for the rise of the Nazi dictator.
“[They] allowed themselves to be seduced by him and came to enjoy the experience….[They] followed him with joy and enthusiasm because he gave them license to pillage and murder to their hearts’ content. They were his servile accomplices, his willing victims….
“If he answered their suppressed desires, it was not because he shared them, but because he could make use of them. He despised the German people, for they were merely the instruments of his will.”
On November 8, 2016, millions of ignorant, hate-filled, Right-wing Americans elected Donald Trump—a man reflecting their own hate and ignorance—to the Presidency.
Yet, in some ways, Americans had fewer excuses for turning to a Fascistic style of government than the Germans did.
Adolf Hitler, joined the National Socialist German Workers (Nazi) Party in 1919—the year after World War 1 ended.
Adolf Hitler
In 1923, he staged a coup attempt in Bavaria—which was quickly and brutally put down by police. He was arrested and sentenced to less than a year in prison.
After that, Hitler decided that winning power through violence was no longer an option. He must win it through election—or appointment.
When the 1929 Depression struck Germany, the fortunes of Hitler’s Nazi party rose as the life savings of ordinary Germans fell. Streets echoed with bloody clashes between members of Hitler’s Nazi Stormtroopers and those of the German Communist Party.
Germans desperately looked for a leader—a Fuhrer—who could somehow deliver them from the threat of financial ruin and Communist takeover.
In early 1933, members of his own cabinet persuaded aging German president, Paul von Hindenburg, that only Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor could do this.
Paul von Hindenburg
Hindenburg was reluctant to do so. He considered Hitler a dangerous radical. But he let himself be convinced that he could “box in” and control Hitler by putting him in the Cabinet.
So, on January 30, 1933, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor (the equivalent of Attorney General) of Germany.
On August 2, 1934, Hindenburg died. Hitler immediately assumed the titles—and duties—of the offices of Chancellor and President. His rise to total power was complete.
It had taken him 14 years to do so.
In 2015, Donald Trump declared his candidacy for President.
Now, consider this:
- America was technically at war in the Middle East—but its fate was not truly threatened, as it had been during the Civil War.
- Government loans from President Barack Obama had saved American capitalism from its own excesses during the George W. Bush administration.
- Employment was up.
- No scandals had plagued the Obama Presidency—unlike the Reagan one.
- There been no large-scale terrorist attacks on American soil—such as 9/11 under George W. Bush.
Yet—not 17 months after announcing his candidacy for President—enough Americans fervently embraced Donald Trump to give him the most powerful position in the country and the world.
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Donald Trump
Whites comprised the overwhelming majority of the audiences at Trump rallies. Not all were racists, but many of those who were advertised it on T-shirts: “MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN.”
Birthrates among nonwhites were rising. By 2045, whites would make up less than 50 percent of the American population.
The 2008 election of the first black President had shocked whites. His 2012 re-election had deprived them of the hope that 2008 had been an accident.
Then came 2016—and the possibility that a black President might actually be followed by a woman: Hillary Clinton.
During Trump’s four years in office, he:
- Fired FBI Director James Comey for investigating Russia’s subversion of the 2016 Presidential election.
- Attacked Federal judges whose rulings displeased him.
- Repeatedly and enthusiastically defended Vladimir Putin, the dictator of Russia, America’s mortal enemy.
- Installed three Right-wing Justices on the Supreme Court who overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to once again outlaw abortion.
- Attacked and alienated America’s oldest allies, such as Canada and Great Britain.
- Shut down the United States Government, imperiling the lives of 800,000 Federal employees, to extort money from Congress for a worthless wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
- Attacked the free press as “the enemy of the people.”
- Repeatedly lied about the dangers of COVID-19 while attacking governors who supported mask-wearing and social distancing; 400,000 Americans died.
- Refused to accept his loss in the 2020 Presidential election and spread “The Big Lie” that he had been cheated of victory by massive voter fraud.
- Incited a deadly attack on Congress to stop the counting of Electoral College votes—proving that Joe Biden had won the 2020 Presidential election—so he could remain in office as “President-for-Life.”
On November 5, 2024, 76,414,580 ignorant, hate-filled, Right-wing Americans eagerly voted to again install him as their Fuhrer.
Imagine that, four years after World War II, Germans had voted to replace their “colorless” chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, with the one who had ignited World War II and slaughtered six million Jews: Adolf Hitler.
All of this should be remembered the next time an American blames Germans for their embrace of Adolf Hitler.
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HITLER DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN: PART ONE (OF FOUR)
In Bureaucracy, Business, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Military, Politics, Social commentary on January 7, 2025 at 12:10 amOnce again, Republicans are ruthlessly playing “chicken” with the nation’s financial and military security.
Even before taking the oath of office as President on January 20, 2025, Donald Trump has rushed to make an enemy of America’s longtime ally—Canada.
At a November 30 dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida, he told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the dinner, insisted that Trump was joking.
But on December 2, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico unless they stopped the flow of drugs and illegal aliens.
Donald Trump
And on December 3, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag beside him. Its caption: “Oh Canada!”
Trudeau had requested the Mar-a-Lago meeting to convince Trump that the northern border is completely different from the southern one with Mexico.
“Less than one percent of migrants coming into the United States irregularly come from Canada and 0.2 percent of the fentanyl coming into the United States comes from Canada,” Trudeau said in Parliament.
During the last fiscal year, American customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Most of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.
Utterly unmentioned in Trump’s demand: It’s America’s insatiable demand for illicit drugs that is the root cause of the drug trade.
Justin Trudeau
CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million encounters with would-be illegal aliens at the Mexican border between October 2023 and September 2024. At the Canadian border, there were 23,721 such encounters.
Also unmentioned—if not deliberately ignored by Trump: Canada plays a substantial role as a U.S. trading partner. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon eagerly desires. About 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S.
Trudeau pleaded with Trump not to impose the tariff because because it would “kill” Canada’s economy.
Trump responded: “So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion?”
His comments referred to the US trade deficit with Canada.
The U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year but a third of what Canada sells into the U.S. is energy exports and prices have been high.
Trudeau left the meeting without reassurance that Trump would not impose a 25% tariff on products from Canada.
Republicans, in short, are one again utilizing the same “negotiating” strategy as Nazi Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.
And Democrats—out of cowardice or an ignorance of history—are once again refusing to publicly make this comparison.
By studying Adolf Hitler’s mindset and “negotiating” methods, we can learn much about the mindset and “negotiating” style of today’s Republican party.
Robert Payne, author of the bestselling biography, The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler (1973), described Hitler’s “negotiating” style thus:
“Although Hitler prized his own talents as a negotiator, a man always capable of striking a good bargain, he was totally lacking in finesse.
“He was incapable of bargaining. He was like a man who goes up to a fruit peddler and threatens to blow his brains out if he does not sell his applies at the lowest possible price.”
A classic example of Hitler’s “bargaining style” came in 1938, when he invited Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to his mountaintop retreat in Obersalzberg, Germany.
Hitler, an Austrian by birth, intended to annex his native land to Germany. Schuschnigg was aware of Hitler’s desire, but nevertheless felt secure in accepting the invitation. He had been assured that the question of Austrian sovereignty would not arise.
Kurt von Schuschnigg
The meeting occurred on February 12, 1938.
Shuschnigg opened the discussion with a friendly compliment. Walking over to a large window, he admired the breathtaking view of the mountains.
HITLER: We haven’t come here to talk about the lovely view or the weather!
Austria has anyway never done anything which was of help to the German Reich….I am resolutely determined to make an end to all this business. The German Reich is a great power. Nobody can and nobody will interfere if it restores order on its frontiers.
SCHUSCHNIGG: I am aware of your attitude toward the Austrian question and toward Austrian history….As we Austrians see it, the whole of our history is a very essential and valuable part of German history….And Austria’s contribution is a considerable one.
HITLER: It is absolutely zero—that I can assure you! Every national impulse has been trampled underfoot by Austria….
I could call myself an Austrian with just the same right—indeed with even more right—than you, Herr Schuschnigg. Why don’t you once try a plebiscite in Austria in which you and I run against each other? Then you would see!
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