On March 19, 1945, facing certain defeat, Germany’s Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, ordered a massive “scorched-earth” campaign throughout Germany.

All German agriculture, industry, ships, communications, roads, food stuffs, mines, bridges, stores and utility plants were to be destroyed.

If implemented, it would deprive the entire German population of even the barest necessities after the war.

Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments for the Third Reich, was appalled.

The man he had idolized for 14 years had just passed a death sentence on Germany, the nation he claimed to love above all others.

Albert Speer and Adolf Hitler pouring over architectural plans

Now living in a bunker 50 feet below bomb-shattered Berlin, Hitler gave full vent to his most destructive impulses.

“If the war is lost,” Hitler told Speer, “the nation will also perish. This fate is inevitable. There is no necessity to take into consideration the basis which the people will need to continue even a most primitive existence.

“Besides, those who will remain after the battle are only the inferior ones, for the good ones have all been killed.”

Speer argued in vain that there must be a future for the German people. But Hitler refused to back down. He gave Speer 24 hours to reconsider his opposition to the order.

The next day, Speer told Hitler: “My Fuhrer, I stand unconditionally behind you!”

“Then all is well,” said Hitler, suddenly with tears in his eyes.

“If I stand unreservedly behind you,” said Speer, “then you must entrust me rather than the Gauleiters [district Party leaders serving as provincial governors] with the implementation of your decree.”

Filled with gratitude, Hitler signed the decree Speer had thoughtfully prepared before their fateful meeting.

By doing so, Hitler unintentionally gave Speer the power to thwart his “scorched earth” decree.

Speer had been the closest thing to a friend in Hitler’s life. Trained as an architect, he had joined the Nazi Party in 1931.

In 1933, Speer became Hitler’s “genius architect” assigned to create buildings meant to last for a thousand years.

In 1943, Hitler appointed him Minister of Armaments, charged with revitalizing the German war effort.

Nevertheless, Speer now crisscrossed Germany, persuading military leaders and district governors to not destroy the vital facilities that would be needed after the war.

“No other senior National Socialist could have done the job,” writes Randall Hanson, author of Disobeying Hitler: German Resistance After Valkyrie.

“Speer was one of the very few people in the Reich—perhaps even the only one—with such power to influence actors’ willingness/unwillingness to destroy.”

Despite his later conviction for war crimes at Nuremberg, Speer never regretted his efforts to save Germany from total destruction at the hands of Adolf Hitler.

Since the 2008 election of President Barack Obama, Republicans have adopted the same my-way-or-else “negotiating” stance as the German Fuhrer. Like him, they are determined to gain and hold absolute power—or destroy the Nation they claim to love. 

On December 11, 2018, President Donald J. Trump met with then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer.  The reason: To discuss his demand for $5 billion to fund his much-touted “border wall” between the United States and Mexico.

But Pelosi and Schumer stood firm: There would be no funding for a wall. They agreed, however, to extend funding for the Department of Homeland Security at current levels of $1.3 billion until September 30, 2019.

Trump, in turn, threatened to shut down the Federal Government if he didn’t get funding for his wall. “If we don’t get what we want, one way or the other…I will shut down the government. Absolutely.”

On December 22, Trump shut down the government. An estimated 380,000 government employees were furloughed and another 420,000 were ordered to work without pay.

And Trump told Congressional leaders the shutdown could last months or even years.

Donald Trump

For Trump, “the wall” is absolutely necessary—but not to keep illegal aliens out. They will go over, under or around it.

The real intent of the wall is to keep Trump in—the White House. 

Trump’s fanatical base believes that a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border will stop all illegal immigration. And he knows that if he doesn’t build it, they won’t re-elect him.

Like Adolf Hitler, his attitude is: “If I can’t rule America, there won’t be an America.”

Among the agencies directly affected by the shutdown: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—whose employees include Secret Service agents.

In short: The men and women guarding Trump are facing financial ruin—along with their families—because Trump didn’t get his way. 

This could ultimately prove disastrous for Trump.

In the 1981 movie, Prince of the City—based on the real-life career of NYPD Detective Robert Leuci—a Mafia killer warns Danny Ciello, a cop who will soon testify against police corruption: “Anybody can be hit. You know that. All those guards have to do is look the wrong way for a second.”

How alert are bodyguards likely to be when their families are faced with eviction and starvation?

Secret Service agents now face a choice: To take a bullet for a tyrant masquerading as President—or for their families threatened with ruin.