This Memorial Day weekend is an appropriate time for the American public to consider whether the future of this Republic may be seriously going off its political rails. The rituals of parades, barbecues, and family gatherings are going on as usual. Some Americans are hopefully commemorating the sacrifices made by thousands of U.S. patriots who went off to fight in many wars to protect and defend American values. There is, meanwhile, an underlying mood in the country which should be extremely troubling. More and more Americans have become enamored with a set of goals which are totally antithetical to the causes for which earlier generations fought. The very nature of American democracy appears to be at stake.
Recent polls continue to show increasing support for Donald Trump. This causes one to wonder what the courageous soldiers of earlier generations would have had to say about the plans articulated by former President Trump if he is elected in November. His proclaimed agenda and program for the country appear to be totally antithetical to the one for which many of these brave fighters gave their lives to protect.
What is of the greatest concern is that those jumping on this new Trump bandwagon—some of whom may be doing so while admitting to holding their noses—are coming from all strata of American society. It is not only the Trump groupies of 2016 and 2020, but also those who identified with Donald Trump the television celebrity and champion of the White lower/middle class. In 2024, Trump is also clearly garnering support from brilliant lawyers and jurists, highly successful businesspeople, politicians, media personalities, and academics.
The Trump express today appears to have support even from racial minorities. It is not only the wide-support that MAGA Republicans have gained among Cuban-Americans in Dade County. Last Thursday evening the former President held a campaign rally in the Bronx, one of the bluest sections of Democratic New York City. Hispanics and Black residents actually turned out for the Trump show. Did these attendees comprehend what Trump has said about minority rights, about the need for racial justice and equality? Do they understand how little interest Trump has in job creation, improved housing, public education, better healthcare, and public safety? Yet, former President Trump is able to rile up some portions of this crowd.
It is long past the time where political observers, intellectuals, and serious political leaders need to call out what is happening, for what Trump truly is seeking. Trump’s support is growing precisely in America as did Adolf Hitler’s “cult of personality” so enamored the German people in Weimar Germany. While the Nazis also presented an articulate political program, it was not the substance which drove the German people to coalesce behind Der Fuhrer.
Similarly, with Trump most of the MAGA troops have not focused on anything of substance in his program. Trump’s minions are driven by his style and rhetoric. As was the case with the Nazis, their success was driven by their successfully preaching of lies and the fabrication of fact which the German people—across almost all strata of the society—consumed without thinking. Trump’s minions are driven as well by his flamboyant style and rhetoric.
The best that can be said for some of Trump’s more sophisticated legions is that like in the early years of Hitler, these naïve Americans view Trumpism as either an exaggeration or passing phenomenon. As did many in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s, there is a sizeable segment of American society who are in denial as to where Trump is prepared to take the country.
It is indeed extraordinary to realize that there are virtually no Republican leaders—even those not standing for election like Senator Mitt Romney, who are stepping forward with conviction and strength attacking him as well as the demise of their historical Grand Old Party. There are few clergy or public figures who are willing to put their name and popularity on the line to address this scary phenomenon, regardless of the cost. Where are the civic and business leaders who are ready to sacrifice their popularity and/or economic future to address the deep threat that the nation faces on this Memorial Day?
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