I glance across to Trump's America and can see the spectre of discrimination, victimisation, scape-goating and blame laying rearing its ugly head again. Once more, like in post (WW1) war Germany, problems have been left unaddressed, and a populist leader has stood up to NOT address them. Previous presidents, all the way to Obama, have not properly tackled the issue of immigration - although the USA is built on immigration. Unfettered migration from Latin America has bred resentment, hatred and contempt.
Donald Trump provides the easy solution of the loud mouth. Build a wall. Thought we in Europe had torn down our walls. I don't see one appearing all the way from San Diego to Brownsville, do you? And it won't solve the problem. Targeting a stream of a few thousand migrants, walking all the way from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to the United States, branding them as terrorists, an invasion, is redolent of pre-war Germany. The US army is going to be deployed near the border to stem the tide. A very popular measure.
But there is more wrong with Donald Trump that bears echoes of the Germany of the 1930s. Fake news. It does exist, and I don't need Donald J. Trump to tell me that. The Russians, amongst others, are artmasters at it. But what Mr Trump brands as fake news is actually fact that displeases him and his agenda. He targets the messengers for their message, for exposing the failings in his policies. He seeks to silence the checks and balances that are in place precisely to keep someone like Trump in order. The investigation into Russian collusion, interference with the 2016 presidential election is in jeopardy, following the forced resignation of the Attorney General earlier this week. He was replaced by a Trumpite, critical of the Mueller inquiry.
What I find remarkable is the support that Donald Trump manages to rally around him, wherever he goes. His message resonates with a good section of American society - meaning that a problem exists in American society that is not, or has not, been properly addressed.
Make America great again, was Donald Trump's slogan in 2016.
Putin promises to make Russia great again, after the humiliation of the fall of communism.
Hitler promised to make Germany great again, after being humiliated during the Great War.
I am ending this post with the flame that I have posted on my Kristallnacht commemorations for the last twelve years.
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