Giorgio: Has Trump Finally Crossed the Line?

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Paul Giorgio, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Paul Giorgio

Donald Trump brought his traveling carnival to Worcester’s DCU Centre a few weeks back. The crowd was big angry and white. Lines stretched around the block to get in and the spectators were not disappointed by the show. Trump took personal delight in ridiculing a demonstrator who happened to be a large black man. But this isn’t about that night, it’s about Trump’s behavior and speech since then. A local columnist even reluctantly called him a Nazi and drew parallels to Adolph Hitler. She was right. In his speech and in his body language Trump has begun to channel Adolph Hitler. Watch the mannerisms closely, watch the hand gestures. It is all designed for one purpose to raise a blood lust from the audience.

Trump is an ultra nationalist.

Donald Trump is not a Republican candidate for president; he is an ultra nationalist candidate for president, who is running in the Republican primary. He is like so many before him in other countries in Europe. He is trying to tap the discontent that is sweeping America.

Look at the Trump rallies, where the crowd is made up of overwhelming numbers of white Americans, who profess to be angry at their government. But who are they really angry at and why? Although they deny it, most people now think that it has its base in racism, as does Trump’s popularity.

Pastor Martin Niemöller’s quote

I am reminded of an often quoted poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller, who spoke about the rise of fascism in Germany prior to World War II. He said the following:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me

Trump’s rhetoric

But as Diane Williamson asked, is Trump walking the same path.? Let’s review his rhetoric and who he has attacked in his campaign so far.

First it was Mexican’s who he called drug smugglers and rapists. He called for building a wall to keep them out. Does that sound familiar? The facts are that more Mexicans are leaving the country than coming here.

A few weeks later he attacked Muslims, calling for the closing of Mosques and then he called for them to have special identity papers. Does that have a familiar ring to it? It wasn’t Muslims, who had special identification and it wasn’t Muslims who had their houses of worship closed in the past.

Just last week he mocked a handicapped New York Times reporter, literally making fun of the man’s disability. Have you heard that someplace before? What happened to those people?

The question we need to ask is who will be next on Trump’s hit list? Maybe he will attack Gay people or Asians. At a rally early last week he urged the crowd to “rough up” a demonstrator. That demonstrator happened to be black.

Trump maybe the precursor to the rise of Fascism or Ultra Nationalism in America. If we review history, we find that this movement also coincides with a period of isolationism. This is what is happening in our country today.

Trump has struck a vein of hatred

Trump has struck a vein of hatred in the American psyche. His path to victory is to turn us against each other.

I believe in the end, the Republicans will be too smart to buy Trump’s snake oil. Or I at least hope for that. They will end up settling on a traditional conservative candidate like Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or maybe long shot Chris Christie.

As that great Republican President Abraham Lincoln once said,” You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Right now, Trump is fooling just some of the people.