Wow! Here we go. This is really happening. The Donald Presidency!
How many other people have seen the disturbing parallels with distant history? Back in the 1930s, a charismatic leader rose up from nowhere to rally a frenzied, economically depressed populace behind his political movement.
He didn't have them all, at first. But his popularity grew to be overwhelming, helped along by organized paramilitary "enthusiasts" wearing brown shirts who intimidated opponents into fearful silence. The Donald's disciples don't wear brown shirts. They wear red ball caps.
I don't speak German, but I'm sure that, at mass rallies in Berlin and Munich, his adoring audiences must have heard him promise to make his country great, again and to restore national pride.
The stadiums echoed with his followers' chants of, "Seig Heil! Seig Heil!"
The Donald has chants, too. "Lock her up! Lock her up!" It must be a powerful feeling to shout in unison with thousands of like minded automatons. I can just imagine them being swept up in the euphoria. Soon, he rose to power through elections that were "supervised" by brown shirts. The Donald wanted to set up "election supervisors," too, at strategic polling sites, but was restrained by court order.
Then a higher court, (probably a carefully selected Republican judge), overturned the decision and allowed the practice of "observers" attending poling stations.
Once in power, the predecessor changed the political structure and invested himself with supreme power.
Then he set about implementing his agenda. He focused the frustration of his adoring followers on an easily accepted target, the Jews. Suddenly, almost everyone hated the Jews. And those who didn't remained silent and closed their doors and windows for fear of becoming targets, themselves.
The Donald sets up targets for his followers, multiple targets. Mexicans, Muslims, women, journalists... and "those people in certain parts of Philadelphia," where he wanted his "Second Amendment people" to watch for voter fraud.
Interesting to note that the brown shirts were armed only with batons. The Donald's "representatives" were "Second Amendment people." How would you feel voting under their watchful gaze, knowing that their leader has told them to expect that you're going to commit voter fraud. When interviewed, a representative of the "National Socialists" said his "observers" were instructed to be "low key," no uniforms, no insignia... (no swastikas).
I never make predictions. But I want to make some right now, so I can look this paper up in the archives in a year from now to see if I nailed it.
I predict that in a year to 18 months, there will be civil war in America, again.
No, not between Republicans and Democrats, not between ultra-extreme conservative libertarians and liberals, but between the Black Panthers (who may not exist at the moment, but who soon will) and the white supremacists unleashed and validated by the Donald, and lead by the KKK, revitalized by a new legitimized purpose. And it won't be a war of words.
Let me also indulge in some hypothetical extension, here. About that time, a Canadian political cartoonist, unfettered by the new American media gag laws that we can expect, may publish an image of the Donald with the predecessor's moustache, a swastika on the lapel of his military uniform, gesturing with the straight-armed salute.
The Donald will, of course be offended and will demand retribution. There will be heated strategy sessions in the White House as CIA and NSA advisors suggest that, like Putin's irritants, this cartoonist could just mysteriously die of radiation poisoning. The Donald will pound the desk with his little fists and emphatically instruct that there must be no mystery. He must be eliminated publicly so a message will be sent. It must be a drone strike!
The drone strike that eliminates the cartoonist and countless collateral damage casualties around the cartoonist at the Starbucks that day, and the daycare next door, and the hospital across the street... will be immediately denounced by Ottawa as a breech of Canadian sovereignty, and an act of war. Diplomats will be recalled.
With the white supremacists, (by now officially under the banner of the legalized KKK), taking care of domestic issues, The Donald will clear the military to dust off the long-shelved Canada Plan.
It is sad irony that so many Americans, (along with Canadians, Brits, and allies from around the world), died in battle to stop the predecessor. I guess that was a long time ago.
Not everyone remembers.
Ray Masson
Prince George
