General Discussion

On Feb. 18, 1943, with bombs falling over German cities already, Goebbels rallied Berlin with his "Do you want total war?" speech. The crowd yelled out JA so loudly, that after his speech, Göbbels quietly was heard to comment that if he had told his followers to jump out the window, they would have done it (Putin wasn't born yet, remember).

German generals were already quietly acknowledging that there was no way to win the war. They were retreating from Russia, and the battle of Britain was long lost. They started work on the V-2 (V for "Vergeltung," or Revenge) rockets, the first of which hit London on September 8, 1944, by which time the allies were already in France, pushing toward the German border. By January, 1945, the Russians were already in Poland, on their way to Berlin. Years before Berlin fell, the military brass in Germany who had the most knowledge of military strategy knew that the war was lost. They also knew that suggesting a negotiated surrender meant their deaths, and so, except for the doomed Wolfsschantz attempt on Hitler's life by Stauffenberg and his small group, no German internal resistance was mounted from within the military. They KNEW they were doomed, but saw no other path but to go along.

So it is with Trump and his Trumpanzees. They no longer see any way to offer any resistance. They may not fall out of the next 8th story window (and no guarantees they won't in the future), but they will become Republican Party pariahs. They have no Willy Brandts waiting in exile somewhere. They are all yelling "JA!" when Trump exhorts them to his version of Total War. This not being Berlin, 1943, they don't HAVE to do this. They do it of their own free will. In some aspects, this is even worse than Berlin, 1943, because if they bail and say, "I'm done, I'm not going to be part of this any more," they will not be rounded up and shot. Indeed, they can stand up and say, "I'm a Republican, a loyal American, and I will neither betray my political beliefs nor stand by and watch my country be destroyed by some maniacs who claim Republican values, but in fact have none." Willy Brandt wasn't a traitor to Germany, just an enemy of the National Socialists. Twenty years later, he was the Chancellor. The Republicans DO have an out. If they are so cowardly as to have the opportunity, and refuse to take advantage of it, so be it. They have enough nut cases still yelling "JA" like the ones that did so for Göbbels. But at some point their number will start to diminish. When that starts, it will happen quickly, and in four years, it will be harder to find a MAGAT in America than it was to find a Nazi in Germany in 1947. But UNTIL that comes, watch out. There were still Germans yelling "Sieg Heil!" in May, 1945, too, don't forget.