“Perceptions” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

Finally, the sky has cleared and the ugly truth emerges.

President Donald Trump is carrying out a “slow coup” just like Hitler did before he became the Nazi fuhrer and all of Germany fell under the Nazi yoke. You don’t think so? If so, consider the following facts. Note I said “facts,” not speculation. And that should scare us all.

Hitler’s Nazi followers did not win a majority in the critical 1933 election, but they won the most votes and this put them in a strong position to go after the votes they needed to win the Reichstag. The opposition panicked with the conservatives (SPD) thinking they could control the Nazi leader and the Social Democrats (KPD) saying the communists were Germany’s greatest threat and Hitler wasn’t. So, the socialists and the communists fought each other to the bitter end splitting the vote allowing the Nazis to triumph.

The coup took several years to unfold and ultimately was one of the greatest blunders in German political history destroying the democratic Weimar Republic and paving the way for the Second World War.

Fast forward almost 100 years and you see a version of this scenario happening today. In the last election, Trump fell just short of a majority in the popular vote but won solidly in the Senate and House of Representatives giving the Grand Old Party the presidency. Trump then served notice on the American public – and the rest of the world for that matter – that through a world-wide tsunami of tariffs he intended to use his big majority to do things no American president dared do before.

Hence a new global trade war with Canada becoming the “fifty-first state,” and tariffs up to 35%. China’s tariffs soared to 104% before they were lowered, and similar fluctuating tariffs were imposed on countries around the world. Trump offered no apologies.

Coining a new phrase on his website Truth Social, he said: “”The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN” Trump refused to explain what he meant by “PANICAN.”

Citing the so-called “War Against Crime,” Trump also lashed out against several US cities calling them “hell holes” of crime despite numerous polls showing a falling crime rate in most large American cities. Trump’s response to that was to send National Guard troops into Washington DC and Baltimore with more feared coming for Chicago and Los Angeles. National Guard troops don’t normally carry guns but Trump issued a special executive order allowing weapons to be carried in some cases.

Given all this and the similarities with how the Nazis came to power in Germany and the disarray in Democratic ranks, many Americans are beginning to wonder what’s next?

Reports are swirling that if Trump holds his majority in the 2026 mid-terms, he will seek a constitutional amendment allowing him to run again ending the two-term limit imposed after the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

The Trump organization is now selling $50 red caps saying, “Trump 2028.” Asked directly at a recent news conference if this meant he was running again, Trump said, “I’m not joking,” but later downplayed the possibility commenting “it’s too early to even think about it.”

But given Trump’s tumultuous second term in office no one knows what to think except for one thing. Whatever he says on Monday he’s likely to change on Tuesday and by Wednesday deny saying it at all. Such behaviour normally hurts politicians. But with Trump, it only feeds his massive ego and weakens democracy and the rule of law.

And when that happens, we all lose.

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist, who thinks Trump has yet to reveal his true aims.

Article Share