by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I’m reading up on the rise of Hitler in Germany and I keep, in my mind, contrasting and comparing Hitler with Trump. The key difference between the two men is not what you might think. On paper, because form follows function, they’re almost identical. And, yet, there is one specific element about Trump that makes him different than Hitler.
I suppose what I’m thinking of is Trump’s complete absence of abstract thought on a macro political basis. Hitler, in his mind, had a very clear ideology and political vision for Germany — he even wrote a book articulating it in pretty clear terms. Trump, meanwhile, is nothing more than an avatar, a vessel for white Christian rage.
While Hitler was frequently underestimated, Trump is frequently overestimated. Given the absolute fidelity of Trump’s MAGA Republican followers and how he is politically above the law at the moment, virtually anyone else in his position would have the wherewithal to not only still be in power, but to be rapidly consolidating it.
Almost anyone else in Trump’s position between 2017 and 2021 would have fired as many people as necessary to indict either Hunter and / or Joe Biden in the spring or summer of 2020. But Trump was so ham-handed about his efforts to end Biden politically, that all he did was get himself impeached for his troubles.
For Trump to wait until the absolute very last moment to try to illegally stay in power by putting all his hopes on one person — Mike Pence — is just astonishing. I mean, even doofus me would have known better than to have done that if I was in Trump position.
So, what can we garner from Trump’s past behavior? Well, two things. One, Trump is very lazy and very stupid. And, two, to date, he has only gone transactional out of personal desperation. So, going forward, there is a greater-than-zero chance that Trump could go transactional at some point between now and 2024 if he felt there was a real chance he was going to be indicted.
And what might he do?
Well, to me, the most diabolical thing he could do would be to begin ranting in direct, transactional terms about the need for Red States to leave the Union out of protest for him finally being held criminally accountable. But Trump is so stupid and so lazy — and lacks any ability to think in the political abstract — that I suspect that’s yet another instance of me overestimating him.
While there is every reason to be very, very alarmed at what a Trump second term might look like — that, unto itself, might start a civil war — I have serious doubts that Trump has it in him to realize he could probably wiggle his way out of an indictment by directly asking Red States like Texas to begin the process of leaving the Union.
