Broad Daylight of the Long Knives

Godwin’s Law says:

“As a discussion on the Internet grows longer, the likelihood of a person’s being compared to Hitler or another Nazi reference, increases.”

The idea has a corollary in Leo Strauss’s idea of Reductio ad Hitlerum, or “Playing the Hitler Card”, which, according to the Wiki, is “an attempt to invalidate someone else’s position on the basis that the same view was held by Adolf Hitler or the Nazi Party. One example would be that since Hitler was against smoking, this implies that someone who is against smoking is a Nazi”.

Today, I am introducing Stewie’s Law, which says:

“When someone points out that a person is, in some important way, worse than Hitler, that person will be deemed not credible and a Nazi sympathizer, even when the point made is demonstrably true and the person making it is demonstrably not a Nazi sympathizer.  The point will therefore be invalidated and ignored”.

And, when Stewie’s Law is used to defend the abhorrent Donald Trump, a corollary idea is often in play. Let’s call it “Incrementum ad Drumpfum”, or “Playing the Trump Card” to explain and excuse the inexplicable and inexcusable, resulting in the further accrual of power and wealth to Donald Trump.

OK, enough arcane academic references and made-up Latin phrases.  Time for a little arcane history. 

The Night of the Long Knives was a three day period in 1934 Germany when then-Chancellor Hitler ordered paramilitary units loyal to him, the SS and Gestapo, to murder his political rivals to consolidate his own power, making him the “supreme administrator of justice of the German people”, as he put it in a speech a few days later.

Estimates of how many perceived opponents were murdered range as high as 800 or more, and more than a thousand arrested. Hitler planned all this in secret, of course, calling it “Operation Hummingbird”, and carried out the crimes under cover of darkness.

Trump, on the other hand, commits many of his crimes out in the open, in broad daylight, insisting he has every legal right to do whatever it is and bragging about it all the while.

On January 6, 2021 he called paramilitary units loyal to him to attack the Capitol, fight like Hell, etc. etc. or they “wouldn’t have a country anymore”. The moronic Rudy Giuliani, then threw a little gasoline on the fire by exhorting the riled-up Trumpkins to “Trial by Combat”, whatever that’s supposed to be.

As with Hitler, Trump’s targets included some of his closest collaborators, as well as those who threatened him politically. Vice President Mike Pence was at the top of the list, singled out because of the disloyalty he showed (after four years of abject boot-licking) by not proclaiming that the already-certified electoral college vote was invalid.

The mob smashed into the Capitol and battled with police and security forces, causing many serious injuries and five deaths. Two other officers committed suicide shortly thereafter. As they flooded the offices in the building, they chanted “Hang Mike Pence”, and “Naaaaancy, where are you?”.

Can there really be any doubt that, had they found their targets, many of whom where cowering just steps away, murder would have ensued? If you believe the Supreme Leader has commanded you to do it, there is no fear of negative consequences. He’d just pardon everyone anyway.

A gallows had been hastily constructed outside for the purpose of lynching Pence. Think it’s all a joke?

Within days of the riot, impeachment articles had been drawn up in the House of Representatives for presentation to the Senate. You’ve probably already forgotten what happened next. Mitch McConnell, majority leader, asserted that the Senate would consider the articles only after a recess that would end on January 19th. In other words, he forced the issue to be tabled until arguments would occur only after Trump had left office.

Why is this important? Because it gave some (extremely thin) cover to Republican senators who were then able to cast their vote for acquittal based on the unconstitutionality of impeaching a no-longer-sitting President. They all said, “yes, of course Trump was guilty, but unfortunately our hands are tied by the technicality”.

This is extra-hypocritical, even for the party of unlimited hypocrisy, for many reasons, including that virtually all constitutional scholars agree that impeachment under these circumstances was completely legal. Moreover, a vote taken by those very same senators on the first day of the trial established that, yes, it was legal to impeach a President after he’s out and the proceedings could therefore begin.

None of it matters. Everyone understood that the fear these people have of Trump would trump (see what I did there?) morality, legality, and common sense in the end. They’re afraid of losing their jobs. That’s why only seven Republicans voted to convict, and only one of those, Lisa Murkowski, is running for re-election in 2022. The others have already experienced the blowback from their vote of conscience, which includes censure by their state parties.

On the subject of the fear of job loss, Nancy Pelosi made a great point. She said when she tries to recruit really good people to run for office, she often is told that they have many better opportunities than politics, including highly paid jobs currently held. She tells them, “yes, of course we understand that – we only want people who are highly skilled and in great demand to serve. You can always return to the private sector in great shape afterwards”.

Apparently, senate Republicans really have no better opportunities. Who else is going to give them a dedicated parking space at Reagan National Airport, or fantastic health care, franking privilege, extensive staff, etc. etc. They have to do and say whatever Trump wants them to if they want to hang on to all of that, no matter how it corrupts them.

So now, finally, to the application of Stewie’s Law. How is Trump worse than Hitler?

Hitler had a vision of what he wanted to achieve for the people of Germany and how he wanted to re-shape Europe. It was an insane, racist, murderous vison, but it was more than simply self aggrandizement and self-enrichment. Those things were a nice perk that followed, more or less incidentally, but they were not the motivation for all the lawlessness and depravity.

Although Trump’s rhetoric is similar to Hitler’s in its promise to Make America Great Again, it should now be crystal clear to all that there is ultimately no great vision for America here. The only real beneficiary of Trump’s “policies” is Trump. Everything he does, every word he speaks, every idea that pops into the mind of the Very Stable Genius, is driven by the desire for “Incrementum ad Drumpfum”.

And what use will all that power and wealth be put to in the end? Maybe finding a cure for malaria? Building libraries and hospitals? Endowing institutions of higher learning? Feeding the hungry?

No, the only use Trump’s wealth and power ever serves is the punishment and humiliation of his detractors. That’s it. I mean after all the toilets in Mar-a Lago have been upgraded to solid gold, of course.

Hitler used the regular kind, by the way.