Politics has always been, as Mark Twain put it : ” The last refuge of scoundrels.” It seems that, in super rich controlled American politics, it’s simply selling the public the ‘ Illusion of democracy’. The guys or gals with the most private money behind them usually win the election lottery. To maintain this illusion they give the suckers… sorry, the voters, a little tidbit here and there to hold their attention and loyalty. Adolph Hitler, master politician and manipulator, told it like it was… and still is:

The mass of humanity as such is lazy and cowardly, capable at best of passive acceptance of an idea. They can never be reached with the written word, rather by the picture in all its forms up to film. Why? Because here a man needs to work with his brain even less!

Hitler stated that Gut feelings, instinctive disgust, deeply felt hatred were much more important and harder to change than opinions or facts. He then said ” Wrong ideas can be gotten rid of with instruction… resistance from a gut feeling NEVER!”

 As with so many of our current political actors, for that is what they are, the need to play the fear card is pertinent, along with a myriad of hot button emotions. Old Adolph, or ‘ Addy’ as his mistress called him, knew how to manipulate the masses. It began with his low opinion of general public intelligence: “The broad masses of people are not made up of diplomats or professors of constitutional law, but a mass of human children prone to doubt and insecurity, ruled by sentiment rather than sober reasoning. Propaganda must limit itself to a few themes and repeat them endlessly… perseverance is the first and most important condition for success.”

 If one looks at great master manipulators like Hitler, Mussolini and Donald Trump, we can see the first and foremost common denominator: The Big Lie. Hitler made this point, which so many of today’s demagogues follow: ” The brad masses, in the primitive simplicity of their nature {Duh, like MAGA WORLD?} more readily fall victim to the Big Lie than the small lie since they themselves often lie about small things, yet would be ashamed to tell a Big Lie. Thus, they cannot believe that others would have the imprudence to distort the truth so infamously.” Look at the 2020 election and Trump’s mantra on ‘The Stolen Election’. Stroll back to the 2004 presidential election and research all the cases of election interference by the Republicans. How about the software that, case in point being Ohio, which investigators felt votes were being electronically switched from Kerry to Bush? I recall seeing Dick Morris, who by 2004 was basically a right wing ideologue, hired to co host an election return news broadcast. Morris was known internationally as a ‘ Polling genius’ who could read polls better than most experts. As the polls closed in Ohio Morris saw the exit polls coming in. He stated how THIS was THE MOST accurate way to assess how an election is going to go. He said that Kerry was fairly ahead in these exit in key districts throughout  the state, thus he should carry Ohio. When the results came in for Bush in Ohio, Morris said on the air that ‘Something smells here’ .

In today’s political climate, and surely for as long as this baby boomer can remember, the truth has always been held hostage. When Senator Joseph McCarthy held those papers up to the audience with that invisible list of Communists working inside of our government, this was all right out of Hitler and Goebbels. Or the John Birch Society labeling President Eisenhower as a ‘ Soviet Dupe’, or countless right wing Republicans pinning the ‘ Marxist ‘ tale on Democratic donkeys like Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and most phony progressive Democrats?  The only ‘ Marx’ that would fit them would be Groucho, Chico or Harpo. How about the Israeli fascist government saying their ‘ Open Air Prison’ in Gaza is filled with ‘ Human Animals’? Have they forgotten when their recent ancestors had to live in a country that hung up ‘ No dogs or Jews allowed’ signs on stores and hotels? Watch Neal Slavin’s fine post WW2 film Focus ( 2001) from an Arthur Miller play and see how Anti Semitism was actually prevalent right here at home. In the play and film the Jews are blamed right here in the United States for ‘ Causing WW2’ and thus, the victim becomes antagonist. Isn’t that what the Neo Fascist Republicans have been doing towards blacks, browns, Asians, Muslims, gays, transgenders, and all women who want choice over their own bodies? Herr Hitler would have been proud.

December, 2023