OMNI WAR
WATCH WEDNESDAYS, #164, FEBRUARY 14, 2024
NATIONALISM,
MILITARISM, WARMAKING, WHITE CHRISTIANITY V. DEMOCRACY,
Hitler and Trump
v. Democracy
In Preparing
for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism—and What Comes
Next, Bradley Onishi argues that the
insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, was the outcome of years of
a subculture’s preparation for war to overthrow the US democracy. The eleven chapters take us from
the rise of White Christian nationalism’s reaction to the social rights
revolution of the 1960s to the reactionary insurrection of January 6,
2021. At the center of the bifurcation
of the nation into pro- and anti-democracy, Onishi sees the expanding myth of
the White Christian nation. Chapter 2,
“Extremism Is a Virtue”; Chap. 3, “The New South Rises”; Chap. 4, “Segregation
Is a Religious Right”; etc.
Chap. 10 concentrates on the crucial role of myths in this radical
transformation. “MAGA Myths” it is titled, for it suggests the “deeply
alarming” parallel of the rise of Hitler and that of Donald Trump in their use
of myths to gain control of their respective nations. German militarists sought to punish those who
caused Germany’s defeat in WWI and rallied those who resented defeat in war,
democracy, and immigrants. Trump and
Trumpists consolidate resentment against those who had upset the established,
unjust, hierarchical, racial order The movements led by Hitler and Trump
created sympathy for insurrectionists and legitimated violence. The Nazis and military leaders stressed the
”stab-in-the-back” by Jews, communists, traitorous politicians. Hitler and his followers attempted a coup in
1923, which failed, and Hitler was sentenced to prison, but his brief
incarceration produced Mein Kampf to propagate his myths of politics of
resentment and of democracy as hopelessly inadequate for a great nation. He called his followers “to make Germany
great again.” [I recommend Benjamin
Hett’s masterful account of Hitler overthrowing the Weimar Republic, The
Death of Democracy.
Onishi’s conclusion: Germany’s
experiment in democracy failed in the face of an authoritarian leader whose
myth telling and charisma had already persuaded the German people to accept
nationalist, totalitarian, racist, xenophobic Nazi ideology. USA’s experiment in democracy similarly
failed. Politicians, media voices,
religious leaders, and celebrities failed to form a united front “that barred
Trump and anyone who advocated for the attempted coup from serving in political
office.” “Like the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch
in Germany, the 2021 Capitol insurrection may have been a ‘failure’ only for a
time.” Trump “remains the leader of the
[Republican] party. The Big Lie [Biden
lost the election] is the foundation of the MAGA movement. And January 6 is viewed as the first battle
in the war for the country” (187). (--Dick)
RESISTING THE RIGHT: How to Survive the
Gathering Storm by
ROBERT EDWARDS. Foreword by JAMES CARROL.
OR Books, 2024.
Publisher’s
description (I will order and report on the book). As a right-wing take-over of the United
States government appears ever more possible, this eloquent and incisive
handbook shows how it can be combatted.
“Combines the revelations of unfolding tragedy
with the artistry of a story-teller. ”Bill Moyers. “Profoundly disturbing” --—Kai Bird.