Dorothy Thompson was the first US journalist to be chucked out of Hitler's Germany for telling the truth about the Nazi regime, although she would not be the last. In 1934, she observed, "No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the i…
Dorothy Thompson was the first US journalist to be chucked out of Hitler's Germany for telling the truth about the Nazi regime, although she would not be the last. In 1934, she observed, "No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument — the Incorporated National Will."
Trump is carving out a bit of an exception to that conventional wisdom. He is representing himself as both instrument and dictator. When he lays out plans to do terrible, brutal, unconstitutional things once in power, to rule as a vindictive racist tyrant, one should not make the mistake of thinking he doesn't mean every word.
Dorothy Thompson was the first US journalist to be chucked out of Hitler's Germany for telling the truth about the Nazi regime, although she would not be the last. In 1934, she observed, "No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument — the Incorporated National Will."
Trump is carving out a bit of an exception to that conventional wisdom. He is representing himself as both instrument and dictator. When he lays out plans to do terrible, brutal, unconstitutional things once in power, to rule as a vindictive racist tyrant, one should not make the mistake of thinking he doesn't mean every word.