Globally, the story of Adolf Hitler is well known. His autobiography, “Mein Kampf” (My Struggle), is a 700-page verbose tome of unsubstantiated claims on the superiority of the German “Aryan” race, and why the German state must establish a global hegemony through unrivaled militarism rooted in fervent nationalism. Therefore, it maintains that there should be no automatic citizenship for anyone born in the country as all must seek qualification for same through the attainment of a clean bill of health. Hence, anyone with mental or physical health challenges is not fit to be a German citizen, since he/she would impurify the “German blood.”
Hitler further averred that people of the “lower races,” such as the Jews, Eastern Europeans, Asians, Blacks, etc., were never to be allowed to diminish the superiority of the “German blood” through miscegenation. According to him, “Nature’s restricted form of propagation and increase is an almost rigid basic law … Every animal mates only with a member of the same species.” Thus came his idea of a racially pure “Folkish Sate of the German Nation” to be led by his “National Socialist German Workers’ Party” or “Nazi Party,” under a leadership structure based on “absolute responsibility and absolute authority” – a euphemism for one-man dictatorship and tyranny.
To say the least, the ideas Hitler enunciated in the Mein Kampf were bizarre, and they should have been rejected absolutely by the German populace. But as often happens in politics, a large segment of the German population, especially the youths, welcomed the ideas even as they verged on the rantings of a deranged character. To cut a long story short, in 1933, Hitler became the absolute ruler of Germany, and he proceeded to implement his maniacal racist ideas. In the process, he plunged humanity into the 2nd World War, which claimed an estimated 100 million lives, with the Jews bearing the brunt of his bloodthirstiness as more than six million of them perished in the “Holocaust”. Also, about 100,000 mentally and physically handicapped Germans were brutally eliminated in his “Euthanasia” or “Mercy Killing” programme.
Historians maintain that Nazism was not an accidental historical occurrence, but a conscious effort on the part of Hitler and his collaborators to reshape the world according to their warped minds. They further maintain that the German populace could have forestalled Hitler’s rise to power within the 14-year period of 1919 and 1933, when he formed the Nazi Party and rose to the position of German Chancellor. But the populace failed to do so because only a negligible few individuals and groups were genuinely desirous of stopping him. Hence, the people got what they deserved: a 12-year Nazi totalitarian rule that ended in the devastation of their country, and the double-suicide of Hitler and his long-time lover, Eva Braun, on April 30, 1945.
The axiomatic expression that “People get the type of government they deserve” is a truism. Some people may question it on several grounds, such as: the seizure of power by predatory military opportunists; the tenacious hold on power by sit-tight dictators and tyrants; the imposition of puppet rulers by external forces; and the direct military invasion of a country by a foreign power. Vivid as instances of the above-highlighted scenarios may be, there is the overriding argument that the leadership or government that emerges under any of those circumstances is usually a product of the collaborationist role of a few or more elements within the citizenry, who are neither aliens nor ghosts.
The following examples serve to buttress the argument that without the active collaboration of some elements within the citizenry, foreign interventions are doomed to fail, irrespective of their duration: America’s 1960 – 1975 occupation of Vietnam; the Soviet’s 1979 – 1989 occupation of Afghanistan; America’s 2001 – 2021 occupation of Afghanistan and the 2003 – 2011 occupation of Iraq. Similarly, a legion of examples abounds (especially from the Third World) in terms of military opportunists, insurgent groups, sit-tight dictators and tyrants, who usurp power with the active collaboration of a few or more members of the citizenry.
In light of the foregoing, the upcoming presidential election in the US can only produce the type of leader that the country deserves, even if it is Donald Trump, the ex-president who is seeking a return to the White House that he ignominiously exited at the expiration of his tenure in January 2021, having instigated a violent mob to attack Congress on January 6, in his bid to forestall the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory. To say the least, Trump’s candidacy is befuddling. He has engaged in innumerable acts of criminality that would have effectively sealed the fate of any scrupulous Politician. He has survived several career-ending scandals ranging from rape to fraud and electoral malpractice. An unscrupulous politician, he is hero-worshipped by his political base that was aptly described as “deplorable elements” by his opponent in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton. Now, he rides a populist wave of white-supremacist racism and xenophobia, and he is locked in a very close contest with his challenger, incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris.
Several high-profile associates and political appointees of the ex-president, including Vice President Mike Pence, have refused to back his re-election bid. According to Pence, who narrowly escaped death during the “January 6” riot, “Anyone who puts themselves over the constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the constitution should never be president again.” In the same vein, John Kelly who served as his White House Chief of Staff has said that he fits “into the general definition of fascist.” That sentiment was echoed by Mike Milley who served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under his administration and that of Biden: “Trump is a fascist to the core.” Reportedly, his running mate, JD Vance, had denounced him during the 2016 presidential election as “America’s Hitler.” So, for the American electorate to wish away this disqualifying authoritarian characteristic is tantamount to sowing the seeds of tyranny in the manner of Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
Presently, Trump is facing a myriad of criminal and civil cases at both State and Federal levels. On May 30, 2024, the New York State Supreme Court convicted him of the criminal offense of concealing a hush money payment to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels. Meanwhile, the presiding judge has conveniently postponed his sentencing till November 26, 2024, in a bid to allay insinuations of election interference. The same court had earlier found him and his three oldest children (Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric) guilty of fraudulent financial accounting aimed at inflating the value of their properties in the Trump Organization. They were penalized with a hefty fine of 464 million Dollars, although they have appealed the ruling. In Georgia, he and 18 others have been dragged to court by the State’s prosecutors for conspiring to overturn President Biden’s 2020 electoral victory as a leaked phone call revealed that he had attempted pressurizing a top election official to alter the State’s election results in his favour. In his characteristic manner, he maintains that all these State prosecutions are politically motivated witch-hunt.
A Federal prosecutor, Jack Smith, has also filed charges against Trump in Washington DC and Florida courts. In the DC case, Smith alleges that his attempt to forestall the certification of Biden’s victory resulted in the “January 6” riot. But in a ruling on the appeal filed by Trump, the US Supreme Court held that the defendant has immunity for official acts, while also maintaining that he lacked immunity for acts considered unofficial. The case has been returned to the DC court for reconsideration. In the Florida case, Smith alleges that he mishandled classified documents by taking them from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago residence upon leaving office, and that he conspired to obstruct justice. The case was initially dismissed by an openly biased trial judge, but an appeal filed by Smith is pending determination.
It is widely expected that Trump will terminate the above-stated Federal cases if he wins the November 5 election as he has signalled his intention to sack the Federal prosecutor, Jack Smith, upon assumption of office as the president: “Oh, it’s so easy … I would fire him within two seconds.” His comment has served to further accentuate the message of his opponent, Kamala Harris, that he is a “fascist” seeking “unchecked power.” According to her, “Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable, and in a second term, those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there to rein him in.”
“Show me your friends, and I will tell you who you are,” is a popular adage. As at the time of writing this piece, 11 of Trump’s close political and business associates had either been convicted of a criminal offence or are awaiting trial. Micheal Cohen, his former personal attorney, was sentenced to three years in prison for a series of crimes, including the secret hush money payment to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels, for which Trump was criminally convicted in May 2024. Cohen, who was paroled for agreeing to cooperate with the prosecution, has labelled Trump “a racist,” “a conman,” and “a cheat.”
Birds of a feather flock together. Hence, among others, the following associates and appointees of Trump, who were legally indicted or convicted, were granted presidential pardon by him: Micheal Flynn, a National Security Adviser who failed to disclose his extensive contacts with Russian officials during the transition from President Obama’s administration; Paul Manafort, a campaign manager who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in the investigations into Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 election; Steve Bannon, a White House Chief Strategist who was pardoned for a fundraising scam involving Trump’s border wall, but eventually ended up in prison in July 2024 for refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by the House of Representatives’ Select Committee on the “January 6” riot. On his part, Trump has avoided jail time largely due to his ability to deploy indefinite delay tactics in his criminal trials.
Kamala Harris, who is of Black and Indian heritage, is obviously not a political saint. But her stint in the role of vice-president, and her unruffled, ponderous, and calculating demeanour are pointers to her ability to serve and excel in the role of the President of the United States of America. She has shown that she is temperamentally fit for that role, which requires, among others, the qualities of wisdom, discipline, humility, honesty, empathy, courage, and restraint – all of which are visibly lacking in Donald Trump. Although, when all is said and done on November 5, 2024, the winner of the election would be the leader America deserves in the next four years, irrespective of what the rest of the world may think.
Dennis Onakinor writes from Lagos – Nigeria, and can be reached via e-mail at dennisonakinor@yahoo.com