The original gestapo, named from the initial syllables of the Geheime (secret) Staatspolizei (state police), was created shortly after the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933.  Its mission was to prosecute Nazi opponents, Jews, Roma, gays, and other “undesirables.”  Its members were former police officers and Nazis, as well as informants and spies.  In 1939, it became part of the Schutzstaffel, or ”protective staff”.  The SS, as it came to be known, was a major Nazi paramilitary organization that became the primary instrument of terror and control both in Germany and occupied Europe. 

     Trump and his staff have created an American gestapo: ICE.  This “Immigration and Customs Enforcement” agency mirrors its Nazi predecessor.  “Serve your country! Defend your culture!” ICE now proclaims.  Using the iconic image of Uncle Sam pointing at you, a Department of Homeland Security poster proclaims that “America has been invaded by criminals and predators.  We need YOU to get them out!”  ICE has been given $29.9 billion to accomplish its mission of ridding the nation of supposed immigrant criminals, making it the highest funded law enforcement agency of the federal government.  However, TRAC, or the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, an agency that assesses governmental operations, reported that 71% of the people in ICE custody have no criminal convictions.  The ones that do have only minor convictions, such as traffic offenses.  In addition ICE agents often target innocent civilians.  In one instance in California, Andrea Velez was abducted by ICE, detained, and then charged with assaulting an ICE officer.  A video shows that Velez, a U.S. citizen, was snatched off the street by masked agents and forced into an ICE vehicle.  The charges against her were later dropped.

     ICE has taken to frequenting courts, churches, workplaces, and immigrant residential communities.  There have been numerous complaints about their masks as well as their actions.  Recently, however, the Trump regime has had trouble finding people to become ICE agents.  Remedies include signing bonuses (up to $50,000) and repayment of student loans.  Age limits and degree requirements have been discarded.  Even with these incentives, ICE is not gaining new members, instead it is losing ones who already work for it.  One ICE agent testified that “Even those that are gung ho about the mission aren’t happy with how they are asked to execute it.”  They dislike going after farm workers and day laborers to meet their quotas.  On August 7th ICE announced that it would offer cash bonuses for deporting people quickly.  Shortly after this outrageous proposal became public, it was abolished.

     In addition, communities are now organizing against ICE.  In Los Angeles, for instance, where Trump called in the marines as well as ICE, local citizens have formed community defenses.  They alert people when ICE shows up, allowing them to disappear.  These tactics, as well as videos showing masked agents arresting ordinary, law-abiding citizens, have contributed to making Trump’s immigration policies extremely unpopular.    We need such actions to increase, to prevent the United States from becoming a new Third Reich.

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that Democrats have spent $20,000,000 supporting Trump candidates in Republican primaries. The theory is that these candidates will be easier for Democrats to beat.

But this dangerous strategy was tried before: in Germany in the early 1930s. The Socialist Democrats decided to back Nazi candidates on the same theory, that they would be easier to beat. They also figured that people would be so repulsed by the Nazis that they would repudiate them. I think we all know how that turned out. Not only did the Nazis win, they then ousted the Social Democrats and all other liberal parties from all politics.

Gaming the system in this way is a very dangerous strategy. It’s far better to be straightforward and run good candidates. Our democracy is still in peril from the Trump era and this is not the way to save it.

The concept of “the big lie” comes from the German general Erich von Ludendorff, but was publicized by Adolf Hitler. Ludendorff argued that “Jews and Communists” had blamed Germany’s defeat in the First World War on him — a position that came to be known as the “Stab in the Back Legend.” In Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), published in 1925, he repeated Ludendorff’s argument. Ludendorff and Hitler became and remained close political allies and helped bring the Nazis to power.

Hitler defined the big lie as a lie so colossal that no one would believe that anyone could “have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” His most influential use of the concept was his assertion that the Jews were responsible for all of Germany’s misfortunes and so should be exterminated. In their 1943 assessment of Hitler, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (a predecessor of the C.I.A.) maintained that “people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.” This big lie was the major justification for the Holocaust, which killed at least 6,000,000 Jews.

While it is difficult to believe that a United States politician would use a Nazi tactic for his own ends, this is exactly what Donald Trump did in 2020. Immediately after the presidential election in November, Trump began asserting that the election was a fraud, that if he lost, it was only because of foul play, and that any loss by him should be reversed. He kept asserting these falsehoods up to and including January 6, 2021, when he incited a mob to storm the Capitol building to try and seize the government. While this attempted coup most closely resembled the Confederate South’s attempt to undermine Pres. Lincoln’s election of 1860, the Confederacy never conquered Washington, D.C. The event closest to January 6 occurred during the War of 1812, when the British did occupy Washington, D.C. and burned both the White House, then called the Presidential Mansion, and the Capitol Building.

Trump’s attempts to undermine a free and fair election, in which the results of both the popular and Electoral College votes were not even close, did not end on January 6. His supporters tried to deny the results and Trump is still proclaiming that he “really” won. This Big Lie must not prevail. Many Democrats now argue that it is reason enough that he be convicted in the Senate of his second impeachment. May it be so.