Few foresaw trump’s actions to reduce the number of voters against him & anyone he would back in future elections. In place are mechanisms to suppress the vote or minimize the impact of voters who oppose trump & his fascist State. [FN1] [FN2] Feds in masks & uniforms, 1/12

w/neither individual nor agency ID, round up ppl at random & ship them off to foreign prisons. [FN3] trump chuckles about shipping native-born US citizens to facilities outside the US. [FN4] Hitler had his “Brown shirts,” the S.A., to beat up or kill opponents w/o direct orders. 2/12

trump has Jan 6 people, out of prison & armed, to go on shooting sprees. They need not fear punishment. The people who rally, protest & get shot are at fault. There’s ample historical precedent. On Nov 9-10, 1938, Jewish-owned businesses in Germany were vandalized 3/12

> 200 Jews were beaten to death & many more injured. [FN5] Jews were ordered to pay for damages. [FN6] Those who study history are familiar w/Kristallnacht. Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro’s home was firebombed this week. [FN7] Some GOP members of Congress 4/12

blamed Gov Shapiro (his politics) for the attack. [FN8] Gov Shapiro condemns violence [FN9] & so do I, but while trump’s in power, more people who oppose him will die. Free elections are gone. I’ve been, & shall continue to be, a pacifist. To paraphrase Napoleon’s 5/12

foreign minister, Tallyrand, violence not only is wrong, it’s stupid. We need to stop this regime. The oath taken by elected public officials, members of our military and others in public office is to preserve, protect & defend the Constitution. [FN10] 6/12

trump & his cronies have violated this oath. Just as former officers of the Confederacy were barred from public office, so should participants in this coup & under the same provision of The Constitution. Those who fail to study history are condemned to repeat it. 7/12

We should try to at least find parts of our history that can help in ending the coup and sending its members & its enablers to long retirements as we prepare to rebuild. Thanks for reading. Pass this around. 8/12

Footnotes:
FN1. “The rejection of democracy, the rule of law, and equal rights under the law in favor of a strongman who interprets the popular will.” Reich, Robert, “The five elements of fascism,” 6/15/23. Putin is in charge, but trump’s is the face of American fascism, for now. 9/12

FN2. Gerrymandering, voting sites difficult to access, fraudulently purging of registered voters, hacking computers, etc.
FN3. Hayes, Christal, “US senator meets man mistakenly deported to El Salvador,” BBC, 4/18/25.
FN4. Mann, Brian, “‘Homegrowns are next': Trump hopes to deport and jail U.S. citizens abroad,” NPR, 4/16/25, accessed 4/17/25. 10/12

FN5. See, Fybel, Richard D., “Judges, Lawyers, Legal Theorists, and the Law in Nazi Germany (1933–1938); Kristallnacht; and My Parents’ Escapes from the Nazis,” UCLA L Rev, 09/10/22, accessed 01/06/25.
FN6. Evans, Richard J., “The Third Reich in Power,” (2005), pp. 590-92. 11/12

FN7. Hernandez, Joe, “Governor's mansion arson suspect was angry about Gaza War, Pennsylvania police say,” NPR, 4/16/25, accessed 4/18/25.
FN8. Mordowanec, Nick, “Republicans Suggest Josh Shapiro Partly to Blame for Arson at His Home,” Newsweek, 4/17/25, accessed 4/18/25.
FN9. Id., FN7.
FN10. Const. Art. II, sec 1. 12/12