Opinion: Biden's "Gestapo administration" is a fabrication created by Trump's thought process.
It seems like Trump has a knack for starting events with that same song celebrating the January 6th attackers. Each time he does this, it's a slap in the face to any patriotic citizen. However, his offensive antics didn't end there at the recent private lunch for donors held at his Mar-a-Lago club. Trump launched into a swear-filled rant, claiming President Biden was running a "Gestapo administration," invoking the name of the feared Nazi political police, notorious for their "organized deportations of Jews from across Europe to ghettos, concentration camps, killing sites, and killing centers," as the Holocaust Encyclopedia explains.
What's truly appalling is that Trump made this remark to a room filled with individuals who had donated $40,000 or more to the Republican National Committee, during a 90-minute speech where he frequently complained about being charged with 88 felonies across four different jurisdictions. The current trial in New York City alleges that Trump was the center of an elaborate "election fraud" that involved concealing the payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels. Although Trump denies the allegations, it's evident that he often uses this opportunity to rant publicly.
To compare the current administration to the brutal Gestapo is offensive in many ways. It trivializes the history of the Holocaust and the heinous actions of Nazis like Adolf Hitler. There's also no evidence of authoritarian tendencies in the current administration. However, Trump seems to use such language casually and does not understand the severity of his words.
Remarkably, Trump has displayed this type of rhetoric before. In December, he used words similar to Hitler's manifesto "Mein Kampf" and his speeches, describing migrants as "poisoning the blood" of the United States. He also referred to his political opponents as "vermin," coinciding with Nazi rhetoric. Trump has not apologized for his use of language, but instead it appears he's only escalating it. At a rally in Iowa last month, he declared: "I never read 'Mein Kampf,'" but then used the same dangerous rhetoric about migrants, claiming "they're destroying the blood of the country."
The lack of outcry among the wealthy GOP donors at the event about Trump's use of "Gestapo" or his Nazi-like remarks raises concerns. Have the GOP leaders denounced such rhetoric? Not so far, and it's unlikely they'll speak against their presumptive nominee and the party's undisputed leader.
Curiously, Trump's celebration of the January 6th attackers reminds us of Hitler's tactics after his failed coup attempt in 1923 called the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler would praise those killed in the failed attempt to seize power as martyrs and heroes. Following his victory a decade later, Hitler established the Gestapo, the German secret police, under the leadership of his loyal aide Hermann Göring.
During the event, Trump offered anyone who donated $1 million the chance to speak at the podium. According to reports, three people took him up on his offer. One donor even claimed that God chose Trump to lead the country. As Trump spoke on Saturday, the RNC co-chair, his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, presented him with a plaque commemorating the success of the January 6th attackers' song on the Billboard music charts. Last week, Time magazine published an interview where Trump praised the January 6th attackers as "patriots" and promised to consider pardoning those still in jail for the attack.
This questioning leaves me pondering about who among the presidential candidates truly adores democracy and our Constitution, and who wants to drag us back into a period of darkness and threat.
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Source: edition.cnn.com
