Yesterday, I posted a World War II partisan song from Poland. It got me thinking about the cause of World War II – Hitler. I know it was the armistice ending World War I that caused World War II. Historians agree with me, saying that World War II came about because of the harsh terms imposed on Germany by the victors of World War I. It was Sunday, and I felt a bit free to do some exploring around the Internet. Much to my surprise, I found out that YouTube will not let you watch certain things about World War II unless you’re willing to sign in. I was a bit surprised because I saw details of Hitler’s speeches that said he would restore Germany’s greatness. You can turn on the close captioning feature of YouTube to following his speeches. Of course, some videos compared those comments to President Trump’s remarks about making America great again. I don’t think that is surprising because Trump was a populist and a nationalist. Marion Webster defines nationalism as “The strong belief that the interests of a particular nation-state are of primary importance. Also, the belief that a people who share a common language, history, and culture should constitute an independent nation, free of foreign domination.”
There is another comparison that was made. It’s linking one group of people to the problems within the country. For Hitler, it was the Jews. For our president, it was immigrants. That fits hand-in-hand with nationalism. Troubles come from outside the country, not from within. I’m sure you can see that nationalism and scapegoating a group of people can lead to disaster. I don’t believe that President Trump understood the dangers in his speeches and policies. I’m sure he would be greatly offended by comparison to Hitler. Still, the natural outcome of his political speeches was the insurrection on January 6. I saw the comparisons of January 6 with the activity of the Brownshirts before World War II in Germany.
There are real dangers in nationalism and scapegoating that can lead to things not intended by those supporting them. You can be proud of your country. You can see how foreigners could damage your country. Both of those are reasonable. Those statements are patriotic. The trouble is if taken too far, they can lead to unintended consequences. That’s what happened on January 6. Many of those there have already been arrested and charged. They thought they were doing the patriotic thing. They were urged on by people whose only desire was to cause trouble. Those are the people we should be searching for prosecution. They weren’t attempting to help the country or the president. Like the Brownshirts of the 1930s, they were only in it to help themselves.
