History is a funny thing, but we are living in frightening historic times. There are several adages about history, such as “those who fail to learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.” One of my favorites, attributed to Mark Twain, is that history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. The puzzling thing is that so many just don’t know history or recognize the rhymes.
FACT: The Beer Hall Putsch (violent attempt to overthrow the government) was an effort to overthrow the legitimate government of Germany in 1923. It was led by right-wing fascists known as Nazis. The Putsch failed, and many of the leaders were put on trial for high treason. A sympathetic court dismissed charges against some, and the ringleader, Adolph Hitler, was convicted of high treason in April 1924 and given the minimum sentence of five years in a minimum-security prison. He served time until December 1924, when he was released.
Similarly, on Jan. 6, 2021, a right-wing mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building in an attempted coup, to prevent the certification by Congress of the 2020 presidential election, won by Joe Biden. The attack was spurred on by Trump and the nation watched in horror as the events unfolded on live TV. As a result, nearly 1,600 people were charged and convicted of crimes related to the attack, including Enrique Tarrio of the Proud Boys neo-fascist white nationalist organization, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy. Also convicted of seditious conspiracy was Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, a far-right American militia group. All the above-mentioned convicts were either pardoned or had their sentences commuted as soon as Trump took office again in 2025.
FACT: On Jan. 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany by the newly reelected president, Paul von Hindenburg. Hitler had lost the 1932 election to Hindenburg. Many German industrial leaders and capitalist elites supported the appointment of Hitler, including companies such as Krupp (steel and weaponry), I.G. Farben (chemicals and pharmaceuticals), and Siemens (electronics). Their support was based on their opposition to communists, socialists, labor unions, LGBTQ and minorities, and their belief in the superiority of “the Aryan Race,” as did the Nazis.
Similarly, in November 2024, convict Donald Trump won his first election based on popular vote, claiming 49.8% of the vote compared to Kamala Harris’ 48.3% (BTW 2016 results – Trump 46%, Hillary Rodham Clinton 48%). Strikingly, Trump’s 77,284,568 votes represented only 31.6% of eligible, adult voters in the United States. Many capitalist elites supported and funded Trump’s campaign based on their fear of socialists and labor unions, LGBTQ and minorities, just like Trump. This support included $270 million by the richest man in the world, a nonelected, South African immigrant.
FACT: The Enabling Act was a law passed by the German Reichstag (Congress) on March 23, 1933, that allowed Chancellor Hitler to assume dictatorial powers. This act “enabled” Hitler’s government to issue decrees independent of the Reichstag and President Hindenburg. It gave Hitler a base from which to carry out the first steps of his Nazi revolution.
In an act of similar enabling, in July 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court said Trump was “absolutely immune from prosecution” for his actions trying to overturn the 2020 election, as well as the four criminal acts he was indicted for because of the Jan. 6 mob attack on the Capitol. Trump believes now that this “immunity” allows him to create, as well as violate, law at his whim. Since his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump has signed at least 73 executive orders, many of which are considered illegal because they violate Article I and Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which lays out the separation of power between Congress and the executive branch of government.
Seems to me like a lot of perverse rhyming going on.
Gene Orr, M.Ed., is a retired educator with 43 years of experience teaching social studies and history in middle school, high school and college in Durango. He lives in Kline.
