Taegan Goddard dug up this wonderful Dorothy Thompson piece from a 1941 issue of Harper's Magazine, Who Goes Nazi?. This is an especially poignant question for me right now, not just because of what Trump has done to the Republican Party--and half the country-- but because I am in the middle of watching the excellent series, A French Village, which I cannot recommend strongly enough-- 7 dramatic seasons starting in 2009 about a small French village occupied by the Germans in 1940. Over the course of the show, the villagers adapt, many choosing collaboration, others choosing passive or active resistance. I keep wondering how long it will take, if Trump wins a second term, for California, for example, to turn into Un village français.Dorothy Thompson's article may need to be updated soon. "It is," she wrote 80 years ago, "an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one’s acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know. I have gone through the experience many times-- in Germany, in Austria, and in France. I have come to know the types: the born Nazis, the Nazis whom democracy itself has created, the certain-to-be fellow-travelers. And I also know those who never, under any conceivable circumstances, would become Nazis. It is preposterous to think that they are divided by any racial characteristics. Germans may be more susceptible to Nazism than most people, but I doubt it. Jews are barred out, but it is an arbitrary ruling. I know lots of Jews who are born Nazis and many others who would heil Hitler tomorrow morning if given a chance. There are Jews who have repudiated their own ancestors in order to become 'Honorary Aryans and Nazis'; there are full-blooded Jews who have enthusiastically entered Hitler’s secret service. Nazism has nothing to do with race and nationality. It appeals to a certain type of mind." [How prescient of her, writing so many years before the on-set of Israel's Likud Party!]
Kind, good, happy, gentlemanly, secure people never go Nazi. They may be the gentle philosopher whose name is in the Blue Book, or Bill from City College to whom democracy gave a chance to design airplanes-- you’ll never make Nazis out of them. But the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success-- they would all go Nazi in a crisis.Believe me, nice people don’t go Nazi. Their race, color, creed, or social condition is not the criterion. It is something in them.Those who haven’t anything in them to tell them what they like and what they don’t-whether it is breeding, or happiness, or wisdom, or a code, however old-fashioned or however modern, go Nazi. It’s an amusing game. Try it at the next big party you go to.
Let's look at Congress. Can you name 10 who would never, under any circumstances collaborate with a Trump/Nazi Regime? How about 10 who would be the most eager to be part of it? My guesses are just Democrats since you can pretty much consider all Republicans eager to get on board.
NEVER (JAMAIS):• AOC• Rashida Tlaib• Ilhan Omar• Jamie Raskin• Ro Khanna• Barbara Lee• Pramila Jayapal• Ted Lieu• Jan Schakowsky• Jerry NadlerAs Willing As Deputy-Prefect Sevier...Though Maybe Not As Excited By The Prospect As Philippe Chassagne:• Anthony Brindisi• Josh Gottheimer• Ben McAdams• Tulsi Gabbard• Henry Cuellar• Abigail Spanberger• Steny Hoyer• Kendra Horn• Collin Peterson• Stephanie Murphy
Did I leave anyone out? Please let me know in the comments if you have any good nominations-- for either list... or if I've been too harsh or too kind to any of these politicians. I'd love to know what you think.
