I’m going to risk losing readers via a Hitler comparison.
All fascist leaders – if you can call them leaders – are amateurs when it comes to government, attaining some limited success because they stepped into a power vacuum caused by a period of historical transition. Hitler stepped into a Wiemar Republic that was the first attempted government following the fleeing of the last Kaiser (King), doomed to inevitable failure due to the Treaty of Versailles. Italy’s Mussolini stepped into power as the rival Habsburg Empire collapsed and disappeared. Spain’s Franco emerged in a Spain ravaged by Revolution by the ambitious communists, and was successful. South America has been ravaged by fascist forces of various sorts.
For the unsuccessful, they have some initial successes and then, overconfident from early successes, try for a big prize and end up failing, often fatally. For Adolf Hitler, that failed bid was the invasion of Soviet Union, known as Operation Barbarossa. Attempting to secure critical fuel supplies in the Soviet Union, the weather turned against invading German forces and the Soviets used scorched earth tactics to slow the invaders, dependent on speed for success, to a crawl. Hitler refused to admit failure, because dictators don’t do that, and consequently lost huge amounts of war materiel of all sorts, including the entire 4th Panzer Army and 6th Armies. This lead to Nazi Germany failing and the death of Hitler.
When the Russians and Soviets claim to have won World War II, it’s a difficult claim to refute.
Mussolini had similar problems, and other fascists often did, although I am not so familiar with them. Those who confined themselves to domestic aggression did better than those who embarked on foreign adventures.
Trump seems to try to split the difference, but the speed and reach of technology, added to the determination of a free people, may have caused a miscalculation. I mentioned, with great sadness, that ICE had shot another Minnesota citizen this morning, June 24th, killing him. I knew no more than that this morning.
I still really don’t this evening. There are stories out there, but I do not know to believe them. Here’s one:
A CNN analysis of video appears to show a federal immigration officer removing a gun from Alex Pretti just prior to officers fatally shooting him.
Video shows one officer reaching into the scrum of other officers seeking to restrain Pretti and retrieving a weapon that appears to match the firearm the Department of Homeland Security says Pretti possessed.
Officers can be heard shouting “he’s got a gun” when the unidentified officer reaches into Pretti’s waistband as the pile of officers try to subdue him. Just over one second after the officer emerges holding the weapon, a shot rings out, followed by at least 9 more, according to videos. [CNN]
ICE killing an unarmed man, if it’s an honest evaluation. And the victim worked at a hospital:
Julia Grigoriev, a hospitalist at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center who worked alongside Alex Pretti on a regular basis, described him as “class clown” who lightened the mood in every room he entered.
“Everybody loved him,” she said. “He’d be the first one to jump in to help.”
Working in an ICU takes a unique skillset, she added: “You have to have guts. You have to have balls. You have to be very stoic but also have humor, else it’s hard to survive. He was all of the above.” [Minnesota Star Tribune]
If true, President Trump may find himself facing a tidal wave of bad opinion, and if my reader just shrugs, please note that mobs start with a bad opinion. He has an absolute hoard of scandal in recent history, led by the Epstein Files that his minions have worked so hard to stop, and then slow, and then render useless, but followed by many others: disastrous tariffs, embarrassing Gulf of America, 51st State of Canada, Greenland, FEMA, CBP, this is a list that can go on and on.
But now his minions have shot to death an unarmed man.
And now Trump has a real dilemma. He has a habit of taking care of his own, but if he takes care of the shooter in this incident, even the hard-line extreme right wingers could turn on him. Shooting an unarmed man to death, and then being saved by Trump. That has implications terrifying to everyone.
And if the shooter isn’t saved, then current minions might start peeling off and talking.
COULD THIS BE TRUMP’S OPERATION BARBAROSSA?
I think it could be. It requires a large number of Americans to be outraged, but, in today’s environment of technology, that can happen. Videos travel, podcast hosts talk about how they and their audiences might be the next victims, audiences listen, Trump voters regret their votes and look for ways to avenge Trump’s mendacity.
We’ll have to see if crowds begin to gather in front of the Oval Office. It’s unfortunate that the weather will be miserable in DC for the next few days.
Right now I’d say continue the peaceful protests, accent on the sad and unnecessary death of Mr. Pretti. Reiterate the brutal manner of his death. If interviewed, as viewers to consider how they’d feel being a victim.
Because fascists think they can kill anyone they dislike, who has something they want. The Rule of Law does not exist in a dictatorship.
Stay safe and stay warm.
