(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Hope [1]

['A Pagan In Arizona', 'Black Kos']

Date: 2026-07-14  

This summer I spent two weeks in Berlin. During this time, I immersed myself in 19th and 20th century history, spanning the founding of the German Empire in 1871 and Hitler’s birth in 1889, to the fall of the Wall on 9 November, 1989 and the signing of the Two Plus Four Agreement on 12 September 1990 to reunify Germany.

Now that I know more about the story of Hitler’s rise during the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era, the Cold War division of Germany into East and West, the Wall, the peaceful revolution of 1989, and Germany’s reunification in 1990, I am absolutely astounded. It seems totally improbable that Germany has become a liberal democracy and has deeply examined its violent past. It boggles the mind. More than that, it gives me hope for our country.

People say, “It’s 1933, this is just like Hitler’s rise to power.” But that’s not true. Here are some differences:

The Weimar Republic, which immediately preceded the Nazi era, had almost no popular support and probably would have failed anyway, if not by Hitler’s hand, then by the Bolsheviks. Our republic is much loved by the majority of the population. Hitler’s rise to power didn’t start the violence; it intensified it. Street violence already was an everyday occurrence among partisans for the various parties. Years before Hitler became the Chancellor, the National Socialists formed a trained and indoctrinated private army, the Brownshirts, aka the SA. That is not the case in America. Yes, we had January 6th, and because of the Second Amendment we have way too much gun violence. Trump seems to want to transform CBP and ICE into his own private army. But he hasn’t yet accomplished that. On day one, the Nazis started rounding up anyone who posed a threat to the regime and interred or murdered them. That has not happened; in America, the regime’s opposition is free, loud, and getting stronger and more united with each passing week. Less than two months after Hitler was named Chancellor, the Reichstag passed a law (the Enabling Act) that gave Hitler the power to create laws without regard to whether the Weimar constitution permitted them and with no input from the parliament. That legislation was the final nail in the Weimar Constitution’s coffin, and the day it passed – 23 March, 1933 – marks the final transition from parliamentary republic to full-on dictatorship. There has been nothing like that here; in fact, even with control of the entire government, the Rs have struggled to get anything passed. On 14 July, 1933 – less than 6 months after gaining power – the Reichstag passed the Law Against the Formation of Parties, which made Germany a one-party state. Once again, that has not happened here. We are still a two-party system.

Has the administration tried to enact measures that mirror the Nazi playbook? The answer of course is yes. Have they succeeded? Not so much. The opposition still lives. The judiciary, except for the 6 unprincipled SCOTUS justices, has protected its independence. Would the administration like to steal the next election? Very much so. But the failure to pass the SAVE Act makes it more difficult for them to do so, as does our federal system that distributes power to the states.

Are we out of the woods yet? Absolutely not. The headline to this post is “Hope,” not “Victory.” But we have a lot going for us, and if we continue fighting, continue resisting, keep refusing to believe their victory is inevitable, we can prevail.

Germany is a freaking miracle. If someone from the future showed up in Berlin in 1940 and said, “Hey guys, guess what? In 85 years Germany will be a leading constitutional democracy; will have publicly examined its genocidal past; will have disavowed its Nazi ideology; and will be a beacon of hope for people in America struggling with their own wannabe dictator,” they would have been laughed out of the room. Yet here we are.

If they can do it, we can too. It’s been awful, yes, but I think we are past peak Trump. We will prevail. And hopefully we can learn from the experience and take steps to prevent it from happening again.

One final remark: Read the Good News Roundup whenever you feel down about the current situation. It’s been invaluable to me, because it gathers together the abundant evidence of our ongoing resistance to the regime’s depredations against democracy.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/14/800070042/community/hope/

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/