(Wikimedia Commons; click to enlarge)
On 27 February 1933, an arsonist did substantial damage to the German Reichstag or parliament building. A Dutch Communist confessed to setting the fire, although there is still serious dispute as to whether he was framed (and possibly tortured into confession), whether he acted alone if he did it, whether the Nazis did it themselves in order to manufacture a crisis, and so forth. In any event, the newly elected German chancellor, one Adolf Hitler, lost no time before suspending basic civil liberties in order to deal with the peril.
In a sense, the German Nazis (National Socialists) and the German Communists deserved each other. They had been encouraging and employing violence for quite some time, and would continue to do so. But Germany and Europe scarcely deserved what was shortly to come. Scores of millions of people died in their wars, their Gulag, and their Holocaust.
Now, zealous partisans of various leftist groups are beginning to battle it out with zealous Trumpists, and we’re seeing violence.
Thuggery doesn’t belong in the electoral politics of the American Republic. Not only has political discourse been debased and coarsened by the entry of Mr. Donald Trump into the presidential campaign, but now we’re seeing increasing signs of violence, bigotry, and hostility to free speech. And Mr. Trump hasn’t exactly discouraged it.
Please read this:
“Shameful Spectacles, in Chicago and Elsewhere”
Here’s an eyewitness account of a Trumpist rally that was brought to my attention by Cecilia Morejon:
And here’s a new development regarding an incident of violent intimidation that centrally involved Mr. Trump’s campaign manager:
“Shapiro Resigns from Breitbart News”
In order to better understand the incident in question, you might want to read these pieces, by the Harvard-trained lawyer, Iraq War veteran, and conservative writer David French:
“Video Destroys Trump Campaign Spin as Michelle Fields Files Criminal Charges”
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