Trump and DeSantis Take Up Sinister Nazi Playbook

Trump and his followers continue to wage a concerted attack on Black Americans, Asians, Muslims, Jews and LGBTQ+ communities. It began with the more subtle exhortations to “build a wall” to prevent immigrants from entering the United States and evolved into a wider culture war against “wokeness.”

But while Trump is at times clumsy in his approach, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is positively Machiavellian in his efforts.

DeSantis has packed school boards with his followers, turned the Florida Board of Education into his propaganda machine to ban books like “The Color Purple,” “Native Son,” and books on Hank Aaron and Roberto Clemente. That board wants to now ban an Advanced Placement African American Studies course, because any historical information that paints white people in a negative light should be banned, nor should there be any books on LGBTQ+ issues either.

Trump Republicans have admitted to adopting the propaganda tactics of Nazi Germany. And if you don’t think that these attacks are insidious, dangerous and terrifying, then we may end up like the Jews of that era.

The danger of Trump’s lies is that many people believe them and accept them as gospel. Trump and DeSantis propaganda are both dangerous. We should look at what happened in Germany and recognize the parallels now.

Hitler’s propaganda turned Germany into a war machine and led to the Nazis murdering 6 million Jews in concentration camps, along with millions of Slavs, Romani, homosexuals, persons with disabilities and other “others.” Millions more died because of World War II.

The former German leader’s fiery rhetoric indoctrinated many of his people to think of Jews as inferior and as the direct cause of the country’s malaise. This is exactly what Trump, DeSantis and other conservative Republicans are doing right here and right now: blaming immigrants for the problems of our country, hence the popularity of the “build the wall” mindset.

Hitler’s poisonous beliefs initially led to an increase in German citizens attacking Jewish businesses, schools and synagogues, and then after he took over the country those beliefs transitioned into a government-led program to strip Jews of their citizenship rights, seize Jewish businesses and assets, and bar Jewish children from attending public schools. And then finally his “solution” – kill as many Jews as German efficiency could manage – was enacted.

Now, let’s roll forward to 2020. We see attacks on Black churches, attacks on synagogues, attacks on elderly Asians and attacks on the LGBTQ+ community. Yet what we see is DeSantis passing laws to ban drag queen shows, for example. If you’re not a member of an “othered” group you may think this isn’t a big deal, but it is similar to what Hitler did in 1930 – and many Germans let it pass because his policies were good for the economy.

We need to realize that attacks on Blacks and members of the LGBTQ+ community are warning signs of what’s to come – attacks on every group that isn’t heterosexual and white. People of conscience should stand against any attack on any group as if it were a personal attack on them. Racism, homophobia and antisemitism are really all the same: hatred for someone who is not part of the American white establishment.

The type of propaganda being promulgated today will affect generations. This is why DeSantis’ war on what he deems “woke culture” is so scary. I know from personal experience its lasting effects. When I was 9 years old, my father and I traveled to Germany. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. Our cab driver was an unrepentant Nazi who informed his two Black passengers that he loved jazz music and that the Holocaust was Jewish propaganda, because it never happened. He then told us that Hitler made Germany great again.

Even as a child, I feared this man and wondered how someone could deny the Holocaust. Today as a Black man, I acknowledge Holocaust Memorial Day in April, because it is important never to forget the danger of hatred.

We are watching firsthand as DeSantis sets in motion attempts to deny slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws and other atrocities against Black Americans. Minority groups in America are being targeted just like Jews were in 1930s Germany. It is time for us to wake up and really fight back against these dangerous trends or one day people will be studying the sanctioned annihilation of minorities in the United States just like we study the Holocaust today.

Reginald J. Clyne is a Miami trial lawyer who has practiced in some of the largest law firms in the United States. Clyne has been in practice since 1987 and tries cases in both state and federal court. He has lived in Africa, Brazil, Honduras and Nicaragua.