Denial will doom Democrats. Getting real will save them.

Yesterday's post brought this scoffing comment: 

Hilarious. The premise of "chaos" is a Republican talking point just like "woke". 

The "illegal alien problem" would be solved overnight with a few CEO prosecutions. Of course the economy would collapse, but at least you could shrug off the obvious racism, so much for that.

In the meantime Trump raids the Treasury and sets up himself and his kids as royalty, but never mind. "The Immigrants!!"

I love this comment mocking my post. So I am just succumbing to Republican talking points, and "illegal alien problem" belongs in scare quotes.  

It makes the point of why it is so hard for Democrats to get out of the rut that they are in.

Yes, they are in a rut.

I hear the resistance in some of my readers' minds. But Democrats are popular in cities! They came within a single percent of winning! If only Jill Stein had butted out! Trump is losing popularity! The midterms will be great!

I look at it differently. Democrats are competitive only because Republicans have attached themselves to a vile, openly dishonest, self-serving felon, who was convicted of sexual assault, who was overheard on tape bragging about grabbing women by the  p----- , who has something to hide as regards Epstein, who flouts every Christian virtue, who is holding businesses and law firms up to extortion for personal gain, who is openly defying Congress and the courts, and who incited a violent mob to attack the Capitol to overthrow an election.  And Democrats are almost, but not quite, competitive with that disgusting mess of a man and president. That is a very low achievement.

Trump is president and the House and Senate are Republican because voters in wide swaths of the country find Democrats so unacceptable that they prefer a tireless antagonist of Democrats. They deny and minimize Trump's bad behavior to do anything other than vote for a Democrat.

"Wow. That was harsh," I hear readers thinking. Aren't Democrats getting popular again?  Alas, no.

Real Clear Politics

Gallup

Voters find Democrats only about as acceptable as a corrupt, sex-offending, felon. Democrats are the ballgame because Trump may be even worse.

Republicans have a problem. They are stuck with Trump and with the deep stain that Trump has put onto their party. Sentor Lindsey Graham (R. SC) predicted the future in 2016. He said Trump campaigns "on xenophobia, race-baiting, religious bigotry – that cannot be Republican conservatism.” Trump will kill the Republican Party, he said, and "we'll deserve it."  Eventually Republican politicians and voters will try to wash their history and say that they had always opposed Trump. That will take a while.

Good news for Democrats, though. Democrats can fix what is wrong and do so promptly. As I began writing yesterday: 

---  Stop defending and minimizing a deeply flawed immigration policy that allowed nine million unregulated people to enter the country in indefinite legal limbo. But isn't immigration just a "Republican talking point," as the commenter said. Yes. It is a talking point because the vast majority of Americans, including people of Hispanic and Asian heritage, found Biden's approach objectionable. 

---  Stop defending the national Democratic Party. The DNC connived with the Biden campaign to forbid a competitive Democratic primary for president in 2024. They cosseted Biden and hid him from the public. That approach denied new spokespeople -- Klobuchar, Shapiro, Booker, Newsom and a dozen others -- a chance to reshape the Democratic message into a party of change, not one of geriatric status quo helplessness. Democratic candidates for federal office should speak the simple truth, that they are the Democratic Party, and they disown the national DNC. Democrats think it. Why not say it?

---  Stop defending the ACA and the status quo in healthcare as anything other than a work in progress toward something new and better. The current system is indefensible. It is massively expensive, it leaves some Americans without healthcare, and its insurance premiums are burdensome. It makes billionaires out of people who operate companies whose profits come from denying claims. The fact that some Americans consider Luigi Mangione, the alleged assassin of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, a folk hero, is both appalling and a heads up. It is politically safe to move on from Obamacare. Present a Medicare for All proposal and then sell it as better and cheaper.

---  Stop pushing identity essentialism. Trump has given Democrats an opportunity. Trump demonstrates that certain people -- his friends, people who pay him financial tribute, even criminals who act on his behalf -- get special treatment. People hate that, so let that be the Trump and Republican brand. The crony brand.  Americans like the idea of equality and fairness and everyone getting what they deserve by merit. Democrats bought into the idea that our country was so flawed in its history that the people and institutions that play the role of referees and gatekeepers need to evaluate everyone against a measure of presumed former disadvantage, and give them preference. It turns out that the vast majority of Americans think that is unfair, even people who are potentially the beneficiaries of it. Besides, everyone knows someone whose potential disadvantage is greater than theirs, so everyone is suspicious that a system of favoritism disadvantages them. Stop supporting identity favoritism. Now playing favorites is Trump's deal.

I expect some readers to disagree. I am suggesting that Democrats break free of group-think policy ruts. Some people will cling to familiar positions and consider change to be "backsliding" or compromising with the devil, or MAGA. No. it is getting real. It is getting back in sync with Americans.

It is time for a new generation of Democratic leaders and spokespeople to redefine what it means to be a "good Democrat."  Democrats are supposedly the party of "progress." Progress means change, change that will lead to electoral victories.

Meanwhile Republicans will be stuck trying to wash out the stain of having tolerated Trump. It will take time and it won't be easy.

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Can a Democrat ever win in a rural congressional district like Oregon's 2nd?

 Yes, Democrats can win in rural districts, like Oregon's Second Congressional District. 

But they must fix the parts of the Democratic brand that voters hate.

Yesterday I posted about a joint appearance by four Democratic candidates for Congress. I said I thought they all sounded alike, supporting standard-issue Democratic policy, saying things that would sound pretty normal for a national Democrat hoping to represent Portland, Berkeley, or Boston. I don't doubt that the candidates think that is unfair and wrong -- sorry -- but that is how it seemed to me.

Candidates for Congress from yesterday's post

I concluded yesterday's post with what I had hoped to hear:

There may be room for a red-district Democrat to surprise voters with a shift in the policies that reshape the Democratic brand. In a democracy there is no shame in supporting things that are popular, even if it changes the orthodoxy of a party brand.

The simple reality is that the Democratic brand is toxic in much of rural America. Understand that. Absorb that thought.

Rural area of my farm at Table Rock.  It gets even redder in more rural areas.

 Democrats are doomed to lose the Senate, and usually the Electoral College, if they are not competitive in rural areas. The Democrat does not need to become MAGA-lite, or become Trumpy, or become dog-whistle-racist. The Democrat does not need to start talking about bipartisanship or "crossing the aisle." They don't need to brand themselves as "purple."

In fact, sounding like a mushy compromiser makes things worse by communicating that the Democrat has no principles. At least in Oregon's Second District, the incumbent, Cliff Bentz, is a genuine, reliable toady for whatever Trump wants, even when it hurts his district. He is a bad U.S. representative, but he is rock-solid loyal to his master.

The Democrat needs to position herself as a reform Democrat. Democrats need reform so they can fix their brand. A reform Democrat is a real Democrat, one willing to face the truth about the party and risk being criticized for doing so. (Notice that Trump did exactly that with the GOP, daring to criticize the Bush dynasty in 2015.)  

Start with the immigration issue. Declare that Biden and Democrats messed up badly on immigration. Say it clearly. Admit that Democrats failed to enforce the laws and keep good public order and thus let immigration get out of hand. The Biden administration, with the tacit consent of Democrats in national office, allowed mass uncontrolled immigration by people who gamed the "amnesty" claim, having learned that the U.S. would allow them to remain in the country for years, maybe decades. People wanting to come here took the hint and came, about three million a year of them, a giant spike in immigration numbers. 

New York Times chart and headline

Fox image of Lukeville AZ border crossing, December 27, 2023

The system choked on the uncontrolled, un-assimilated masses of people here without resolved legal status. White nativist racists did not like this; that is a given. But neither did millions of other people, including fellow Hispanics and fellow Asians, citizen-voters who had to deal with the chaos. Democrats failed to act because they heard Trump's race-based dog whistles, and thought that represented the real animus for the public's discontent. Democrats reject racism, so they saw immigration as a matter of racism, not public order. A balance-tipping number of people felt that Democrats misunderstood them and insulted them by calling them racist. They wanted good order. They wanted laws obeyed.

There is something clarifying and cleansing about confession. Tell the simple truth: Democrats were wrong. That goes a long way toward a "reset" of a flawed brand. 

The candidate might say what President Obama said: that the laws should be enforced, people here illegally must go home and apply for entry. In a context of respect for the law, people with DOCA status may be able to stay lawfully, but there will be deportations, as there were while Obama was president. Democrats will fail with the public until they accept that. 

Having frankly endorsed a policy of law-abiding order, the candidate can then criticize Trump's police-state rough-justice policing strategy. Trump's tactics give a Democrat an opportunity to make immigration a winning issue.  

The Democratic brand will change when there are spokespeople and candidates advocating change, not mushy excuses for a failed status quo. The candidate should expect criticism from fellow Democrats. "You sound like Trump!!!" The Democratic candidate should welcome that criticism. It means people are paying attention. No need to say you are moderating or compromising, because you are not. You are re-defining good policy for good Democrats. You are not defending the indefensible; you are not stuck in a policy rut. Tell the critic who says you sound like Trump: 

No, I sound like a Democrat who wants our immigration system to work. We can do this the right way or we can do this Trump's way. Trump uses police state tactics. Trump attacks our Second Amendment rights. I sound like a real Democrat, because real Democrats and real Americans want our laws obeyed.

That is one issue.There are others. Reform is an opportunity to rethink what is not working. Policies that are so unpopular that the public chooses Donald Trump as the alternative are a sign that something must change.

The agents of change are the candidates for public office who proudly say they are Democrats and that they voice new defensible and popular policies. They can win the future because they shape it.

Tomorrow, another issue:  How to handle Obamacare.

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Big turnout to see Democratic candidates for Oregon's Second Congressional District

"What's tomorrow's lede in your blog?"
          Asked of me by Democratic State Senator Jeff Golden

"The big story is that Democrats are super-energized. These candidates will have a hard time, but Democrats are going to have a good year."

          My response

Four Democratic candidates for U.S. Congress spoke to about 400 voters in a Sunday afternoon joint appearance at a Medford school auditorium.

The turnout was high. This comes on top of a recent town hall by U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D. OR) that filled up the Ashland High School gymnasium. People were turned away. President Trump is motivating Democrats.

Conventional thinking would be that these candidates face a near-hopeless challenge. Oregon's Second Congressional District concentrates the state's most-Republican areas into one of Oregon's six districts, one that includes Medford. The Republican incumbent, Cliff Bentz, won election by a 64-33 margin in 2024. He won 68-32 in 2022.

The audience seemed undaunted and enthusiastic. The candidates did as well. Each one sounded confident and forthright, with a single story: Bentz is a Trump toady, and Bentz's Trump-pleasing votes hurt Second District citizens.

From left to right in this photo:

Patty Snow, 62, an Ashland businesswoman, who called herself "a purple Democrat." She said she wanted to focus on four things: health, the environment, the economy, and our rights as Americans.

Snow

Rebecca Mueller, 45, from Medford, who introduced herself as "a rural pediatrician, an advocate, and a mother." She said she wanted to give the unaffiliated voters a reason to vote Democratic.

Mueller

Dawn Rasmussen, 58, from Wasco County, who began by saying Oregonians were being crushed by rising costs, but that she was not "a partisan warrior" because affordability is an Oregon issue, not a Democratic one.

Rasmussen

Mary Doyle, 57, a Bend-area educator, who said she wanted to "get corruption out of politics," which requires a new tax policy that forces billionaires to pay higher taxes, a constitutional amendment to end corporate financing of campaigns, and ridding Congress of career politicians.

Doyle

All four candidates are ready for prime time. All were articulate and fluent. Their presentation skills are as solid as any incumbent one sees on television. They each spoke with better clarity and confidence than Cliff Bentz, whom I have seen live in public perhaps eight times.

They are good candidates, but I have impressions to share:

 ---   I thought they all sounded alike. All condemn Trump. All say they want to reach out to a wider net beyond Democrats. All have essentially the same set of policy ideas that Democrats in very blue polities favor. On every issue dear to the Democratic faithful, including issues that make the Democratic brand unpopular in red areas like the Second District, they sound to me like a politician hoping to win votes in Portland, Berkeley, or Boston. They sound like Bernie Sanders-AOC Democrats, with maybe a tiny hint of the moderation of a Pete Buttigieg. They are all MSNOW-compliant.

---   I thought the four candidates were too darned gracious. They congratulate and support one another. This approach means, however, that distinctions between them are essentially invisible. One does not need to be nasty to do some comparing and contrasting. The result is that a person attending the event -- as I did -- wondering which of the four stood above the others and could give Bentz some real general election competition, came away without a chosen candidate. A corollary of that graciousness is that they never made a hard compare-and-contrast case against Bentz, tying Bentz to the least popular things Trump does. 

These candidates have an opportunity in the 2026 election to turn this district from safe-Republican into a competitive one. MAGA is net-popular in this district, but on issues like the right to carry guns without being killed by federal police, on Greenland, on Epstein, on tariffs, on inflation, on damage to wheat exports, on the rough treatment by immigration enforcement agents, there is an opportunity for Democrats. If it were a competitive seat, even an incumbent Republican would feel some pressure to be an independent voice of restraint against the least popular Trump policies.

There may be room for a red-district Democrat to surprise voters with a shift in the policies that reshape the Democratic brand. In a democracy there is no shame in supporting things that are popular, even if it changes the orthodoxy of a party brand. I had hoped to hear it. 

But I need to be realistic about popularity: A majority of Democratic primary voters may not want to hear it in a Democratic primary, and it was a Democratic primary crowd.

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Easy Sunday: Two short YouTube videos.

A British girl is angry about the price for two ice cream cones -- nine quid! -- and he doesn't even accept cash as payment. Bloody hell!

Click. Fifteen seconds

And for Super Bowl Sunday, a short Pepsi ad. The Coke polar bear, burdened by his hidden preference for Pepsi, seeks psychiatric help, finally comes clean, and finds joy with his lover amid a cheering crowd.

Click: 35 seconds

It isn't all politics all the time. If it were, I would go crazy.

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Canada is pulling away from us. Canadians are as well.

     "The big picture is that the U.S. government is choosing to isolate itself through its transactional and exploitative approach to trade and its race towards authoritarianism. The rest of the world is turning away and making other arrangements."
          Sandford Borins

I am trying to make sense of U.S.-Canadian relationship under Trump by likening it to a relationship breakup. The U.S. is acting like an entitled and abusive boyfriend, the guy with the big muscles, the big house, and more money than everyone else. He is convinced he has a right to be entitled. 

The rest of the world thinks the U.S. is acting like a jerk. They are adjusting to the new reality. Canada is doing what any prudent girlfriend of an entitled jerk would do: try to protect herself and begin making new friends. Mark Carney is trying to be politic about the pull-away, saying nice things to Trump as Canada withdraws.

Canada acts as an institution under a leader, Mark Carney, who acknowledged that a breakup was underway. Canada is made up of citizens. Canadian citizens make their own decisions on how to relate to the changes going on in their southern neighbor.

Sandford Borins is Canadian. He is a college classmate. He has written guest posts here explaining Canada. Today he shares how he personally feels. Sandy is Professor of Public Management Emeritus at the University of Toronto.  He has his own website, https://sandfordborins.com, where this post appeared earlier this week.

Borins, diplomas behind him, wearing a 50th college reunion tee shirt

Guest Post by Sandford Borins

East Berlin 1983, Okay; Boston 2026, Not Okay? 

I usually don’t continue to think about a blog I have posted, but I have been thinking about my previous one, in which I concluded I would boycott travel to the U.S.  Part of the impetus was recent events. The day after I posted, Trump called off his threats of invading Greenland and imposing tariffs on the European nations that sent a military presence there. On the other hand, Prime Minister Carney’s high-profile speech at Davos has evoked anger towards Canada from the Trump Administration.

I was also thinking of instances in the past when I visited countries whose governments were widely held in ill-repute and even were the target of boycott movements. As my title asks, were my choices then consistent with my choice now?

Personal Diplomacy in Undemocratic Countries

In my mid-thirties, I visited three countries with questionable governments. I went to South Africa in 1984, invited by a Canadian colleague who was working for a government-supported transportation research agency. I was curious about the apartheid regime. As discussed in a previous post, I stayed a month, travelled widely, and spoke to a wide range of people. I left disgusted by the regime and held out little hope for change. If someone then had predicted a peaceful transition to majority rule within a decade, I would have told them they were delusional.

In Germany for a conference in 1983, I visited a friend in West Berlin for a weekend. On Sunday, he took me through Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin. The starkest contrast was between streets and parks full of people enjoying themselves on Saturday in West Berlin and the deserted streets, squares, and plazas (especially Potsdamer Platz) in East Berlin. In many other ways, it was clear this was a police state, and one day there was more than enough for me.

I went to the People’s Republic of China in 1984 and again in 1986. The Canadian International Development Agency sponsored a partnership program between Canadian and Chinese management schools, and I was the guest of Nankai University in Tianjin. The students were inexperienced with free market institutions, but eager to learn. When I visited in November 1984 it was unseasonably cold. Here is a photo of me teaching in a chilly classroom.

And here I am in Tienanmen Square.

Reflecting on my decision to visit these three countries, despite my opposition to their governments’ policies, I was trying to learn from their people, share with them my life experience as a Canadian and, when possible, my expertise in management and economics.

Choosing to Boycott the U.S.

Prime Minister Carney’s Davos speech was a closely reasoned analysis of the impact, particularly on middle powers, of a sea-change in international relations characterized by the desire of hegemonic nations ruthlessly to monetize and exploit their advantages. Carney did not refer to the U.S. explicitly, but he was referring to any and all regional hegemonic powers. I noticed, though few commentators mentioned it, that Carney’s speech drew on economic concepts such as public goods, economies of scale, and game theory.

The reaction to Carney’s speech and Canada’s sectoral trade agreement with China by Trump and Bessent (apparently his point person for Canada) proved Carney’s point: threats of economic disruption (100 percent tariffs if Canada negotiates a wider agreement with China) and interference to support the “leave” side in a likely Alberta referendum on separation, not to mention name-calling (ingrate and “Governor”). This is not the behaviour of an ally or a partner. The National Security Strategy provides the bigger picture: dominance of the western hemisphere enforced with an iron fist.

If this isn’t enough to justify a Canadian travel boycott of the U.S., add to the picture the Trump Administration’s attack on the civil liberties of citizens and non-citizens who are in the U.S. As I’ve discussed in the previous blog, my criticism of the Trump Administration, if noticed by a BCP agent, would be sufficient grounds to prevent me from entering the U.S. I do not intend to travel to the U.S. during the Trump Administration. The 55^th reunion for my class at Harvard is in June, and I know I will regret missing it.

The U.S. Choosing Isolation

The big picture is that the U.S. government is choosing to isolate itself through its transactional and exploitative approach to trade and its race towards authoritarianism. The rest of the world is turning away and making other arrangements. Hence the recent trade deal between the E.U. and India, and the set of trade deals Canada is pursuing, of which the China deal is the first. A travel boycott is a personal replication of a national policy.

I hope the result of this collective action, both by nations and individuals, is that Americans will realize that, under Trump, their nation and society are becoming isolated and weaker. I hope they will remember that their alliances and soft power were a source of strength. And I hope they will remember this when choosing Trump’s successor in 2028.

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This is not a joke

President Trump is suing the IRS for $10 billion.

Did you hear the one about the man who killed his parents, then threw himself on the mercy of the judge because he was an orphan?

Gifted article: Wall Street Journal

Trump's complaint is that the IRS did not adequately screen and control a contractor who leaked to The New York Times and ProPublica copies of his tax returns. The leak took place in 2019, when Trump was president.

Trump is suing his own department because its leader -- ultimately Donald Trump himself -- failed to do his job.

Under the theory of the unitary executive, the theory that Trump uses to consolidate executive power in the presidency, Trump is suing himself. The president has complete responsibility for executive departments and therefore the right to direct how they do their work. The president is in charge, period.

The conflicts of interest grow. Trump appointed the people at the IRS and Justice Department who are facing his lawyers in this lawsuit. So Trump-chosen lawyers are on both sides of the issue. 

The leaked report showed that Trump paid no taxes at all for several years, and that he paid exactly $750 in taxes for tax years 2016 and 2017, the year Trump was elected president and his first year in office. The $750 was not the amount of money Trump owed to settle up with the government after calculating his taxes. No. He paid exactly $750 as the entire tax owed for the year. 

There would be complications for this lawsuit, were it to be litigated. Was the leaker really the responsibility of the IRS or of his accounting firm employer that contracted with the IRS? Whose fault is this really? Is the lawsuit within the statute of limitations? Is the amount of damages capped at $1,000 per incident? The government -- i.e., the citizens of the U.S. -- has a variety of defenses against paying Trump any money.

I expect this lawsuit to settle with an agreement that Trump-appointed lawyers on both sides will agree upon. The $10 billion claim gives lots of latitude for making a "reasonable" settlement.

There is one limiting factor: How much additional grift and kleptocracy will Americans tolerate from Trump?

Constitutional watchdogs in Congress have given up on complaining about Hatch Act violations, emolument violations, corporate gifts and tributes, crypto meme coin bribes, deals with Middle East kingdoms, and non-monetary tributes to Trump. Democrats cannot stop Trump, and Republicans fall into line and have forgotten how upset they were with Hunter Biden's nepotism. Whatever Trump wants is OK. Whatever Trump's family wants is also OK. 

What about the $40 million paid to Melania Trump for her story, the grease-the-wheel money paid by Amazon? That's OK. It is the cost of doing business for Amazon in Trump's America. No one has to see the movie. The rights payment to Melania was the whole point. It is just another way for money to make its way to the Trumps. Norms of behavior have been moved. No amount of self-dealing is too much. 

Corruption used to be hidden, when possible. Politicians were embarrassed about it. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D) hid his gold coins in the closet. Trump taught America something: If you take grift openly and proudly, Americans think it must be OK. No one stops you! They let you steal! Is this a great country, or what?

The United States is a giant buffet, and it is all-you-can-eat.

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History rhymes

     "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
          Attributed to American author Sinclair Lewis

Town hall security grabs man who sprayed unknown liquid on U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar

When President Trump was asked by an ABC reporter if he had seen video of the attack on Representative Omar, Trump answered:

No. I don’t think about her. I think she’s a fraud. I really don’t think about that. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her.

One of the indicia of fascism is a casual -- even favorable -- attitude toward violence directed at the political opponents of the leader. Sometimes it comes from agents of the government. Sometimes it comes from supporters of the leader. Either way, the violence is pardoned, condoned, or laughed off as well-justified. It is a message to Americans: Opponents risk injury or death. Comply. Obey.

Change often sneaks up a little at a time.  A populist leader ignores constitutional guardrails, sidelines the legislature, ignores court orders, initiates wars, creates a private army to intimidate citizens, extorts businesses, demands a compliant media, targets and stigmatizes minorities within the country, and demonstrates that dissenters and political opponents are subject to summary violence. I am talking, of course, about Nazi Germany.

Jack Mullen reflects on the events of 90 years ago in Germany. Jack and I thinned and picked pears in local orchards in our youth. He studied history at the University of Oregon. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Jack Mullen with wife Jennifer Angelo

Guest Post by Jack Mullen

                  Germany 90 years ago. 

The Nazi Party snookered Germany in 1932.

The Weimar Republic was deeply fragmented in 1932. No party held a majority. Political parties were in disarray. The Nazi Party, running on a platform that promised economic recovery, jobs, national revival, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, and virulent nationalism and antisemitism, won a plurality of votes in the July 1932 election and remained the largest party after losing seats in November.

Titans of German industry and leading conservatives convinced the aging president, Paul von Hindenburg, that if he appointed Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as chancellor, they could restrain him. Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor on January 30, 1933.

Did ordinary Germans understand what the 1932 elections had unleashed? The Enabling Act of March 23, 1933, gave Hitler’s cabinet the power to pass laws without the Reichstag, effectively dismantling constitutional democracy. President von Hindenburg died on August 2, 1934. Hitler then merged the offices of president and chancellor and declared himself Führer.

Under Hitler, Germany reduced unemployment, largely through rearmament, public works, and the exclusion of Jews and others from economic life. At the same time, Germany cast off the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles. By 1936, the regime had a story to tell the world — and a powerful propaganda machine to tell it. Many abroad, and many Germans, accepted that narrative.

In 1936, Germany hosted the Winter Olympics in February and the Berlin Summer Olympics in August, using both events as global propaganda showcases. Unemployed workers found jobs in expanding steel and armaments factories.

At the same time, many middle-class Germans saw violent, strong-armed actions by the SA, SS, and secret police but did not view them as signs of the totalitarian system tightening around them.

Any lingering illusions should have shattered in November 1938 during Kristallnacht — the Night of Broken Glass — when Nazi paramilitary forces, aided by civilians, attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany and Austria while authorities largely stood aside.

In 1938, Hitler expanded Germany’s territory: Austria was annexed in March, and the Sudetenland was absorbed in October after the Munich Agreement. These moves fulfilled his promises to revise Germany’s borders and restore great-power status.

Less than a year later, in September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and World War II began.

There are lessons to be drawn for America from Germany in the 1930s, including the danger of executive overreach, the use of security forces for political purposes, territorial ambition, and a compliant legislature and judiciary. While many Germans were slow to recognize their country’s slide into dictatorship, recovery is possible if we remember:

 --- Free and fair elections matter.

--- A constitution is only as strong as the citizens who defend it.

---  This is a pivotal moment in history as we try to uphold the principles set forth 250 years ago in the Declaration of Independence and preserved in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

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