Pope Francis has warned against populism, saying it could lead to the election of leaders like Adolf Hitler. This is clearly a reference to Donald Trump since the pope made the comments to Spanish newspaper El Pais as Trump was being sworn in as US president.
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The pontiff pointed out that “Hitler did not steal power … he was elected by his people and then he destroyed his people”.
The pontiff also condemned the use of walls and barbed wire to keep out refugees and migrants and described Trump as “not Christian” for desiring to build a wall on the Mexican border.
Trump’s hatred and persecution of immigrants of all statuses, Muslims and those of diverse religious faiths as well as Indigenous and Black and Brown people bears a striking resemblance to Hitler’s hatred and persecution of Jews, homosexuals and everyone who served as a scapegoat; particularly communists, socialists and liberal democrats.
Furthermore, Trump’s threat to deport 11 million immigrants (of whom, in 2014, 5.6 million or 49% were Mexican migrants) into Mexico, where they would be placed in Japanese-style internment camps, strongly echoes Hitler’s deportation of 6 million Jews into German concentration camps.
In addition, President Trump, his chief strategist, the sinister white nationalist Steve Bannon, senior policy adviser Stephen Miller and a select few others are consolidating significant power in the White House, observers warn, setting the stage for a coup d’état.
The New York Times wrote in a recent damning editorial that “Mr Bannon is positioning himself … as the de facto president”.
In response to The New York Times editorial, Michael Moore, Trump-resistor and filmmaker said: “If you’re still trying to convince yourself that a 21st century coup is not underway, please, please snap out of it”.
Although Trump has worked hard to convince the electorate he is against the rich and powerful establishment this is merely a massive con. In fact, he has revealed through his proposed appointments that he has no intention to confront the rich and powerful, but instead plans to shower them with favours.
The week after the election, the headline of a Politico article read “Bankers celebrate dawn of new Trump era”.
Historian Charles Geisst commented: “You would have to go back to the 1920s to see so much Wall Street influence coming to Washington”.
Whoever one blames, the fact remains that 60.5 million Americans chose to vote for a sexist, racist, xenophobic candidate, intolerant of dissent. He is already a disaster for civil rights and social cohesion. The international threat is even greater. An impulsive, aggressive, paranoid Trump as president of the most powerful nation in the world, with his finger on the US’s nuclear button is enough to keep any thinking person awake all night.
