Trumpism similar to Nazism
02 February 2017US President Donald Trump's recent visitor ban on citizens from seven Muslim majority countries, at least being temporarily debarred from visiting the USA, is similar to what Adolph Hitler did to the former Weimar Republic of Germany after he 'seized' power 84 years ago in 1933.
Nazi Germany's first shots of racial discrimination began with the ban of Jews, its own citizens, from holding jobs in the public sector and ending up, six years later, by sending them to concentration camps, to, finally, six million of the Jewry, including those from the occupied territories, ending up in the gas chambers, also within a mere six years.
Trump however hasn't taken action against his own country's Muslim citizens, neither has he removed them from employment from the public sector, not at least yet, other than banning citizens from four Arab countries, two Sub-Saharan countries and also from Iran, from visiting the USA, allegedly due to fears of Islamist terrorism, no other punitive action has been taken against Muslims.
The four Arab countries are Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen and the Sub Saharan countries, Sudan and Somalia.
Meanwhile, Hitler's persecution of the Jews was on the premise that they were the fountain of all evil, while Trump's banning of tourists/migrants from the aforesaid seven countries are due to fears that they are exporters of Islamist terrorism.
Hitler's carrot to win over the German people and to wrest power was the inglorious surrender of their country to the allies in November 1918, the hardships imposed on the German people due to the war reparations and loss of territory under the
Versailles Treaty and, finally, the millions thrown out of employment due to the Great Depression of 1929.
On the other hand, Trump's USA faced no such humiliation or hardships from the rest of the world. On the contrary, it was the USA, pre-Trump, that was responsible for leading to the imposition of sanctions and other restrictions to other countries such as Russia and Iran.
The only hardship that the USA faced in the last decade was the global financial crisis of 2007, which was of its own making (in as much as World Wars I and II were Germany's own making), followed by the Great Recession, two years later, in 2009.
But, in the case of the USA, despite these economic crises (and not military) it is still the world's number one power, both economically and militarily. Also, since then, its economy has recovered to provide full employment to its people.
Since 9/11 which took place nearly 16 years ago, the USA, afterwards, hasn't faced any physical and human destruction of that magnitude, either due to Islamist terrorism or for any other reason for that matter, thereafter, up to now.
According to Wikipedia, the hijackers of the '9/11' attack numbered 19. Of that number, 15 were from Saudi Arabia, two from the UAE and one each from Egypt and Lebanon, respectively. But none of the citizens from these five countries are in Trump's banned list.
According to CNN, the seven countries in Trump's red list originally emanated from his immediate predecessor Barack Obama's 'countries of concern' watch. However, Obama's law, over a period of time, only placed limited restrictions on certain travellers who had visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, or Yemen, CNN said.
Those restrictions limited 'visa-waiver travel' by those who had visited one of the seven countries on or after 1 March 2011.
People from those countries who previously could have entered the USA without a visa were instead required to apply for one if they had travelled to one of the seven countries under Obama law, said CNN, unlike Trump's carte blanche travel ban applicable to citizens from those countries which prevents them from entering the USA.
In that aspect, CNN, quoting White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said: 'There were further travel restrictions already in place from those seven countries.'
This is a gross exaggeration by Spicer, who doesn't seem to know the difference between a blanket travel ban, albeit, allegedly temporary, as opposed to 'restricted travel' under Obama law.
Trump's entry ban may be a move that revives USA's isolationist mentality that previously remained latent for 76 years since the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941, which dragged it to World War II. Similarly, it was only three years after the outbreak of World War I that the USA entered the war, siding with the allies led by the UK in 1917 against Germany and her allies, which hastened the conclusion of World War I a year later in 1918.
A mixture of isolationism, now spiced by xenophobism, appears to define Trumpism. While the former is part of the American ethos, the latter smacks of Nazism.
In this era of globalization and post Nazism, neither isolationism nor xenophobism has a place under the Sun. Therefore, the demise of Trumpism may take place sooner, than later.
