Throughout history, visible tyrants have always needed extra security and a vast network of informants to uncover plots against the king or leader.
The bigger the tyrant, the greater the need for additional information and security.
In the case of the Nazi leader Adolph Hitler, the story is more complicated. The German people approved of Hitler because he promised and delivered jobs after the 1929 Crash, and relief from the high financial penalties imposed after Germany lost World War I. Hitler also expanded the nation when he regained control of the Sudetenland for Germany, the area long claimed by Germany but lost after World War I.
But as the war progressed, the repression of anyone opposed to Hitler mounted, and the military casualties increased from bad military leadership that was often directed by Hitler, more civilian and military secret groups began plotting ways to eliminate Hitler and end the war.
In an interview, former German Colonel Johan Adolf Graf Von Kielmansegg (see below), said there were over 30 attempts to kill Hitler, including the most well-known, the July 20,1944 (Operation Valkyrie), attempt to blow up the conference room where Hitler was holding a high-level military meeting.
In the interview, Colonel Von Kielmansegg said that throughout the war, Hitler was always liked by the majority of Germans because he promised to Make Germany Great Again via land conquests, and better jobs, a higher standard of living, and racial purification.
While Hitler had public support, it was the military and close Nazi government officials who recognized that Hitler was deranged, erratic, and was leading the nation into an abyss greater than what Germany suffered in World War I.
What’s Wrong With the People Who Surround Trump?
It must be noted that comparisons between Hitler and Donald Trump are not valid. However, comparisons between the people who surrounded Hitler and Trump are worth examining.
Trump has his critics, who voice their criticism after leaving office. This includes the government officials he has indicted, sued, or is indicting. This CNN article lists 25 former Trump appointees who vented their observations about his mental state and right-wing political associations after they left office or were dismissed.
What’s missing is that no current members of Congress openly criticize Trump’s erratic policies or the way they’re affecting voters in their districts. This may change, but MAGA Republicans are terrified that they will lose their jobs and any future appointments to a MAGA think tank or lobbying job if they criticize Trump and, by definition, the CEOs of the major corporations that are big donors. Many elected members of Congress are loath to re-enter the workforce in regular, non-perk, accountable jobs. That’s why Congressmen cater to their donors and stay in office until they can collect a generous pension and health benefits.
While MAGA Congressmen keep Trump insulated from legislative and regulatory peril, his other focus is on shaking down major corporations that were voluntarily, strong-armed, or bribed into his campaigns. This includes corporations that contributed to the demolition of the West Wing of the White House.
It also consists of corporations that needed to pay him for approvals of corporate mergers. This list also includes major donors to Trump’s 2025 inauguration and other corporate donors who just jumped on the bribery bandwagon.
The people who wanted to get rid of Hitler were primarily from his own military. (There were civilian, British, and resistance group attempts, also.) The U.S. military is, on paper, under civilian control. Still, the head of the newly named Department of War, Pete Hegseth, another Trump fanatic, cannot resist Trump’s demands. Trump’s earlier purge of top military commanders in peacetime should be considered his military coup, but the media refrains from using the term since it could create panic. (The media’s role in reporting on Trump deserves many books, but the monopoly status of 24-hour cable networks and major newspapers (The Washington Post, for example) means Americans have fewer sources of objective coverage, almost no investigative reporting, and less qualified, timid news readers.)
Corruption Under Monopoly Capitalism
The U.S. today is run by corporations that, in the monopoly-capital phase of capitalism. This means fewer corporations in major industries are exempt from anti-merger regulations, allowing them to control larger market segments. These corporations are largely unregulated because Trump has gutted the inspector generals of federal agencies, as well as agencies that provide consumer protections (such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the EPA).
To survive in this monopoly framework, a gang boss who controls the levers of mergers and acquisitions needs Trump’s approval and other favorable regulatory treatment to secure higher bonuses and corporate expansions. This list includes Paramount/Skydance, Hewlett Packard Enterprise/Juniper Networks, and T-Mobile/UScellular.
Unlike Hitler, Trump controls the military and the major corporations in the monopoly capital financial environment. This includes Trump’s control over their domestic and international expansion plans, including their ability to import and export, as well as their ability to attract talented foreign workers via the H-1 B visa programs and other special considerations. It even includes granting pardons to convicted felons who can re-enter the business world after pledging their loyalty to Trump.
Trump is a product of a corrupt financial and judicial system who has operated with impunity throughout his life. These anti-social behaviors started as a child and went unchecked into adulthood, and into his sexual abuse actions as an adult, and in the
company of Jeffrey Epstein. His current behavior is even more erratic, vindictive, and evil.
Trump’s diabolical control of the federal government’s agencies requires many enablers inside and outside the government, including some who must be in high intelligence agency positions. Without their approval, secret documents about Trump’s past business deals with Russian oligarchs, criminals, Jeffrey Epstein, and money launderers would have leaked years ago. But they never were.
It looks like Hitler’s generals had more backbone and patriotism for Germany than current MAGA Republicans and others in the federal government who know Trump’s secrets and can provide proof of his past crimes for everyone to see.
It’s a sad day for America when elected Congressmen and federal officials in a supposed democracy don’t have the guts to resist a tyrant. Their silence only further destroys the tattered credibility on which the U.S. is based: laws, normal behavioral standards, and morals.
But this may not be an accident. This could be the goal of the Trump regime. After all, deluded or complicit MAGA Republicans voted him into office twice, including the second time when he was a convicted felon. This is a first for a developed nation, allegedly the most prosperous and sophisticated in the post-WWI free world. But when Germany started WWII, it was considered the most refined, educated, and cultured nation in the world.
This shows that every nation has a façade that wears off quickly when exposed to world events and politics. America’s façade is gone. That’s why many European countries are advising their citizens not to visit the U.S. lest they be arrested or harassed because of their race, sexual orientation, visa status, or political views. Many of these countries (Germany, France, Finland, Denmark) have a higher standard of living than the U.S. and a more democratic legal system.
Most Americans don’t know we live in the age of globalization. What other nations think of the U.S. because of Trump’s well-publicized mental problems, cruel policies and convictions, and right-wing affiliations is critical. This European perspective should be welcomed. Outsiders are often more objective about a situation than those involved in daily events. This is why Americans should acknowledge that we are in the new age of the Ugly Americans, a stigma that could last for a generation.
