I-Trump and the Nazi Playbook
An early contributor to dehumanization and the rise of authoritarianism/fascism was Roger Money-Kyrle, a British psychoanalyst and scholar who held Ph. Ds in both philosophy and anthropology. He visited Germany in 1941 just prior to Hitler being appointed Chancellor. He attended several of Hitler and Goebbels’ rallies and perceived a very distinct pattern, which he described in a paper, The Psychology of Propaganda.
“For ten minutes we heard of the sufferings of Germany . . . since the war. The monster seemed to indulge in an orgy of self-pity. Then for the next ten minutes came the most terrific fulminations against Jews and Social-democrats as the sole authors of these sufferings. Self-pity gave place to hate; and the monster seemed on the point of becoming homicidal. But the note was changed once more; and this time we heard for ten minutes about the growth of the Nazi party, and how from small beginnings it had now become an overpowering force. The monster became self-conscious of its size, and intoxicated by the belief in its own omnipotence. . . . Hitler ended . . . on a passionate appeal for all Germans to unite”
“The speeches were not particularly impressive. But the crowd was unforgettable. The people seemed gradually to lose their individuality and to become fused into a not very intelligent but immensely powerful monster under the complete control of the figure on the rostrum [who] evoked or changed its passions as easily as if they had been notes of some gigantic organ….Each listener felt a part of its [the movement’s] omnipotence within himself. He was transported into a new psychosis. The induced melancholia passed into paranoia, and the paranoia into megalomania.” https://www.jstor.org/stable/27097917
This same 3-step process was easily visible in Trump’s campaign and continues in his speeches, tweets, and other utterances in Trump 1.0, but ramped up in Trump 2.0, because he learned he needed only sycophants around him, not competent people like in Trump 1.0, who would stop the most crazy and illegal actions.
- First, there is the ‘lesson’ that we’re a mess, everyone looks down on us, we’re failing, we’ve lost the respect of others (none of which is true, but that doesn’t matter; truth and facts have no place in dehumanization). This is the melancholia phase. Feelings of failure, of not ‘getting one’s due’ are often how the listeners feel about themselves.
- Second is to place blame. As a racist and an emotionally ill narcissist, that was easy for Trump: blame the Brown and Black people, especially the immigrants and refugees trying to come here; blame the ‘oddities,’ e.g., LGTBQ+, mentally ill, physically handicapped; blame his enemies, those elitist, ‘woke,’ Democrats. This is the paranoia stage: a feeling as if we’re being attacked by vicious monsters. The Others, who already have been racialized, are the enemy and they are out to get us. It’s so easy to blame one’s failures on someone else. Part of this second phase is deepening the characterization of the Other/the enemy. Smith points out: “…sex is an ever-present element. The dehumanized group is seen as hypersexual and therefore bestial. They are rapists and pedophiles, and they reproduce so rapidly that they will soon replace the dominant group as the majority.” This replacement theory has been used by the Trump gang and the Heritage Foundation for years as has the idea that these ‘savages’ are rapists. Our precious white supremacist blood will be darkened.
- Third, ‘I’ can save you, only me. Once you’ve accepted this and you’re part of the movement, there is a religious fervor about it. You want to help. You’ll do anything HE suggests.
This is the set up for dehumanization. As you will see in this continuing series on dehumanization, just as with the Nazis, it leads to concentration camps and death. We already have the concentration camps, with more being built.
Excerpts from Trump speeches:
“We’ve allowed millions and millions of people into our country through open borders, no checks, no vetting, no anything, millions and millions of people. And lots of those people are murderers. 52% of them killed more than one person. Other than that, they’re quite fine. They’re nice people. These are rough people. Remember I used to say, “These people are rough.” And they would say, “No, no, these are illegal immigrants. They’re very safe.” I said, “They’re not safe. Look at what’s happened with Venezuela where they’re sending these gangs in and they’re taking over apartment complexes in Colorado and then cutting off the fingers of a man who had the nerve and desire to call the police.” [Most of this is not true.] They come in from prisons, from jails, they shouldn’t be here, mental institutions.”
“I used to mention, and the press would always excoriate me, I’d say the late great Hannibal Lecter came into our country today. Silence of the Lamb. Did anybody see that movie? Lovely movie. And when people went to the voter booth, they say, “We don’t want Hannibal Lecter in our country.” The press would say, “Why is he bringing up Hannibal Lecter? That was a fictitious character.” Actually, they’re not so fictitious. We have people in our country that are probably worse than we allowed in, but we will quickly reestablish control of our sovereign territory and borders. We will expel every single illegal alien, gang member, and migrant criminal operating on American soil, and remove the savage gang, Tren de Aragua from the United States…. These are really vicious people, gang members, and many, many people from prisons, and crime all over the world is down. You know why? Because they got their criminals into the United States of America. You look at Venezuela, they’ve emptied their prisons into our country. Many other places, the same. I would’ve done the same if I headed up any of the countries. I know most of those guys. They’re smart, they’re leaders. They are smart, streetwise people. As soon as I heard they were going to have open borders, I said, “If you do that, every prison all over the world is going to be emptied out into our country.” They come in from the Congo. The Congo is big on emptying their prisons. The only thing good about it is they make our criminals look like really nice people….These people are vicious people all over the world, not just South America, all over the world they come from mental institutions and from jails and prisons.”
“I had David Muir from ABC saying, “No, no crime has gone down.” I said, “No, no. It’s gone through the roof. Crime has gone through the roof, David.” “No, no crime has gone down.” I said, “It’s gone through the roof.” And then he goes, “I disagree with that.”…[Muir was correct.] …. “Of all new jobs, net jobs gains in the past year have gone to illegal migrants and the jobs were taken from African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and union workers [Not true.]….They’re poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump told a rally in the city of Durham attended by several thousand supporters, adding that immigrants were coming to the U.S. from Asia and Africa in addition to South America. “All over the world they are pouring into our country.” Trump used the same “poisoning the blood” language during an interview with The National Pulse, a right-leaning website, that was published in late September…. [Trump] recited the lyrics of a song he repurposed to liken immigrants to deadly snakes. [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-repeats-poisoning-blood-anti-immigrant-remark-2023-12-16/]”
“They’re not humans. They’re not humans, they’re animals….The communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin.” His frequent references to a bloodbath in different contexts gave his so-inclined followers permission to use political violence. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCtdF3HwVrI] The attack on Nancy Peolosi’s husband and Pizzagate are two examples of the results that such talk leads to.”
This is not the first time anti-immigration propaganda and sentiment have appeared in the United States. The following depicts an Irish and a Chinese immigrant devouring Uncle Sam. Of course, the westward expansion wouldn’t have happened without these groups and others, but the irrational fear of the Other can easily be built up by those who benefit from it. This is from the Library of Congress and is dated about 1860.
