We were wrong to believe that the democratic walls of our nation were impenetrable. For we just experienced how quickly a democracy can crack after a catastrophic presidential-election decision. To those who believed that fascism — or perhaps one finds “authoritarianism” more palatable — only arrives in uniforms and jackboots, they were deceived. As last month the U.S. started to walk away from her Republic. Just as Germany did in February of 1933.

Here’s How:

After their installments in January, the 30th and 20th respectively, both Hitler and Trump immediately solidified their grip on power by manufacturing key events and authorizing a series of legislative actions.

 ~ On February 3rd Hitler met leaders of the Reichswehr –Werner von Fritsch (Army) , Erich Raeder (Navy) and Wilhelm Keitel (Armed Forces) — to present himself as a military leader and ally their suspicions about the Nazi Party. He promised them autonomy, rearmament and revitalization, including canceling the Treaty of Versailles, to secure their support.

~ On February 21st Trump fired senior military leaders, including the judge advocates general of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, not because of any derelictions of duties, but for their failure to demonstrate a personal and political loyalty to him.  The plan is install officers who will yield to his interpretation of the law, thus poisoning the military ethe of defending the constitution,  being a-political, and offering the “best military advice”.

~ February 20th: The Meeting of the Industrialists. Hitler met with Gustav Krupp (arms), Fritz Thyssen (steel), Emil Kirdorf (coal) and Alfred Hugenberg (media). He promised them wealth protections, large infrastructure projects and favorable economic policies in exchange for financial and logistical support.

 ~ On January 20th Trump, at his inauguration, placed tech leaders Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Sundar Pichai (Google) and Elon Musk (Tesla/X/Space X) in front of his own cabinet indicting a close relationship and a plan for their direct role in his administration. ~ On February 28th Trump and  Musk defended the DOGE’s sweeping cuts to the federal government from the oval office. Musk is not an employee of DOGE, rather a “non-career special government employee” and a political advisor to Trump.

~ On February 27th: The Reichstag Fire was an event orchestrated by Hitler to sow fear and accuse communists of plotting against the German people and government. He used mass arrests to cripple his opponents, including social democrats, trade unionists and Jews.  He used that fear to justify measures to “protect” the state.   

~ On February 18th Trump falsely accused  the democratically elected  President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, of starting the war with Russia and of being “a dictator without election” yet, he called Putin a “genius” for invading Ukraine.  ~On February 28th in an “ugly and unprecedented confrontation” in the Oval Office as cameras rolled, Trump and Vance berated and belittled Zelenskyy, saying he’s “ungrateful,” “disrespectful” and “gambling with millions of lives.”  Zelenskyy was asked to leave the White House and; after that meeting Trump halted military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv. [FYI: English is Zelenskyy’s third language.]

~ On February 28th  Germany issued The Reichstag Fire Decree , also known as “The Emergency Decree for the Protection of the German People”.  The decree was the legal step that enabled Hitler and The Nazi Party to establish their totalitarian state.  The decree suspended freedom of speech, of assembly and of the press and; granted Hitler the power to dissolve political organizations and to eliminate democratic institutions.

~ February 2025:  By the end of the month, Trump signed 76 Executive Orders. Orders which dissolve federal institutions, impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (which holds to account those guilty of committing the world’s worst crimes) impose tariffs on our global allies (Canada, Mexico, European Union), end birthright citizenship, shut down foreign aid (USAID, PEPFAR), close our borders, withdraw from global organizations (WHO,UNHRC, Paris Accord), and claim territory that is not ours: The Gulf of Mexico. These orders, rather than “protect American people”, expand his executive power, erode our democratic institutions and traditions, and dismantle our civil rights.

“President Donald J. Trump will always put the American people first — and through restoring the U.S. military’s mission of lethality and leading with peace through strength in his foreign policy, President Trump is making good on his commitment to restore safety and security around the world.”

The White House, March 4, 2025

Trump’s “peace through strength” justifications do not reflect Ronald Reagan’s Republican words or principles. They reflect the Weltanschauung (worldview) and Lebensraum (concept of expansionism) of Adolf Hitler:

“The iron law of necessity and of the right of the victory of the best and the strongest.”   (Mein Kampf )

“Our goal must still be the capture of living space.”  (Letter to  Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel,  April 29, 1945)

Or as Eberhard Jäckel (German historian) wrote:  the blueprint for power.

We are witnessing the toppling of our democracy. We need to stop Trump now. While  we still can. By any means necessary.