Biggest mistake

I often schedule posts for publication at 12:05 am. Last night (12:05 this morning) I finished Timothy Ryback’s Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power, my six-day immersion into the six months prior to Adolf Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor by Germany’s President, Paul von Hindenburg.

Eleven chapters cover the last three months ending January, 1933. The title of the 22nd and final chapter is “January 30, 1933.” I read this book over the last six days of January, during the first ten days of the new administration in Washington, DC, which felt like another authoritarian takeover.

In January, 1933, the Nazi Party was broke and appeared defeated. Newspaper magnate Alfred Hugenberg, chair of the rival German National People’s Party, controlled a block of Reichstag delegates that would either make or break Hitler’s quest to be Germany’s Chancellor. Ryback wrote:

Hitler’s archrival sent him a 3-page letter and an olive branch. Hugenberg wrote of his “deep concern” about the long-term future of the conservative nationalist movement as a whole. He worried that the centrists were planning to siphon votes from the radical right into a coalition with the Social Democrats, tipping the political scales dangerously to the left, possibly into the hands of the Communists. (p. 215)

Hitler needed Hugenberg’s delegates. Hugenberg wanted to be Minister of Economics. They cut a deal. Hindenburg reluctantly appointed Hitler Chancellor and Hugenberg to the cabinet. The next day, January 31, 1933, Hugenberg told a friend, “I just made the biggest mistake of my life.” (p. 301)

From “The document that might have stopped Hitler,” by T.O.I. staff, The Times of Israel, March 14, 2014.

Massive minority mandates

In 2024, Donald Trump received 49.8% of votes cast. Kamala Harris received 48.3%. It was 77,284,118 to 74,999,166 of 156,302,318. Last week, Mr. Trump’s speech (by teleconference) at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, began with these words:

…      This has been a truly historic week in the United States.  Three days ago, I took the oath of office, and we began the golden age of America.  The recent presidential election was won by millions of votes …. It was a massive mandate from the American people like hasn’t been seen in many years. ...

Mr. Trump considers his win by 2,284,952 votes, or 1.46%, to be a “massive mandate,” won “by millions of votes.” In politics, as in football, a win by one or two points can have “massive” significance.

Timothy Ryback’s recent article in The Atlantic describes the German election of 1933, which gave the National Socialist (Nazi) Party 37% of 600 German Reichstag (now Bundestag) seats, part of a right wing coalition that controlled 51% of the seats. Adolf Hitler was a compromise choice for Chancellor, but he told an American reporter he believed his 75% of 51% was enough to grant him absolute authority.

Hitler opened his first cabinet meeting “boasting that millions of Germans had welcomed his chancellorship with ‘jubilation,’ then outlined his plans for expunging key government officials and filling their positions with loyalists.” From “How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy in 53 Days,” by Timothy Ryback, The Atlantic, January 8, 2025. The next few posts will focus on Ryback’s March 2024 book, Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power.

Letters from an American

An essential news source for me is Letters from an American, by Heather Cox Richardson, Professor of History at Boston College. She is best known for her Letters, which are available at the Substack platform. Her Letters provide an essential context that helps me see current events in their broader historical context. It’s one person’s opinion (with extensive footnotes), but if I had to choose one person to provide a reliable context of current events, it would be Healther Cox Richardson. I’m sure she is my most quoted source.

Her Letters are written to a graduate student of history 200 years from now. Ponder that for a minute. She is intentionally writing a “first draft” of the history of our era.

Simply put, her historical anecdotes help me “connect the dots.” For example, she has helped me understand the immediate context of the MAGA movement as turning away from the FDR’s New Deal initiatives that lifted the US out of the Great Depression.

HCR has helped me see the longer context of the MAGA movement as moving the US back to the pre-Lincoln, pre-Civil War era, and the post-Reconstruction era of institutionalized white supremacy.

From HCR’s 7-minute explanation of the diverse anti-slavery coalition of the 1850s in “The Connecticut Forum,” with journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones and moderator Jonathan Capehart, October 24, 2024, via YouTube.

Upper mid-America

We’re on our third annual long camping trip, this time focused on the Great Lakes, staying in state or national parks. Lake Michigan is my favorite. The weather-making power of Lake Superior is breath-taking, but it was at Lake Superior that we encountered a gentle, quite friendly seagull.

We’ve missed two hurricanes. We’ve explored Timothy Snyder’s book, On Freedom. If you Google “Timothy Snyder On Freedom YouTube,” you’ll see options of varying lengths for hearing Snyder discuss the themes of this important book. A key focus for Snyder is addressing climate change.

We’ve seen a variety of Harris signs, some hand-painted. We’ve seen Trump “Save America” signs, often with many in one yard. Repetition, his strong suit, may be contagious. Since reading about a Washington Post poll, when I see a Trump sign, my mind goes to this data point:

Among Ohio Republicans, 42 percent say Trump was telling the truth when he said Haitian immigrants are eating people’s cats and dogs, 29 percent say he was saying something false and 26 percent say they are not sure.

Friar (above) has found ways to adapt to the cold temps we’ve had on this trip. A look-alike friend (below), heading north from Ohio, seems to be driving a getaway van. Maybe Trump’s lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield have traumatized critters as well as humans.

On aging

The media frenzy around Joe Biden inspired me to update (and trim) the News Sources page. It’s humbling to admit (on my 1,625th post) that it’s not necessary for me to have an opinion about everything, including whether Biden should stay in the race. I addressed the debate in the June 29 and July 1 posts. The media’s concern has caused me to examine my approach to aging.

In 2020, a Wisconsin friend said, “Joe will be a good, transitional, one term president.” With enormous gratitude for Biden’s win in 2020, I hoped he would announce at his Inauguration that he would not run in 2024. I was unrealistically naive. After all his years of public service, it would be hard for Biden not to run. Theodore Roosevelt regretted his pledge not to run again after he won his first full term in 1904.

My hat is off to those who lead well in their 70s and 80s. I began serving as a pastor as a college sophomore. After 40 years, at 59, I decided it’s better to leave a year too soon than to stay a day too long. But, we age at different speeds. Biden wants to press on. For me, “Let’s Go, Brandon!” is “Let’s Trust Biden.” In gratitude for his leadership, I would happily vote for him in November.

If the Democrats nominate someone else for President, I’ll vote for her or him. I’m comfortable letting Biden and the party work it out. As long as Trump or Trumpism controls the Republican Party, I’m a Democrat. Why? Check out these posts by Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance about Trump, the Heritage Foundation, Project 25 and their Hungarian connection. Here’s a “Room Rater” opportunity:

Former Republican Representative Dave Brat, now Dean of the Liberty University School of Business, hosted the imprisoned Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast. Brat spoke with Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation. The 3-minute video segment and transcript, “Heritage Foundation president celebrates Supreme Court immunity decision: ‘We are in the process of the second American Revolution,'” are available from Media Matters, July 2, 2024.

Everything is for sale

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed U.W. Clemon as Alabama’s first black federal judge. Judge Clemon served for 29 years before retiring to private practice. I don’t remember the source, but the new judge encouraged his fellow black citizens to take their turn on jury duty to prevent some of the injustices visited upon black criminal defendants by all-white juries.

Clemon helped educate folks about the power of a mistrial caused by a hung jury. When a unanimous decision is needed for conviction, it “only takes one” to block it. The requirement for a unanimous verdict is a genius protection placed in our system by the Founders. Marc Caputo notes that the MAGA machine is ready to use a hung jury as a “victory” for fund-raising and campaigning.

From Caputo’s insightful article in The Bulwark, which is free to the public: If (a hung jury) happens, Trump allies suspect that it will be chiefly due to the one juror who has made friendly eye contact with Trump from time to time as the jury enters the room and walks right past the defense table.

From “Trump Legal Team Pins Hopes on Hung Jury,” by Marc A. Caputo, The Bulwark, May 28, 2024