Welcome back to #TrumpWatch, where Tablet presents the daily low-lights of Donald Trump’s attempt to use the dark forces of bigotry to become President of the United States.
Do you remember last year, a little before that family holiday called Thanksgiving, when Trump told MSNBC that he would support a database “and a lot of systems” to track Muslims in the U.S.?
I do. And I hope that you do, too. Because now, six months later, Trump is still signing autographs, still steamrolling his way to the Republican nomination, still xenophobic, still showing off planes.
So in case you’ve forgotten about the tapestry of Trump’s demagoguery, as exemplified by his desire to implement a database for Muslim in the U.S., here’s NBC reporter Vaughn Hillyard doing his job well, reminding us of a slippery historical slope:
Trump: “Would certainly implement” Muslim databases. And “you tell me” diff from Jews/Germa: https://t.co/2FM6wReY6e pic.twitter.com/l3UgsMvjlE
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) November 20, 2015
Trump’s populism—from its performative aspects to its xenophobic aims—has attracted comparisons to lots of fun people; most recently at Tablet, to Plato’s tyrannical man, and to Fritz Kuhn, a vainglorious German-American Bundist leader of a Depression-era pro-Hitler organization, “who roused crowds by targeting perceived religious, racial, ethnic, and/or political enemies.”
Naturally, he’s also drawn comparisons to Adolf Hitler himself, particularly in relation to some of the occurrences at his rallies, and because of that whole Muslim registry thing. (These comparisons, it should be noted, is something that Trump, whose daughter converted to Judaism, is certainly not happy about. Sad!)
And now, in a time where everybody can have a voice, especially multi-billionaires, Charles Koch of Koch Industries, joined the anti-Trump chorus, telling ABC News that Trump’s plan to put a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., and to register them, is “reminiscent of Nazi Germany” and “monstrous.”
Now, keep in mind, that one should listen to Koch, a powerful backer of conservative causes, with a grain of salt. But here and now, he’s right: Trump’s idea is monstrous. Consider yourself reminded. Thanks, Chuck.
Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.
