I came upon an article published on the site of The National WWII Museum entitled “Downfall: Adolf Hitler’s ‘Nero Decree’,” with this explanatory note: “Faced with his regime’s collapse, Adolf Hitler chose to destroy Germany’s infrastructure.”
This article reports that when the Russian armies were surrounding Berlin, Hitler turned against the German people: “For the Führer the impending defeat proved that Germans were simply neither strong nor ruthless enough to do what was necessary to achieve victory. Deeming Germany a failure of a nation Hitler prepared a decree that would seal the country’s collapse with catastrophic finality.”
This decree was entitled “Destructive Measures on Reich Territory.” It ordered the destruction of anything in Germany that might be of use to the Allies: mines, factories, docks, railroads, bridges, and utilities. Fortunately, Albert Speer managed to mitigate this decree and prevent the utter destruction of Germany.
I am frightened by the similarities of that earlier tyrant to Trump’s now that he has lost the election. Trump intensifying his efforts to dismantle America’s democratic government by employment of his by now familiar methods: barrages of lies, threats and coercion, appointment of incompetents, refusal to share crucial information. But what I fear more are the acts of sabotage Trump and his staff are going to commit as the will of the people closes in on Trump. I think we will see destruction of records (evidence) on a massive scale, concealment of important data, more abuse of immigrants, further diminution of America’s standing in the world, more accommodations of the Russians and Saudis, and maybe even the beginnings of a war with Iran. For once Trump comes to accept that he has been rejected by the majority of the American people, whom can he blame except the American people? If he feels he has been checked by the lawful functioning of American democracy, will not his antagonism towards democracy be magnified?